Over Thanksgiving weekend we all got up crazy early, not to engage in Black Friday shopping, but to drive my son many miles away to a Thanksgiving soccer tournament. Such a practice was not …
A New Twist on the Advent Calendar: Celebrating as a Family
Most of my life I've lived in places where the passage of time was marked by the changing of the seasons. As the weather grew warmer and wetter, I would look forward to the flowers and lengthening …
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A Real-Life Proverbs 31 Woman
Last week I received the sudden news that my grandmother was gone. It’s hard to explain to those who didn’t know her what a shock it was to hear of her death, since she was almost 91. My grandma …
Digital Detox: Four Ways to Stay Unplugged at Home
My last post was about our week away from technology at my husband's family cabin and how much we appreciated the silence and a change to do a little bit of digital detox. And then we came back …
Are You (And Your Kids) Looking for Silence?
A couple of weeks ago, I was on carpool duty for summer camp. So I had my 7-year-old son, my 4-year-old son, and then two spare 7-year old boys in the back of my car as we drove to pirate camp. One, …
The Love Lives of Navy SEALs and Why It’s So Hard to Write in the Summer
For those of you who think that fiction writers just make it all up, I'd love to tell you about my friend Michelle Ule! She is always researching fascinating subjects--everything from Navy SEALs to …
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The Joy of Parenting
I've seen A LOT of Shamu shows. Living as we do in San Diego, we often find ourselves stopping in at Sea World to feed the seals and sea lions, check out the sharks, and of course, see the …
Five Tips for Flying with Small Children
We live in San Diego, and my parents live in the St. Louis area, so ever since I became a mom, I’ve racked up quite a few frequent flier miles just going back and forth. We even fly up to visit my …
Your Own Personal Stylist (for way cheap)
My latest book, Mom Seeks God, came out in April and it's been an amazing wild ride. Busy and fun and yes, a little bit stressful. I had a dream the other night that my publisher called me and …
Three Goals for a Simpler Summer
School ended on Friday, and we are now officially on summer vacation, as my 4-year-old keeps excitedly reminding us. We celebrated with a family trip to the drive-in to see How To Train Your …
Why Writing about My Family Makes Me a Better Mom
I recently saw the new movie Mom’s Night Out and loved it. Very funny and a great expression of what so many moms struggle with—the meaning of all the stuff we do, the way we feel that we’re not very …
A Story Unfinished
Matt Mooney's powerful book A Story Unfinished: 99 Days with Eliot is the kind of book parents like me don't really want to read. It's blunt and honest and covers ground most of us don't even want to …
Moving Past “Good Enough”
Last month the first grade project was building a diorama to display an animal of the student's choice. My son came home all fired up to get started, and after I got him a shoebox, he pretty much went …
MOM SEEKS GOD Kindle HDX Giveaway & “Moms’ May Day” Facebook Party with @JuliaLRoller
Mom Seeks God is my latest book, in which I share my own story about seeking to reconnect with God after becoming a mom. As thankful as I was to be blessed with a baby boy, the early days of …
MOM SEEKS GOD Kindle HDX Giveaway & “Moms’ May Day” Facebook Party with @JuliaLRollerRead More
Two Gifts of Praying with Children
It's Good Friday today, and my church has a beautiful tradition of a prayer vigil that begins after the Maundy Thursday service and continues through the night until the Good Friday service at noon. …
More God, Less of Everything Else
As I've been talking to groups and traveling around a bit to promote Mom Seeks God, I've been struck by the hunger I'm seeing for spiritual practice, for connection with God. Yet at the same time, I …
Mom Seeks God
Are you a mom like me? Terrified of breaking your brand-new precious baby? Finding yourself, despite all the warnings, staggered by the dramatic shift from pre-baby to post-baby life? Are …
Everything Is Awesome
We went to see The Lego Movie at the drive-in a few weeks ago. Popcorn, Reese's Pieces, beanbags and blankets in the back of the car--it was a sublime evening. The whole way home, …
Five Ways to Reduce Paper Clutter
(Even for the chronically disorganized) One of the biggest domestic challenges for me is keeping on top of the reams of paper that want to enter my house each and every day. The mail, the …
A Less than Perfect (but Peaceful) Advent
Our house is a mess. Not only have we not gotten our Christmas decorations up, we're still putting away pumpkins, turkeys, and pilgrims. We've …
