kapachino

I got it into my head that I wanted to make matching friendship bracelets for Meredith and myself. I used to whip these up constantly when I was young but haven’t done it in years, so I actually had to pull up a tutorial to relearn it. It was easy and I finished in a few days. Meredith has gotten so many compliments on her bracelet and I just love having that physical reminder of her on my wrist throughout the day. I don’t know how long they will last since we never take them off and they get wet pretty frequently, but we will probably wear them ragged.

This morning the #shereadstruth devotion spoke about replacing toxic thoughts with God’s truth.  As I shared with you last week, over the past year I let myself drift away from actively doing this, and negative/fearful/discontented thoughts began to take over. One of the best ways I know how to dwell on a subject is to read about it, so I wanted to tell you about my five favorite books about faith. Keep in mind that I haven’t read anything in this area for awhile (I need to! Give me your recommendations!) so there’s nothing recent here. Thankfully these stand the test of time. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It was hard to pick one C.S. Lewis book, especially since I…
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Here we go! I am already behind because I wanted to wait for my core kit to arrive before beginning, but I am taking notes and staying organized so I don’t think it’ll be too hard to catch up. Most of the paper here is from the Seafoam kit. I’m pretty much in love with it, although I definitely gravitate toward the neutral and seafoam colors in it and away from the yellow/orange so I just used the ones I like best here. The number stickers in the top left pocket are ones I’ve had forever and I think I just got them at an office supply store. The “we” badge in the bottom right pocket is from Ormolu but…
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Oh, 18 months. Full-blown toddlerhood. You are killing me. Sometimes with cuteness, but also with stress. Let’s just get the bad stuff out of the way. All of a sudden we have extended tantrums. I’m talking nonstop screaming from the time she gets home – won’t play, throws food in our faces, screams in the car, screams in the bath, violently throwing her body around – until the time she goes to sleep. I know that this is normal and will pass, but it doesn’t make it any less stressful. I think the most frustrating part is that she is perfectly good and happy in the morning and all day at daycare, and on weekends too. So it’s not that…
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I was in a spiritual wasteland for over a year after Meredith was born. My beliefs never changed – I always loved and trusted God – but I stopped putting the effort into the relationship. As a result I experienced a lot of anxiety and frustration. I have mentioned before that right around the time Meredith was born the church I had attended since high school (and that David’s family had been at for 25+ years) closed down. I never mentioned the reason, but I will now:  the pastor, who we thought of as a very good friend, had systematically alienated and manipulated the members, obtained sole financial control without accountability, and then stole or took all the (tithed) money…
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