Praying for Your Foster Children

foster parenting prayers

Cultivating a Heart of Gratitude With Our Foster Children On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them…

Read More

The Greatest Gifts We Can Give Our Teens

passing on the faith

We all love a good checklist, don’t we?  “Five things you must do this fall!”“Ten ways to tell your kids you love them!”“Three things every parent must do!” Where, pray tell, is the checklist for how to raise young adults who love Jesus and never stray from their faith? I’d argue that we’ve put the…

Read More

Arm the Children

arm children with goodness

Arm the children Arm them with a passion for life and each other. Arm them with gorgeous humans who consistently show up. Arm them with some sort of relationship to the Divine. Arm the children with beautiful experiences and honest ones, too. Arm them with gratitude, an ample dose of optimism and hope, the ability…

Read More

Every Season Sacred: The Gift of Noticing

gift of noticing

I’m pushing the stroller around the corner when the podcast I’m streaming cuts out. I frown and glance at my phone. Out of battery. I’ve just promised my older kids thirty more minutes of park time with friends while I walk the nearby sidewalks. What am I supposed to do with no podcasts, music, or…

Read More

Blessing Our Children

Blessing Our Children from The Beauty of Motherhood

Many of us pray with our kids before bed. But what does it mean to bless our children? Enjoy this excerpt from The Beauty of Motherhood along with a practice, prayer, and ritual you can use to pray for your children (and others) at night. While my kids sleep, I say a prayer for their…

Read More

Joy Shows Her Finest

To be created is to be good

Lessons on Goodness from the Basketball Court and Beyond And God saw everything that was created, and, indeed, it was very good. Translation inspired by Genesis 1:31 (The New Interpreters’ Study Bible)  I stand at center court in an old, smelly elementary school gym as eight first-grade boys stand along the baseline, squirming with energy,…

Read More

Encouragement for When You Want to Give Up on Lent

Lent encouragement

If you’ve given up on Lent, If your best intentions have fallen short, If you want to quit, If you never got started Imagine what you might say to your child… When they’re struggling with school or work, When they’re feeling overwhelmed, When they want to quit something they’ve started, When they’re angry, hungry, or…

Read More