I don’t know where to start, because my thoughts are all so fresh on this one, and each one feels so delicate and raw. On Saturday, we were sledding with good friends, and had been for hours, when it all came to a halt. I’m typing this late on Tuesday, our fourth night in the hospital. I’ll start here….
Tag: trust God
“Mama, What Does $*@#%! Mean?”
At some point it happens. Maybe you’re watching a movie, or they hear it on the playground, maybe they read it on a sign… heck, I heard one referenced on CNN today… At some point, even in the most protected environment, innocent eyes of our children look to us and ask- “Mama, What Does $*@#%! Mean?” I…
10 Bible Truths To Help You Understand Your Child
Parenting can be such a challenge. Sin outside our home… sin inside our hearts… the stresses and strains of life in a family… These things swirl together and threaten to knock us off-kilter. As my husband and I go about life with our seven children (currently, ages 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 2, and 7 months),…
Eustace & My Hard, Dragon Heart
One of my favorite passages in C.S. Lewis’ fiction is from his book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. For background, Eustace is a wretched, spoiled boy who constantly complains and makes life miserable for himself and everyone else. He’s unexpectedly come to Narnia with his cousins Edmund and Lucy. The ship they’re on visits several islands, and…
How to Respond to “I Can’t Do This, Mama!”
Every kids gets to this place. Or at least every kid in our home has reached it. I remember reaching it in school… heck, I’m feeling it right now (as I write this) in regard to camping. I feel like I can’t. I know, in my head, that other people do it. But it feels…
It Takes Courage to Submit
“It takes incredible amount of courage and strength to go against the grain of what people want you to be.” ~Janet Mock, trans advocate, in a documentary about Bruce Jenner’s recent ESPN award No it doesn’t. It doesn’t take strength at all to go your own way. That is what comes naturally. This is the human…
Are You a Fool as a Mother?
Don’t be offended; It’s the question I’m asking myself: Are you a FOOL as a mother? What would that even look like? What does it mean to be a fool? Last month I sat in a homeschool conference on the 2nd row of a session by Tedd Tripp. (Can I just eeeeeeeeeek! about that for a minute?) His…
Fear Full Mothering
Rising up this morning, I turned to Facebook videos before God’s Word. Mistake. Now the fears swirl: What is America’s fate? Economic decline? ISIS infiltration? Wicked leadership? Secularization and moral debasing beyond what already is the case? Same-sex marriage, LORD? Spitting in the face of the beautiful God-designed picture of marriage of Christ and the Church?…
Does Your Pain Isolate You From the Body of Christ?
Pain is common to all of us. But– have you noticed?– our reactions to it can be wildly different. And I’m convinced– it’s all in how you look at it. When our eyes are on our pain & circumstances: We become disconnected from others (even others in the Body of Christ). No one is “qualified”…
“Do The Next Thing”
Do the Next Thing From an old English parsonage down by the sea There came in the twilight a message for me; Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven, Hath, as it seems to me, teaching from Heaven. And on through the hours the quiet words ring, Like a low inspiration: DO THE NEXT THING. Many a…