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It's the end of June, and our windows are open. After a string of endless rainy days, sopping and muddy, the sun--our knight in shining armor--emerged without its normal end-of-June heat. And so, the windows are open. My daughter has been asleep for awhile, my husband is riding his bike through the glory of a Minnesota summer's evening, and I sit listening to the clock tick, the birds talk, the cars hum. The background noises of life which I usually drown out with music or a podcast or a babbling toddler demand their attention now, greedy backup singers stealing their solos. Last night I spent time with some newer ladies in my life, none of which had kids. I was relieved to find myself able to relate to childless peers as most of my current friends have children who tend to dominate our conversations. We talked of refugees and politics and international students in Mankato. We talked of life plans and I actually enjoyed not lamenting the current 2-1 nap transition we are curr
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Lenten Laments

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I'm sure not many Christians read Leviticus to kick off their Lenten season but that's unfortunately where my Bible plan has plopped me, without much end in sight as I'm plowing straight through Numbers and Deuteronomy next; I haven't counted ahead (perhaps out of denial) but I'm sure I'll read something about not boiling a goat in its mother's milk on Easter Sunday and I'm just letting ya'll know right now I will not have the mental fortitude to write a resurrection spin on it. Maybe that's what I'll tell people I'm giving up for Lent--a carefully-crafted reading plan. I should do something to start gathering my scattered heart in preparation for Easter Sunday, but it doesn't help that this is easily my least favorite time of year. Winter hangs on aggressively (especially here up North) and spring only is able to squeeze out little hints of life as it wages war with the cold and also my sanity. How is one supposed to get in the
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Sabbath Thoughts

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We've been trying to be more intentional about taking days of rest (Sabbaths) on Saturdays because of the rhythms of work & rest we see biblically. So today we took our first Sabbath day of 2018. Taking a day of rest with a one year-old is challenging which is perhaps the exact reason we should be taking a day of rest. Rest days are easy without kids. But with kids, rest must be intentional, planned, and creative. Today that looked like most of our food intake coming straight from the ground to remind us of our reliance upon the ground God has given us. It looked like letting the Christmas decorations stay up for one more day. It looked like reading 12 chapters of Genesis during my daughter's nap and grasping the gravity of Joseph's story a little more. It looked like sending my husband off for a bike ride and it was a promise to look at our phones less. I took the Enneagram test and I'm a 4. I'm not proud of everything about our day: Our dau
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Jacob's Daughter

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No name Just "Samaritan woman" Approached by a well by an odd man At an odd time: no one is supposed to be here right now, right now, when her shame forced her to draw water alone But shame was no match for the Living Water that baptized the isolated whore, raised her into prophetess, evangelist, beloved. "our Father Jacob," she said, but did she see? Jacob's wife was found at the well, and Isaac's too. Two matriarchs, fountain-heads of descendents, carriers of promise, approached the well and left betrothed and grafted into a covenant. Those women came and offered water, but you came and received it. Do you see, nameless Samaritan woman? You have left the well just as your mothers did: betrothed, dignified, grafted in, chosen. thirst quenched. A new mother to the many who believed your testimony A new matriarch for a new covenant. A new Bride to God himself.
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November has descended upon our small town in Minnesota, and the giddiness in my soul is hard to conceal. While the instagrammers praise October and its royal majesty, something about the subtle weight of glory that befalls November; the purple-grey clouds casting a periwinkle hue to the world, the trees--half of them wrangled-out branches abandoned by their leaves while the rest retain their bright October garb, woos my heart most. Even the days when the clouds clear seem to pass as one long sunset and I realize that's the best way to describe November: a sunset, the denouement of the year where the conflict has ended and the world begins to turn in, shut down, tie together its loose ends. As if the weight of a finished narrative is hanging in the lavender clouds and the air carries the burden of the year's story like our minds carry characters long after the last page of a novel. November: let us reminisce, dance in your sunset, inhale the delight of your Creator from the
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The bedroom walls locked me into my own shame, that pit of dread in my stomach, the burning on my cheeks. It was time to confess, I knew, time to fess up to this crime I'd kept burdened in my throat for months in hopes that the shame would dissipate but alas, it had only reverberated more deeply in my soul, and I could no longer bear it. I walked out into the garage where I knew my mother was, and I cringed as I tasted the bitter truth roll past my tongue: I cheated in library class to get a piece of candy . Mom reacted graciously despite the immensity of the crime, though looking back I am imagining the subtle smile my mother likely tried to hide as she reassured me she already knew, that my 2nd grade teacher had told her, and that she'd deemed my punishment in class enough. This library incident was no doubt the apex of rebellion for me. Good Girl blood flowed in my veins; God forbid I make any waves, upset anyone, and my Christian upbringing provided the perfect
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It used to be that every day was this experience I felt I could have blogged about, if I had the time. College came with fiery emotions and cynicism and tears and dreams of the life I thought I wanted. But life settles after marrying and especially after a baby, and it feels like each day isn't the adventure it once was. Sometimes a whole week feels like one long day, sometimes the answers and the tidy conclusions just don't present themselves as they once did.  It doesn't help that I've been avoiding turning this space into a MomBlog because most of the things I'm currently learning are things ALL THE MOMS have already shared. They're trite and make all the non-moms roll their eyes, and I just currently have nothing new to present in that area. So, what is this space supposed to be, then? In an effort to elevate my walk with the Lord and not lose my identity in Him, my goal is to write more often, to devote this to processing my thoughts with the Lord
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