Driveway Ticket, Pond Diving, & Chuck E.
[Hey purrreents and youth people – a few social media posts over at Patheos for you if you are interested: one on the video app Vine, and one on the joys and woes of the “disappearing”-photo app that is SnapChat. What else should we talk about?] Driveway Ticket Did you know that cops sometimes pull you over in your own driveway? I did. Because it happened to me about an hour ago. I saw him pass me about a block from my house, pull a u-ey, and follow me right up into my driveway. Lights a blazin. Right in front of the new neighbors I haven’t met yet. “Hi, welcome…
12 Seconds of Peace & Sleepoverrrr
“Ok, time to say bye bye.” is top 3 worst sentences a mom can say to a toddler. It pretty much never goes well. Like, today, for instance, when Beckett noodle-legged in the middle of the Starbucks parking lot as a car waited for us to cross. I drug his lifeless body by one arm the remaining 15 feet to the car. The driver of the other car thought it was hilarious. It was in that moment, after I’d wrangled a tantruming toddler into his car seat and heard those two glorious clicks of the buckles, that I found my piece of heaven: the walk from the back right door…
Mom’s Day & Disappearing Presents
…join with me in pretending Mother’s Day wasn’t 8 days ago… Mom’s Day One of my favorite things about marriage is seeing my husband and my brother become friends. They are brother-in-laws, obviously, but they also like each other and are real life friends. And it’s awesome. (Especially since my brother scared off pretty much every boy who ever had interest in dating me, until Taylor came along. He instantly liked Taylor. That’s big time.) So, out of all of the fabulous events from Mother’s Day weekend, my favorite was the gunfight between Jared and Taylor. It all started with sweet Beckett and his little $1 squirt bottle, that he…
The Gentleman & Garden Panty
Oh, hello! If you are a parent, youth minister, or teen here because you think this is another post on social media, you will be sorely disappointed. I’m hoping to continue the conversations with you, if you will so kindly allow me to, but I’m not sure what that will look like just yet so bear with me. In the meantime, feel free to stick around. Or don’t. Or drop me a line with other questions if you feel so inclined. I sincerely thank you for your feedback and encouragement. Whew. Now that they’re gone, we can really get this party started. Just kidding. Before we can get back to…
Parents: A Follow up Word on Instagram
This is an update to my previous post, Parents: A Word about Instagram. I originally shared this post with my friends over yonder at Patheos. They have a pretty cool site that you should check out. But, now that you’re here, feel free to stick around and see what parents and teens had to say about identity and Instagram. Um. Wow. I had NO idea the last post would hit such a nerve, but I’m so thankful some very important conversations have stemmed from it! Thank you for all of your feedback, comments, suggestions, and shares. It’s humbling, to say the least. A few things: One resounding comment I heard…
Parents: A Word about Instagram
To the parents of middle-schoolers on Instagram: There is so much information out there about internet safety and you should definitely read up on that, but that’s not what I want to talk about. Over the past several months, I’ve been noticing some interesting stuff on Instagram from your kids that I want to share with you.
Jehovah’s Rudeface & Abble Products
So those of you tuning in because of my last post on church, I can pretty much guarantee it’ll be another 7 months or so before another serious post like that. Most of the documentation on this blog revolves around bodily functions of toddlers and awkward situations by yours truly, so I will understand if we must part ways until then. But, let me just say, I’ve been blown away by the conversations I’ve had since posting that blog on Friday. Thank you for all of your feedback, kind words, encouragement, etc. I don’t think the post itself was that great, but I think the thoughts within it really struck…
Here’s the thing about church…
I read an article recently about the Top 10 Reasons our Kids Leave Church. As one of those “20-somethings raised in church”, I resonated with almost every word and have been struggling with a lot of these same issues in my own heart. I haven’t left the church like many of my peers, but I’ve had my doubts about it. I had a conversation a while back with a friend of mine (roughly my age) about how little biblical knowledge we have and how ashamed we feel. Not in a legalistic “I must know the Bible from cover to cover to earn God’s grace”, but in a “I can’t answer…
Easter Fun & Jade 2.0
(this post = a photo dump) Easter Fun? Easter: a time of celebration that Jesus rose from the grave and will one day make all things new. Such a glorious Sunday. Beckett was just as overcome with emotion as the rest of us. Yea, buddy. It is a big deal. It’s a HUGE deal. It’s the difference between life and death. Just let it all out. … Seriously though we had some really bad Easter festivities on Saturday. Friday and Sunday’s Easter events were splendid. Saturday? Awful. And it wasn’t just awful because the Christian radio station’s egg hunt was poorly executed and Beckett was almost trampled by the helicopter…
Roni the Chihuahua & Road Trip
Roni Tuesday morning, with 5 hours to pack and get the estate in order before Beckett and I left for our excursion across America, I found a collarless Chihuahua in our backyard. It might be helpful to know that: a) I do not love small dogs. Especially Chihuahuas. b) This is not the first Chihuahua that has gotten stuck in our backyard. (Which is odd now that I think about it.) I seriously didn’t have time to figure out where the dude came from, so I just set him in the front yard and went back inside. …less than 2 seconds later… I came back out, picked him up, and…
