October in Virginia feels like September in Michigan, so I had a small moment of shock yesterday at the realization that it’s suddenly so late in the year. It’s nearing the end of October already, yet fall is just now arriving. The trees are changing color, the nights are truly chilly, and the air has…
Trying to find the right church is like swimsuit shopping. There are too many options. You think one style will look good, but you’re never 100 percent sure, so you feel like you should probably try on everything, which is exhausting and takes far longer than you were planning on. One looks good on top,…
Two years ago this week, I got pregnant with L. When I found out five weeks later, it was this huge surprise we weren’t prepared for. We’d gotten married in August, went on our honeymoon to Kenya in September, and were really just beginning to settle into a marriage routine. We were looking at a…
Because I have this blog and an acknowledged overabundance of cookbooks, it’s probably pretty clear that I like to cook new things. But I also work full time, have a husband in graduate school, and a busy toddler running around, so people frequently ask me how I manage a homecooked meal every night, not…
The end of summer is always bittersweet, but the reasons are a bit different this year. In the past, summer ending meant mourning the loss of endless Lake Michigan beach days, the end of camping season, no more trips to Silver Lake to play on the sand dunes, no more Saturday mornings at the farmers’…
Today was my favorite Father’s Day ever, because it was the first Father’s Day I spent as a wife and mother, and it caused me to pause and look at my husband and 11-month-old daughter together and really cherish what I see between them. I always knew E would be a really good father. I…