Family

Birthdays and Celebrations

On Monday, we will celebrate five years with our daughter. There’s something about four-year-old preschool that feels so old, isn’t there? She has started to read the world around her, picking out sight words, familiar signs, and even surprises herself reading new words. It feels like it’s happening too fast! As we joined with friends …

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Waiting for the Center

Last night was the darkest night, the most time we will go without light for the whole year. Each day from here on out, we will gain just a little more light each day. Isn’t it interesting that we start gaining more light just as the Light of the World is about to come? As …

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Black Friday Joys

This year, we spent Black Friday at Dollywood. Our oldest two have been many times. Sam and I had been before, but never together. The youngest three had never been to any kind of theme park. Throughout the day, I found myself smiling and laughing so much that my cheeks hurt, watching a four-year-old experience …

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Toddling Grief

Today marks two years living without you here living among us. Like a toddler, my grief rides a roller coaster of emotions – The pure delight of memories filled with fun and celebration. The intense anger at how unfair it is to have to put on shoes and go on as if life continues. The …

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On Ten Years Together

Ten years ago, it wasn’t just a wedding, It was the birth of our family. Our hopes and dreams, nestled within our more rested minds and our fluttering hearts. And now, ten years later with less rest more mini humans more pets those dreams have come true.

When Milestones Sneak In

Just a couple of days ago, our four-year-old announced it was time for her first haircut. It’s not as though we haven’t asked if she wanted a haircut. She was fiercely determined that she would not have her haircut until she her five-year-old birthday even as she tagged along to her brother’s routine haircuts. And …

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Voicemails and Memories

I got the dreaded “mailbox is full” notification yesterday morning. Between Spring Break and Holy Week, I had let some phone messages pile up and was slowly working my way through those voicemails. In an attempt to get back on track, I scrolled through. my voicemails to see if there were any I could automatically …

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Moving With Grief

This past year of ministry has been walking close to grief both personally and as I walk with so many people grieving the loss of loved ones, the loss of plans, and the loss of the way we lived before COVID. Although it may sound like a year filled with sadness, it has actually been …

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It’s Tradition!

In the Fall, we always go apple picking on a Friday afternoon. We go to the same apple orchard, take a picture by the same photo op with the cute measurement, and on the tractors by the barn. We get apple cider and apple donuts, a kind of salute to cooler weather and the beginning …

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