2017 - Let Us Pray Until...

As I peer into the coming year, I feel compelled to draw a circle around us – our home, our church, our city, our state, our nation … and pray until.  On this, the final day of two-thousand and sixteen with the dawn of a brand new year upon us, can I be so bold as to urge you, too, to do the same?  Draw a circle of your own and then pray for everything in it…and pray until.

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With Strings [Alternately Titled: Christmas chaos is sorta eating my lunch...]

Hello!

My Parenting Memoir, Please don't lick ______________. (Alternately Titled: I Might Regret Posting This Later)

I heard something said yesterday at church.  In context, the person was speaking about now that you know Jesus, "how then will you live?"  I liked that.  It was good.  Contemplative even.  But then I got to thinking...in the context of child rearing, how then will you live?  

Dinner Tonight?

If you’re like me, the day after Labor Day feels like the Mondayest Tuesday ever…so if you’re looking for a simple meal for your crew, I’ve got one for you that won’t totally turn your kitchen into a disaster.  

Ministry of the Moment ::: Alternately Titled: I Think Jeff Would Call Me A Rookie...(I don't know if I believe it when people say it gets easier...)

You guys...I've literally worn my pajamas all day.  ALL. DAY. LONG.  I never do this.  I'm usually the one marching around public mumbling to myself pajamas aren't pants, people!  Granted, I didn't go into the general population today, but still.  This is the stupor from which this post is coming to you...

Truth from the Trenches: Resting in the Waiting

Somedays I wake up plumb exhausted.  I mean, before I’ve even rolled out of bed, I can feel it.  The truth is, it isn’t simply body-tired…it’s that my heart is tired.  My soul is weary.

Maybe you’ve been here too?

My Kids Think Junk Mail Is Super Cool ... (And Other Curious Confessions)

So, I realized that there is a thread of seriousness to my recent posts…and while that’s good and all, sometimes it’s important to remember to come up for air.  Perhaps it’s because our life is (generally) anything but serious.  Most days, the hardest thing we face is whether anyone’s sock is crooked in their shoe. That and when the mailman is coming because my kids think getting junk mail is a pretty big deal.  They act like its Christmas or something.  –we’ve really gotta get out more –  (Merp.)  I digress.  Anyway, I have decided to list a few confessions  – ya’ know – just to keep me humble and give me something to cringe about a few weeks from now…

Life Has A Way of Unraveling (Part 2)

Sometimes you unexpectedly meet a person and you find yourself face to face with what it means to be broken.  This day, four years ago, I met our firstborn son in a most unexpected way and since that time, brokenness has been my theme.  

Life Has A Way of Unraveling (Part 1)

This is an excerpt of what I wrote one year after Parker was born and buried.  At the time I wrote this, I was carrying our second child.  This is part one.

Wholly Sure & Fully Holy

Before I had children, I didn’t even know it was possible to love someone who threw up on your toothbrush.  But in child-rearing, as in life, the struggle is part of the story. 

Current Situation

I’ll be brief because I’ve been sick.  

About Me

Because my sister likes what I wrote and because it took an obscene amount of time to find out how to actually edit the real About Me section...I decided it not only earned a prominent spot along the side of my blog home page, but that it also deserved it's very own special post. It's post No. 17 and, yes, I realize it's a couple of years in, but ya' know? Better late than never, right?!?

Finding Yourself In The Real Deep End: On Epilepsy & God

If you follow me anywhere, facebook or real life, you know that our little family has been in more hospitals and doctor appointments than I’d like to admit.  What you might not know is that our lives today feel drastically different than they did just three weeks ago.  Over the course of four months, a series of increasingly frightening episodes, several ambulance rides, two neurologists, a mis-diagnosis, and one neurosurgeon, this chronicle of events finally culminated in a four-day stay at Covenant Women’s and Children’s pediatric ICU.

Leprechaun Tears: A Story of Age, Wisdom, & Walking Worthy

I work in the world of Foster Care.  It’s been almost a decade of my professional life with a one-year, brief intermission wherein I stayed home to care for our then-6-month-old-son.  TEN as in ONE-ZERO.  This reality was driven home this past week when I received an alumni newsletter and homecoming invitation to my 10-year, class of 2006, college reunion. 

Unbuttoned: The Soulful Work of Abiding

We unbutton a soul, because we know what we are made of.

But For God: A Message About Grace

Throughout the six months of our time as an engaged couple, we made lots of plans, as any couple does.  We talked about a myriad of things…there seemed to be endless possibilities.  We prayed equally as much as we talked and it became important to us both to not plan a wedding so much, as to plan a marriage.  

A Little Neurosis (but it's worth it if you read to the end...)

There’s a delicate balance between a person who is absolutely normal and one who is absolutely wacko – and I know that balance well.  I’m not sure the internet or, more likely, the few people who read this blog, are quite ready for this information.  Truthfully, I’m not sure I’m ready to put this out there.  But here goes…

Swelling Soul

We are committed-oriented people.  

Sketchy on the Details

It’s been a minute.  Well, to be fair, it’s been A LOTTA minutes. 

I know.  {hear the faint sound of defeat in that}  You guys were all laughing at me when I decided to start a blog a mere two months before another Gleaton was added to our ranks. And to be honest, I don’t recall a single one of you warning me. Not that I would have listened, but at least I wouldn’t have been quite so surprised {read: bamboozled} when I failed to post ONE – a measely peasly ONE blog in the entire 364 days that followed January 1^st.