24 hours of silent retreat. . . It was part of my very first weeklong residency for the Renovare Institute, a two-year program in spiritual formation I began this fall. I'd eagerly anticipated the …
Solitude or Loneliness?
It's almost time for school to begin for my three children, and as much as I will miss the lazy days of summer, part of me can't wait to have the house to myself again. My eight-year-old daughter …
Is Reading Bad for You?
I have always been a reader. In first grade I got caught hiding a novel behind my math book. (In retrospect, that moment was quite accurate foreshadowing of my academic future.) I was infamous in …
What Do You Want Your Home to Be?
I'm fascinated by the Danish concept of hygge, especially at this time of year. Hygge (pronounced, as near as I can tell, HYOO-gah) is a bit of a complex idea, but I like to think of it as being …
How to Rest (And Why You Need to)
When my kids were really small, I used to dream about spending a night alone in a hotel. With a big bed all to myself, in which I could sleep for as long as I wanted. Nothing sounded as appealing or …
Friendship for the Rest of Us
Our country, apparently, is lonely. More than one-fifth of Americans report often or always feeling lonely or socially isolated. As a Christian, I see it this way: God made us to be in community. I …
A Surprising Way to Reduce Anxiety
(Especially When You're Crazy Busy) The end of the school year is just nuts. Band concerts, graduations, open houses, baseball playoffs, soccer tournaments, award ceremonies, end-of-year banquets, …
Wasting Time
Moms tend to be preoccupied with time. Or more precisely, with time management. The moms in the MOPS group I coordinate ask for a time management speaker every semester, worried by the way the days …
When Mom Is Sick…
It should have been a mother's dream. As I lay in my bed with a book, I could hear my husband starting dinner preparations and marshaling the kids into peeling shrimp, chopping vegetables, and setting …
In Defense of Gift-Giving
Last week my 7-year-old daughter made a sign, "Don't come in, Luke and Ben!" (Luke and Ben are her brothers), hung it on my door, and disappeared inside my bedroom to wrap Christmas presents, emerging …
You Don’t Have to Do It All. Nor Should You.
The night before the first day of school I was lying in the bathtub, indulging in a minor panic attack about all the things I needed to do before everyone headed out in the morning. Someone knocked …
How Not to Be a Crazy Sports Parent
It's been an intense spring with all three kids playing on various baseball teams. Many a Saturday afternoon has seen me scurrying around local fields with one team baseball cap on my head and two …
How to Do Nothing
All three of my kids are now in school (!) and so sometimes I really look forward to Monday mornings, when I can finally GET THINGS DONE. Anyone else relate? Recently, I had a week planned where I was …
It’s Fine: Keeping Christmas Meaningful and Manageable
All of a sudden it's November, that runaway train season of the year where time hurtles uncontrollably toward Christmas. Every year it's the same for me. I feel slightly confused by the Christmas …
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First Days and New Beginnings
It was a big first day of school for my three kids this year--kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grade. Three different schools, three different start times. I thought I'd gotten up early enough, …
My Trick to Banish Anxiety
At times in the past year it seemed like we would all be here in this house, occasionally seeing other people in the yard, forever, and that didn't seem like an entirely bad thing. Life had a peculiar …
Where You Find Yourself
In December 2019, I was talking with my spiritual director about the following fall. For the first time in almost 14 years, I would have no children at home. I thought I was excited about all the time …
Organizing Your Paperwork
It’s a new year and I’m celebrating with a new look to my website! The people over at Stormhill Media and I have been working on this for months and I’m so excited by the results. Can’t wait to hear …
Making the Most of Your Family Time
It’s official: online-only school in the fall for all three of my children. So we’ll be spending even more time together. Yay? We’ve had an awful lot of togetherness since this pandemic …
God is in Charge
Over the past few weeks of sheltering in place, I've... Caught my four-year-old daughter using roughly 40 sheets of toilet paper and LOST MY MIND... Found a forgotten half-full package of flour on …
