Common-sense grace for the try-hard girl
After the girls are in bed, I escape daily routines by reading a few pages of a book, sneaking a square of “mama’s-reserve” chocolate, drinking a glass of wine on the back porch, or watching The Office (Oh, Michael Scott, Best Boss Ever). It tastes sweet to step away from the ordinary, to create distance […]
My goal was set. I was a woman on a mission not to be messed with. The goal was to lose the baby weight as quickly as possible because those extra pounds were obsessively bothersome to me. So I developed a plan to meet my goal: exercise seven days a week and eat 1,000 calories […]
Some days I just mess it all up. I’m offended that my people don’t like the tacos I made Tuesday. I yell at the kids. I serve to curry your favor. I don’t see the blessings of dirty dishes and a floor to mop, I just see more and more that I have to do. […]
INSIDE: Being a mom is hard. Read on for four reasons that motherhood might be hard for you and where God meets you in the struggle. Being a mom is hard for me. When I played with dolls as a little girl, I wouldn’t pretend to be their mommy. Instead, I would place them in […]
“Here comes summer, Here comes summer, Chirping robin, budding rose Here comes summer, Here comes summer, Gentle showers, summer clothes. Here comes summer, Here comes summer— Whoosh—shiver—there it goes.” – Shel Silverstein’s Here Comes from A Light in the Attic In our neck of the woods, we’ve got six weeks left before the school bell […]
In the early 1980s, my in-laws made a decision that would forever impact my life—they enrolled their son in private school a year earlier than his peers. Fast-forward nine years, and freshman Jill Newman sees the cutest freshman boy she’s ever seen. I started dating that cute boy our senior year, and we got married […]
I overheard them yelling—two friends arguing, both in attack mode. In my elementary school mind, friendship meant playing together, sharing goodies, and working together on group projects. Aware of how fighting wounded hearts as I saw the two red faces before me, I made a vow: No one would ever hurt me as much as […]
Three little words: Cherish every moment. I wanted to know how these three little words made women feel, so I asked with the intent of writing a ranting post entitled, “Why I’m not going to cherish every moment.” As I sifted through all the Facebook comments, it was clear that this was a hot button […]
Exercise. After both girls, I worked out to get the baby weight off. And it was an obsession, which we all know are always bad. An obsession to look like I used to, to see a certain number on a scale, to meet the set goal. I pushed and became my own drill sergeant. And […]
Today, the girls and I went to the grocery store, which would be easy to view as an innocent errand… but that would be an incorrect assumption. The girls fought about who would steer the cart, who would pick out the fruit, who would put the sticker on the fruit, and who would put the […]
