31 Prayers for My Children

Many years ago I came across a list of 31 things to pray for your children. I thought it was a pretty cool idea, so I kind of tucked it in the back of my head for a "someday something to do." About three years ago I decided to do something with this list.

I whittled the list down to a single word or phrase for each of the things to pray for your children. Then I asked my mom, who is one of the most talented artists I know, if she would write each of the words on a heavy piece of paper. She not only wrote the words, but she did a cool handwritten border around the mat. While she was working on this, I made a frame for it out of walnut. This joint effort was a Mother's Day present for my wife.

How to Seed a Pomegranate in Under Two Minutes

One of the most prolific fruit trees in my yard is our pomegranate tree. We've had our tree for a few years, and this year, finally, we got a bumper crop. Once I got the first ripe fruit, though, I realized how much I hate pomegranates. Not because I dislike the fruit, but because I dislike getting the edible part out.

If you've never seeded a pomegranate, let me explain what it's like. Imagine 1,000 tiny grapes all superglued to tissue paper, tightly packed in a leather ball.

I spent years trying to find the best way to seed them, reading all the infinite wisdom that the internet has to offer on the subject.

"Break them up submersed in water and all of the inedible parts float, while the seeds sink." Nope. The inedible parts sink as well, and—45 minutes of seed-removal later—half of the seeds go down the drain with the water.

"Roll the pomegranate with the ends cut off, pulling out the seeds as they loosen." Insane. This creates a mess and most of the seeds end up bursting on your fingers. And 45 minutes later you're trying to scrub the red stains off your counter.