Friends of Encouragement
About once a week or so, my notifications on Facebook will light up. I begin wondering what’s going on. I haven’t posted anything today?! What is it?? Then it clicks. Renee & I have been friends for over 25 years. We’re part of a pack known as “BSG” - Bible Study Girls. Someone gave us that name in college ... and it stuck. A lot has happened since those days: marriage, kids, careers, and even different cities now for a couple of us. But thankfully, the BSGs are still together. Each girl has a unique personality and gifting that she
Broken Toilets and Busted Locks
It's time for another peek behind the screen- lucky you! This week, I want to share with you the fun that we have been having in the Thomas household. In the last 10 days, we've had 2 busted toilets, an "aging dog", a car in the shop, and been locked out of our house. The toilet thing was actually just a nuisance. We still had one working toilet in the house, and my husband had rigged up one of the broken ones so that it could be gently coerced into flushing. (Don't ask me how!) My dog is fine; it
Building Faith
It has been one of those weeks. Alot feels like it’s going wrong. I’ve worried about it. Talked about it. Prayed about it. And worried about it some more. And I continue to see no tangible change in the situation. But after sharing with my friend what’s been on my heart, she gave me some wise counsel from her own story and from the word of God. And from there, I’ve taken some steps and I have started down the path of finding a solution to the problem. It is not resolved yet, but I believe it will be
My Heart on Parenting…
If you have a child or have ever been one (I think that covers all of us)...then I’m sure you know, children are unique and so are their parents. And aside from the Bible, there isn’t a standardized one way guide to parenting. We pray for wisdom, do what we know to do, make a few mistakes and then we pray some more. As a follow up to Sunday’s ‘Back to School’ Facebook Live (check it out if you haven’t yet), I thought to share my thoughts (and my heart) on a few other parenting topics. SLEEPOVERS? I’m not opposed,
Great and Adjusted Expectations
On our most recent vacation, my husband and I arrived at our destination and headed towards the rental car counter. This wasn’t my first rodeo (aka rental car experience) with him so I was ready. I grabbed our luggage and found a comfortable seat … armed with a book, my phone and the expectation that we wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. Some people are particular about their food and won’t do leftovers. Thankfully, my husband is not that guy. Leftovers get us through the week. Every week. Some people will only purchase name brand clothes. The outlet mall and Ross
Now I See
While recently traveling in San Francisco, we were able to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. During our first visit, which was in the morning, the fog was so heavy that it was difficult to view the Bridge in its entirety (refer to the photo on the left). Regardless of how hard we looked at it or how closely we approached the bridge, its height and span were just not visible to us. From what we could tell, it had the bottom of any other bridge found anywhere in the world. As a result, we decided to return in the afternoon
Celebrating Others
Recently, the director of my department left. He earned a promotion and moved on to an incredible job. We were all sad to see him go, but as a team, we were excited at this new opportunity that he had been given. After he gave his notice, he spent the bulk of his time training his replacement. On his last day, he spent time physically preparing his office for his next in line. His office had been cleaned out for weeks, so his new additions were obvious to anyone who passed by. His successor was from our team, and he
Mistakes
Mistakes. I tend to make a lot of them. Whatever it is...whether it’s losing my temper with my kids, being quick to speak before I hear the whole story, or making a clerical error because I was rushing to finish something at work...mistakes are a big part of my life. It seems that lately when I make them I get more and more upset about how I could let it happen. The burden of the mistake can sometimes weigh so heavy on me that I feel like a total failure. I feel as if the enemy loudly whispers that I’m
Weathering the Storm
//TWENTY// Two decades ago, my husband and I were joined as one in the Lord. In the sermon shared at our wedding, we were told that there would be storms in this sea of life. But as bright-eyed newlyweds, those words seemed irrelevant. After all, we were setting sail into the sunset. It was certainly smooth at first. But it didn’t take long for the storms to come in our direction. Sometimes, the waves were so intense that it didn’t seem like we could remain secure in our ship. For starters, we realized that we were both fiery firstborns. We
Polished
To all those who faithfully manicure on schedule, please forgive my ignorance for what is likely a known fact. Yesterday, I painfully found out what nail polish containing acetone actually does. A few weeks ago, I had the rare privilege of getting my nails done at a local salon, and I decided to do gel nails. Sitting back and having my nails done is a luxury for me, so I enjoyed my time there and loved walking out the doors with a renewed sense of confidence. Well, since it had been a few weeks, the polish was starting to peel
