I went into Beauty and the Beast with somewhat low expectations. The cartoon version was always one of my favorite movies, and I hadn’t heard the best reviews of the remake. One of the reviews I found most striking argued that there was something forced, strange, and off-putting about the story being live-action in the first […]
How to participate in gift-giving without participating in materialism
Materialism is an obvious problem in America and it is made more obvious during the holiday season. Many people blame Christmas, or at least Christmas gift-giving, for this materialism. But materialism can happen with or without gifts. Whether it be iPads or beach trips or going out to bars, we become materialistic when we are […]
What is an animal that is not nocturnal?
My three year old turned to me, and asked, urgently, What’s it called when an animal is NOT nocturnal? Hmm. I don’t know. That’s a good question. He paused for a few moments and, maybe one day when me and Nicholas are big we can go and find a dragonfly. And then we can ask […]
5 Tips For Taking Better Pictures
I take less pictures of my children now than I did three years ago. It’s not because I value their “moments” any less. It’s just that the longer I am a mother, the more I recognize the sacredness of those moments. And one of the most puzzling and frustrating qualities of sacred things is that […]
If I Stop Writing
“What else do you do?” As a mother, I get the question often, and I always have an answer, “Well, I write. I’m working on some books; I have a blog.” And I feel good about myself for being able to say this. In fact, I would feel quite insecure if I couldn’t say it. […]
Introducing “sons of God”
If there is a loving God, why does he allow evil? It is a question that plagues us today, but it is certainly not a modern problem. Perhaps it caused the most distress to those who witnessed its beginnings, those who remember sinning for the first time. What would it have felt like to be […]