Last summer, I spent each suffocating quarantine morning squeezing my pregnant body into a bright blue lawn chair. Like the rest of the pandemic experience, it was miserable, but I made do. Yet as soon as I caught the scent of changing seasons this past March, I drove to a local outdoor store and bought… Continue reading A View from My Front Porch
Strawberry picking signals the beginning of spring each year for our family. I off the the dirt road, now muddy after a morning shower, and my daughter races to pick out her white bucket. It’s still cool enough for me to wear a cardigan, but after thirty minutes, I begin to sweat while squatting to… Continue reading Taste and See
My daughter chatters and slurps her yogurt and honey at the breakfast table while I feed rice cereal to my son in his highchair. She narrates her favorite parts of the new Disney movie we watched last weekend, Raya and the Last Dragon, and raises her voice and spoon for dramatic effect. I’m half listening,… Continue reading Tiny Discipleship
One rainy Monday morning, frustrated tears slid down my two-year-old daughter's cheeks before we even made it out of the bedroom. I coaxed her sobbing body into the kitchen, still insisting she wanted Play-Doh not breakfast, but she slumped to the floor seeing the waffles I made. Already exhausted from the morning's conflicts, I conceded… Continue reading The Better Parent
I hate the ten minutes at the beginning of a road trip. As soon as the garage door closes and our car pulls out of the driveway, my mind takes off. Did I get my phone charger? Watch charger? Laptop charger? I can’t remember if I fed the cats. Wait, are the cats accidentally locked… Continue reading Remember the Flowers
There’s a widget on my iPhone home screen reminding me how fast time flies. Each day it displays pictures reminding me what memories I was making months and years before. One month ago. My seven-month-old son gnawing on an Easter egg while his big sister hunts for eggs scattered through our yard. One year ago.… Continue reading Little by Little
There’s never a quiet moment in my house. I wash dishes while listening to my daughter sing her memory verses. I grade assignments while Daniel Tiger plays in the background. I write this to the soundtrack of my son’s white noise machine broadcasting through the baby monitor. Even when there’s a quiet moment, I often… Continue reading A Month without Podcasts
My husband was in the thick of studying for his licensure exam, and at eight months pregnant, I was in no condition to keep up with our yard’s summer growth. We were contemplating hiring a neighborhood teen to tame the jungle around our house when my dad volunteered to come over one day to help… Continue reading Spring is Back
For four years, we hosted weekly dinner parties with friends in our tiny newlywed apartment. What we lacked in space, we made up for in homemade dinners and a large board game collection. Two or three couples would squeeze around our hand-me-down table eating lasagna and playing Settlers of Catan. Some of our sweetest friendships… Continue reading Gray Toy Baskets
My senior year of high school I received acceptance letters to my top two college choices. Both offered decent scholarships. Both were reputable liberal arts universities that excelled in my chosen major. Both had great on-campus activities and surrounding environment. One was close to family, and one was a few hours away. Yet instead of… Continue reading A Cloud in the Sky
