“Christmas gift, give it to me!” That’s how my grandfather would greet us at the front door on Christmas Day every year. I remember him sometimes having a bell, but always wearing a smile. We’d walk in past the columns on the front porch that he so proudly wrapped with red ribbon to look like candy canes, exactly eleven inches between each stripe. Mema was in the kitchen, but she would stop working on the biscuits to hug our necks. I remember ... Read More about How to Adopt Grandparents for Christmas
When Your Confidence as a Mom Is Shaken
Every mom knows the feeling. Things are going well, and then suddenly, something happens that throws your world into a parenting whirlwind. Maybe someone criticizes your parenting choice, or your normal routine does not work leaving you clueless as to how to care for your child, and you lose your momfidence, my word for “confidence in mothering instincts.” The first time it seriously happened to me, and I mean seriously -- like as in ... Read More about When Your Confidence as a Mom Is Shaken
You Brought Me So Much Joy, Little One (a story of miscarriage)
Gilia. That’s the name I chose for the little one we lost, the baby who passed from my womb before we had announced her presence. It's Hebrew, pronounced Ghee-lee-yah, and means Eternal Joy. She was too small to know for sure her gender, but my husband said from the moment I showed him the second line on the test, “This one is another girl.” He had a perfect record on our other three, so following his lead, I decided ... Read More about You Brought Me So Much Joy, Little One (a story of miscarriage)
How to Overcome the Wedding Band Divide
I'm doing a great job keeping up with her, I patted myself on the back as I drove home from school one day. Balancing life as a wife, a new mom, and a graduate student was challenging, yet I still managed to squeeze in a lunch date with one of my closest friends, who at the time, was a few years away from a family of her own. With my sense of good friendship maintenance, imagine my shock to find a note expressing her disappointment when I ... Read More about How to Overcome the Wedding Band Divide
In Which a Story About a Bear Tells a Story About Legacy
Pooh Bear and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. At the mere mention of his name, my heart launches into song… Winnie the Pooh (Pooh!) . . . Winnie the Pooh (Pooh!) . . . Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff… (Yours too?) We were first introduced through Disney Channel’s Welcome to Pooh Corner at my grandparents’ house, cousins all gathered together for a rare and special television treat. As I got a little ... Read More about In Which a Story About a Bear Tells a Story About Legacy
Speak Forth
Speak to me inside of her. That was the word the Lord whispered into my heart the day I hit my knees in prayer for a friend. I had struggled in our relationship. We were in a Bible study together and it seemed that no matter how I tried to encourage her in her walk with the Lord, my words were either received as judgmental or legalistic. Where the tension was coming from, I didn’t really know, but what was certain is that I cared about her ... Read More about Speak Forth
Mercy Womb
"And her offspring will crush the head of the serpent…" (Genesis 3:15) The opening three chapters of Genesis are known to most of us for their purpose in describing the origin of life, and establishing the character of God as creator. The depth of these few chapters; however, is as unending as God is eternal. Though a passage of prose, the poetic quality of the Hebrew reading of the Bereshit (beginning) is much more beautiful than we gather ... Read More about Mercy Womb
The Not-So-Cinderella Happily Ever After
Its more than the way her blue dress glides across the ballroom floor, as if the breath of life met a watercolor painting, or how her ever-so-perfectly messy hair flows in the breeze as her horse canters through the forest. Disney’s 2015 live action Cinderella is simply captivating, a film I could watch over and over again (and, once upon a time, I did just that on an international flight headed to none other than Walt Disney World for a ... Read More about The Not-So-Cinderella Happily Ever After
Sowing Seeds of Prayer for Our Children
I first started praying for my son Aviel (and any brothers or sisters yet to come) when I was twenty, seven full years before he was born. (Aviel, pronounced ah-vee-EL, is a Hebrew name meaning "My father is God.") Honestly, I wish I had started sooner! In my early single days, it simply never occurred to me to pray for my children. After all, I didn't know if God would bless me with a husband. Praying for my children seemed totally ... Read More about Sowing Seeds of Prayer for Our Children
Where are the Spiritual Mothers? A Titus 2 Vision for Friendship
"I just need some help." This wasn't the first time total and utter exhaustion had settled in. Being pregnant with number three made for many challenges while chasing a toddler and spending countless hours on the city bus getting my bigger one to school. "Can you call someone to come over?" my husband asked. My mind went blank. All of my close friends were in the trenches, just like me. Besides that, as much as an extra set of hands ... Read More about Where are the Spiritual Mothers? A Titus 2 Vision for Friendship
Bearing Fruit In Season
I am an architect, but I'm not. I am a missionary, but I'm not. Sound confusing? Maybe the confusion subsides when we embrace a view of vocation as separate from that of career -- as something that far surpasses nine to five work hours, salaries and benefits, something that begins to describe the condition of an individual's gifts and passions, heart and soul. And maybe this paradigm shift could be a way for many women to find greater peace ... Read More about Bearing Fruit In Season
It’s Not a Small World: Lessons from the Ballpark
It’s a small world after all… I can't remember the first time I heard that well-known song from Disney's iconic ride. My earliest childhood memories are running up and down Main Street USA, in Disneyland. At the time, my father, Jerry Narron, was a catcher for the (then) California Angels. The team received free Disneyland passes, where we played as a young family probably once a week. The fun of my childhood, however, was primarily found ... Read More about It’s Not a Small World: Lessons from the Ballpark
