Remember how Matt Appling guest-posted this past Monday about his new book Life After Art? I asked you all to leave a comment about how you're trying (or would like to try) to bring creativity into your responsible, grown-up life. I loved the responses. Thanks so much for sharing. I did a Very Official Drawing all alone in my office with no one around to make sure I wasn't cheating. And the winner is... Sarah Dunning Park!!!! Sarah, I'll send you an email and Matt … [Read more...]
Creativity Is Something You Deserve to Do (a guest post from Matt Appling)
April 7, 2013 By 19 Comments
I've been following Matt Appling's blog The Church of No People for over a year now and I'm so excited that his first book Life After Art released just this past week. I asked him if he'd stop by and share with us a little about his book. (I also asked him if he'd give a copy of his book away. He said yes. Yay.) I know, you don’t need anything added to your to-do list. Guys, if you’re like me, your honey-do list is a mile long. Ladies, I know you’re being pulled in ten … [Read more...]
Septemberish Bookish Sweetness
September 7, 2012 By 24 Comments
These past six weeks haven’t been my most productive times of reading. Too many nights spent emailing preschools and watching the Olympics and worrying about things I shouldn’t be worrying about. But I have been reading. And here are my ruminations… I’m still reading Kristin Lavransdattar. It's a long one and I'm really loving it, but I decided once I got to Book II that I'd save the next section for the trip to Italy. And, as I recently learned from this amazing article, I'm a … [Read more...]
She lists some things she’s loving.
May 24, 2012 By 6 Comments
Oh, friends. Are you so tired of me saying it’s been quite a week? If you are, I won’t say it again. Instead I’ll say this: I’m ready for my husband to come home. And I’m ready for my cat to stop going to the hospital. (This is when I should stop and thank God for how good I have it and for how great my kids have been this week and how thankful I am for my community here in Austin.) Last night, instead of writing a profound post, I drank tea and watched Parks and Recreation in my … [Read more...]
Thoughts on Kairos and Epiphany, the ‘unbidden and unexpected’
April 30, 2012 By 7 Comments
I've been reading and loving my newest happy discovery, In the Midst of Chaos: Caring for Children as Spiritual Practice. Its author, Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, is a theologian and the book is a straightforward theological teaching on the things we've been talking about around here. She's a mother who believes the Church has missed its opportunity to honor the spiritual formation that can arrive out of the mess of everyday parenting. Often we're taught that in order to encounter God we need to … [Read more...]
Andrea Palpant Dilley: Doubt, Flat Tires and the Goodness of God
April 12, 2012 By 3 Comments
I first noticed Andrea Palpant Dilley when she shared her testimony in front of our church. That was sometime in September, four weeks into my new life in Austin. And, I couldn't help but notice: She spoke like somebody who loved words. I decided right then, I'm gonna make her be my friend. Thankfully, she started a writing group and I jumped on the email list and once a month I get to sit in a circle while she leads a discussion about literary things (and, sometimes, Jesus). I love this … [Read more...]
Awkwardness and Vulnerability
October 7, 2011 By 7 Comments
The great thing about being married to a reader is that if my husband cares, really cares, about what he’s reading, it is read out loud. Then we talk about it more in the car while the Cars 2 soundtrack is playing and the boys and I are dropping him off at work. Then he processes it more with me on the way home because he cannot stop. Today, I will share with you what Chris has been reading, because it’s been on my mind this week as well. It’s called Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a … [Read more...]
Absence, marriage and making that little heart grow fonder
September 26, 2011 By 5 Comments
So yesterday I came across an article in Slate about a new book by Iris Krasnow, who has spent every July for the past decade away from her husband of almost a quarter century. Her book is called The Secret Lives of Wives: Women Share What It Really Takes To Stay Married, and much of it has to do with how spending significant chunks of time away from your spouse may actually be good for your marriage, especially if you're a woman. "...the idea that absence makes the heart grow fonder and all … [Read more...]
How ‘the ordinary becomes a container for the divine’
September 1, 2011 By 10 Comments
My brother and sister in law gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday. It didn't take me long to go straight to my Wish List and find the two books I've been most longing for. One is finally going to order my life (I know it! Come on, Organized Simplicity!) The other is going to be discussed on these pages over and over and over. I can feel it. To Dance With God was recommended by my friend Nancy in San Francisco, who taught a course in our church on living as a Missional family. She often … [Read more...]
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