Renewing

To those still with me after this past week, thank you. I’m truly sorry if I discouraged anyone, and I’m grateful for the thoughtful comments. Life is challenging enough without spending energy on peripheral conflicts. I feel like I’ve kicked a wasp’s nest, and there’s no undoing it. Normally, I really dislike conflict. It makes me very uncomfortable.... Read More

A Boy in the Tulip Patch

One evening last November, my husband and I shivered in the cold and in the glow of truck headlights as we caught up on the overdue task of planting bulbs. Bulb planting is an exercise in delayed gratification. This spring, it was worth it. It probably would have been worth it to trim the grass around the edges of the bed, too… but then, of course, it would just grow back.... Read More

Ruffling Feathers

It has been a fairly quiet few months around this blog, hasn’t it?! I’ve been fighting a deep exhaustion. I suppose that shouldn’t be surprising, considering all the changes we’ve made in the past year. While I’ve been buried in a dark cocoon lately, a few other metamorphoses have been brewing… When I was young, someone described me as “complacent”... Read More

An Update

In the last couple weeks I’ve: 1. Said goodbye to my sister-in-law. She went back to the city where she was living before she came to stay with us. We are very sad to see her go. 2. Made an awesome-tasting angel food cake with my sister. Pictures and recipe coming soon. 3. Watched Food Inc. and am pondering going all-natural, buying only organic, local food (except angel food... Read More

Psalm 86:5 Asking A God Who is Eager to Forgive

Mom sent me this reflection on Psalm 86:5. It goes so well with the Beth Moore Bible study on James that my sister-in-law and I (and many other women across the country) are doing at church. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” When I read my Bible this morning,... Read More

When Problems Seem Big…

Check out this picture. It’s a famous composite photograph, titled “The Pale Blue Dot,” taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. The speck of dust in the beam of light is the Earth. We are tinier than specks of dust. (Click here to read more or leave a comment on When Problems Seem Big…)  Read More

Learning to Receive

I introduced one of my husband’s younger sisters a week or so ago. We don’t know how long she’ll stay with us, but we’re glad for whatever time we have. One time, shortly after she came, she said, “Debbie, I don’t know how you handle all these little kids without help.” I don’t know, either. She’s really good with our kids,... Read More

The Planning Habit

Yesterday was a busy day. My resolve to post every day in January took a back seat to other things. They were good things, but I’ve discovered that, while it’s easy enough to write a post a day, it’s hard to write something worthwhile every day. Shouldn’t my entire life be about something worthwhile, every day? Since we moved last summer, I’ve felt... Read More

From Mom: Psalm 46 Revisited

Mom sent me this by email, and it was so encouraging that I asked her if I could post it. It’s a helpful meditation when things seem out of control and I’m tempted to scramble frantically. Thanks, Mom! A (Very) Loose Paraphrase of Psalm 46 We can depend on God to be real close when we’re having trouble. Even if the physical earth seems like it’s out of... Read More

On My Mind Today

I was surrounded by young kids (all mine, of course) a couple days ago. They were climbing on me, crowding me, asking me repeated questions, with one request piling on another before I had a chance to respond even to the first one. This wasn’t how I imagined parenting to be. Some days I’m a walking sermon on child spacing. In the middle of this, my husband called. He... Read More