22 February 2018

memes and desserts and sunsets and daffodils


  • fit bit hand-me-over
  • a friend got a job that sounds like a great fit
  • spot on memes

  • figuring that the dishwasher does indeed match the fridge (the gray blue shade was from the protective film that we never took off)
  • beautiful day for a bike ride 
  • date night desserts

  • 100% positive RSVP for eli's birthday plans 
  • taco tuesday with the callows (goodness...setting the bar high for taco tuesday) 
  • incredible spot for viewing the sunset


  • doughnuts and coffee
  • how much sam makes nick laugh
  • finding daffodils in our yard..

  • doing the right thing (disobedience is not worth $40)
  • "he loved so intimately and served so effectively." - inspiring words about Charles Wesley
  • sweet time with sweet friends at the playground

  • "put your faith in God's faithfulness." - nic
  • magic tricks by "emma-gician"
  • selah's honesty about losing sugar

15 February 2018

love and muffins and girls working together.


  • sweet, sweet week of vacation
  • how much caroline loves her bed (and home!)
  • TA projects
  • how very, very, very much God loves us
  • reckless love song
  • cookies and milk (and ridiculously amazing friendship) with shea 



  • silly messaging with shelley
  • josh and katie are here!!!
  • andrea and her "hey girl hey"
  • rice & soy sauce
  • eli's bluberry muffin making
  • 4 words of affirmation for nick

  • girls playing soccer in the mud
  • coffee with katie (coffee = amazing; company = even better)
  • vacation moments that are REALLY REST because my husband is thoughtful and generous and incredible
  • caroline helping emma organize her room (thankful for the cooperation and the organization!)
  • homeschooling = emma can get the sleep she needs
  • goggles and bubbles and curly girly (and alllll the other white kids)(nope...not a racial statement) 
  • familiar and sacred ash wednesday service
  • when the heaviness lifts a bit
  • microwaves and electric kettles and all the conveniences of life
  • nick's lunch on monday

11 February 2018

Abba's Child - quotes from chapters 4-6

Second installment of quotes from "Abba's Child" - all quotes from Brennan Manning unless otherwise noted!  

Chapter 4

It is important to recognize these self-commentaries for the mind tricks they are.  They have nothing to do with our real dignity.  How we view ourselves at any given moment may have very little to do with who we really are. - Gerald May

Only reckless confidence in a Source greater than ourselves can empower us to forgive the wounds inflicted by others.


I am reluctant to push God off His judgement seat and take my place there to pronounce on others when I have neither the knowledge nor the authority to judge anyone.  No one at this table has ever seen a motive.  Therefore, we cannot suspect what inspired the action of another.

We are sons and daughters of the Most High and maturing in tenderness to the extent that we are for others - all others - to the extent that no human flesh is strange to us, to the extent that we can touch the hand of another in love, to the extent that for us there are no "others."

The compassion of God in our hearts opens our eyes to the unique worth of each person.

I felt that to acknowledge their [prejudices] existence would give them power.  Ironically, denial and repression are in fact what gives them power.


What makes the Kingdom come is heartfelt compassion:  a way of tenderness that knows no frontiers, no labels, no compartmentalizing, and no sectarian divisions.  Jesus, the human Face of God, invites us to deep reflection on the nature of true discipleship and the radical lifestyle of Abba's child.

Chapter 5

As systematic theology advances, the sense of wonder declines.

Jesus did not die at the hands of muggers, rapists or thugs.  He fell into the well-scrubbed hands of deeply religious people...

Obedience was the expression of the love of God and neighbor, and therefore any form of piety that stood in the way of love stood in the way of God Himself.

...safe in the shadow of God's love.

Being accepted, enamored, and loved by God comes first, motivating the disciple to live the law of love.

Chapter 6

Without deliberate awareness of the present risenness of Jesus, life is nonsense, all activity useless, all relationships in vain.  - Don Watkins

All day and every day we are being reshaped into the image of Christ...nothing is irrelevant to it, nothing is without significance in it.

Jesus...the incarnation of all the Father's feelings and attitudes toward human kind.

The miracle of the gospel is Christ, risen and glorified, who this very moment tracks us, pursues us, abides in us, and offers HImself to us as companion for the journey!

Contemplative awareness of the risen Jesus shapes our resemblance to Him and turns us into the person God intended us to be.

Jesus, rather than self, is always the indispensable core of ministry...the moment we acknowledge that we are powerless, we enter into the liberating sphere of the risen One and we are freed from anxiety over the outcome.


This book is significant for me. I feel like I'm on the edge of something beautiful...like I've been circling around it and tasting of the goodness...and now He's inviting me to jump - free falling in His perfect love.  (which sounds pretty but is really a scary, scary picture...but that's just where I want to be - entirely surrounded, controlled, lost in His Love...want to jump with me?)


08 February 2018

things i'm thankful for...

  • time with the robertsons
  • 3 naps and one book from start to finish during the car ride to virginia (3 naps = all mine)
  • "stopping by" to see shea
  • she's still got it - the ability to sleep during travel (so maybe it's should've been 4 naps)


  • texas trash and apple butter (and forgotten about surprises!)
  • delicious cracker barrel
  • time on the treadmill
  • the way nick leads our family devotion time


  • girls catching snowflakes on their tongues
  • the chance to empathize...
  • layers.  not being cold. 
  • ski lodge + bag o' books + mumford & sons playlist 


  •  emma gave skiing another try - and loved it!
  • the way caroline took emma to the bunny slope and stayed with her
  • getting to write about a friend's amazingness in a reference form
  • f.a.m.i.l.y. time


  • breakfast in bed from caroline
  • monticello!
  • a great second interview and "you're our top candidate" for one courageous KJ
  • larger than life men and their legacies


  • the freedom we have in america
  • tickle fights
  • memories of DC 
  • thomas jefferson and his quotes


  • when something goes wrong and the company/customer service makes it right (and it ends up being way better than the original plan!!)
  • just the right mixture of going and resting on this vacation
  • CFA in warrenton (virginia)
  • marco polo fun with friends

01 February 2018

chip-nics and checklists

  • the beauty and simplicity of sandwiches (and friends to enjoy them with)
  • adoption and foster care
  • when self-check out goes smoothly
  • time with kelsey and her sweet house warming gifts!


  • illusion with harris iii
  • lifeschool class #1 is in the books! 
  • elephant notebook
  • the way emma likes to be close...and helps us to all be closer (she put one of my hands and one of nick's hands on each of her purple-panted knees)


  • clay's willingness to turn off the flat iron in the cottage
  • free CFA thanks to the app 
  • clean toilets in public places (i don't ever want to take that for granted!)
  • ultimate frisbee with friends


  • new fun font stamps
  • bar-b-que and meaningful conversation with my best guy 
  • checklists
  •  they made us a chip-nic


  • salty almonds and raisins
  • mail from miss myriam - all the way from switzerland!
  • mountain brook drive (there is a brook...but no mountain)
  • all the resources at the library