When my daughter Marie's children were young, I wanted to stay connected between visits. We only saw each other a couple of times a year, and I wanted more than that. While working on a presentation about the Spark Station, the idea came to me: why not write Spark Station Letters?

The idea was simple. I would write letters to my grandchildren sharing something that interested me — a word, a historical figure, a current event, a family story. Something that might spark a conversation in their home and keep us woven into each other's lives.

It worked beautifully. Marie told me the kids were all ears when she read the letters aloud. They'd re-read them on car trips. She saved each one in a separate book for each child. She also mentioned that I was frequently sharing values and teaching life lessons — which I hadn't even realized I was doing.

Today, I will share some sample letters I wrote to children I loved and show you how you can do the same.

In January, my daughter Jodie gathered a group of friends to work on having a better outcome in 2026. We listened to an interesting YouTube video by Daniel Pink. The premise was that structure beats willpower. We each determined what we regretted from 2025 and how we could do better in 2026 to avoid repeating our mistakes.

My regret was not getting my writing in until the last minute. I regretted that because it fed this old story — there is no time in my life for me — and it led to feelings of resentment toward those I care for. I placed my lack of consistency on them and their needs.

Here's something I shared early on in one of our conversation threads: "I have a hard time doing my own things even when I try. I do my personal morning routine, but it's interrupted, and I usually don't get any writing done. For the last four days, I rarely sat down, and tonight I didn't even get to eat my dinner until 8 pm. No TV, no internet, no reading, no loafing, just serving and doing what's necessary. I oversee what I choose to do, but I'm obviously doing something less effectively than needed."

Today I will share what was causing my dilemma, what I needed to change, and how life-changing it has been.

I received this email in the early days of teaching parents how to use The Spark Station.

"You may have seen this. It's a picture book called The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan. This illustrates the secret of the Spark Station in an inspiring way. A junk dealer who likes to do–not much–finds a pink refrigerator that holds something new for him every day, and he gets excited about life and learning, closes shop, and sets off to explore the world. I thought you might enjoy this if you hadn't seen it. Happy reading, Cathy D."

I was intrigued, so I went to the library and found the book. Cathy's description was spot on. The Pink Refrigerator is the Spark Station. It's a beautiful story about how we can inspire children to explore things that might not have occurred to them before.

Today, I am sharing a personal experience of how experiencing new things can help children find the greatness inside themselves.

Holidays have a magic that no other topic quite matches. Children feel them coming weeks in advance. They carry memories, traditions, food, and family stories all bundled together. They are, in many ways, the punctuation marks of a child's year, the moments against which everything else is measured. I can remember family holidays when I was a child, and my children still talk about theirs. That's what makes them perfect Traveling Spark Station territory.

In this final installment, Part 4, of the series on The Traveling Spark Station, we're going to look at six holidays that have found their way into my Traveling Spark Station over the years. Some are eagerly anticipated. Some are barely on a child's radar. Those turn out to be some of the most fun, because there's nothing quite like introducing a child to a celebration they didn't know existed. Every holiday has a story. Every holiday has something worth knowing. And every single one of them is better when you explore it together, so join me for some real-life examples of the fun.

Here we are — Part 3. If you've been listening along with Part 1 and Part 2, you already know the rhythm. You pick a topic, you gather a few books, a simple activity or two, and maybe something to eat. You show up, and something small and good happens.

Part 3 is where the Traveling Spark Station gets wonderfully wide. We're talking about the entire world — its creatures, its seasons, its countries, its history, and the people who shaped it. These topics help children understand that they're part of something bigger than themselves: a family with a history, a country with a story, a planet full of remarkable things worth knowing about. Join me and lets have some fun!

While working with individual families, this question came up often - should I let my kids use kits or have them work from scratch? I had listened to speakers and read articles that said absolutely no kits. By then, I had stopped living in a black-and-white world. I had learned to take my family, their needs, as well as my own, into consideration when deciding what was good for connection and learning. I had gotten brave enough to say, "I'm the expert in my home." I surely didn't know everything and still don't, but I observed, pondered, and used my good sense. With that in mind, listen to what I'm sharing today about using kits with kids, and then do what's right in your home, with your kids or grands. You will be surprised and enlightened.

Welcome back. If you heard Part 1, you already know that the Traveling Spark Station isn't about content — it's about being present. It's about showing a child that the person standing in front of them finds the world interesting and wants to explore it together.

In Part 2, we're going to explore two areas that might surprise you: math and the arts. I say "surprise you" because math has a reputation for being dry and intimidating, and the arts sometimes get dismissed as less important than "real" subjects. The Traveling Spark Station disagrees with both of those ideas.

Math is everywhere — in the cookies you're counting out, the nails you're hammering, the fractions in a recipe, the shapes on a walk around the block. When you make math real and connect it to something a child already loves, it stops being a subject and starts being a tool. And the arts? Creativity, imagination, and making things with your hands are among the most powerful ways children (and adults) make sense of the world. From crocheting white blood cells to building fairy houses in Yellowstone, you'll see exactly what I mean.

Pack your basket. Let's keep going.

It's spring — that season of newness, freshness, and quiet beginnings. It seemed the perfect time to share a story from Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards' book The Daffodil Principle, because it beautifully illustrates something I've come to believe deeply: that lasting change happens 1% at a time. Not in grand gestures or overnight transformations, but in small, consistent efforts that grow into something magnificent.

Join me as I share portions of a story that illustrate that we make a difference and leave a legacy 1% at a time.