Here’s a weird fact about me: I love white water rafting. I do not love lazy rivers. It makes no sense. White water rafting is expensive, requires life jackets, helmets, paddles, and usually scheduling with a company or a guide. …
My husband and I have three daughters: the oldest is almost five, the next is almost two, and our bonus baby is almost born. He is a certified Girl Dad, and even has the shirt to prove it. I grew …
My body has been both my friend, my enemy, and somewhere in between. My mind and body are usually at some sort of tense stalemate, like roommates bound by a lease agreement but not much else. I’m proud of and …
Today was one of those days. Three of the four of us cried. And the only reason the fourth didn’t cry is because, well, it was Justin. Also he was working. It seemed that every little thing caused an argument …
This blog has been unusually quiet these last few months–particularly after I declared regular blog writing as an intention for 2021. I told myself that this was my year of celebration, my year of defiant joy and celebration. We’ve survived …
This is my year of celebration. I type this even as I jog up and down the stairs to repeatedly put the big kid back in her room for naptime and soothe the teething baby. This is my year of …
11. Community can be created anywhere We’ve lived in Northwest Ohio for seventeen months now. More than half of that time (almost ten months) has been during a pandemic. And right before the pandemic, I had a baby and was …
1. I am resilient This pandemic has not been my first WTF moment of my mid-thirties. Remember the time I left my dream job, moved across the state while very pregnant, had a baby, knew almost no one, and also …
Someday soon, we all will be together…if the fates allow.Until then,we’ll have to muddle through somehow…So have yourself a merry little Christmas now. If there were ever a lyric for the holiday season of 2020…that would be it. Sung mournfully …
I love Christmas cards. I love sending Christmas cards. I start thinking about ours as early as September. This year I printed ours on November 1. I picked out holiday stamps in person (masked!) at the post office. I wrote …
“Mommy, I’m going to get fancy!” My four year old bounded into my closet as I changed out of pajamas into (you guessed it) leggings and a loose-fitting top. “Okay, kiddo,” I replied, walking to the sink to wash my …
My baby turned one and I didn’t cry. My baby, my second-born baby, turned one and I didn’t cry. My last, final, no-more-pregnancies-please baby turned one and I didn’t cry. I wondered…am I sort of heartless? Are my emotions so …
A few weeks ago, I was in a funk. I just couldn’t seem to get myself out of it. Finally I sat down and thought deeply about what practices have helped me find peace in the past and what is …
I think I’ve lost my faith. There–I said it. I’ve lost faith itself–meaning, the ability to trust and hope in the unseen. And I’ve lost my faith–my experience and participation in Protestant Christianity. And I think it’s okay. I became …
I turned over the heavy plaque in my hands, reading the inscription. Half marathon relay. First place. I wasn’t sure I’d ever won first place in my life. Except…I didn’t run that day. The race kicked off that morning at …
Last month my husband and I rented kayaks on the nearby river. We’ve kayaked before, but never at this spot. This was our first outing alone in months, so we were understandably excited — drunk on the fresh air and …
It finally happened today. I looked up to hear you protesting, “I want to play, too!” as the other kids ran away. Your shoulders slumped, tears threatened to roll down your cheeks, I saw you standing dejectedly on the edge …
From time to time, I’ll share what books or toys my kiddos are enjoying. These are not sponsored posts–we are just sharing what we love! When possible, I try to link to independent bookstores to order, rather than Amazon. Have …
An introduction of sorts… Returning to the blogging world, I complained to my husband, “I don’t know who I’m writing for. I don’t even know what I’m writing about! I don’t know what lane I’m in.” He looked up at …
For Christmas I received a daily planner. I chuckled a little, wondering what I would write in it. Shall I schedule diaper changes? Toddler meltdowns? A friend suggested making a gratitude list. I had done that before and found it …
I’m exhausted these days. Parenting littles, homeschooling a four year old, general house responsibilities. I need a break. Friends say I need more self-care. What actually counts as self-care anyway? I wondered how often I had thrown around the term …
This summer marks eight years that my husband and I have been married. Eight years, three houses, two moves back and forth to Toledo (that’s another story), three pregnancies, two kids, one new car, countless home improvement projects, and approximately …
Motherhood has slowed my pace immensely. My dad used to joke that I only knew how to burn the candle at both ends. But after the birth of my second daughter, I realized there would be days in the future …
I often wonder how history will tell the story of these days. You are so little, I doubt you will remember the details. My mother used to talk about the Challenger space shuttle explosion of 1986 and how that impacted …
It’s a helpless feeling. Feeling like there’s nothing you can do. Maybe that’s why we spend so much time online, looking at the intangible because we have nothing tangible to put our hands on. Maybe that’s why we get so …
It was finally cooler outside this morning, so after breakfast I dressed in gardening clothes. The flowerbeds in the front of our house had been…well…dirtbeds all spring, minus one rogue tulip that we never planted. We have a fair amount …
Here’s a weird fact about me: I love white water rafting. I do not love lazy rivers. It makes no sense. White water rafting is expensive, requires life jackets, helmets, paddles, and usually scheduling with a company or a guide. …
