Go Ahead: Give a Gift To YOUR Grinch! {You know who she is!}

Giving says more about the character of the  giver than it does about the character of the recipient. This Christmas, why not buy a little something for “THAT” person…you know…the one who is hard to love. The one who is unlovely, the one who is …

I Can’t Do Everything, But I Can Do Something

Do you ever feel like you are not qualified to do what you are supposed to do in life? Do you believe that God qualifies the called vs. “calling the qualified”? Sometimes God gives me opportunities and I tend to think “Not me! I can’t. …

Sticker Shock Craziness and the Voices In My Head

Today, I walked into a Stride Rite store to get my eight year old a pair of shoes. I don’t know if I am totally out of touch, but, seriously? Sixty dollars for kids shoes? My kids are the fidgity type. I do dress them …

When You Find Yourself Hurting {Instead of Merry} at Christmas

The radio blares “Have yourself a merry little Christmas,” but what do you do when the holidays are a day of dread for you? You see happy families all around you and start to sink in despair. Maybe getting together with your family is right …

All I Want for Christmas!!

We are all so excited around here. And here’s why. (See pic below. :)) YUP. My oldest will be home in a few short hours for Christmas. SQUEEEE!!! I have a big pot of beef soup simmering on the stove, along with a nice heavy …

Getting Ready for Christmas

So, my oldest daughter comes home for Christmas in TWO days. My youngest two girls made two advent chains. One to count down the days until Bek returns, and a separate one for Christmas. Our tree is not up yet, because we are waiting to do …

Saved By Grace, Only to Live To Ourselves?

Yesterday, I said it. I told you I was tired of the misuse of the word grace. We looked at an example of a mother giving her children instruction before she went out. Her little pharisee responded one way and her little prodigal responded another. …

Do You Ever Tire of the Word “Grace”?

Do you ever tire of the word grace? I have to admit, I do. I tire of people telling me that we should give our kids grace, or that we are free to do as we please because we are all under grace. I hesitate …

Are You Better or Bitter?

What started out as a phone call for prayer, advice and comfort, ended up leaving me so encouraged this week! A much younger than I am sister-in-Christ called me for help. Her husband is in the ministry and they are having multi-faceted problems. (Where there …

Do Unto Others…Even When You Disagree

I was disheartened yesterday by a Christian blog post that I came across, where one way of parenting was held as “the way” and all other ways were suspect. If you disagreed, your parenting was cold, neglectful, selfish, dangerous, etc… All of this judgement over one way of …