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What To Look For in a Husband
By Amanda Hinton I have been married for 16 years and have been blessed with six children. My oldest is 11 and, although marriage is not immediately on the horizon for her, she is already forming an idea of a husband in her mind. What do I want her to know about a husband? What do I want her to have in a husband? What does God want her to have in a husband? What should she be looking for? Find a man that puts God first in his life. When God is first in his life, He will be first in your life together. When God is first, all…
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Winner!
By Holly Scheer First, thank you so much to Meghan for working with us to give everyone this wonderful chance. I hope that everyone continues to check out her work, because it’s really something special! Her site again is Red Letter Art & Design. Next, thank all of YOU! Thank you for reading, thank you for laughing with us, for studying, for praying, for loving Jesus. For loving Lutheranism. It’s so wonderful to all come together here, and thank you so much for letting us be part of your lives. We’re so humbled and grateful. Now, the part you’ve probably been waiting for: the winner. Congratulations to Talitha!!!! We’re so…
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Never Done
By Vanessa Rasanen It is currently 4:30am. I have been up since 2:45 when our youngest woke up and refused to go back to sleep. To be fair, my husband initially got up with him at 2 (!) and tried to settle him back down, but as he has a 12 hour shift at the ER today, it seemed best that I tag him out and let him head back to bed. For 45 minutes I rocked and cuddled our little man before finally giving up, brewing some coffee, and settling onto the couch to let him play. And in my head I’m replaying the words I said to friends…
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Giveaway- Red Letter Art and Design!
It’s been too long since we’ve had a giveaway here, hasn’t it? Well, you’re in luck, because we have a wonderful one here for you this week! Meghan Schultz is the artist behind Red Letter Art & Design, and has very graciously agreed to send someone a set of her Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers! It’s worth clicking on the above link to go see a clearer version of these, because this little blog picture just isn’t doing them any justice. Here’s a little bit about Meghan: I am a wife, a homeschooling mother of four, and a lifelong Lutheran. I have a background in graphic design and…
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When You’re Walking in Doubt
By Holly Scheer Sometimes life is really hard. Life might stink because of a lot of big, scary things. Or, maybe it’s a cascade of small things that together start to become overwhelming. Burnt toast and spilled coffee aren’t worth tears on their own, but when you’re looking for a tiny moment of peace in your day, the tiniest of disappointments can be the breaking point. When it seems like everything is going wrong, and life is just disappointing and scary, doubt can be a constant and troubling companion. What does it mean for the Christian when you’re walking in doubt, and when you can’t seem to shake the fear…
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To Compare or Not To Compare
By Vanessa Rasanen ”You cannot compare your children to each other.” I receive this admonishment at nearly every well-child visit. I hear it so often from our pediatrician that I now anticipate it as much as I do her sweet hellos to the kids. This latest appointment for our youngest’s 18-month check up was no exception. Yet it was. Immediately after reminding me not to compare my kiddos, she asked me if any of our older kids had similar body proportions (ie, bottom of the charts for height and weight but top of the chart for head size). I laughed. Inside, of course. I’m not completely rude. Most of the…
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Skinny People Have Feelings, Too
By Vanessa Rasanen Imagine you’re in your office break room heating up your lunch. A coworker walks in and pulls out a frozen meal. You look at her and at the less-than-nutritious food in her hands. “You really should have a salad instead,” you note, adding a smile to let her know you mean well. She shrugs silently. “You should try to take a walk since you sit all day. It would really help you lose the weight.” She makes a comment about how she does exercise regularly, but the weight is slow to come off. “You disgust me,” you say with a chuckle so she knows you’re being funny…
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What If You Hate Your Vocation
By Vanessa Rasanen Years ago I found myself sitting in a fairly small, basement office contemplating how to answer my manager’s question. I was fresh out of college and grateful to have landed the job (and not have to spend another few years in graduate school). I had loved my major, so it was a bit of a shock to find my first job — one in which my title actually matched the words on my degree — held so little resemblance to my expectations. And there I was, facing my manager and struggling to find the words to explain where I hoped to be in five years. Five years…
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Hard Does Not Mean Bad
By Vanessa Rasanen Sometime last year in a desperate attempt to find reprieve from the exhaustion that comes with having four kids (including a newborn), a husband traveling for work, and a full time job, I found list after list of remedies that I couldn’t fathom fitting into my daily routine of craziness. Go to bed earlier? Ha! Post-bedtime is when I finally get to sit and enjoy the quiet so I can hear myself think… assuming there isn’t laundry to be folded or dishes to be done, of course. When my husband is home, that’s our time to connect, talk, or watch a show together. Exercise? Yeah. Endorphins-shmendorphins. I…
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Some Dreams Have to Wait and That’s Okay
By Vanessa Rasanen Years ago during my active blogging days I attended a conference for Christian bloggers and writers. It was a disaster for many reasons, none of which are pertinent here, but there’s one piece of advice a fellow writer had offered to me — unsolicited, of course — that has nagged at me since. We had been discussing how to write a novel while being a parent with young kids. Her advice? Don’t put it off for years. Get it done. Make the time. It was really the only piece of advice I heeded from that awful weekend, and I set to work on my manuscript. I worked…
