A few years ago, an incredible exhibit came to the New Children’s Museum here in San Diego. One part treehouse, one part labyrinth, it’s called The Wonder Sound and it was designed by Wes Bruce. When my boys and I first stumbled upon it, my eyes widened in delight. The structure is full of whimsy, […]
Read More
Shrink it and pink it! This has been a common strategy in marketing campaigns geared towards women over the years. It has backfired on a number of occasions, most notably in Bic’s pink and purple pens “for her” which were 70% more expensive than their non-gendered pens.* The pink and purple pens elicited many snarky […]
Read More
Jesus’ disciples were a lot like moms: exhausted and constantly surrounded by needy people. As I read the story of the feeding of the five thousand last week, I saw what was happening behind the scenes instead of the typical flannel graph telling of the miracle. Jesus had just sent out his twelve disciples two […]
Read More
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, […]
Read More
Every year, it never fails to seduce me: that shiny new planner with all the extra pages for goal setting and notes. The colorful, felt-tip pens. The bright stickers. The pretty planner supplies call my name, beckoning me to open my wallet, because this year, this planner is going to be the magic bullet that […]
Read More
Everyone is doing it and I can’t help but join in! Today, I’m adding my own list of favorite books I’ve read this year. I’m amazed that I read 70 books this year, and narrowing down my top three in each category was brutal. In fact, I had to add some honorable mentions and some […]
Read More
There’s a dangerous myth in Christian culture that can effect our health and well-being. Maybe you’ve seen it floating around in one of its many disguises, but it boils down to this: Self-care is selfish. Moms are especially prone to believing this lie. We are supposed to be masters at setting aside our own needs […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
“So, are these two extra kids mine now?” She gestured to a five year-old splashing water in the shallow end of the pool and his little sister toddling dangerously close to the edge without a swim vest. Meanwhile, her own three year-old played with pool toys on a towel nearby. “I don’t know,” I told […]
Read More
“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. […]
Read More
Sarah K. Butterfield 