The Sacred Everyday

I don't want my children to be simply entertained through life. I want them to show up for the purposes for which God has created them. I want them to do the things that only they can do. I want them to have the living conversations that can only come from their hearts and mouths.... Read More

We never really know what we are building with our lives. I try so hard to understand what it’s all about. I pray for vision, I research my past for clues, I desperately seek God for the next step. This is the life of faith. And though we may think our lives will look one... Read More

Are you going to have more? How do you feed them? How do you do it? And the often-implied but never-spoken–why??? When people see us with our eight children, they are curious. For the past 6 weeks, I have been reading aloud a chapter at a time of my book, The Sacred Everyday, A Search... Read More

If you find yourself lying awake at 2 a.m. asking questions that seem to have no answers, this episode is for you. Many of these reflections were written in the dead of night, stealing out of my dark bedroom, making my way to the kitchen table to pour out my heart to God, to empty... Read More

This chapter is a collection of writings that were born out of many difficult seasons of my life. The exhaustion of motherhood, the weight of raising a family, the struggle to find my breath after grief knocked the wind out of me. I share my search for hope and beauty in spite of, and often... Read More

Today I send my most vulnerable and intimate words out into the world, written at moments in my life when grief was shaking me down to the very core. In this chapter of my book, I share about miscarriage and the death of my beautiful mother. These words chronicle the numbing pain of loss, the... Read More

I have been looking so forward to today, knowing I would be reading the next chapter of my book, The Sacred Everyday: A Search for the Exquisite Beauty of an Ordinary Life. This book does not yet exist in print form, and you can only find it here on my podcast, where I’m releasing these... Read More

Today I am brimming over with emotion. I cannot hold these words in any longer. In this special edition of the podcast, I am reading aloud the first chapter of my new book, The Sacred Everyday: A Search for the Exquisite Beauty of an Ordinary Life. The book has not yet been published (I talk... Read More

I have dealt with paralyzing fear for much of my life. As a child and a teenager, when I fell in love, became a wife, when I became a mother, when I wanted to follow dreams in my heart that were impractical and deeply rooted in my soul–every step of the way, fear has steadily... Read More

I have written a lot about birth on this blog. God has used it like nothing else in my life as a metaphor for wholehearted surrender. In today’s podcast, I share a bit about birth, about surrendering hopes, surrendering regrets, surrendering fears, and ultimately surrendering our whole hearts to God. I hope this is an... Read More

Have you ever found yourself wondering what you were thinking when you believed you were capable of raising children into adulthood? Or have you ever been overwhelmed by a season in your family when it just all seemed too much? Sometimes, this happens to me. (Ok, it happens to me a lot…) I realize that... Read More

It is human nature to want more. We are so easily caught up in the search–a better life for our children, a more meaningful existence, convenience, efficiency, easier, faster, better… There is a searching that leaves us restless with what we have been given. And there is another searching that steps back, reevaluates what we... Read More

When I look back over what I dreamed my life would be 19 years into my marriage, I could not have imagined the impact motherhood would have on me. So many of the goals and aspirations of my life have shifted and refocused themselves into the everyday rhythms and rituals of raising a family and... Read More

This is the story of my life as a creative soul–going all the way back to my childhood, my teenage years, the early years of college and marriage, and then into the wonderful and difficult and all-consuming seasons of motherhood (15 years and 8 children into it..). I share the things I truly needed as... Read More

Have you ever had an experience that startled you into a fresh awareness of the fragility of human life? This podcast is a putting-to-words of just such an experience. Last week my baby boy and I were helicoptered into the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta with a medical emergency which is thankfully resolved now but has... Read More

Sometimes motherhood can make me feel very small. I have such ideas and plans and ambitions and so little time to devote to anything but what seems like the most basic of needs. God has been impressing on my heart the beauty and great value of the hidden life, here in this house, raising my... Read More

When Randy and I first started homeschooling, it was because we wanted the flexibility of having our children with us. We imagined traveling, playing music, and bringing our children along… Life shifted as we had more children and we began to restructure our life within the comfort of home. As our children and family size... Read More

I have been reflecting on God’s goodness to me and my family more than usual this week, reminded of the miracles he has done in our lives in bringing us safely through so many questions, fears, doubts, and prayers over these years of marriage and parenting. In this podcast, I am sharing about setting up... Read More

Have you always wanted to keep a journal but haven’t known where to start? Maybe you have a stack of journals that you started and never finished. Maybe you are a journaler who is currently uninspired. If so I hope you will find this podcast a jumpstart to a transformative journaling practice. Journaling is the... Read More

