Category: Uncategorized
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Lessons from Raising Baby Chicks: Self-Compassion
Hello, tender friends! Chicks know how to live in a way that heals me. I’ve been supplementing their feed with rice and other treats since the garden is almost done, and watching them carb binge so unapologetically has made me cry. Watching such unadulterated excitement makes me realize all the excitement I’ve denied myself over…
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A Year Long Fast?
Hello tender friends! I got that feeling in the middle of the night. That “maybe this is God but I’m not sure” one. I thought God wanted me to fast from baker’s chocolate and black tea. What a doozy it was as I continued praying and discovered that He meant for a year. A year?…
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Why I’m Embracing “To God Be the Glory”
Hello tender friends! If you’re a writer, you know that the words of Charles Dickens often apply to the writing life: it is the best of times and sometimes it is the worst of times. I recently wrote a spate of articles that paid 5 cents a word. Yes, you read that correctly, and yes,…
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El Chuwl-The God Who Gave You Birth
Hello, tender friends! We didn’t choose Cub’s name. And even though I went through the still medieval birthing process, I know that he is God’s. That’s a tough pill to swallow as a woman who went through a somewhat difficult birth. Yet I know the Hebrew for El Chuwl, the God who gave you birth,…
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Mastercard Garden Reflections
Hello tender friends! Our garden regularly makes me cry the good kind of tears. As the season winds down, I’m getting nostalgic. Maybe you remember the Mastercard commercials from the late 90s. My nostalgia and remembering those commercials has inspired this: Seeds to plant for the next season-$120 A new hose and sprinkler – $90…
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Joy is Free
Hello, tender friends! Joy is simple, like a tulip. Joy is simple, like bare hands in dark soil. Joy is simple, like a belly laugh from a 3-year old. At the gas pump last Sunday morning, I relished Cub’s joy. While Anthony stood outside my car filling my tank, he ducked down so Cub couldn’t…
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Raising Up Righteousness: Proverbs 22:6
Hello tender friends! The window of time we have to mold our kids can be terrifying. Nobody wants their kid to end up a jerk, and so many experiences when kids are young create lifelong preferences. The first time I walked into the church where Anthony and I met and got married, I took a…
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Just Call Me the Ant!
Hello tender friends! Remember the fable of the ant and the grasshopper? Nobody wants to be a grasshopper. Spending two hours of the morning harvesting okra and tomatoes may not be everyone’s idea of a good time, but fortunately it’s mine! Being out in the early morning light while the ground is still wet with…
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Famous in My Father’s Eyes
Hello tender friends! I’m sorry this post is a day late. Anthony worked all weekend. So we spent the day at home yesterday just enjoying the time together since we hadn’t seen each other since Thursday. (It was also our 7-year anniversary, but we were a little too tuckered out to do anything). So let’s…
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Who Are You Blossoming For?
Hello tender friends! Who are you blossoming for? (I wrote this post with single women in mind because I’d said I would many posts ago. I’ve actually recently been applying these lessons to a very different set of circumstances, and I’ll write about those next week). I played the comparison game in my younger years,…
tea and tenderness 