I had read about separation anxiety in my parenting books, but how bad could it really be? My son was five months old and, frankly, I needed a full night's sleep! I was foolish enough then to think I was some super mom doing everything right because my son always seemed content. We were inseparable his first five months, mostly because I was scared to death something would happen to him if I … [Read more...] about How To Survive Separation Anxiety The Right Way
love
Is Love Worth the Risk?
I held the ten pound, one ounce yawning bundle of preciousness in my arms. At that weight, my niece looked like a gorgeous three-month-old instead of a three-hour-old newborn she was. As I sat holding her, I thought about how helpless she is and how her very life depends on her parents' love and care for her. My niece, like every other baby, came into this world with a God-given expectation to … [Read more...] about Is Love Worth the Risk?
For Aliyah Rose
To My Darling Aliyah, One year ago today, Jesus revealed one of the greatest gifts He has ever given to our family in your birth. You have touched me in ways I cannot begin to describe. You have taught me so much about how the Lord loves precious, pure hearts. Your daddy has been crazy, absolutely crazy, about you from the moment you arrived. It has been such an awesome thing to see him … [Read more...] about For Aliyah Rose
What I Really Want
We celebrated my daughter's twelfth birthday this week. Her older sister and I ran around earlier in the day to pick up the last of her gifts. To surprise my birthday girl, I pulled her out of school early for a fun afternoon. We spent the time together doing what she liked before going to her favorite restaurant for dinner. As I tucked her into bed that night, she whispered in my ear, … [Read more...] about What I Really Want
A Lesson in Favoritism
God's Word is limitless in its ability to transform me and to open my eyes to what I was blind to before. He has a way of stepping all over my toes. One of the most dynamic discussions my pilot group had this summer was concerning the devastation caused by favoritism in our families. There is hardly a more fertile place for bitterness and an inability to forgive to grow than in this area. If … [Read more...] about A Lesson in Favoritism
Running to the Mercy Seat
I am having some deja-vu conversations with my pre-teen daughters about what makes a girl popular in elementary and middle school. They are struggling to find their place in the unseen, but very real, pecking order that exists in the heirarchy of who is cool and who is not. I pray for them to make the right decisions and hold on to what they are wrestling with God as the truth - that real beauty … [Read more...] about Running to the Mercy Seat
