How God transforms our trash into his treasure

October 2, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

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 […]

How do you know God?

September 25, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

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 […]

How to listen for God

September 18, 2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

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 […]

How to be present in your everyday life

September 11, 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

Do you ever make pretend comments? My husband and I have a shorthand saying for when we feel that the other person isn’t truly listening to us. One person will be telling a story — maybe something that happened with the kids or at work — and the other person has their mind elsewhere and […]

Keeping memories, keeping faith: why you should document your days

September 4, 2019.Reading time 8 minutes.

It was fun, at first. Hundreds of pictures are stacked in piles and lined up in chronological order: the highlights of 2018 spread before me. My gold striped picture album lay open, and the coordinating scrapbook paper is standing at the ready. I’d missed papercrafting and so I dove right in, arranging pictures, writing a […]

Excitement and anxiety: on new beginnings

August 28, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

It’s the fresh start of a new school year. Last week, we caught a whiff of new beginnings as we milled about the school for Meet the Teacher night. It smelled of fresh paint, rubber blacktop, and dry erase markers. The nervous excitement among the Kindergarten parents was mirrored back to us by the Kindergarten […]

3 reasons why it’s worth traveling with kids

August 21, 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

I’ve heard it said that when you’re traveling with young kids, it’s best to call it a “trip” instead of a “vacation.” Parenting is parenting even when you’re in Hawaii or on an African safari. If you’ve booked a vacation somewhere and you are bringing your kids along, don’t expect to be swinging leisurely in […]