Beauty in the Mess

In the fall of 2012 when I transferred my blog to Wordpress.com, I felt like God was defining my niche and my tagline. My life is messy, and the longer I live, the more I realize how difficult and messy life can be. But I have also realized what wonderful opportunity exists for God to make beauty out of that mess, as He promises to in Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He hath made everything beautiful in his time. This is a blog series where I count God’s blessing in my life and the gifts He has given me.

Still Messy…Still Beautiful {the rebrand that’s not really a rebrand}

April 8, 2019 by Aprille 2 Comments

But isn’t that the point, really? Because you can brand a website, but you can’t brand your life. You can create a style sheet for your blog, but you can’t create a style sheet for your kids. They are gonna be who they are and do what they are going to do, regardless of the perfect plans you have for them. Because God knows what He’s doing way more than we do. And He’s making something beautiful out of our messy life. Beautiful…messy…motherhood…marriage…faith…life. It’s still messy. It’s still beautiful. Beautiful…in His time. That’s what it’s always been. That’s what it will always be.

I cleaned the play room today: here’s what I realized about my boys

February 23, 2019 by Aprille 1 Comment

Every once in a blue moon, the boys’ play room needs a good cleaning. It’s the kind of things where kids need to not be present. Momma needs a chance to sort through juice box straw wrappers and annoying little toys that serve no purpose. She needs to throw broken car track pieces and partially-torn … [Read more…]

2018 in review: just a year we were capable of more

January 2, 2019 by Aprille 1 Comment

Can I be honest with you all for a second? I’ve been a little bit annoyed with the New Year hubbub the last week. People sharing their #topnine photos, sharing resolutions, sharing what they are looking forward to…blah blah blah. I started to wonder if I could boycott the New Year. I’m not even really … [Read more…]

How to catch your breath when life is a whirlwind

March 24, 2017 by Aprille 3 Comments

I’ve been wanting – no, needing – to write a blog post about current life happenings for a few weeks now. But I kept putting it off, because…where do I start? Year so far {RECAP}: I started out 2017 with lots of goals, a few (failed) resolutions, and plans to lose 30 pounds. Instead, I had … [Read more…]

When the Christmas spirit is no longer broken and joy is less of a choice

December 18, 2016 by Aprille 1 Comment

I sat down to work on our yearly Christmas e-mail this past Wednesday. Three hours later I was still typing and formatting. I got done and was completely overwhelmed and undone. December has already been so full. Just. So. Full. Of. Goodness. Sunday two weeks ago, we joined a Sunday School class that is discussing … [Read more…]

This is how we survived the summer

September 1, 2016 by Aprille 1 Comment

At the beginning of the summer, I wrote a blog post about Summer Survival. In that post, I talked about the pull of the romanticized notion of letting kids be bored during the summer – the idyllic 1970s summer that people these days seem so fond of trying to recreate. I also talked about how … [Read more…]

Morning Messes and Beautiful Life

July 18, 2016 by Aprille Leave a Comment

“The boys are both still asleep! You wanna get up and have morning coffee with me?” My sleepy brain tries to wrap itself around the paradoxical words as I roll over in bed to view my half-dressed husband grinning tenderly at me. “No. I just need more sleep. I was up a lot with the … [Read more…]

What America Means to this Veteran’s Family

July 3, 2016 by Aprille 2 Comments

As I write this, I am in the backseat of our minivan on the way home from our family’s 4th of July Summer vacation. For now, everyone is behaving. My heart is full, but I am unsure quite where to begin. Every patriotic holiday evokes emotion for us, but Independence Day is the happiest. It is … [Read more…]