It’s been a couple of weeks since I put up my first post about my trip to China.  A part of it is that I’ve been busy, but another part is that I’ve needed to process it for a while. When people ask how my trip was, I struggle with it a bit and let out a hesitant, drawn out, “Good.”  It’s not that it wasn’t good, but good is such a small word that doesn’t even begin to capture the highs and lows of the trip, the experiences gained, and the things I learned about yourself as I was taken outside of my comfort zone.  But, when some person at church asks me in passing, “How was your trip?”, they probably don’t want a 4 hour answer.  So, I say, “Good.” Now that I’ve been home a few weeks and have had time to digest it all, I feel like I can share

Today starts the beginning of the last year in my 30’s. I had a busy work day, but came home to my boys waiting for me on the driveway, fists full of “wild flowers” that they tossed on the sidewalk to mark my entrance. (Jeff pointed out that they were weeds, but let’s called them wild flowers.) And I walked in the house to the Happy Birthday chorus, cards, presents, and lemon cream cake. And I got what every woman who turns 39 wants… a sweet, tweed-covered Fender tube amp for my electric guitar. That’s right. Rock on. Oh, and I have gotten some furniture done this week!  Frenchie number one is done and I’ll be working on its partner in the next day or two.  I also have a few other pieces in the works. And PS, this fabulous blue linen dress is from .  When I posted a

    There is a season for everything. And we’ve been through a lot of seasons together over the eight years I’ve written this blog.  When I first hit the publish button, my kids were in diapers, my husband was a full-time youth pastor, and I was a stay-at-home mom, taking a stab at starting a business to help buy groceries. God blessed this business beyond anything we could’ve imagined.  It enabled Jeff to transition into a part-time associate pastor position a couple of years ago, allowing him time to work towards his Masters degree as a full-time student.  And now, that season is coming to an end. Jeff only has a few more classes to finish in order to complete his degree, so he has started applying for full-time pastor positions.  We don’t know exactly where or when, but we will be moving to whatever church we feel God is calling him to.  We hope

When I posted my updated profile picture a few weeks ago, I received many comments that were along the lines of, “Oh my gosh!  Your hair!!” I’ve had my hair mostly short for the past few years.  Every couple of years, I would get it into my head that I would grow it out, but then I would get impatient.  I would also realize that I really didn’t know what to do with long hair!  My hair tends to grow like a lamp shade and styling it would take forever.  So I would retreat to my familiar short, choppy haircut. I think it’s trolling through hairstyles on Pinterest that finally convinced me to grow my hair out and stick with it.  I’ve been growing it out since last October and just at the beginning of 2017, it seemed to go from a shoulder-skimming bob to mid-length overnight and I’m now enjoying