Let me start off by saying that I love my parents' neighbors. Growing up, our neighborhood was charming but most of the residents were elderly. We hardly saw them and clung to the few families near our house when we wanted to engage in conversation. Now that Nick and I have moved out and away, Euclid has been the dream street. You know the movies where the kids run from yard to yard and they all play together? Euclid. The...
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The other day, I reminded my brother, Nick, of the time we met one of his first friends in Marion as they stood in our house nineteen years ago. NINETEEN. I told him what his friend was wearing and why I thought they'd never actually become friends after that. One day, while walking across our college campus, my friend received a phone call from her mom. There was some back and forth and Grace relayed her social security number...
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There is something eerie about nighttime. Everyone is quiet. Everything is still. And when there is commotion, it feels chaotic yet incredibly lonely. Deep dark hours of the night have a tendency to swallow up any security I have. It's safe to say that things felt very insecure and uncertain when we rushed Maddie to the ER at 1:30am last Thursday morning. We had spent all day driving home from Indianapolis, turning a 5 hour drive into 10 hours. Maddox had...
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We were wrapping up our 36 week ultrasound, which had to have been our 7th one. Truly. With high blood pressure, my doctor was overly cautious. We were so appreciative of this attentiveness. We loved our Tech too, but she was unusually quiet during this appointment. "You're seeing your doctor today?" she asked. We nodded. I had a passing thought - but that's all it was: a thought. And it wasn't enough to really complete an entire idea and definitely not something...
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I overheard the following conversation today: "Just be thinking of me...
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Our lives have been absolute chaos lately. We've moved (a mile away) and have had several youth events since my last post. Camp. Camp. District Conference. Holland. A missions trip. And countless hours around bonfires with friends and students. And to top it all off, my husband got ordained in the Wesleyan Church almost a month ago. And while I can sit back and soak in what this day means, what it felt like to sit with friends and family and...
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The other day, I was binging on all things Netflix including Friends. But because I know Matthew Perry’s lines better than him, my mind started to wander to other light-hearted and hilarious things. You know – like the future. Oh wait. Wrong H word. Hellish. I meant hellish things. Health. Student Loans. Children. Career Goals. Writing. Ministry. And I started to get a little angry. Sometimes I feel like Patrick and I are at a standstill. We strive to be good...
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I don’t always prefer The Message when choosing a version of the Bible to read. However, I recently re-read my favorite verses in this version and it gave me an even better perspective. Philippians 4:6-7 says “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what...
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