Having a weekly family meeting is an idea that I stole from my friend (and someone who is well known to my readers!) Jennifer Grant. We’ve been having family meetings, off and on, for about a year, and their importance and value has increased to us over time. Now, if we skip the meeting for […]
Weekly Family Meetings: How to + Agenda + Ideas Read More »
Somewhat on a whim, our family decided to try a family challenge for the year. The goal? One thousand hours outside. After having learned the power of being outside this year (global pandemic will do that for you, thank you very much) and knowing that we’ll still be following COVID precautions for who know how
31 Hours Outside in January / What We Learned and Did Read More »
Recently I’ve been actively working on making sure my children and I are bored on a regular basis. Yep, that’s right. I’m trying to be bored and to make sure the rest of my family is too. It all started a few months ago when I heard an episode of the RobCast called “The Importance
Boredom as a Spiritual Practice Read More »
This morning I was cleaning out some “miscellaneous drawers” (aka “junk drawers” aka “drawers with the following things: a paperclip, hundreds of multiplying art projects and worksheets I couldn’t throw away at the time, books I meant to read but only read the first chapter or two, and assorted half burned candles.”) Also, a bird
Creating Your Own Traditions (Not Somebody Else’s) Read More »
Yesterday we all piled into the van for the annual school supplies shopping trek. I feel like not much has changed there since I was a child. Some of the exact same items are on the list, in fact. First, there’s the “mostly easy to find but one or two impossible things to find” item.
Back to School Traditions! Read More »
Hi There Faithful Families Parents! You’re the type of person who wants to create all of the meaningful faith-filled moments with your kids. (I know, because I’ve met hundreds of you.) You, like me, want to savor every moment because you know (because people like me are constantly reminding you) that children grow up way
30 Grace Filled Affirmations for When You’re “Doing it Wrong.” Read More »
Somehow, inexplicably, we woke up yesterday and our baby boy was six years old. How is that possible? How often I wish it would just slow down (a la Nichole Nordeman’s beautiful song, guaranteed to make you cry.) I believe tradition, spiritual practice and ceremony can be a way to add meaning to our days,
Birthday Tradition: A Birthday Plate! Read More »
This weekend, I saw this great idea for a race track shirt and realized we had all of the supplies needed to make it. The boys were super excited for Elias to try it, and I wanted to share it on the blog so we went ahead and gave it to him a little early.
Fun Father’s Day Gift – Wearable Race Track Read More »
This morning I was at a cafe getting some work done while my four-month-old daughter Marina Lynn was sitting beside me in her stroller. When her smiling and cooing turned to fidgeting and crying, I picked her up out of the stroller and started to pace around in the cafe. Two women caught our attention.
I’m often asked, both in my role as pastor and also as an author of a book on faith and family about what resources I recommend for children who are grieving. In this post I link to ten books I recommend for children and families. Check out the age recommendations as well as a short sentence
