By Grace Alone

I have an aversion to numbers, a problem I discovered when in my high school algebra class. Even though I understood geometry quite a bit b...

Yesterday I wrote about how I made the mistake of using a disciplinary system that was inappropriate for my kids and how learning to love...

Yesterday afternoon my son Caleb graduated with a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University. Besides the fact that he looked dapper ...

Today I am going to share something with you that I said I wouldn't. We had planned to keep Tadesse and Biruk's past mostly a priva...

Before adopting Tadesse and Biruk, I felt rather confident in my parenting skills. I am far from the perfect parent. Jerome and I have just...

We are in the midst of a difficult week. Behaviors seem illogical and we are often left scratching our heads, trying to make sense of thing...

As I read through the Bible, I frequently come across a story or a quote that reminds me how I should respond to situations in my life. Ma...

'Tis the season for Christmas lists and Christmas shopping. The older I get, though, the less I want, and unfortunately, the things I d...

This morning I had to be in Sioux Falls early. As I listened to Christmas music on the radio while I drove, I moaned out loud when the sky ...

My brother-in-law Jason and I have a good-natured debate going on. He is a die-hard football fan. I am not. On Sunday afternoons he loves w...

One of the struggles we've had since coming home with Tadesse and Biruk is their endless fascination with buttons. We brought an iPad (...

A dear friend of mine and I have been talking much about excess these past months. We discuss Americans' dependence on stuff while peop...

Following a difficult year of my life when I lost both my dad and my brother, I had an awakening of sorts. On one particular evening, grief ...

When we were in Ethiopia, we elected to stay at the Morning Coffee Guest House for a couple of reasons. First, there we would get more insig...

I have an odd—maybe vain—habit. When I've practiced a piano number to almost error free (See my previous post about that), I record mys...

My week in Ethiopia has given me much to be thankful about, namely 1. Tap water with pressure. Every day in America—and sometimes twice a ...

This is what I woke up to this morning. A Mario Kart top bed sheet, crumpled and thrown down the stairs. I stared at it a moment, thinking,...

I have always had a label for people who habitually do tasks the same way or at the same time every day or every week. I would call them rig...

Last night the last thing I said to my husband was, "I'm really tired, so don't wake me up in the morning. I'm going to sle...

Last month following my post about my wedding anniversary , I had a dream. In the dream, Jerome and I had been married 25 years, and accord...