My five kids sometimes do the grocery shopping with me. We often use two carts, the oldest boy pushing one and me pushing the other. The second oldest boy checks off items on our list. The youngest two boys trail along, and my baby girl is in my cart. Without fail, another shopper will say,…
I sit in my first seminary class on a brisk winter afternoon, ecstatic about the opportunity to learn, listening as the professor begins her lecture. She writes a quote by St. Augustine on the whiteboard: “What do I love when I love my God?” Then, in her lilting accent, she talks about how family is…
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 NASB) Here’s the rub: You’ve done your job as parents, and now your children have left to establish a family and/or life of their own. Whether they’re single or…
Summer will have come and gone by the time anyone reads this. We will have made it through the season of all our family and friends wondering if we are going to visit our hometown, the time of decision-making about whether or not we should take a family vacation, the time of wondering if we…
I’ve never really liked the term housewife or understood where it comes from. I’m not the wife of a house. Being called a homemaker though? Right up my alley. It’s a picturesque, eloquent label. It speaks of creative juices and hard work mingling to conjure up a place of cozy belonging. It’s a goal and…
I grew up with two older brothers who were not particularly fond of the annoying sister who followed them around. I grew tired of being excluded from their boys-only games and started dreaming about having a sister. Specifically, I wanted an identical twin sister. I was a chubby ten-year-old at the time, and I didn’t…