I spent most of my twenties wallowing in discontentment. I longed to be rid of each difficulty du jour so that I could move on and be happy. Recalling all the breath I wasted complaining about hard seasons (perceived or real) makes me cringe. If...
Only a few days ago, my neighbor began to prepare the soil of his garden for spring. "Wow, is it time for that already?!" I thought, considering the snow that loomed on the horizon. And yet, before we know it, the first buds and blooms...
You know a book has made an impact on your child when they pick it up and throw it across the room! Never before has a book I have read to my children pulled out of them such feelings of anger, frustration, and justice as...
As a mother of four, I am regularly faced with a child who has fallen or been hurt crying to me for support and love. What tenderizes my heart in these moments is that usually the physical injury they have incurred isn't that bad, but...
Sunlight sparkled on the translucent ice enveloping the landscape. Gleaming dollops of white drifted across a cerulean sky as the day broke shimmering and clear. A fresh morning; a new beginning. We received some glorious answers to prayer this week. For years, it seemed like...
The last few weeks have found me fighting the "winter blues." Coming off of the high of the Christmas season + getting back into a homeschool routine + some really cold, dark days have left me feeling more melancholy than usual. One day in particular, it...
My oldest daughter is 11 now, halfway through the first year of middle school and sprouting her baby wings. If I’m being honest, it’s terrifying. I was meditating on that when I started a Bible study on Genesis (through my church). We discussed how Moses...
It's January and my kids are running outside after snow flurries, praying for a big snow. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about dinner - again. Summer is so easy - throw a bunch of meat and veggies on the grill and call it done. Winter sometimes finds me...
Rich, golden rays shone through the kitchen bay window, flooding the room with late afternoon light. I love the light right before the sun kisses the horizon and twilight falls. As I stopped to bask in the warm glow, my eye caught the thin layer...
I ran quickly through Six Flags Great America, chasing my ten year old daughter, Grace, and my sister in law Lisa, who both had caught the roller-coaster bug. It was only a few days after Christmas and happened to be a warm-ish day for Chicago,...