We spent a glorious four days at the seashore. We walked, we ran, we swam, we splashed. We saw the water tame and the water wild. We saw the sunrise and sunset. We saw the first sliver of moon over the dark waters. I held my newborn baby in the wind and sun and salty…
Tag: children
Hope for a Heavy Heart (Podcast #18)
I have had so much going on in my heart and mind. I find myself waking in the middle of the night feeling shaken by the state of the world in which we are living and raising our children. I have very little quiet in my life to process through this right now, so forgive…
This Morning I Was Born
This morning I was born. My mother struggled with birth until dawn. I went home in her arms. I cried. I slept. My eyes focused on her beautiful, ephemeral face, familiar somehow though I had never seen it before. While she was getting pancakes on the table, I bounced on my sister’s knee. I listened…
Motherhood and Creative Fire (Podcast #15)
One of my greatest challenges as a mother has been finding the time and energy to tend to my creative life. In this episode, I am talking about creative fire–how it looks different in different seasons of motherhood and how important it is to nurture creative practice even in the blur of raising babies and…
Becoming Brave: Thoughts About Birth at 4 a.m. (Podcast #13)
You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Just a few weeks away from my ninth delivery, I am thinking of the profound influence that birth has had on my life. How it has caused me to lean on the perfect strength of God over and over again and made…
The Space Between Here and a Miracle (Podcast Episode #4)
You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. For anyone who is waiting on God to answer prayers for a way forward… Anyone who is at the end of their own resources… Anyone who, like me, needs a boost of faith this morning… Today I am reminding myself of God’s…
Questions to My Future Self (A Mother Wants to Know How It All Turns Out)
This morning I am checking in with my future self. I have to gently wake her, because it is 4:30 a.m., and she is no longer in the habit of waking with babies all through the night. When she sees me standing there over her bed in the dark, she doesn’t mind. She treats me…
Other People’s Houses
My daughters and I pulled in at Michelle’s house before she arrived. We knew we were welcome to go on in. By the time I wrangled with my couple of bags, the girls had already run inside. I entered the front door, set down my things, and walked into the kitchen. This picture is what…
Surrendering to a Season (Thoughts at the Beginning of My Ninth Pregnancy)
This morning I drank a cup of tea for the first time in six weeks. Rich Assam with a swirl of cream. The taste of it brought tears to my eyes. It is October, and nothing complements the first of the crimsons and golds like a steaming mug of fragrant tea. I am just rounding…
Wake Up and Make Things
It is early morning. I stole away from the nursing baby and am sitting in my little quiet corner of the world, on my back-deck, surrounded by potted plants and birdsong. I am writing and contemplating my messy life. I am a homeschooling mother of seven children. My husband and I have a home business…
Motherhood and Creative Fire, Keeping the Flame Alive
I am the mother of seven children. This weekend, I hit publish on a dream come true. I’ve spent the last 11 weeks in a state of creative flow that I have not experienced since I became a Mama twelve and a half years ago. Looking back, I remember the shock my body went through…
Looking Deeply Inside Myself (The beautiful work of journaling)
5:17 a.m. My eyes open in bed. I had a dream that woke first my mind, then my body. My face is pressed against a sweet, softly-sleeping baby. In the dark I lift him up and carry him across the room to place him gently in his crib. He doesn’t wake. A small miracle. I…