In our family, the day after Thanksgiving officially marks the day we start decorating for and preparing for the Christmas season. After a cup of strongly brewed coffee, I set about the task of digging out the Christmas boxes from our garage. I unfolded our tree from its resting place. My husband helped me string […]
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On a random Wednesday last month, I was so excited to go to the San Diego Zoo BY MYSELF that I practically kicked my kindergartner and his big brother out of the car at school drop off. The San Diego Zoo is expansive and I couldn’t wait to meander, saunter, and amble my way through […]
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Over chips and salsa last month, a friend and I were bemoaning the fact that it’s just impossible to live our lives as ethically as we’d like. Every time we turn around, it seems like we are stepping on the rights of others or contributing to oppression and injustice. If I only buy fair trade […]
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Last week, we got a toy catalog in the mail from Amazon. It was just like the ads we used to get from Toys R Us, only this one was thicker and glossier. Inside the front cover, there was a card you could tear out labeled “My Holiday Wish List.” I smuggled it into our […]
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After a lifetime of going, the bravest thing I’ve ever done was to stay. My story starts with the bravery of my parents, when they left everything they knew in California to become lifelong missionaries in France. I was seven when we moved, oblivious to the fact that I should have felt some measure of […]
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My inner-16 year old made an appearance last Monday. I thought that I had left her behind, with all of her neediness and angst, but she followed me upstairs when I got home late from youth group. The house was dark and quiet as I crawled into bed beside my husband. My younger self wanted […]
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“The struggle is real,” they say, typically in response to some first world problem. The baby won’t go down for a nap.I can’t find a parking spot at Target.The kids won’t eat the dinner I made for them.I can’t decide between a pumpkin spice latte or a caramel apple cider. But what about the times […]
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As I was in the shower one day last week, Henry, my five year old, poked his head around the door. “Mommy? Where’s that empty box of cereal?” Uh oh. “I threw it away!” I said. “It’s in the dumpster now!” I couldn’t see his face from behind the shower curtain but I could hear […]
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When I was growing up in France, my grade school classmates could always be counted on to ask me one of two questions upon finding out that I was American: Do you eat hamburgers every day for lunch and dinner? Do you know Michael Jackson? Both questions were absurd enough to make me laugh! Of […]
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Sometimes, God talks to us in a burning bush, like he did with Moses, and sometimes he speaks to us through a still, small whisper as he did with Elijah. But how does God speak to us today? When we think about hearing from God, we might limit his voice to what we find in […]
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Sarah K. Butterfield 