Summer Reading Log

So, lists are my thing. Not surprisingly, I've passed on my love of all things written down to my children. I find lists can really help them (and me!) to keep track of life, of school, and keeps goals front and center. We are working hard at reading fluency around here with a few of my babes, and the dawn of summer brings a whole new paradigm of "school" time in our home. To keep track of some of our summer learning goals and to serve as a journal of their accomplishments, I created this handy little reading log for them to post on their bulletin boards. 

I'm working on a post about booklists for each of my kids this summer but I'd love to include some new favorites in the list- what do you want your babes to you log time reading on these hot days? Share with us in the comments? 

And please download this reading log and share it with friends! I hope it blesses your families and helps you keep track of the awesomeness of your kids and the stories you share together this season. Just click below to download and print:

Summer Reading Log Download PDF

The Heart of A List Maker

I am a list maker. It can’t be helped. I keep track of life through pages and pages of notebooks and to-do lists and half- used journals. Upon our recent move, I was faced with three, yes three full boxes of  leather bound tomes to lug to our new apartment. The movers might have given me a few eye rolls, but these babies are my treasures! Here’s why: I will never scrapbook. I get itchy just thinking about how to print my bazillion photos from the last 12 years. How on earth could I ever catch up and write stories and create borders to match at this point? I can’t.I’ve tried.

Sometime after my third child was born, a new kind of memory keeping began for me. I’d love to share it with you in case, like me, you long to have a record of how you build into your days,  but wonder where to begin or how to journal about your family life simply.

Read the rest today at Mom Heart by clicking here

Web Wandering

Here's what I've been reading lately that struck a chord, prompted conversation and generally motivated some deep thoughts around here this week.

An encouragement for my friends in small towns and an insightful warning for those of us living in an urban setting- The New Legalism?

This right here is my heart and an absolutely vital word to pour into our daughters. Freedom, not shame. This is the true gospel. Jesus wants the rose.

Along the lines of bearing freedom and restoration for the wounded and shamed- This is a voice you must make room for.

For the mamas of the wayward, for those wayward parts within ourselves- Just this.

And for those with daughters (and who are daughters themselves) May we be bold enough to take off the mask.

Freefall to Fly

"Every woman is in some way searching for or running from her beauty and every man is looking for or avoiding his strength. Why? In some deep place within, we remember what we were made to be, we carry with us the memory of gods, image bearers walking in the garden. So why do we flee our own essence? As hard as it may be fore us to see our sin; it is far harder still for us to remember our glory. The pain of the memory of our former glory is so excruciating, we would rather stay in the pigsty than return to our true home." -Brent Curtis and John Eldredge in "The Sacred Romance"

What makes your heart sing? What is that one thing that you love to do, that stirs your heart and makes you feel alive? Whatever it is, its something God placed in you, as he delighted over you, as he wove you together in your mother’s womb- it is, as Rebekah Lyons calls it, “your birthright gift.” Did you know you had one? Sometimes as moms, in the busy years, the years with tug a pull and very, very little margin, we can forget those gifts were ever there. We can forget who we truly are.

I’ve spent a good long while in seasons that felt too busy to breathe, too dark to see any light. They felt crushing and I felt so alone, so far from what I thought my life would be like. At the time I couldn’t imagine any other mom felt like me, so out of control and displaced, a bit lost and beat down, a little too shabby to cultivate the dreams that had been stored up in my heart.

It is still a rare delight when a story  feels a part of my soul almost instantly, when before I’ve finished the prelude, I’m already in tears as I nod and agree and see some of my own story woven in the fabric of words expressed. Freefall to Fly was one of those rare delights. Rebekah Lyons shares her own journey of her family’s move to New York City, her own struggles of how anxiety and fear began to lead her into a downward spiral that ultimately led to total surrender to, and a tender rescue by a loving Heavenly Father.

I'm so thrilled to share about this book written by my dear friend today at The Better Mom. Would you join me there?

Rebekah and her cutie family in NYC

Something Beautiful Born of Something Buried

I buried my blog.

Something in me has been stirring for a good long while- rumbling in my belly : A vision of rest. For the parched, for the weary, for my sisters who feel alone, for the ones who feel the squeeze of motherhood, the disillusion of a life that doesn't look quite like they thought it might, or maybe, like me, the hectic pace of a large city. We need water. We need a thirst quenched deep, and a tall glass just won't do. 

I buried my blog for a while to let my thoughts swirl and while it was underground I thought about just letting it go to seed- I thought about how I really want to spend my days, carry out my minutes, fill my home and I said out loud no less than a few times that I was done with this business of sharing my heart  with you all. I just craved quiet. 

And somehow in the interlude, in the place where my cries met God's beauty, he whispered that you just might need some quiet too. The very thing I was to create was the kind of place I desperately long for: a place where we can gather beauty together, where we can find safety to pause and inspire, to foster eyes that see the light... to remember who we truly are.

Kick your feet up and catch your breath. You are welcome here.

Here's a bit more about what I'm up to : About