Adoption Stories: Stepping over Fear
They walked into the restaurant alone, with no kids to corral or scrape off the floor. Jeff and Angie have agreed to meet me for lunch. I was expecting their youngest son to join us, as today was a…
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God Believes Women: The Bible Story I Tell My Girls
It is the best of times to be female and it is a lousy time to be female. But mostly the best, with only a trace of lousy. As everyone attempts to define women, decide their rankings and judge t…
Three Unconventional Ways My Dad Modeled God
Growing up, I watched him open Father's Day cards like a classic North American dad and I told him I loved him on a weekly/monthly basis. Probably. If you don't count a few of the teen years. I did…
Long and Short: Parenting Beyond This Exact Moment
"Hey little brother, sneak into big brother's room. He has candy. Get some for us." What would you have done if you were around the corner from that discussion? Intervened? What a grea…
The Book List: 2017
Some memoirs, a true murder mystery, a few disappointments, a kick-in-the-butt and a few stepping stones for my parenting journey. I scoffed at my yearly goal to read twelve books by sneaking in a few…
Simple Ways to Keep Jesus the Focus of Christmas
The person who said they needed more things to fill up their December calendar was a liar. A fictional liar. Does your family need more to do this month? Yeah, no. Ours doesn't either. We want …
ReThinking Christmas
Christmas Love One year it was so tall and round we had to keep whittling away at the base so we could stand it up in our entrance. The living room didn't stand a chance to host it that year. Big …
Four Ways We Can Talk to our Kids About Racism
The issue that is currently heavy in our nation is weighty inside my house as well. Shades of color sit around my living room and traipse down the grocery aisles with me. As a mom of white kids and k…
Moms, This is How God Feels About You
The day was classically sunny and warm. The grass in the yard was coarse and different from what I grew up on. Thailand was always a breathe of sweet relief to me and my little family. It meant tim…
One Thing I Know About You and Your Kids
We have probably all done our share of people watching. If you have little kids, it is at the McDonald's playplace or the beach or the park, while you keep one eye trained on the chaos you claim as yo…