Jason Boyett and I go way back. Way back all the way to my beginnings. (He was around for a few years prior.) So, I know all about his stress hives when he was sixteen. And I used to tiptoe around his room when he was in high school and sneak peaks at his journal. (He was a writer even then.) Actually, I don't think I've ever confessed that to him. (Sorry, Jas.) It's a little odd to introduce my own big brother. But I should say if there was anyone in my world who gave me permission to … [Read more...]
For Brooksie, on his 2nd birthday (A Thankful Tuesday post, of sorts)
March 19, 2013 By 5 Comments
Brooksie, when I got you out of bed on your second birthday, I whispered. It was 6:30 and your brother was asleep next door; the neighbors were asleep downstairs. I hate worrying about noise. I wanted to bust in with a guitar and serenade you. (If only I could play.) I wanted to shout to the world that once you weren’t here and now you are! Once you were a thought, a conversation between your dad and me. You were a secret inside God’s mind. I wanted to shout that two years ago you came … [Read more...]
In honor of St. Patrick, his breastplate
March 18, 2013 By 2 Comments
This is one of my favorite prayers and because it is traditionally associated with St. Patrick, I think the Monday after St. Patrick's day is a beautiful day to sit with it. May Christ win you today. May he comfort you, restore you. May you search for Christ in the mouths of friends and strangers and find yourself bound tight by the strong name of the Trinity. I bind unto myself today The strong Name of the Trinity, By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three. I … [Read more...]
My Chalkboard: Sandra McCracken
March 15, 2013 By 1 Comment
From Sandra McCracken's beautiful new album Desire Like Dynamite. I sang this song ("Go") in my head all the way to the post office Wednesday to mail the book contract. It's becoming my Brave Girl mantra. … [Read more...]
My Very Big Announcement: A Book Deal, Baby!
March 14, 2013 By 76 Comments
As of yesterday afternoon, when I mailed off some official papers with my scribbly-boy-signature on them, I am contracted to write two (Yes, Two!) books for Worthy Publishing over the next two years. I have the smartest and the loveliest agent in Rachelle Gardner (at Books & Such Literary Agency) who has done more to help me to this point than I will probably ever know. I am deeply grateful for her. I have run out of words for how I feel about it. I'm thrilled. I'm scared out of my mind. … [Read more...]
One Good Phrase: Erin Lane (Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom)
March 13, 2013 By 3 Comments
I met Erin Lane and her husband a month into our first stint in San Francisco. We lived in the same area for far too short a time but that time was sweet. I love how friendships look when they stick. One of her husband's paintings hangs in our hallway and her quick wit, sharp writing, and deep theological framework makes her blog one I'm always challenged by. I'm so happy to welcome her here. We were not a Scripture-memorizing home. There were no flashcards that smelled like chubby markers, … [Read more...]
Thankful Tuesday: Noodle Situations, Tiger Hats
March 12, 2013 By 15 Comments
Two days before Chris left town last week, he had a late night of work. And, of course, that was the night Brooksie chose to bring out the drama by slurping a spaghetti noodle from the back of his mouth up into his nasal cavity. I’m not even making this up. There were lots of tears. He was really uncomfortable and I was trying to figure out how to get him to blow that noodle out, when he still doesn’t understand how to blow his nose. Thankfully my roomie from college is a pediatrician back … [Read more...]
Help me write my Good Friday meditation?
March 11, 2013 By 23 Comments
Friends, For our Good Friday service, my church invites different people to write and share reflections on each of the Stations of the Cross. The entire service consists of those meditations. This year I'm honored (and a little bit anxious) to have the opportunity to write one of those meditations. My head is reeling around where to begin and where to take it. Here's where you come in. I'd love your thoughts on my passage of scripture. It's a tricky one and a beautiful one. And I'm pretty … [Read more...]
My Chalkboard: Sarum Primer, 1527
March 8, 2013 By 1 Comment
Sarum Primer, 1527 (I discovered this via Phyllis Tickle in my daily prayer book, The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime.) … [Read more...]
One Good Phrase: Amy Lepine Peterson (and joy deep down inside)
March 6, 2013 By 7 Comments
I've said this before, but one of the sweetest gifts of this whole blogging world has been the privilege of finding My People, those (mostly) women who see the world the same way I do, whose spiritual journeys have moved along similar paths, many of whom are deep in the work of understanding themselves and the Church and the world in light of their identities as moms and believers and lovers of words. I'm grateful Amy Lepine Peterson is one of those people whose writing I've come to trust … [Read more...]
Follow Patheos
Family: