Why Nature Is a Wellspring and Mainstay in My Children’s Days
My kids and I spend a lot of time outside. Nature has become a mainstay in our family life and has proven to be a wellspring of joy and countless educational op...
Category: Blog
Natures Role in Children’s Natural Development; My Memories and Theirs
I remember being six years old living in a log cabin on Texas acres. I remember sitting on the porch watching a lightning storm with my dad. And watching deer a...
Making the Most of Your Library While You Have Little Kids
So your child is interested in horses (or beetles or manta rays or castles). If you already read my post, Library Books and Rabbit Trails, you know how great a ...
Letters to My Children: Don’t Let Anything Dominate You
This letter to my son is part of the Letters to My Children series. Learn more about these letters here. October 2016 Son, As you grow into a man, you will navi...
Letters to My Children: Introduction
I keep a journal for each of my children where I write letters to them and prayers for them. Each child’s journal is unique outside and in. My hope is tha...
“Widows Need More Hugs.”
At my local women’s Bible study, an elderly widow stood up. In tears, she timidly let out a secret. “I miss my husband and nobody touches me anymore...
Story Time #5: Founding a Nonprofit Organization
This month, Love True launched its blog and invited me to join its crew of writers! For their first post, head blogger, Jackie, interviewed the founders (read R...
Snippets from Old Winter Posts
Sunrise is muffled by a pale veil, but the snowy ground glows. The scene framed by my window pane looks like spray paint on sidewalk chalk: The sky is three pas...
Linking Childhood Sexual Abuse to Sex Trafficking
Most people reading this article already know about and maybe even advocate for victims of sex trafficking. But many readers do not know about its correlation t...
Story Time #4: Mommas Care for Many Needs, But Who Cares for the Mommas?
My friend, Sue exemplifies the godly advice to “love the people in front of you.” Every week, she hosts a playgroup for over seven mommas and their toddlers. Su...
Shelve Fleshly Selfishness and Serve Unswervingly
Full of zeal, we may ask God to use us for some great purpose. “I’ll do anything,” we pray. But when the call to help a hurting neighbor is uncomfortably unpred...
God Does Not Hold Spontaneous Q&A Sessions
God does not hold spontaneous Q&A sessions. We shouldn’t procrastinate on prayer then dial in with awkward unfamiliarity asking for quick advice on a ...
Patient Giver vs. Snappy Grouch
Sometimes Colossians 3:12 hits me over the head. I missed my quiet time this morning and was not exactly tender-hearted toward my children when they swarmed me ...
Panicking Like A Hebrew
Patience is virtue that babies have yet to cultivate. Especially hungry ones. When I lift my son from his bed he wiggles all over with excitement. “I̵...
One Thousand Gifts V
Inside the back cover my journals, I grow a list of little things I am thankful for. I started the habit after reading Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gi...
Snippets from Favorite Autumn Posts
I’m lamenting autumn’s pending ending. Especially this year, possibly the last of six beautiful years in New England where colorful hills spread lik...
Beat Poverty Before It Starts; Help an Orphan Aging Out of Foster Care
One quarter of the 400,000 children in the foster care system are waiting to be adopted. One quarter of those adoptable youth will not be adopted; rather they w...
Labor on Labor Day: Birth Story
The good thing about titling a post as a “birth story” is only people interested in birth stories will read it. That’s your warning. But don’t worry I won’t str...
Story Time #3: Addressing Forced Prostitution of Local Youth- the Efforts of Love True
Many of us, when we think of sex trafficking, picture Thailand or Moldova, not New Jersey. The truth is that the sex trade is big business here in the United St...
Spiritual Highs and Lows, God-sent or Self-induced?
As a youth, I experienced spikes in spiritual zeal after retreats, mission trips and concerts. Then I’d fizzle out like a flat Coke a week or few later. My peer...
God’s Visions Are Promises
When I discover a noteworthy truth, I like to paraphrase it and write myself into it. The exercise helps me swallow the passage and critically apply its lesson....
Story Time #3: Hosting a Noonday Collection Trunk Show
Hosting a Noonday Collection trunk show is one great way to make a twofold difference! As Christians, we are called to seek justice by helping the poor, the opp...
Story Time #1: Making Room for a Homeless Teen
Ted Haynes, current campaign chair of the Tulsa Area United Way, encourages staff, volunteers and donors by telling his story. Well, it isn’t his story. I...
How I Made Bible Reading and Prayer a Daily Habit
I can believe something without knowing it. For years sermons and accountability meetings nudged me to make Bible study a priority and I believed them, but I di...
So You Want to Change the World. Does Your Journey Look like Mine?
I remember finding out about human trafficking and the orphan crisis all in one Sunday. In the months following, I attended local awareness events and scoured t...
Savoring the Last Snow. Hopes.
Funny how I yearly lament autumn’s pending ending yet the first snow brings joy. I never settle into winter, as long as it lasts, I wait wait for it to en...
Of Faith and Finances: Encouragement for Founders of Nonprofit Organizations
To the start-up starter uppers out there willing to work years as full-time unpaid staff because you are committed to a calling bigger than yourself, can I (alo...
Lessons in Compassion for Kids at Christmas Time
Now that I have a preschooler, that degree in Curriculum Development and Instruction is leaking into my parenting. Today I considered how I could incorporate ch...
With Blinds Wide Open. On Living Candidly
Every summer day, I stare over my sink at my neighbor’s garden shaded by four four-story oaks and surrounded by eclectically painted houses. Beautiful. From my ...