Life doesn’t slow down. Every day there is an inexhaustible to-do list waiting for me. There are needs and questions pressing in–about homeschool, health, children’s needs, creative projects, this house, community, adventure, prayers and plans for the future… One thing I have learned in my life is that I have to create rhythms for myself... Read More

Life can feel so risky–marriage, parenting, meaningful work, just getting out bed… In this podcast, I share how a life of faith can prepare us for every step of our high risk lives. You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Love this podcast? Join my inner circle of supporters... Read More

The choice is always before us: A life of desperation or a life of celebration. In today's podcast, I invite you to celebrate your life and to celebrate with me as I look back over this incredible last year. I am truly overflowing with gratitude as I remember the love and faithfulness of God in... Read More

Halfway through recording, the baby woke to join me. Have a seat with us on our front porch, grab a cup of tea, and let me tell you some stories about how I see God working in our lives. We will also talk about looking for God in the way we perceive the future, in... Read More

I have had so much going on in my heart and mind. I find myself waking in the middle of the night feeling shaken by the state of the world in which we are living and raising our children. I have very little quiet in my life to process through this right now, so forgive... Read More

Sharing Pitter Patter, a song that I wrote when my first babies were small, as well as thoughts about becoming a woman who embraces motherhood at every stage. This photo is my breathtakingly beautiful mother, age 43, holding me, her ninth child. I learned so much from her example. Talking about finding gratitude, praying for... Read More

“I am just trying to figure out my life, one day at a time.  I am just trying to discern which direction to walk.  I desperately want a clear path to follow.  Someone to hand me a map and say, “Here.  This is your life.  You will maximize it if you take this road, turn... Read More

One of my greatest challenges as a mother has been finding the time and energy to tend to my creative life. In this episode, I am talking about creative fire–how it looks different in different seasons of motherhood and how important it is to nurture creative practice even in the blur of raising babies and... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Rune’s labor and delivery will serve as a metaphor for every difficult season of my life from here on out. In today’s podcast, I am sharing the story of his beautiful birth as well as thoughts on faith and fear, rest and... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Just a few weeks away from my ninth delivery, I am thinking of the profound influence that birth has had on my life. How it has caused me to lean on the perfect strength of God over and over again and made... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Restlessness is an invitation to trust God, to praise Him for all He has done, and to pray with greater fervency for vision. In this episode of the podcast, I am sharing my real struggles with restlessness and how it has moved... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Our family is living the in middle of an incredible miracle right now, and in this episode, I want to tell you the truly remarkable story of God’s faithfulness, his tenderness, his attention to the deepest details and desires of our hearts.... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. I want my life to be a response to the love of God. I am recording this podcast from a beautiful camp where we are staying for a couple of weeks while miracles are happening back home. My heart is just overflowing... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. It is so easy to be paralyzed by fear, anxiety, self-doubt, regret, and all the things we cannot control in this unstable world. How can we drown out all the noise and chaos, examine our hearts and see what we are truly... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Each of us longs for a life that has purpose and meaning, the feeling that we are contributing to a greater story, that we are living out the reason for which we were created. Today, I invite you to sit down with... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. We are at the close of 2020. It has been a difficult year with many tests and trials. How can we look back over this year without cursing it, but searching and thanking God for the beauty within it? How can we... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Today we are talking about one of my favorite subjects–the transformative practice of keeping a journal. Journaling is the intersection of my creative and spiritual life, it is where all my good ideas start, it is where I come to make peace... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. On my 39th birthday, I am sharing thoughts about the miracle of existing in the world and the constant struggle to find meaning within each moment and season of that existence. How can we inhabit our lives with grace, without looking back... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. For anyone who is waiting on God to answer prayers for a way forward… Anyone who is at the end of their own resources… Anyone who, like me, needs a boost of faith this morning… Today I am reminding myself of God’s... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. It’s nearly December! I want to slow down this year, to gather all of my children around me, to enter into a sacred space of being together, creating new memories, relishing old traditions, and leaning deeply into the beauty and comfort of... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Sit down at the table with me as I wrestle to understand grief, how it lingers with us, how it changes over time, and how it can ultimately lead us into a greater appreciation and gratitude for the beauty in our lives.... Read More

You can also listen and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. If you are reading this, celebrate with me! This is my first podcast, and I am so excited to share it with you. This episode is a little introduction to The Sacred Everyday, the heart behind my blog, and a glimpse into... Read More