My husband and I have three daughters: the oldest is almost five, the next is almost two, and our bonus baby is almost born. He is a certified Girl Dad, and even has the shirt to prove it. I grew …
My body has been both my friend, my enemy, and somewhere in between. My mind and body are usually at some sort of tense stalemate, like roommates bound by a lease agreement but not much else. I’m proud of and …
Today was one of those days. Three of the four of us cried. And the only reason the fourth didn’t cry is because, well, it was Justin. Also he was working. It seemed that every little thing caused an argument …
This blog has been unusually quiet these last few months–particularly after I declared regular blog writing as an intention for 2021. I told myself that this was my year of celebration, my year of defiant joy and celebration. We’ve survived …
This is my year of celebration. I type this even as I jog up and down the stairs to repeatedly put the big kid back in her room for naptime and soothe the teething baby. This is my year of …
11. Community can be created anywhere We’ve lived in Northwest Ohio for seventeen months now. More than half of that time (almost ten months) has been during a pandemic. And right before the pandemic, I had a baby and was …
1. I am resilient This pandemic has not been my first WTF moment of my mid-thirties. Remember the time I left my dream job, moved across the state while very pregnant, had a baby, knew almost no one, and also …
Someday soon, we all will be together…if the fates allow.Until then,we’ll have to muddle through somehow…So have yourself a merry little Christmas now. If there were ever a lyric for the holiday season of 2020…that would be it. Sung mournfully …
I love Christmas cards. I love sending Christmas cards. I start thinking about ours as early as September. This year I printed ours on November 1. I picked out holiday stamps in person (masked!) at the post office. I wrote …
“Mommy, I’m going to get fancy!” My four year old bounded into my closet as I changed out of pajamas into (you guessed it) leggings and a loose-fitting top. “Okay, kiddo,” I replied, walking to the sink to wash my …
My baby turned one and I didn’t cry. My baby, my second-born baby, turned one and I didn’t cry. My last, final, no-more-pregnancies-please baby turned one and I didn’t cry. I wondered…am I sort of heartless? Are my emotions so …
A few weeks ago, I was in a funk. I just couldn’t seem to get myself out of it. Finally I sat down and thought deeply about what practices have helped me find peace in the past and what is …
I think I’ve lost my faith. There–I said it. I’ve lost faith itself–meaning, the ability to trust and hope in the unseen. And I’ve lost my faith–my experience and participation in Protestant Christianity. And I think it’s okay. I became …
I turned over the heavy plaque in my hands, reading the inscription. Half marathon relay. First place. I wasn’t sure I’d ever won first place in my life. Except…I didn’t run that day. The race kicked off that morning at …
Last month my husband and I rented kayaks on the nearby river. We’ve kayaked before, but never at this spot. This was our first outing alone in months, so we were understandably excited — drunk on the fresh air and …
It finally happened today. I looked up to hear you protesting, “I want to play, too!” as the other kids ran away. Your shoulders slumped, tears threatened to roll down your cheeks, I saw you standing dejectedly on the edge …
From time to time, I’ll share what books or toys my kiddos are enjoying. These are not sponsored posts–we are just sharing what we love! When possible, I try to link to independent bookstores to order, rather than Amazon. Have …
An introduction of sorts… Returning to the blogging world, I complained to my husband, “I don’t know who I’m writing for. I don’t even know what I’m writing about! I don’t know what lane I’m in.” He looked up at …
For Christmas I received a daily planner. I chuckled a little, wondering what I would write in it. Shall I schedule diaper changes? Toddler meltdowns? A friend suggested making a gratitude list. I had done that before and found it …
I’m exhausted these days. Parenting littles, homeschooling a four year old, general house responsibilities. I need a break. Friends say I need more self-care. What actually counts as self-care anyway? I wondered how often I had thrown around the term …
This summer marks eight years that my husband and I have been married. Eight years, three houses, two moves back and forth to Toledo (that’s another story), three pregnancies, two kids, one new car, countless home improvement projects, and approximately …
Motherhood has slowed my pace immensely. My dad used to joke that I only knew how to burn the candle at both ends. But after the birth of my second daughter, I realized there would be days in the future …
I often wonder how history will tell the story of these days. You are so little, I doubt you will remember the details. My mother used to talk about the Challenger space shuttle explosion of 1986 and how that impacted …
It’s a helpless feeling. Feeling like there’s nothing you can do. Maybe that’s why we spend so much time online, looking at the intangible because we have nothing tangible to put our hands on. Maybe that’s why we get so …
It was finally cooler outside this morning, so after breakfast I dressed in gardening clothes. The flowerbeds in the front of our house had been…well…dirtbeds all spring, minus one rogue tulip that we never planted. We have a fair amount …
Hi, I’m Amy! I’m a writer, reader, and reluctant stay-at-home mom (the home part, not the mom part). I’ve been a professor, a pastor, and now a homeschool preschool teacher. I write about the intersection of real life and theology, the ups and downs of parenthood, and a few other things too. Please expect all metaphors to be stretched too thin and sentences to be far too long.
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