Jeannie 5 Minute Read For the third time in twenty minutes, I crept into the bedroom where my tiny son was napping. I stared at him, dark lashes against soft cheeks, little rosebud lips, petite fingers curled into a fist. Was he breathing? Of course he was… but I touched his back just to make sure. Then I touched…
Jeannie 4 Minute Read While over-the-top sentimentality and gushy romantic novels aren’t my cup of tea, I do love real-life love stories. They’re unique, authentic, and often humorous. They display God’s endless creativity mixed with the realities of life in a fallen world. They give hope that true love should be highly esteemed. If you’re single, real-life love stories…
Jeannie 3 Minute Read There are days the book’s title overwhelms me: Only One Life: How A Woman’s Every Day Shapes An Eternal Legacy. With three, soon to be four, little ones ages six and under, my “typical” days don’t often look impressive. My head knows what I’m doing is valuable, even if I’m not accomplishing anything beyond the…
Jeannie 3 Minute Read Anticipation has always been my favorite part of Christmas. Even as a small child, I remember Christmas morning being vaguely disappointing, regardless of how wonderful the gifts were. The season was over. There was nothing more to look forward to, no further excitement, no more whispered secrets and suddenly-closed doors and rustling paper. As I…
Jeannie 3 Minute Read Our home wasn’t fancy, and there were ten of us. My mom loves decorating, but despite her best efforts, there was always a pair of barn boots somewhere they shouldn’t be. My dad is incredibly organized, but he has a back condition that requires him to lie flat at intervals several times a day. It…
Jeannie 3 Minute Read Forget meditating (I can’t remember what I’m looking for in the fridge, much less what I read three days ago), fasting (I’ve been pregnant or nursing or both for the past six years), or silence (does that even exist anymore? I’ve forgotten). As much as I miss spiritual disciplines, I just . . . can’t. Not…
Jeannie 5 Minute Read “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” (1 Corinthians 9:24) I’m no stranger to hard work. As the oldest, Type-A child growing up on a farm with seven siblings, I learned early that self-discipline and diligence are…
Jeannie 6 Minute Read You will always hear me advocating for a real-life mentor: someone who knows you, who sees you on a regular basis, who can cheer you on in your struggles, and call you out on your sins. A mentorship is a relationship, and a good one takes time and trust to develop. I have been blessed…
Jeannie 7 Minute Read I have long wanted to be the parent who doesn’t just dole out punishments when my children disobey. My goal isn’t to produce a little army of “yes men” who blindly obey anyone in authority. I want to raise confident, competent adults who have the inner strength to honor God regardless of what the rest…
Jeannie 4 Minute Read “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question most children hear at some point during their growing-up years. My plan wasn’t much, by some standards. I just wanted to be a wife, a stay-at-home mother, and by extension, a full-time homemaker. Making a home isn’t just the “career” I happened to…
Jeannie 10 Minute Read There are ways to prepare for marriage that are essential for everyone, regardless of your life stage, and will serve you well even if you never marry.
Jeannie 4 Minute Read My parents were not perfect parents. I am not a perfect parent. Every day that I parent, I am humbled as I face my own failures. Every day that I parent, I am more able to grant grace to my own parents for what I so often perceived as their failures. I was raised in…
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The End.