grace on difficult days

Everybody has rough days.  Hard days.  Painful days.  Difficult days.
It’s one of the things every human has in common, isn’t it?  It’s easy to become myopic on these days.
Lately I’ve been trying to recognize what God’s grace looks like in my life on these difficult days.  Intellectually I know that God’s grace may very well [...]

a great vacation and lots of pics

We recently vacationed for three nights and four days up at MN’s beautiful North Shore!  We stayed in Lutsen and had the best time!  (Doing my best not to sound like a travel brochure and failing miserably..)
Our first stop on the four hour drive North was in Duluth at the Amazing Grace Cafe.  It was [...]

a provocative reality for parents

Apart from their own sin nature, it’s almost certain that I will be the single biggest influence of sin in my children’s lives.
What do you think?  Do you own that?
Here’s why I own that and continue parenting with boldness(instead of throwing in the towel in hopelessness): Christ and His work on the Cross makes all [...]

the lynchpin of deep, lasting friendship: commitment.

Think of your closest and oldest friend.
How is that you are still friends with that person after years and years of life changes, moves, babies, marriages, conflicts, sin, and intrusions?  Or maybe a better question is: do you have a friend with which you’ve experienced a range of life and disagreements and have still maintained [...]

note to self: be a drop-out.

I sporadically participate in a competitive world of comparisons.
Note to self: drop out.
This is a plague for moms of every stripe.  Especially young moms with young kids (I think anyway, but who knows maybe it infects the moms with older kids too).
It’s as simple as seeing another child do well at something and, instead of [...]

what have I gotten myself into?!!

Well, as most of you know, I’m now an “official” homeschool mom.

Whoa.
Even though I’m very familiar with homeschooling and know lots and lots (and lots!) of people who do it, I still feel very intimidated by the task and frequently question our decision to homeschool.

And, if you know me at all, you know that [...]

it’s the old old story

I never grow tired of the Gospel. Not only has it forever changed my life and transformed who I am, it continues to be a balm in every circumstance.
This is what true Christians believe, and yes, it is foolishness, but to those of us who believe it is the power of God and the [...]

taking on the terrific 2’s!

Elianna turned two on Friday.
We are so thankful for her life!  And to commemorate the event, here’s a little reminder of her life this past year.
The top ten things of Elianna’s year as a 1-year-old (from her mother’s perspective):
1) You speak!  In sentences, even!  (Sometimes anyway..)  Your vocabulary is exploding and I only wish we [...]

autumn resolutions

I’ll let Pastor John say it better than I could:
“God approves of New Year’s resolutions. And mid-year, and three-quarters-year, and monthly, and weekly, and daily resolutions. Any and all resolutions for good have God’s approval—if we resolve by faith in Jesus.
I would like to encourage you to make some autumn resolutions. Socrates said, “The unexamined [...]

a pox on your house

A pox on our house, really.
Eliza has the chicken pox.  And yes, she had the vaccines, which is making this a very mild case (as opposed to the sometimes life-threatening cases that children used to be faced with).
So I’m thankful for the vaccine and hoping the other kids avoid it altogether.
I thought about posting pictures [...]