What’s new?

What’s new at your house? Chances are, if you’re like a lot of us, you’re starting a new school year. I love the start of a new school year for a whole bunch of reasons. Running a close second to freshly sharpened pencils (my clear #1 reason) is the chance to do things differently. Create

You are our home

So we moved. And after everything flew upward, into the wind, the settling down is just now beginning to take place. Nothing is where it was before; everything is finding a new home. We are discovering new roads, new people, new schools, new coffee shops, new new grocery stores. We are in a new house

He holds everything together

A friend of mine preached a good sermon recently and challenged us with this question, “Am I spending time with God because I know he loves me? Or so that he will love me?” It’s a huge question. One that I continue to ask myself as I go through this strange “quiet time” purge. I’m afraid

The reminder you really need

What do you need most in 2015? Most of us are undoubtedly reevaluating our lives and considering making changes for the new year. More exercise, tweak the diet, get up earlier, reduce media. I’ve been doing the same. Recently, however, one of my best friends gave me what I really need most for 2015. She

2 Ways Adoption is Changing Me (part 1)

Growing up, I was a pretty good kid. The youngest of 4 siblings, I learned to watch my older brothers and sister and take notes on the things to do… and not to do. (The “not to do” page grew fairly lengthy in our particular case 🙂 ). I avoided some of the pitfalls my

Spiritual Fast Food

I haven’t been eating very well lately… and I’m not talking about food. I’m talking about a malnourished soul. My soul has been trying to survive on spiritual fast food and the effects are beginning to show. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional junk food snack, is there? Like the bag of Honey

Out of control prayer

We’ve had a lot of “firsts” going on at our house recently. We moved one of our kids into his college dorm for the first time this weekend. The rest of the crew experienced their first day of school today… first day of preschool for the little ones and the first day of high school for my

Sabbatical rest

Our church graciously gave our family a sabbatical this summer. Two months off, no commitments or expectations. We are seven years into our church plant, so the timing seemed right. More than that, I think our leadership had begun to see us fray around the edges as we have waded together through some pretty tough

Giving up peace

I’m giving up peace for Lent. Mmm hmm, yes I am. As the Lenten season began last week, I started to think about what would helpful for me to give up… and what to take up in its place. I thought about the things I habitually turn to in order to comfort myself and relieve

What I really want for Christmas

I have some friends who are hurting during this holiday season. One is dealing with a daughter teetering on the edge of rebellion. One has empty arms when she thought she’d be rocking a baby this Christmas. One buried a daughter last week, a year after a tragic car accident. One is struggling in her