My word of the year in 2020 was “savor.” It made sense in January, in my rushed and busy-doing-good life to slow down enough to savor the small, good things of my day. And then March happened and the world shut down. All four of us were sick and we lounged around the house, resting, […]
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December is the longest month for kids. The anticipation of Christmas morning, of finally tearing into all those pretty packages under the tree has them wishing they could fast forward the days. Instead, the first thing my boys do when they come downstairs in the morning is to flip the numbered blocks on their homemade […]
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One of my favorite parts of this season is waking up before anyone else, and coming downstairs to be greeted by the glow of the Christmas tree. I sit across from it in my darkened living room and admire the halo of colored lights as I sip my coffee. The morning is new. The day […]
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Growing up as a missionary kid in France had its perks, and the local bakery (or boulangerie) was one of them. Bread is a staple in French culture, and each town or village boasted at least one boulangerie. Its primary purpose was to provide a variety of freshly baked breads, for which the locals shopped […]
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We walked single file, careful not to trip over any rocks as we made our way up the hill. Our two boys ran ahead, then stopped at a fork in the path. We made a right, past a patch of wild buckwheat and up onto a ledge. From there, we looked out over the valley […]
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Advent is my favorite part of the liturgical year. I didn’t grow up in a church tradition that followed the liturgical calendar, and for years I associated Advent with a countdown to Christmas. But as I’ve discovered in my adulthood, Advent is so much more than a piece of chocolate every day. Rather, it’s an […]
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A Guest Post by Emily Sue Allen I show up at the sink to an insurmountable pile of dishes. Nothing is scraped. Nothing is sorted. My frustratingly miniscule counter space is overrun with remnants of our previous two meals—room-temp food, wadded up napkins between plates, stray silverware, and pans that need to be soaked. I […]
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“I did not sign up for this,” I muttered as I cleaned the puddle and scrubbed the tile under the kitty litter box with bleach. I remember the day, 13 years ago now, when our cat Mowgli came crashing out of the woods and into our arms while we were walking through the Michigan countryside. […]
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My six year old son recently stumbled upon a miniature notebook. He was delighted to discover that it was brand new, and even more thrilled when I told him he could keep it. He grabbed a red marker and wrote “Henry” on the front. “What are you going to use it for?” I asked him, […]
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One Sunday not too long ago, our family packed up our canopy tent and our beach chairs and headed out to the park on the bay. Loaded down with our picnic and our fishing gear, we set up near the water while our two boys zoomed around on their scooters. After lunch, my six year […]
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