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.
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…]
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…]
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…]
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…]
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…]
“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…]
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…]
*Quick note to my readers: This is the last Beauty in the Mess post that will be published publicly. From here on out, all Beauty in the Mess posts will be password protected. The password will be available to my weekly and monthly newsletter subscribers. So if you haven’t yet subscribed, feel free to do … [Read more…]
I saw my counsellor yesterday, and she kept telling me how far I’ve come in the last year. She encouraged me to keep counting my blessings and thinking on the things that are true, lovely, and beautiful (Philippians 4:8). I’m conflicted about how to move forward with this monthly-ish series. Because it’s so important for … [Read more…]
The last six weeks have been full…in the best of ways. I was very scared when Ezra graduated from inpatient therapy that the transition for our family would be overwhelming. But it hasn’t been. It’s been okay. It really has. The first week was the hardest, I think. For me, mostly. I had to adjust … [Read more…]