I don’t want my children to be simply entertained through life. I want them to show up for the purposes for which God has created them. I want them to do the things that only they can do. I want them to have the living conversations that can only come from their hearts and mouths….
Tag: family life
Motherhood When It’s All Too Much (Podcast #31)
Have you ever found yourself wondering what you were thinking when you believed you were capable of raising children into adulthood? Or have you ever been overwhelmed by a season in your family when it just all seemed too much? Sometimes, this happens to me. (Ok, it happens to me a lot…) I realize that…
Choosing a Life of Celebration (Podcast #20)
The choice is always before us: A life of desperation or a life of celebration. In today’s podcast, I invite you to celebrate your life and to celebrate with me as I look back over this incredible last year. I am truly overflowing with gratitude as I remember the love and faithfulness of God in…
Vision and Hindsight, A Tale of Two Lists
The year flew by. This morning I was sitting at the kitchen table, lamenting all the things that I meant to do last year–my open journal with the list I scribbled down, wide-eyed, like a child on her birthday, a January ago. Beautiful vision. And just like that, I blinked, and those twelve months are…
Thoughts on My Mother and the Miracle of Existing in this World
My Mama had nine children. I am the youngest. The fact that I exist in this world at all is not a small miracle. I see it all now, like the iconic scene in It’s a Wonderful Life, where Mary is closing up the library. A world where I don’t exist. My husband is scorching…
Big Announcement from The Chester Family!
Well, the day is here that I share something big that is happening to our family. After years of wrestling with a vision of a more creative life, showing up season by season to journal, write, make art, make music, encourage my husband in his incredible music, support our children through homeschool and giving them…
Embrace the Mess, A Letter to My Future Self
This letter is to my future self. One day, when you are storming around your messy life as a mother of many small children, scowling at spilled crayons and upturned buckets of legos, haunted by the ghost of clean kitchens past… When you reach the point, clocking in late for laundry after a long day…
Buying a House is Like Having a Baby
The process of buying a house is remarkably like the stages of labor. Step 1: It’s Time. This is the exciting moment when you realize you are actually going to have a house. You are going to get to see the home you have only been dreaming about for so long. You know that you…
30 Day Poetry Challenge
I love reading poetry. When I read in poetry, I start thinking in poetry. And this is always exciting. Until I start speaking in poetry, and people start looking at me like I’m weird. About three years ago, I gave myself a challenge: to write and post an original poem a day for 30 days…
Moving Through Fear, Walking by Faith (How This Pregnancy Is Giving Me a New Kind of Courage)
I am in the second trimester of my sixth pregnancy. This is really happening. This is set in motion. In a few short months, this pregnancy will end in labor, delivery, and the prize of all prizes–another sweet baby in our family. People literally say to me all the time, regarding birth, “Oh, you’re a…
Make Something Every Day
Over the past two weeks, I have begun to realize how much it means to me to make things. As a mom of four (soon to be five) very creative little people who are constantly cutting and pasting and drawing and creating huge worlds out of sheets and pillows and clean laundry, I spend a…
15 Ways To Enjoy Family Life on a Tight Budget
This summer marks the beginning of our family living on one income, so our tight budget just got tighter… Here are some of the ways that we have learned to live more frugally over the years. I’d love to hear your comments about additional ways your family enjoys life on a modest income. Food:…