The sunlight teased in and out of the treetops and fell like drops onto the dirt pathway we carefully navigated along. My son gently placed the stones he had painted just thirty minutes prior into my hands — both of the stones covered in a rainbow of polka dots. Rainbows mean a lot to me, and I smiled proudly at his good taste. Gathered with ...
I see the nice dad, sitting on the big gym floor with the first graders. I’m sitting on the floor too -- both of us helping kids unpack their lunches and juices. The dad and I are volunteer chaperones, helping a hard-working, first grade teacher wrangle twenty-two, excited, tiny children on a field trip downtown to see a play. The dad’s son is in ...
Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people. Colossians 3:23 (CSB) If I’d never worked in advertising (or fundraising or publishing), I might think it was a little unrealistic. All the promotions and projects on the line at the holidays in our favorite Hallmark and Lifetime movies seem like a made-up ...
Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces ...
I was bouncing my baby girl on my hip and grasping for my son’s hand, as moms often do when trying to have grown-up conversations in public. I was trying my best to engage at an informal meet and greet with other Christian parents. We were going around the circle, introducing ourselves, and when it was my turn, all I could manage to say was, “Hi! ...
Help. I don’t know how I’m going to do this. I shot off the 9-1-1 text to one of my closest friends. I'd just returned home from a work trip, and I had only thirty-six hours at home before leaving again for another. Laundry needed to be done, the suitcase re-packed, not to mention children, a husband, and a house in desperate need of TLC. And ...
Mary was treasuring up all of these things in her heart and meditating on them. Luke 2:19 (CSB) I was in seventh-grade homeroom when she approached me with a smirk. "What brand are your jeans?" she asked. "Where did you get them?" Those jeans were my best-kept secret, my "please-make-me-cool" prayer. My mom and I were thrilled when we found ...
This sentiment orbits around me. The childhood trauma of my parents’ divorce acts as its gravitational pull. In the breakup of their marriage, my mom was awarded primary custody of my brother and me, my dad was given significant visitation rights, and nine-year old me inherited this false messaging: “You are disposable!” No one actually said ...
“Come cuddle with me,” she asked, her arms still looped around my neck. I complied. How could I not? It was the end of her second day of kindergarten, and as I tucked my little girl under the covers, I sensed the tiredness in her voice. It had been a long day for her after a long work trip for me, on the heels of a long summer for us all. “Of ...
Before the USAF moved our family to the Rocky Mountain town of Colorado Springs, we were stationed in the tropical islands of Hawaii. I still remember landing at the small island airport for the first time, walking hand-in-hand with my four-year-old daughter towards baggage claim. I was exhausted after the long flight and terribly nervous about ...
