It was in every single book and blog post I was reading. From the the Mahaney ladies’ 5 AM Club in Shopping for Time to Anne Ortlund committing to meet with God in the wee morning hours in Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman. I knew I needed to get up earlier—to meet with God, to…
I want to get beyond just the surface in my relationships. It’s easier to discuss general ideas than my ideas. It’s easier to talk about other people than my life. It’s easier to say “fine” than “struggling” when asked, “How are you?” But I want to get beyond the general to the specific. Beyond the…
The FlyLady says to get dressed to your lace-up shoes when you start your day. Others like to step into their pumps to stop the frumps. Me? I’d be a barefoot-in-the-kitchen kind of girl—except for our concrete floor. I’d be a wear-my-comfy-foot-shaped-Keens-for-housework-each-day kind of girl—except that I like to be able to easily slip into…
A mid-sized board book with fun, illustrations, Night Night Blessings by Amy Parker is a great way to teach your children to thank God for their blessings each night as they go to bed. Written as a prayer, it thanks God “for the blessings You give from ‘Good morning!’ to ‘Night night.’” My girls loved…
“There’s more to life than increasing it’s speed.” Little ones grow up. The seasons race by. I’m learning lately the importance of living in the moment, not living in the next item on my to-do list. So I set my timer for the unimportant things. I race through them to get on to that which…
Because the only way to conquer the tyranny of the urgent is to do the next thing… From an old English parsonage down by the sea, There came in the twilight a message to me; Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven, Hath, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven. And all through the doors,…
Sometimes I think it’s the rain and the clouds that get to me. Sometimes I know it’s the lack of sleep. Too often it’s the overdose of sugar and caffeine. And naturally, that huge pile of laundry and the overflowing counter of dishes has nothing to do with it. But some days, I just don’t…
It’s the thing I do in my head when my hands are busy. It’s what I do when I have five spare minutes put together. It’s the job I dream of being able to devote hours to. It’s what reading inspires me to do. It’s the thing I want to somehow find more time in…
The pictures are positively charming, capturing the essence of the autumn season in bright, cheerful tones. The theme is A Pumpkin Prayer of thanks—for the wind and the leaves and family and friends and all the colors that autumn brings. My girls particularly appreciated the page with the little mice sitting on an ear of…
Every mom knows you have to take advantage of naptime. And in our house, we still have two naptimes per day. Not everyone necessarily falls asleep in the morning, but it’s quiet rest time—and that’s my power hour. (Afternoon naptime is my own version of rest time: writing time!) Getting things accomplished during naptime has…
I made a comment on Facebook about getting distracted on social media: “Note to self: I get more done if I stay off social media in the midst of the work day, and just skim it at night.” And though I know it wasn’t the first time my friend Carolyn had shared that piece of…
The ordinary, everyday brings me to tears sometimes with its very routine-ness. The over and again, rinse and repeat, wake up and do it all over again laundry and dishes and what to eat. The toys that will always get strewn everywhere and be tripped over. And the girlish joyful exuberance that will wake a…
The End.
The End.
