Personal Growth
It's interesting how much of my parenting is shaped by my experiences as a child. I struggled a lot with doubt, questions, and guilt as a child. I wanted to know the truth and rest in it, but was frustrated that my mind did not always cooperate, that
Personal Growth
My heart has been heavy the last couple of days. I took some time to read about the most recent police shootings (both those by the police and the attack on the police). It's hard to read, to listen, and to think about these things. I would much
Family Updates
We've been in Alexandria now for 2 weeks. As John has mentioned a couple times, the next three years will mark the longest we've been in one house since we sold our house in Siloam about 6 years ago. Since then we've moved from
Personal Growth
I spent some time trying to think of a creative title to this that somehow made sense and I think I just ended up with something confusing, but oh well. Have you ever noticed that the more time you have, the more time you waste? Is that just my problem,
Personal Growth
Having been raised in a tradition that doesn't routinely commemorate the season of Lent, I have found myself a little confused on what this season really means. I had heard of Lent, usually in the context of friends giving up a food item, or facebook, or something else
Personal Growth
So, despite my best intentions, the rush to get Christmas presents completed overwhelmed my desire to keep up with the blog during the advent season. But even though I wasn't writing about it, I did still notice beautiful things in my day. And it surprised me how many
Personal Growth
As promised (even though a little bit late), I will share another daily tradition that we have started in our family. This tradition is the daily hours (or offices) of prayer. The tradition of set hours of prayer dates back to pre-Jesus times. This is a Jewish tradition that the
Personal Growth
One of the things we are using Advent for is to build tradition. We are very blessed to have lived the majority of our lives (all but our year and a half in Germany) near our families. So, Christmas is spent celebrating with everyone, and I love it. But it
Personal Growth
Today I took the time to clear off my mantel. It usually serves as a repository for confiscated toys and other small junk that I am too lazy to put away. So today I cleared it all off and dusted it and then added some lights and greenery. We are
Personal Growth
If you have read my recent post about learning to juggle life with four kiddos, then you know that life is pretty chaotic here sometimes. Today actually started out as a very good day. School went quickly and smoothly, the housework was coming along great, and everyone was decently quiet
Personal Growth
When I first came up for the idea for this blog series, the leaves were in full display of fall colors and I was thinking that those colorful leaves could be one of these entries. But then one day I got up and overnight the color was suddenly gone. Most
Personal Growth
OK, so this feels like cheating because it is so obvious, but sometimes the obvious needs to be stated. One of the ways I see beauty in the "process" is in my children. They are all on their way to adulthood, but if we just focus on the