I was supposed to be on a mission trip last week.
With the exception of the two summers I was on maternity leave, this is the first time since 2003 that I haven’t spent my summers leading mission trips.
Mission trips are – for so many junior...
This week has broken me.
George Floyd.
The protests.
The looting.
The pandemic.
It’s left me feeling exhausted.
And I’m someone who knows what exhaustion feels like.
I’ve felt the complete and utter exhaustion that defines a first trimester...
Pre-kids, my husband and I frequently took vacations centered around backpacking. Nature centered and anchored us. In nature, we felt closer to God and each other.
After having Hope, we frequented the Morton Arboretum. But as Hope got older,...
Dear John –
You don’t know me, but your books have sat on my shelf long enough that I like to think of you as a friend so I‘ll call you by your first time.
Your book, 12 Ordinary Men, was hugely influential in my understanding of the apostles and...
November 10.
It was my due date the first time I was pregnant. Only I never made it that far. Shortly after finding out I was pregnant, I miscarried and my world shattered.
Even now, nearly four years later, I still grieve that day. More often...
Today, I'm linking up with Kate Motaung's Five Minute Friday. The rules: Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
This week's prompt: Protect
My pregnancy was fraught with complications.
After nearly...
At a recent conference, I attended a workshop where, among other things, the presenter made the case for using gender-neutral pronouns to teach children and youth about God.
This is a debate that rages in a lot of circles. People fear that if we...
Baby girl turns one on Sunday, a milestone which has left me feeling nostalgic. There's so much I want to capture about this first year; things I fear I will forget in a year in which scrapbooking has fallen by the wayside.
During my pregnancy, I...
My teens care deeply about issues that affect the marginalized in society. They long to make sense of what their faith says about such things and wrestle with how they can make a difference in regard to these issues. To that end, my student...
Eight weeks ago, I had a baby girl, Hope.
My pregnancy was wrought with all kinds of trouble and fear.
As a female youth worker, one of my early fears was how my church would react to the news.
I hoped it would be unashamedly excited for me,...