Unnamed and Unfinished

               I was fortunate to attend the “Moxie Matters” tour with Jen Hatmaker and NicoleNordeman last week.   Not only that, I had meet and greet tickets.   MEET.   AND.   GREET!   I was in a state of pure bliss.   If you don’t know Jen and Nicole (I like to think we are on a first name basis now, because…. You know…. Meet and greet) then feel free to refer to some of my other posts or continue reading.   Jen is an amazing author and blogger.   And her Facebook page gives me life.   She is hilariously funny, but also so deep, raw and honest.   And Nicole is a singer/songwriter.   These are my favorite type of musician because their songs are typically so deep, raw and honest.   Are you detecting a theme??                I have tons of thoughts and fodder for future posts, b...

I know, there has been silence on my end of this blog for a few weeks.   I had some thoughts kind of percolating, but nothing that was really forming into a blog post.   Then tonight I was talking with a new friend about my trip tomorrow to see Jen Hatmaker and Nicole Nordeman at the “Mess and Moxie” event in Chicago, and it came together. In preparation for tomorrow’s visit I have been re-listening to my “For The Love” audiobook (by Jen Hatmaker).   In one of the chapters she talks about parenting and how the thing she wants most is for her kids is for them to grow up to be committed disciples and for them to love other well, like Jesus loves.   And I thought, “Me to!”   What I want most for Big and Little is for them to love Jesus fiercely and to mirror that Jesus love to others. Jen Hatmaker says, “This is why we live and breathe: for the love of Jesus, for the love of our own souls, for the love of our families and people, for the love of our...

I was that church girl.   The one who followed all the rules.   Crossed every “t” and dotted each and every “i.”   An if you didn’t, you were wrong.   That church girl, the one I was, was convinced that if you were part of a church that was NOT our non-denominational, independent, Stone-Campbell Christian church, you were part of the wrong church.   Sins were so obvious, and if you committed any of the “big ones” you needed to fear for your eternity (and of course, I never committed those “big ones”). That was me.   I hope it isn’t me now.   Life has had a way of dulling my sharp edges.   It has helped me see that there is far more grey in the world than I used to think existed, and all that black and white is slowly bleeding together. This does not mean that the me of today does not believe in absolute truth, as revealed in scripture.   This me believes that still, heart and soul, unwaveringly.   But this me also realizes th...

  Don’t listen to the song Slow Down by Nicole Nordeman on the way home from your Big’s biopsy… or after any major medical procedure on any of your children… or after any major kid milestone… or maybe if you have kids at all.   If you choose to listen, please know you will probably UGLY CRY.   ON THE INTERSTATE.   WITH BIG.   I just bought the Nicole Nordeman CD, Every Mile Mattered , last week because Jen Hatmaker was talking about it, with Nicole, on her podcast.   I love Jen Hatmaker.   I love the little I know of Nicole Nordeman, and I loved hearing her on the podcast.   So I bought the CD.   I hadn’t listened to it all the way through, yet.     Guys, I am not kidding you.   The song that started after I got Big in the car after she was released from surgery was Slow Down .   Big and I were on our way to lunch. And I started to cry.   The CD has the version where Nicole sings with her daughter, Pe...