I love celebrating Christmas, and I love almost every Christmas tradition I’ve ever met. But once I had children of my own, I realized the idea of Santa Claus was eclipsing the joyous miracle of Jesus’ arrival among us. This made me feel decidedly Scrooge-like. Now, strange as it may seem, scowling and fuming about…
Around the Web: The Ridiculous Grace of Adoption Marissa Cope shares her story of the power of God in her adoption. The adoption agency my parents used had a policy that if a sibling was old enough, he could go back with the caseworker and actually carry the child out to the parents. So my…
When I met Nita Andrews last year, I immediately felt as if I’d found a long-lost relative. Some of our dearest friends in Charlotte went to school with Nita and her husband, Al. Â I had heard their names spoken for years, always with deep affection and respect. It is my great joy to count Nita…
Helena Sorensen is a new friend Gina and I recently met in Nashville. She is the author of Shiloh, a Young Adult fantasy I am eager to read. I asked Helena if she would share a post with us and I am very grateful for what she wrote. It gets at something we value so…
Around the Web: Mike Rowe Says Many Are Following Bad Job Advice The host of a show called Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel, Mike Rowe is a big fan of hard work, and he does a great job in this interview explaining that four year college degrees may not be the best path for…
I’m grateful to share a guest post with you from a new friend we met in Nashville (though she’s from Charlotte), Kelly Keller. Kelly just had to marry a guy with that last name. She couldn’t find Mr. Grace, or Mr. Green, no, it had to be Keller. I loved this post and asked “KellKell”…
Around the Web: An Undocumented Migrant Farmer Talks About Her Life It's really helpful to have a human face for this. I think this is an issue that is quickly politicized; I read it (and hope you will too) for the human reminder. In a typical year, I prune grapevines starting in April, and pick…
Around the Web: What You Need to Know About 6-Foot Trick-or-Treaters I was planning to skip the halloween articles altogether, but this one didn't read like a halloween post at all, it read like a "ooh, life is like that" post that happened to take place around halloween. Marion Franck writes. I thought it was…
Our new favorite book by Scottish artist Johanna Basford My girls love to color and it is an activity that I like to encourage. Coloring is great for working on hand-eye coordination, detail work and even color theory. And kids gain all this practice while completely enjoying themselves. When I purchased this book on Amazon…
Note: I’m writing this from the perspective of interaction between Christians. Remind me of The Story, and of my part in it. This is the big thing I need. I need to know that God loves me, I am his child, that he has a future for me and my family. I need to know…
Around the Web: 18 Things I Will Not Regret Doing with My Kids Tim Challies posts 18 things that he knows he won't regret taking time to do with his kids. It's a great list. When that wave [of guilt] rises up, when I feel like I could drown beneath all that regret, I sometimes…
I’m grateful to introduce Liz Cottrill to the Story Warren family. I met Liz through a mutual book-loving, book-selling friend. I was on the hunt for a living book about Rembrandt, and Liz was helping my friend run her bookstore for the day. Not only was I introduced to what has become one of our…
