life. faithful.

  it seems like little girls are slammed with 2 basic pictures of what a woman should be: 1. the supermodel this is the woman with the perfect body and perfect clothes. she is poised and always put together, the woman who is never seen looking less than her best. this is the one who can also be the high powered executive, but only if she is in a "woman's field" like fashion. if she has kids they are equally as beautiful and they travel to exotic places during school breaks. she never has a bad hair day or or a bad idea--every plan she makes comes to fruition. 2. the supermom this is the woman who has the perfect home. she always has freshly baked goodies sitting on a silver tray right next to the fresh coffee. she always looks just right, not too sexy or too frumpy. her kids are perfectly behaved and perfectly dressed. she bakes, roasts, and sautes with ease. she sews, knits, and makes window treatments. her home is always spotless and you could eat off of any s...

"a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" (i have to admit, when i first read this verse you couldn't convince me that this didn't mean that a brother was born for arguments. but i digress...) as the message puts it,  "friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble." (proverbs 17:17) a friend loves. not "puts up with" or "likes you most of the time"-- loves. i've been blessed with some amazing friends in my life, friends who, despite the years and miles between us, i love and who i know love me. one of those friends, this redhead over here---> is having a birthday today! we don't get to spend a whole lot of time together (very little, to be honest--we're lucky to see each other every couple of years, something that needs to change...), but when we do get together it's like we haven't been apart.   a friend loves at all time...

i've had this topic in my head for quite a while, but it wasn't until just today that it made it's way to my heart. mother's day may seem like quite a while away still, but it's really just two and a half weeks. okay, so maybe that is still quite a while, but my plan right now is to spend the next couple of weeks talking about the proverbs 31 woman. now, those of you who know me (or have read just about any of my posts on here) know that my plans are extremely likely to change... for the time being, though, that's the plan! confession time: i just decided that this would be the topic for the next few posts, so i really don't have anything worth writing right now. you know those books or movies that are incredibly annoying because they exist for no other reason than to set up whatever is coming next? well, this is essentially one of those... so that it's not totally pointless, though, i'm posting the verses i'll be writing about (fo...

i read this blog today that made me stop and think. we've all heard the verse, "be still, and know that I am God!" (psalm 46:10a) wouldn't that be great, to be able to just be still for a while? it makes me think of a lazy day spent at the lake, doing nothing but soaking up the sun and listening to the water lapping on the shore... of the times i spent laying on the hay bales in pop's hay shed, my dog teddy right beside me... of curling up on a snowy day with a great book and a cup of coffee (especially with my new addiction, york peppermint patty creamer. yum!)... of the sunset on my parents' farm... the thing is, after reading the verses leading up to verse 10, i'm not sure that was the idea the psalmist had: God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. so we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. let the oceans roar and foam. let the mountains tremble as the wa...

"real writers don't write for recognition. they don't do it for fame, accolades, or notoriety. they do it because they cannot not write. by their gifts and under the authority of a higher calling, they are compelled to create . to wonder. to dream. to express." ~"the writer's manifesto" by jeff goins i don't usually read self-made ebooks, but this one intrigued me. i've read a couple of his blog posts that i really liked, and the ebook was free (big plus), so i figured i would give it a shot. it is a 44-page pdf with just a couple of sentences on each page (the quote above takes up 2 pages), and basically it is him challenging writers to return to writing just for the love of writing. i used to love to write. everything. anything. i filled notebooks on a regular basis, and i wasn't worried about what i was writing. anything was a great excuse to write: i got distracted easily if i tried to pray silently and it ju...

this morning when i put raiden's clothes out for school, i laid a pair of socks on top. i could only find one tennis shoe, though (a common problem around our house), so i grabbed her sandals. after she got dressed, she started to put her shoes on. i told here she didn't need the socks since she was going to wear sandals. her reaction? bottom lip sticks out. she starts and huffing and pouting, whining that she wants to wear socks. okay--easy solution. i grab a different pair of shoes, a pair she can wear with socks. my easy solution, though, doesn't work for her. she doesn't want those shoes. she wants the little white sandals. looking back, this probably should have been one of those "pick your battles" moments. i probably should have just let her wear socks with the strappy white sandals. she is, after all, only in preschool. in the long run, it wouldn't have mattered. but come on--socks with little white sandals? really? (just as an a...

one thing i love is thunderstorms. i love the smell, the sound, the view from the front porch. don't get me wrong, i'm not saying i love huge storms that include lots of hail, massive winds, and damage. but, a spring storm? one with a few flashes of lightning in the sky and big rumbles? those are great, and that's the sort of storm that came through our neck of the woods on sunday. while the kids were napping, nathan and i stepped out onto the front porch to watch the storm (isn't it great that i have a husband who likes all the strange things i do?). we had been standing out there for a little while when conan woke up and came sleepily out of his room. "i want pa!" he whined, so nathan scooped him up and stepped back outside. conan watched the rain, but then there was a flash of lightning. conan didn't mind the flash. it was still light outside, so the lightning really didn't seem that intense. it was pretty close, though, so the rumble th...