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encouraging mom

Review: Free of Me by Sharon Hodde Miller

Everywhere you look, you see them:  people who are obsessed with themselves.  To be honest, we see such a person when we look in the mirror as well. We all are self-centered, at least to some degree, and our individualistic, on-display culture aggravates this natural tendency. But, as Rick Warren famously said, “It’s not about […]

Three Foundational Goals for 2018, and One More

In the wee hours of this morning, eating a banana in the dark while watching the moon, Jupiter, and Mars creep through the bare branches of our basswood tree, I thought of Psalm 8.  When David admired the night sky, probably while out with his sheep, he asked, “What is man that you are mindful […]

Review: Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins

I wrote and scheduled this review a while ago.  Since then another one of my children has moved out.  Growing up and becoming independent are good and necessary things, but even under the most ideal circumstances they cause turmoil for us mothers.  And when are circumstances ever ideal in this broken world?  So I reread […]

Planting in Hope:  1480 Crocus Bulbs

For years, decades even, I’ve dreamed of a lawn covered with crocuses in the spring. It’s like painting with flowers, God’s colors and textures. This spring I mentioned my dream several times and my dear children caught the dream, too.  Together they gave me 1000 crocus bulbs.  Now that we are planting them, it turns […]

Noticing God’s World Around Us

So often we rush about our busy lives, not seeing the wonders God has created to help us know and praise him.  So often we are too busy, busy, busy to pay attention to God in either his Word or his world. A teacher friend of mine asked her students to take a fall photo […]