I have no memories of my mother playing with me as a child. She read to me a lot, we went on outings together, and we cooked together on occasion. But I can’t remember actually playing together, and I think most of my friends would say the same things about their mothers. Recently, I’ve become aware of what a huge contrast this is to my own parenting style. Since I have only one child, it’s not surprising that I spend {Read More}
I’m in the throes of children’s consignment sale season over here. I’m furiously going through my basement and closets, ironing, hanging and tagging. During the mundane task of ironing, my brain tends to wander. “What are you going to do for Lent?” I generally have a million lofty goals for Lent, and end up being about 10% successful. This year, I’m setting my sights for more reasonable achievements, and hope to clean my house in the process. It stands to {Read More}
Winter can be a really tough season for moms of young kids. I myself spend most of the winter indoors, because I have a very narrow (i.e. wimpy) temperature range that I can tolerate for any length of time. While I miss the outdoors and the warmer weather (warm weather, not hot!), I personally don’t struggle too much in the winter. I love being home, and getting out for errands, activities and my part-time job is enough to keep me {Read More}
My husband told me during date night last night that the reason he wants to consult is only to make enough money to move to the Mediterranean with his trophy wife… Besides the fact that after 3 kids I consider myself pretty far-flung from a trophy wife (although I adore his playful compliment), there is something so enticing, simple and poetic about that dream. If only it could be true. And yet, there is something biblical about that dream. There {Read More}
If you are in a particularly sensitive hormonal place today, which is perfectly acceptable and understood in this community, now may be the time to stop reading because ladies, I’ve got news for you: it’s time to grow up. Whether you’re approaching 20, 30, 40 or 50, if you have a job, if you have or have had a marriage, if you have a family, if you’ve voted, if you have a mortgage, if you have a credit card, if {Read More}
“I’m sorry. Perhaps I heard you wrong,” said the customer service representative on the other end of the phone line. “I thought you said you wanted to cancel all cable services.” Oh no, he heard me correctly. We officially cut the cord to cable television about a month ago. What I envisioned to be extremely difficult ended up being just what God intended. During Lent last year, we fasted from many things as a family. While we didn’t give up {Read More}
“First World Problem” is a term I’ve been hearing a lot lately. When I hear it, my gut reaction is to feel embarrassed, guilty, superficial, you name it. By first-world standards, I live a fairly modest life. But by third-world standards I’m wealthy and don’t have much to complain about. I acknowledge that relatively speaking, it is a privilege to have first-world problems. There are people in third-world countries whose daily mission is to get enough calories to make it {Read More}
Why is it so easy to focus on the struggles in my life? Sometimes it seems as if what we have is never enough. I spend hours fussing over our monthly budget, wondering where else we can stretch a dollar. Don’t get me wrong; we aren’t below the national poverty level or anything. We manage our money and do just fine with what we have. My husband and I completed Financial Peace University almost two years ago, a program put {Read More}
