Kristen Anne Glover 4 Minute Read Our kitchen table was drowning in construction paper, doilies, puffy heart-shaped stickers and contraband glitter. The children crowded around, hard at work maximizing the sticker-to-paper ratio on their Valentines, and I was hard at work trying not to be stingy about it. Chubby little fingers wrestled with scissors and an unyielding glue bottle and someone…
Jenni Marie 5 Minute Read I didn’t know I was supposed to hate Valentine’s Day. At least, not until I was almost passed over at a seventh grade homeschool group Valentine’s Party at the roller skating rink. I was the last girl given a daffodil by the most popular boy in the group; he started with probably twenty hand-picked flowers….
Natasha Metzler 3 Minute Read I was eighteen when my oldest brother married. He didn’t have to look far for a wife. After working, traveling and establishing a business, he turned around and asked my best friend to be his. We always laugh about their story. How they only dated for like, two days. How he proposed in front of…
Jeannie Pederson 2 Minute Read A new year seems like such a good place for a fresh start. But sometimes I think it’s hopeless. Over and over I make the same resolutions, the same pledges to do better, only to have them fall by the wayside before the sharp edges of the year have worn off. Those friends I want…
Emily C. Gardner 2 Minute Read Much like spring is known as a season for coming out of hibernation, celebrating new growth, and cleaning, January comes with its fair share of expected activities. After a stretch of festive indulgence, people join gyms and begin healthy eating regimens. People look back on the past twelve months and look forward to what the…
Elisabeth Adams 5 Minute Read Does God speak to us in modern times? Some Christians say yes; some say no. Some feel that He guides us indirectly through the Bible, counsel from wise people, a feeling of peace in our hearts, plus our circumstances and our God-given common sense. Since I graduated from homeschool, my life verse has been Proverbs…
Katie 4 Minute Read “Wait, how many people are in your family? Christmas must be crazy at your house!” I smile and nod. It’s a comment I’ve heard more times than I can count. Yes, Christmas is always crazy in a house with 12 children, and siblings introducing boyfriends/girlfriends and spouses to the mix. There are three things that happen every…
Chantel 3 Minute Read I think I want to redefine my approach to gift shopping this year and in the years to come. I want to get farther away from the buying and giving just because everyone buys and gives. I want to buy less useless clutter — things that will never be used — and spend our money…
Trina Holden 3 Minute Read We’re celebrating Thanksgiving in Alabama. Even though we live in upstate New York. We will celebrate Christmas in New York, but without Grandma and Grandpa. They’ll be in Alabama. See, my husband’s family is managing two businesses right now — one in Alabama, one in New York. Someone needs to be present in both places,…
Chantel 3 Minute Read 1. Make a Thankful Tree Collect colorful fall leaves and press them in books during the first weeks of Autumn. Find a bare branch, or use a little potted tree and declare it your “Thankful Tree.” Every day during the month of November, write something small that you are thankful for on a leaf. Hang…
Trina Holden 3 Minute Read I adore new year’s resolutions. Not because I’m some saint who always manages to fulfill them all, but because it’s like a chance to reset one’s rudder. We are always growing, changing, sowing — whether we’re aware of it or not — and the new year is a chance to choose what we’re going to…
Chantel 2 Minute Read Cool and clear was the night
That shepherds watched their sheep;
Up in fields on yonder hills,
While in the valley Bethlehem lay asleep…
The End.
The End.