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 […]
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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 […]
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Before I became a mother, if someone would have told me that having a baby changes the way you relate to God, I would have scoffed. I’ve always been a creature of habit, and I still envisioned that my quiet time would stay unchanged after my baby was born. I could not foresee the sleepless […]
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Many years ago, I had a summer job as a night nanny for newborn triplets. The parents hired me to help with night feedings so one of them could sleep! Two girls and a boy… these were this couple’s only children. I remember one morning, in the moments just as the sun was beginning to […]
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It had been a long day. I was still unpacking from a family trip, catching up on laundry and groceries, and doing all the things. I sat down on the couch after dinner, content to let my two boys watch an NBA playoff game with my husband. I had just draped my favorite blanket over […]
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We shuffled forward, inch by inch, until we were at the front of the line. A short man in a black suit jacket called us to his register. While the boys played under and around the counter, the man issued us our hotel keys. I took in my surroundings, marveling at the ornate lobby in […]
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Over sixteen years ago, one of my husband’s buddies gave us a wedding gift. It was a cream colored quilted blanket with a fringe, the kind you drape over your couch and grab to keep your toes warm on a winter night. I was impressed by the gift, but he laughed and said his mom […]
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My sister had a baby on Saturday – a girl! She lives on the other side of the country and it will be a few months before I can visit. In the meantime, I’m soaking up all the baby pictures she sends me and reminiscing about that wonderful-terrible time right after bringing the baby home: […]
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It was a regular Wednesday afternoon, and my two boys, then four and five, were jumping on opposite sides of the couch. I was standing at the sink, about to warn them about jumping into each other and getting hurt, when my oldest stopped and hollered over to me. “Hey Mommy! What are you going […]
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I believe that sharing our stories is a powerful thing. It’s why I write. It’s why I keep journals and memory books for my kids. And it’s why I was so excited to learn about the Hope & Reason course from Elise Hurd!* Elise is a mom of six who spent ten years developing this […]
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Sarah K. Butterfield 