I started out last year with grand plans to keep track of every cent we spent. I kept every receipt and faithfully separated out items and figured totals in each budget category in Microsoft Money all the way through…March. By the time December rolled around, I was just about to throw away my overflowing folder…
I grew up with a little divided bank—there were three little spots for giving, saving, and “fun”, and one big spot for “goal money.” But my thrifty young self put a label over the “10% savings” and turned it into “10% goal”, allotting the 70% for savings. (The savings label has long fallen off, but…
It’s a story about a farmer and his family, making it an instant hit in our house. This particular farmer, like ours, grows a lot of things on his farm. But unlike our farmer, he also grows Christmas trees! The Pine Tree Parable is a sweet tale with cute pictures. On each page you see…
Dear Grama, You always find the perfect gifts to welcome in each season of the year, be it Easter or Autumn or Christmas. And it was no exception when we saw you earlier this month. You know how we girls love our aprons. And you found the most adorable Christmas aprons for all three of…
We know Christmas is on the way when Lorrie starts reading the stories each Sunday. Each week, she has another story of a little shoe box and the life it touched in a big way. Each week, we realize that the simple things we take for granted could mean the world to a child around…
Two-year-old Mary Kate beats us to the punch: “Not. Tided.” she announces with punctuated finality. “Tided” of course is “tired”. And she’s most definitely not “tided”, since rubbing the eyes, fussing, whining, and nearly falling asleep at the table are all not signs of being “tided.” I’ll be the first to admit that I’m tided,…
I’m a farmer’s wife. Our days are anything but predictable. He might be home at 11:45 a.m. ready for lunch. But some days, it’s 3 p.m. And when I have dinner ready early, he’s late and unable to call. When I assume he won’t be home until 15 or 20 minutes until after he could…
“Instead of never finding enough time for God in the midst of everything else, I had to work everything else around God.” –Holly Pierlot in A Mother’s Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul, page 18 In reading A Mother’s Rule of Life, I was again convicted…
It takes time to intercede for others in prayer before the father, and prayerwalking allows for that time. Intercession is an essential ministry, not a last-minute, last-ditch effort of casually throwing things in God’s lap. Prayerwalking is not an easy way to “take care of prayer” while you get good exercise. it is a call…
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…
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…
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…
The End.
The End.
