As an early Christmas gift this year, Tim and I decided to give my parents a family photoshoot while they were in town earlier this month. It was our first time doing an outdoor photo session with Allie – and the first time all five of us had nice pictures taken together. Our friend Karis, from Karis Truman Photography, took our photos and we were thrilled with how they turned out. In the process, we learned a few tricks about getting great shots with a toddler!
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I have four phrases of hope. I’ve collected them over the last five years since I went through burnout and subsequent recovery. They carry me through the tough moments when I feel like life is too relentless and I can’t catch a break. They help me regain perspective and keep me from hyperventilating. I guess I would call them my life-lines.
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Becoming a parent has made me more compassionate toward God. It might sound strange, but that’s the change I’ve noticed in me. Prior to having a child, there were many times when I would ask, “How could you do this, God?” I would think that He was being mean or not paying attention. I would question His intentions. I still wonder what He’s up to sometimes. But my perspective has changed. I give Him the benefit of the doubt more often now. I know that there’s more on the table than my personal happiness.
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In July 2006, I was thoroughly struggling with being single. I had no clue at that time that by November of that year, I would be dating Tim. I only knew that at the age of 25, I deeply desired to be married and seemingly had no prospects on the horizon. I took a personal retreat that summer and one afternoon I had this vision. I wrote it in my journal and it carried me forward into the days ahead. I want to share it with our readers today.Read More
“As the people stood in the distance, Moses entered into the
deep darkness where God was.” (Exodus 20:21, NLT)
When I was 27 years old, I walked into the darkest time of my life. I didn’t know at the time that in this darkness I would also meet God.
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Dear post-baby body,
To everyone else in the world, you probably look pretty much the same as you did three years ago, before pregnancy and childbirth ran their course. But you’ve changed. We both know it. I didn’t mind the changes so much during the first year of motherhood when breastfeeding melted off the pounds and moved me up a bra size, but now that the baby is weaned and things are back to “normal,” it’s quite a different story.
“Give me one good reason to have a child,” two of my friends recently asked me on separate occasions. Each had been married for about two years and were now thinking about whether or not to start a family. They could come up with many reasons not to have kids: the cost, the declining condition of our planet, the total life upheaval and the loss of personal freedom among others. But they weren’t so sure about reasons for having a child.Read More