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5-Day South Dakota Bucket List! (w/Kids)
Our family just wrapped up our second annual road trip to South Dakota and we still have a huge list of unexplored activities and areas for next year! It’s truly quite incredible how much this state has to offer… specifically in and around the Black Hills region. South Dakota is perhaps best known for being home to the very popular Mount Rushmore National Memorial. This historical tourist hotspot is absolutely worth the visit, but while many tourists drop into town for a quick “bucket list” pitstop, I can’t help but feel that they are missing out on so much that this area has to offer! In this blog post, we…
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Friends, We Cannot Truly Minister To Each Other From Behind the Veil of Perfection.
God has been teaching me something really BIG lately and the message has such life-changing power flowing through it that I just find myself wanting to shout it from the rooftops… My friends, we cannot truly minister to each other’s hearts from behind the veil of perfection. Our hearts are tender right now, easily recoiled back into our safe space when we feel that we don’t line up with what the world has told us we should be. We are resisting hiding, but the truth is that on the inside, we are feeling a slight tremble. “I’m strong, but please don’t test my strength. Please don’t see my vulnerabilities or…
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Oatmeal Honey Lavender Soap Recipe For Beginners (& Kids)
Sometimes, the little rabbit holes that we wander down as part of our homeschooling curriculum are just as much fun for me as they are for the little guy. This happens to be one of them… Over the winter, the little Mr. inquired about the process of making medicine from various plants. It was a subject that we had discussed briefly as part of his History curriculum, but he wanted to dive deeper. Because I love hands-on learning, I made the decision that once we had enough sunshine to grow a true herb garden outdoors, we would explore learning to make handmade products using everything that we grew. I’m definitely…
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“Watch For My Love Notes Today”
Some stories are just too good to not share. This was one of those stories. During a recent visit to the grocery store, our son asked if I would buy him a pack of bathtub markers. I tried my best to redirect his attention to the wide selection of bubble bath options, but he just absolutely had his heart set on these markers. So, I consented. When we brought them home, he couldn’t wait to eat his dinner and jump right into the bath! For the next hour, he excitedly called us into the bathroom over and over to show off his newest masterpiece. Evidently they were a good find…
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Book Review: You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado
You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado is an in-depth look at the life of Joseph and how much it can teach us about the goodness of God during our most difficult seasons. The subtitle for the book is “Hope and Help For Your Turbulent Times.” In the book, one of the first things that Lucado addresses is that God loves to use the word “through.” He doesn’t promise to lift us out of our mess and provide us with some kind of divine rescue, no matter how we may long for it. No… He promises to get us through. And as Lucado goes on to say, “it won’t be…
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Coffee With Jesus: A Collection of Moments with My Heavenly Father
Throughout the year, I share a lot on my social media blog pages about random moments when God just stops me and asks, “Got a second? I need to talk to you about something today…” Sometimes it’s when I’m grabbing my morning coffee. Other times it’s while I’m out and about in nature. Car rides seem to be a good place for Him to catch me too. I laugh a little as I write this because my relationship with Jesus sounds a lot like two best friends… and that’s exactly what it feels like too. (Thank you, Jesus, for showing us how real you are and how much you love…
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How To Make Farmhouse Stamped Books Without Stamps!
Last year, I absolutely fell in love with these adorable Farmhouse Stamped Books that were popping up everywhere! Pretty soon, the wheels started turning and my little DIY-obsessed heart began to get really excited for a new project! So, after looking up some tutorials on Pinterest, I jumped right in. Getting started was pretty easy, but when I couldn’t fix an imperfectly stamped book, it would drive me absolutely crazy! (If the perfectionist in you is feeling seen right now, see my blog post Ditch the Hamster Wheel of Perfection & Step Into Your Best Life With Jesus. I’m still very much a work-in-progress.) But, back to stamped books…there had…
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Ditch The Hamster Wheel of “Perfection” and Step Into Your Best Life With Jesus!
Ladies, let’s talk about the elephant in the room… imperfection. We work so hard to be the perfect wife, perfect mom, perfect daughter, perfect sibling, employee, friend, boss, Christian, neighbor, woman… whew! I’m exhausted just writing it. But, let’s face it… trying to chase perfection is like trying to put a fitted sheet on a bed. You get one corner on nice and snug and you feel so proud, and then the other corner pops right off. So you move around, re-tuck that corner down and get it looking neat and “perfect” and up pops the next one. It’s a never-ending round and round as you struggle to get it…
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Are You Still Dead On Easter Sunday?
I know the feeling all too well. My body was warm, but my soul felt cold. It had been so long since I had heard God’s voice that I began to question if it was all just a manifestation of my needs and desires. And if God was real, had He decided that I was simply not enough, underqualified, a failure, and a disappointment? Either way, it was Easter Sunday, but I was still in the cold, dark tomb. I was still dead. And this day was just another reminder that Jesus didn’t love me anymore. I had failed Him. But hold on… as you read those words, you heard…
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Book Review: Goliath Must Fall by Louie Giglio
Goliath Must Fall, by Louie Giglio, is a powerful read that challenges much of the conventional wisdom surrounding facing the giants in your life. In the book, Giglio speaks about some of the major giants that people often face – fear, rejection, comfort, anger, and addiction. I think many of us can relate to facing at least a few of these giants at some point in our lives. Throughout this book, the victory over these giants is based on three major paradigm shifts from the Biblical story of David and Goliath: The first paradigm shift is the idea that “we are not David; Jesus is David.” With this shift, we…
