Over the years, I have developed a tender affection for Valentine’s Day. As a child, this day was marked by the painstaking effort of producing valentines for my fellow classmates, accompanied by the fear of rejection that would come if there were no reciprocal valentines in my own poorly decorated box. (Back in my day, […]
Family
Praying for Peace in the Midst of Pain
Crohn’s Yesterday, we found out that our son has Crohn’s disease. He’s 10 years old. Too young to face a life sentence, which is essentially what Crohn’s is: an incurable auto-immune disease which attacks the good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, causing chronic inflammation. During his colonoscopy, his small intestine was so inflamed that the […]
“Sharing is Caring”
You may have seen this quote at the end of a blog post, by the social media sharing icons. If you came to my house, you’d hear it recited among my children as they try to weasel a toy from an unwilling sibling. In truth, though, sharing is an expression of caring for others, and […]
5 Strategies to Avoid Unnecessary Spending
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25-26 Part of adopting a minimalist approach to life is living only with those things that are necessary and bring […]
Minimalism and the Mindful Shopper
Yesterday, I went shopping. I didn’t want to go, but my new little soccer players needed shin guards for their first games today. Kohl’s department store loomed across the parking lot from Dick’s Sporting Goods. I brought the 30% off coupon that arrived in the mail, just in case. That coupon nearly burned a […]
Why I Said No to Organized Sports
Fall is here, and with it brings a whole host of opportunities to sign up, join up, start up. Only, the more we say yes, the further down we slide into lives filled with excess. On this journey toward less stuff and more life, I realized that one thing we had more than enough of […]
Book Review: The Brainy Bunch (with my reflections on public vs home schooling)
Our local Family Christian bookstore is closing next month, and everything is 50% off, so I took the kids there last week in search of a couple of children’s bibles. That search proved fruitless, but I did stumble upon a fascinating book that I was so tempted to buy, called The Brainy Bunch: The Harding […]
Summer Perfection (A Meditation Minute)
I wish I could bottle up this perfect summer day. Don’t they always seem to come after the storms (like the one we had just before sunrise)? The broad, green maple leaves flutter above me as a mild breeze blows through the yard. The scent of the air is reminiscent of summers past, full of […]
Our Summer Schedule and a Summer Kit Giveaway!
Yesterday, I shared our family’s summer theme verse, Colossians 3:17. It fits well with our summer schedule, now getting underway . . . at the end of June! This summer, we are following a hybrid of two summer schedule ideas. I am using the model we implemented two summers ago from FlyLady; our camp is […]
8 Ways to Make Money from Home, Part 4
This is the last in a four-part series on making money from home. If you are just joining us, please head back and read parts one, two, and three. Today, we are deviating a bit from work “at home” to work outside the home that may accommodate the family schedule. 7. Some jobs are kid-friendly, […]