~by Christine Gough “MOOOOMMMMM!!!! Just let ME do it….PLEASE!” I gripped my hands together, white knuckles blazing, praying to God while rolling my eyes and sighing deeply. I asked for patience. For a power outage. For a change of heart on his part. For a miracle & automatic proficiency. Nothing. Crickets. Just slow moving of … Continue reading
Contributed by Autumn and Andrew Gale Someone once told us, as parents, to not discipline curiosity, but to discipline disobedience. And this has certainly been our mantra. However, we currently have a 2.5 year old at home. Enough said, right? The line of curiosity and disobedience is sometimes fuzzy, and let’s be honest, utterly exhausting. Everything we currently … Continue reading
by Joanna Harader Scripture: Mark 1:14-20 Memory Verse: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.” ~Mark 1:14 Reflection: Think, for a minute, about a time in the past few days that you were working–at school or at your job; fixing supper or doing laundry or cleaning your room. Whatever work you did … Continue reading
by Jill Clingan photos by Amélie Clingan Yesterday afternoon our neighbor came over to nudge one of his calves from our yard back into his pasture. As he walked into our yard, he was greeted by our brood of twenty-five hens, one rooster, two drakes, and two ducks. Our little poultry flock is about as … Continue reading
by Practicing Families contributor, Corey Fields “[My daughter] doesn’t sit still and read a book. She is tired, squirmy, talks loudly, wanders…I once took [her] out the service to correct disobedience five different times…My husband and I have refereed fights. We’ve followed crawling babies around the sanctuary.” That’s part of how blogger Melissa at New Bread has … Continue reading
by Dena Douglas Hobbs Scripture passage: Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes the sun … Continue reading
On Tuesday of this week I found myself with an unscheduled day. Necessary errands and pressing work-related tasks had been done on Monday. Heck, the driveway and front walk were even shoveled and the dusting of additional snow didn’t seem to merit my schlepping out into sub-zero temps to clean everything off once again. As … Continue reading
by Amy Yoder McGloughlin I parent teenagers. And it’s probably one of the more challenging things I’ve done. It’s not because the kids are awful, but because after years of working on my relationship with them–snuggling with them, holding their hands, and kissing their skinned knees–I have to let them begin to do their own … Continue reading
by Erika Marksbury Scripture Reading John 1:43-50 (NRSV) Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets … Continue reading
~by Chris Lenshyn Perhaps it is an undeniable parenting truth; whether it is a good day, whether it is a bad day, whether it is a day filled to the brim with the mundane, we are still the parents of our little (or big… or midsized) bundles of joy. I had a day that was, … Continue reading
