Family
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moreHow to Breathe Through the Hard Times
On Tuesday, January 22 nd, 2013They were born the same week. Both of them, days apart, two miracle years ago this week. My scribbly little book and her loveliest little person. And my sister had said to me, said into the phone, during early labor — “Tell me I can do this.” And I wait for her to breathe heavy through the mother wave crest...
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more5 Things You Need to Know Before You Begin Your 2nd Term of Life
On Monday, January 21 st, 2013It felt like the second term to her. Her 39 and him about 40, and the first half over, now the beginning of the second. Or of the end — depending how you looked at it. You don’t get to make up most of your story. That’s what she thought at the stove over eggs, over all the cracked and broken things. ...
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moreHow to Keep in Time with God
On Monday, January 14 th, 2013There wasn’t a morning that she didn’t flick off her bedroom light and find it right there on the edge of the table outside their bedroom door. One round vitamin C that he’d leave out for her, before he went to the barn and his udder-dripping sows. Like he thought she could just take it and keep the day from being infected with grief. Like there was a way to i...
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moreHow to Be the Parent You Want to Be: 40 Things Every Child Must Know Before They Leave Home
On Friday, January 11 th, 2013Dear Son — You have to know how your unfolding from me was a miracle. That’s the miraculous thing about miracles – they really do happen. How is it in this crazy, holy world does a girl-woman bear a boy-child? How does she raise a squalling boy-child into a man? What can a woman know about raising a man? And this the thing: there’s only so much t...
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moreChange the Prepositions in Your Life & You Change Your Life
On Thursday, January 03 rd, 2013The morning after Christmas, what I want most is to forget the saran-wraped left over turkey in the fridge and the pine needles tinkling Charlie Brown-like off the mantle, and just run away. Just high tail it out of Dodge and mid-life and strangling regrets and the centri...
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morePt. 1: How to Begin New Habits {Free Daily Planner}
On Wednesday, January 02 nd, 2013When we read this book , there’s this character that just goes ahead and puts on her “habit.” Shalom pats my shoulder and asks, “What’s a habit?” The amaryllis on the sill, it’s swelling in hope. And I tell Shalom this: a habit is something that is worn. She flickers recognition, nods, turns back to the page. She waits for me to read th...
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more2012: A Year in Photos {and 7 Links for 2013}
On Saturday, December 29 th, 2012From calendar page to calendar page, the moments are our lives and the years are blinks. {just a few photos from the farm and 2012:} ...
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moreFirst Up: A Christmas Podcast over at Desiring God
On Wednesday, December 19 th, 2012Because I’m with you, friend, wanting nothing more this year than this: Christmas is not something we wrap up, but a Person whom we unwrap... So! Let’s do Just. That. — you & me both. Three posts today… yes, three because who can contain the comforting joy of Christmas? First up this morning: The grace-filled folks at Desiring God h...
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moreWhat to do With a Broken Heart this Christmas
On Friday, December 14 th, 2012That one doctor thought it was a bit of a miracle before they even cracked open the chest and cut a way at his heart. Because who in the world figures out you’ve got a tumor plugging up an entire cavernous heart chamber when you’re blithely driving kids to hockey on Tuesday night and fine-tuning a tractor engine on Thursday and sitting in the front pew on Sunday? Ma...
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morewhen it’s hard to believe in miracles this Christmas
On Wednesday, December 12 th, 2012First, a new note for you right below that Hope doesn’t want you to miss? Second — today is my dearest mama’s birthday. She was born 12 minutes to 12. And today is 12. 12. 12. — the last repetitive date we’ll ever see. So! Slipping quiet away here to celebrate an only-one-day-ever-like-this with my only-one-ever-like-this beautiful mama… and...
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moreThe Best Way to do Christmas Cleaning
On Friday, December 07 th, 2012Why it happened right then, when she turned toward the stack of dishes on the counters, the ...
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moreWhat We All Need to Really Breathe
On Tuesday, November 13 th, 2012Six times my mama lies in ER this past week, waiting news. Good doctors can have degrees and no answers. My sister gives up long days and advocates on knees and in waiting rooms and Mama and her, they sing hymns and drown out clocks and fears. I rub Mama’s feet during the short nights and the late watches. I massage th...
