31. Construction going quickly and smoothly on our home. 32. Sunshine. 33. The courage to take all four of my kids to a restaurant all by myself for lunch. 34. For the kids relatively good behavior. 35. For restaurants where you know the owner who is exceptionally cheerful and kind. 36. Chalkboard walls for kids, Toca Boca apps, coloring pages, crayons and soccer on tv. 37. Fries, chicken burgers, corn dogs, peppercorn and mushroom soup, salad, root beers (and an... Read more
Someone I respect very much said that when you listen to a sermon, the people who hear it are the people who probably don’t need to work on that particular subject, it is the people who don’t hear, or who hope that someone else hears it — those are the people who should be listening with themselves in mind. This same pastor also used to say that when you throw a stick into a pack of dogs, the one who... Read more
Last Monday, I was talking to my therapist about the recent upset caused by my investigative opinion article on gorilla care as a Christian. As someone who rarely follows the news, 1) I had no idea this subject had been so controversial or done to death. This put me in the unfortunate place of speaking to an audience who had already decided their stand and were bored with or hostile to the idea of revisiting the case for funsies and 2) my... Read more
17. A good nights sleep. 18. A fantastic sermon. 19. Good Kokomo mocha. 20. SUNSHINE!! 21. Sleepy 4-year-olds. 22. Pizza. 23. Boots to wear with your sundress because your dog ate all your flip flops. 24. For not caring that the boots don’t match. 25. For my dog, Max. 26. For messy houses, and cars. 27. For all the cleaners I need to remedy that problem. 28. For a husband who loves me, listens to me and likes to... Read more
I’m ok. Honestly. I spent all day hanging out with my family, we went to a food truck for lunch. The girls have been begging me to try one since they started watching Food Truck Wars. We went to the hardware store. We came home and I napped and then Ben and I worked outside. It was a good day. I realize for some I must sound like a broken record, “woe is me, look at all I’ve been through!”... Read more
Today has been rough. My kids got up before 5:30 this morning, so I did, except I went to bed much later, crying. People can be ruthless on the internet. It doesn’t bother me when people who I don’t know take a swing at me, but the people I do know, like really thought I knew, well, that stings. Today I had a bunch to do and most of it never got done. I’m emotionally tapped, too exhausted to sleep,... Read more
I love picking titles! So much fun! This morning, I took the boundaries quiz on the Boundaries Book website. I know that I have trouble upholding my personal boundaries. So I took the quiz and…… I got a lousy 4! A 15-20 would have been ideal. Apparently, I have a lot of work to do! But what are Boundaries? Is this a life skill? Is it being a selfish jerk? Or simply alienating yourself? Dr. Henry Cloud (one of the authors)... Read more
For accidentally sleeping through my alarm and it not being a huge inconvenience. For last night’s nightmares not being real. For a working fridge, garbage bags to clean it out and cleaner to wipe it down. That I don’t throw up anymore when I clean the fridge. #HGaware For brooms that sweep the crumbs away. For finding granola bars your mother in law sent just as you realized you didn’t have any bread for breakfast. For a coffee maker that... Read more
Here we go again, a new week is upon us. For me, that means driving my kids to school, doctor visits, and gymnastics. It means more laundry, more dishes, more cooking and cleaning and therapy and reading my Bible. It means finding time to be alone with my favorite guy- all the while trying to find time to sleep. When I look at it all, I begin to feel suffocated, panicky, claustrophobic. Suddenly, I am scanning my life for an... Read more
Ah, yes. We knew it was going to happen. Zealous Christians treating bathroom drama with fire and brimstone. It really is a grand time to be a post-millennial. As these videos demonstrate, this kind of premeditated tantrum is not the best way to open the eyes of the hurt and needy to Christ’s mercy and grace. Shaming never has that effect on anyone. At best it makes the self-righteous congregate and validate their ridiculous pride. At worse, shaming stumbles children... Read more
Mere Breath
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