The Mudroom: When Compassion Is Exhausting
I’m over at The Mudroom trying to put into words my experience with compassion fatigue, how to combat it, and …
Orphan Care
Orphan Care
When Your Two Friends Hit It Off
You know when your worlds blend? Like when your friend from school and your friend from work meet each other …
Orphan Care, Parenting, Sponsorship, Uganda
I Love You to Africa and Back
One day you wake up and realize you have a middle schooler. About two seconds ago you were in a …
Faith, Sponsorship, Uganda
This is not about Syrian refugees
If your newsfeed is anything like mine, it’s filled with people posting about refugees. Should they or shouldn’t they be …
Orphan Care, Sponsorship, Uganda
Words Are Powerful
This morning while my kids crunched cereal and worked on getting their eyelids open enough to get on the bus, …
Favorites, Orphan Care, Sponsorship, Uganda
Why We Have to Talk About Our Periods
A couple weeks ago I had the sex talk with Ana. I told her, “You’re about to start fifth grade, …
Adoption, Orphan Care, Relationships
Mobilizing Moms at CAFO Summit 2015
Are you attending the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) Summit this year? If so, I’m leading a workshop and I’d …
Orphan Care, Sponsorship, Uganda
This Post Will Make You Grin
I 100% guarantee that this post will make you grin. Even the Grinchiest Grinch cannot watch this video with smiling. …
Orphan Care, Sponsorship, Uganda
Missions and Boobs: A Group Project Inspired by the Internet
What led you to this blog? Did you click on a link from Facebook or google something that offered you …
Adoption, Ethiopia, Parenting
Throwback Thursday – Bringing Evie Home From Ethiopia
For Throwback Thursday, I want to show you a video that most of you probably haven’t seen, bringing Evie home …
Orphan Care, Sponsorship, Uganda
Prevention Isn’t Sexy
Everyone responds in a crisis. When something bad happens, we follow and share and send money and pray and feel …
Faith, Orphan Care
Jen Hatmaker INTERRUPTED and Why We’re Really BFF
Okay, people, we need to talk about Jen Hatmaker. We must. We get to. The first time I ever heard …
Adoption, Parenting, Sponsorship
Fresh Air and an Adoption Update
So…a lot’s happened this week. Rich Stearns told Religion News Service that World Vision had lost “less than 5,000” sponsors …
Sponsorship
World Vision, Gay Marriage, and Breaking Off Sponsorship
These are kids reading sponsor mail at our Children’s HopeChest CarePoint in Uganda. The girl in the middle is Miriam, …
Parenting, Uganda
Showering with My Dog
This is how I ended up showering with my dog. My struggles with the morning routine and getting all of …
Adoption, Orphan Care, Uganda
My Little Church, My Big Church
Every week, we meet with a few other families in a living room. This is my little church. My little …
Adoption, Orphan Care, Sponsorship
Brave Girls
I’ve been thinking about brave girls. Last week was International Day of the Girl and also last week Evie and …
Hosting, Orphan Care
Deep Loving Means Deep Aching
About a week ago I did period math and realized that the height of my PMS would coincide with A– …
Hosting, Orphan Care
Mel-ah-NEE-ah
(Thank you for your grace with my constant hosting posting. I have so many posts about other topics rattling through …
Hosting, Orphan Care
Speaking of Awkward…
This afternoon, A– and I baked a cake together. She decorated it with frosting and sprinkles, and I wrote her …
Hosting, Orphan Care
The Hills Are Alive
Picture in your mind the most exuberant puppy you’ve ever seen, racing around the yard, rolling in leaves, running circles …
Hosting, Orphan Care
I’m Unprepared For How Good This Is
That’s Elena the bear in on our first hug. I didn’t want the hug to end and now I have …
Hosting, Orphan Care
We Chose Her
The sign says pree-vyet, an informal hello in Russian. Sometimes I wish we could upload programs into our brains like …
10 Things, Ethiopia, Orphan Care, Sponsorship, Uganda
10 Things You Need to Know Before Going on a Mission Trip
Summer is approaching and we’re heading into Mission Trip Season. I’ve been on some, I’ve lead a few, and if …