When I was growing up Advent was never a big deal. I went to Catholic school, but to be honest our Catholic education was lacking. I remember learning about Advent, but the beauty and necessity of readying our hearts and minds was never stressed to us. Our Catholic home was even worse. We prayed before we ate and we went to Mass each Sunday, but … Continue reading The Gift of Self: An Advent Tradition
With Advent just around the corner (less than a week away!), I thought this week I would share a few Advent traditions that we do at our house. It is important to me that during this time we make sure our children understand the true reasons we are preparing to celebrate Christmas. In a world where commercialism reigns, these little family traditions can help us … Continue reading An Advent Tradition: The Jesse Tree
We don’t live within city limits but instead live out in the county. While we love living outside of town, this means that we don’t have garbage pickup unless we hire someone to do it for us. Thankfully we have a wonderful couple that runs their own pickup service who has been gathering our garbage for 17 years now. On the occasion that we have … Continue reading To Joy Them Up
Today I witnessed something very shameful but very indicative of our society. There was a morbidly obese man in a motorized chair that came into the grocery store I was at. He was probably the largest man I have ever personally seen. Savannah, Emma, and I said hello to him as he passed us and asked him how his day was going. We spoke just a few … Continue reading A Shameful Encounter
tales from the side of the tub 