A box of pink polka dot paper products sits in my guestroom closet alongside a bag of Mickey Mouse ears. Matching Etsy printables remain unopened in an email inbox folder. A carefully curated note is bookmarked on my iPhone, ready to have items checked off. But with new restrictions coming out each day because of… Continue reading Holding Plans with Open Hands
I think that God gives moms selective memory when it comes to pregnancy. We remember the sweet baby showers, the thudding heartbeat on the ultrasound, the feeling when the doctor first puts your baby in your arms. What you don’t remember is the absolute chaos your body was in for forty weeks. As I finally… Continue reading The Pain of Anticipation
A couple months ago, we took my daughter to the movie theater to see The Lion King remake. It was very nostalgic for me and my parents because The Lion King was my first movie to see in theaters as a child. I was so excited, and from the moment the sun rose on the… Continue reading I Have This Hope
Recently I was talking with a small group of women at my church, and one woman confessed some doubts she was having about her salvation. It’s a stressful time in her life, and she was struggling to believe that she was really saved. As she shared, I began to recognize lies from the Enemy that… Continue reading Fight the Feeling
The anxiety has been around long before the hashtag, but the trending #FOMO has brought to light a hidden worry—the fear of missing out. It’s what keeps us glued to our phones, constantly refreshing feeds. It’s why we have devices strapped to our wrists that alert us as soon as new information is available. It’s… Continue reading The Blessing of Missed Opportunities
Today is the one-year anniversary of moving into our home in Birmingham. Now, that doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but this past year has been a huge transition. In July 2018, within a two-week span, 1) we moved into our first home (in a new city!), 2) I quit my full-time job… Continue reading 3 Things I’ve learned in a Year of Transition
We were so excited to finally announce last week that we are adopting! But as we begin this journey, we want to be honest about the hard part—the fear of the unknowns. How long will we have to wait? What will our relationship with the birth mother be like? Will we have a failed match?… Continue reading Dipping our Toes in the Jordan
I’m a planner. I spent way too much money on my planner notebook, but I use it every day (maybe even every hour). One of my favorite ways to plan is to look at something in the future (for example, a party or a vacation) and to work my way backwards to create small tasks… Continue reading A Prayer for Daily Grace
Sometimes prayer is hard. It seems like it shouldn’t be. The Lord’s Prayer appears so simple. Yet time and time again I find myself lost in prayer. What should I pray for? How do I pray? What are the “magic” words to make it work? And maybe it would be easier if the outcomes of… Continue reading Prayer in the Mundane
Every month or so I’ll read another blog post that gives wives a list of ways she can pray for her husband. Many of these are very good resources, and I eagerly begin to add them to my prayer journal. But I recently realized that, though I had good intentions, my heart was not always… Continue reading How not to pray for your husband
The Dwelling Word 