In the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter, children receive their Hogwarts Acceptance Letters at the old age of 11… so naturally, we celebrated Colby’s 11th birthday with an epic Harry Potter party. (Unintended side effect: Now all the kids want a Harry Potter party this year!) The party began with wands and sorting… but …
Jack, our 10 year old, is absolutely obsessed with Mario right now. When it was time to plan his party, the question wasn’t what the theme would be… but how we could make a Mario birthday party theme work on our limited budget. After all, we take birthday parties pretty seriously around here! Fortunately, Jack is a …
“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.”Proverbs 31:10 For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be like that incredible, virtuous Proverbs 31 woman. I’ve read those verses over and over again, marveling at this superwoman and trying to figure out how she did all these great things… but I’m learning that the answer …
“There are moments that I wish could last forever. If only I could tuck some of these precious memories away into a box, to recall and relive at a moment’s notice… The moments I’d save wouldn’t be big ones. They are the little things that mean so much but pass away so soon. The way …
I was suddenly, vividly awake. The early morning light filtered in through the windows. The entire house was still and quiet and beautiful. It was as though I heard a whisper: “Come, see what I have created for you.” With all the eagerness of a child on Christmas morning, I dressed and snatched my notebook …
He handed over the nine newly-stamped VIP passes and reminded me that our status meant we didn’t have to wait in lines, we didn’t have to worry about arriving at a certain time and that they would make space for us even if the room was already full when we arrived. I smiled, thanked him …
“You’re the best, Mom.” The relief in my young son’s voice was completely disarming to me as cleaned up yet another “accident.” I was a lot of things at that particular moment – angry, impatient, irritated – but I was not the best. Not by a long shot. It’s so discouraging to do the same tasks over and over …
Compassionate service is a subject that is very near and dear to my heart. As I thought about what I could possibly say to all of you today, I realized that you probably don’t need yet another person to stand up here and tell you that “compassionate service is good and you should do it.” …
I’ve spent most of my life trying to be ‘perfect.’ I thought if I could just figure out how to get it all right, how to live up to everyone else’s expectations, that I could be happy and worry-free. I was wrong. I spent 25 years trying to force my life to fit underneath the glass …
The last few months have been crazy around here. I have been working on several big projects and I didn’t even have time to cook! After a few months without any home-cooked goodness, I decided that my family deserved something special. So this month, there’s no experimental recipes… Just our very, very, very favorite dinners. Even my …