Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches with Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Macaroons

In the middle of our hectic parties, traveling, and unpacking this month, the kids sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Last week I decided to ignore my mile-long to do list and spend some time baking cookies with my daughters. This oatmeal macaroon recipe has been in the family for ages. My mom made these cookies with her mom. I made them with my mom. Last week my daughters made... Read More

August 4 – Hebrews 12:9-10, Proverbs 19:18

Hebrews 12:9-10 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. I see two ideas to gain from this: 1) Children will respect parents... Read More

Summer Evening Reverie

Summer evenings make some of the most nostalgic memories. We’ve been soaking up the evening play time, when the heat has relented a little, bedtime is still an hour or two away, and the light starts looking magical. The kids love it… At least, I think they do. Sometimes I wonder about the littlest. But they all seem to enjoy themselves, in their own ways… even... Read More

August 3 – Hebrews 12:5-8

Because a very big percentage of what the Bible has to say about the parent-to-child relationship is about training and discipline, I want to cover it — but it is with some fear and trepidation! I’ll try to just cover what the Bible says, and, when I interject my own opinion, I’ll tell you! Hebrews 12:5-13 is a good section on discipline — mostly how God... Read More

August 2 – Proverbs 3:12

Proverbs 3:12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. To correct basically means to line up with the right way. Who wouldn’t do that to a son he loves? In my mind the picture is to keep putting him back on the path as he strays off of it. When they’re young (think of a lamb), it’s easy – just a gentle... Read More

August 1 – Deuteronomy 6:7-9

Deuteronomy 6:7-9 Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Some of the ways seem like — just as you go about your day, remember God’s words in everything you do. See... Read More

July 31 – Deuteronomy 6:7

Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children. I found something so cool as I was studying this verse. There are about 70 tomes that Hebrew words are translated “teach,” but this is the only time this word is used, and it is translated “teach diligently” (KJV) and “Impress” (NIV). But the word literally means “to sharpen”... Read More

July 30 – Deuteronomy 6:6

Deuteronomy 6:6 And these words, which I am commanding you this day, shall be [first]in your own mind and heart; [then]… It goes on to say that we need to teach them to our children, but that’s for tomorrow. Today we have to learn them ourselves. Not just learn them — but have them in our hearts. DO them. Live them. We don’t ever know them until we do... Read More

Infertility Post One: Something Completely Different

In the next several weeks, I’ll be putting up a series of ten blog posts telling my nearly seven-year infertility story. These are written from a Christian perspective, and from a non-medical perspective. God frequently has a different plan in mind than the one we imagined. I had been considering giving up the blog, and I prayed about it, expecting God to say, “Yes,... Read More

July 29 – Deuteronomy 6:5

Deuteronomy 6:5 Yesterday I was dusting (yes, believe it!), and when I’d finished with the rocking chair, it was still rocking a little. Reminded me of the people from West Virginia who stayed with us a while. They panicked if I got up and left a rocking chair rocking, because “it means somebody is going to die, now.” So I pondered — so glad that our... Read More