If we were sitting down over coffee talking about relationships, I'd share these things I'm learning on my marriage journey with you. I'm no expert, in fact sometimes I feel so massively unqualified to even write about marriage. But God keeps reminding me that marriage is something that requires constant cultivating, and that mistakes are part of growth. We've crammed a lot of life into our short time as a married couple - a baby, job loss, illness, the death of my father, daily joys and trials. So many blessings and major life changes, all rolled into four short years. I spent some … [Read more...]
10 Father’s Day Gift Ideas For Dad or Grandpa
I've written about some simple gifts for your guy in other posts, like this one for Valentine's Day but this year I wanted to put together a list of simple yet heartfelt father's day gift ideas that will make dad or grandpa smile. Guys can be so difficult to shop for - they either don't care too much about gifts, have all the things or are really picky! To help you out this year, here are 10 Fathers Day Gift Ideas for Dad or Grandpa. … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Choose Love When Marriage is Hard
Love isn't a feeling, it's a choice. I probably heard that a hundred times leading up to my wedding, but didn't really understand it until the first big hurdle we faced as a married couple. We've walked through job loss and unemployment, sickness, difficult work situations, death and loss in our short 4 years of marriage. And I'm finally starting to understand the idea that love is in fact a choice. I choose how I respond to my spouse when things get hard. As I was thinking about this lesson God is teaching me, I made a list of 10 ways to choose love when marriage is hard. You can read … [Read more...]
Loving Your Spouse Well In Difficult Seasons
I've been pretty open about the difficult season we've been in as a family. Some days I feel like our entire marriage has been a difficult season - not just because the blending of two lives is messy but also because of all the external factors we've encountered in our short (almost) 4 years together. Job loss, illness, depression, death - these things can easily cloud the last few years of our lives and make it seem as though there weren't any good seasons. I'm learning that there is an ebb and flow to marriage, as there is in life. Just like the tide comes in and goes out regularly, we … [Read more...]
2018 Word of The Year
Choosing a word of the year seems like such a daunting task. As a Christ follower, I want the word to be something that God is working on in my heart. But what if I couldn't think of a word? What if He didn't give me a word for the year? Or what if the word I chose wasn't the "right" one? I had many words in my head for 2018 - freedom, rest, restoration, just to name a few. I kept thinking back on 2017 - the "Life-Giving" year. So much happened last year - Logan turned 1, I dove into a business, we took our first family vacation, my husband's job took him away a lot, and my father … [Read more...]