Babies, Brownies and Blessings

It was a summer without sports for the boys. Definitely not a popular decision given BigBoy happens to rock lacrosse these days. Being 5'10" and athletically inclined at 12 years old has it's perks. Wonder which side of the family that came from??? How does one come to and stick with the decision to keep a kiddo out of a sport they love and excel at? It's amazing how hard the decision is, even at these really young ages. Even when it's temporary. Here's the scene that launched the decision: Day 2 of an out-of-town-tournament to top off 3 months of running around 3-4 nights a week to get one or two kids to their sports. It's hot. Melting-the-spikes-on-their-cleats hot. You can see the heat wafting from the turf. The boys are playing hard and parents are getting unruly on the sidelines. Parents are yelling to their sons to "get" the kids on the other team. "Push him down, get ON him" Enter expletives. Sitting there, watc...

Dear Young Wife, I hope you are still caught up in the wonder and excitement of being Mrs. So-n-So. I hope you still wake up eager to sip some coffee with your man. I hope you can't wait to be enveloped in his arms when he comes home each day. I hope you still see his good heart, his God-given strength, his sacrifice and his love for you. I hope you haven't gotten caught up in the extras of life and started not noticing or even longing for the ways he usually makes your eyes light up and your heart come alive. If you're married and none of my stated hopes are your reality, don't be discouraged. Life and work and family and busyness are notorious for making us miss each other's hearts. Can I offer some bits of hope and a few suggestions? These were not things I came up with on my own. God put some books, people, teachings and desires in my heart that taught me how to love my husband better. Some taught me not to compare, others reminded me that growth takes...

Ok, I agree the title is a bit dramatic...this isn't quite a miracle EXCEPT that I accidentally created a really good InstantPot soup recipe! Have I mentioned I'm not a stellar cook? (unless hotdish counts!) I'm also not much of a soup girl although as I'm aging  getting older I have found I'm starting to like it. Is it because my taste buds are dying? Or that I'm usually cold? Whatever the reason, soup sounded great today. Pinterest offered me several suggestions but they were mostly slow cooker recipes and I must confess, I am never prepared enough to put together a meal in the morning before work. Kudos to those of you who do, I have so much respect for your ability to plan ahead! I'm working on that... A recipe caught my eye for Slow Cooker Crack Potato Soup  but it was going to take 8 hours. 8 hours! It was 5pm, I only had an hour...time for the InstantPot! I looked through the ingredients and made a few adaptions to make it Instapot-frie...

We all have stories about dental visits. Having a mouthful of teeth that required tons of work, I'm grateful for the experts in this area. I wouldn't be able to work in people's mouths all day so kudos to you dental professionals! I can imagine it's hard being the "dreaded" spot of someone's day...especially when all you're doing is helping! As a kid, the only option we seemed to have for sedation/numbing was nitrous oxide. Most likely that was because we all hated needles so the idea of numbing with a syringe-ful of novocaine stuck into the gum was absolutely out. The whole experience was one of bright lights, ceiling tiles, a walk-man, funny smelling gas, drilling, water, sucking, grinding, pushing, the shadowy form of a white-haired man and unfortunately, pain. My cavities were always huge (well water and no preventive dentist insurance PLUS the massive amounts of chewy candy i consumed as a child, right Mom??) so the process took forever an...

In our kitchen hangs a chalkboard. We put it up with the intent of writing daily or weekly Scripture verses on it so the kids could get familiar with the Word of God, or to write down the house rules...whichever is needed the most at the time! ;) As I was erasing the chalkboard today I noticed something: The words didn't completely erase. The color had wiped off but the words were still noticeable in the right light. The Scripture I had erased were the following verses: Everyone will have to give account of the day of judgement for every careless and unkind word they have spoken. For by your words you will be found innocent and by your words you will be found guilty. Matt. 12:36-37 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matt. 12:34b   The irony of the shadow of those words wasn't lost on me and it felt like God was showing me the impact of the words we speak. Once a word leaves our mouths, we can't ta...

Admittedly, I avoid hard plenty in my life. From spending more time in the drive-thru to avoid taking 3 wild ones in for a bagel, to skipping elective school or sporting activities, there are things in life that just "aren't worth it". But raising kids requires me to reframe the idea of "too hard" and remember that I'm growing young adults who will eventually be part of the work force and God-willing, parents themselves! So at times it's important to see the good in the hard and push into those growth opportunities. I can think of many times in the last 15-20 years that myself or my husband have felt like it's not worth the hard. Sometimes we were right, and sometimes the hard found us anyway. The reward at the end of a hard experience is unlike those that are achieved with ease. The sweat of your brow really does reinforce the value of an experience and turns that hard-earned lesson into wisdom. From marriage to parenting, difficulty has...

When you walk into an NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), there are a few things that beg your attention. Ding ding ding, ding ding , coming from any number of rooms at a given time. The numerous bell-like sounds echoing down the hallway, each one a little different. The drum of intentional footsteps of NICU personnel heading briskly to their destination. Phones ringing, the occasional baby's cry, the white noise-like sound of a nasal cannula, the hum of a ventilator, the sound that resembles a steam engine coming from a room where a special ventilator giving 600 breaths a minute is chugging away. Beeping of feeding pumps and IV pumps. To the trained ear, each of these noises means something. You can tell a lot by how quickly the footsteps are coming down the hallway or how frequently the monitor alarms are going off in the room next door. The IV pump that intermittently beeps registers in the back of your mind that the nurse has been administering multiple ...