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To Correct or Not to Correct: How Getting the Right Answers Made Me Prideful
I felt the purple chalk dust stick to my fingertips and suddenly sneezed as I inhaled stray particles floating through the air. I paused to think and then wrote “20 + 4,” “8 – 6,” and “33 + 7” on the board. Samuel stood ready to solve whatever math problems I sent his way. He shuffled his feet across the grey-and-white-square patterned carpet in our basement. “Zero plus four equals–four! Put the four in the ones column and the two in the tens column,” he said. Good work, buddy. “Twenty plus four equals 24.” “Thanks for repeating the problem,” I said. “Let’s move on to the next one.” Samuel thought…
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Love Like You Mean It: Practical Help from 1 Corinthians 13
I love reading books by authors who take their ideas directly from Scripture in the order in which they appear in Scripture. Bob Lepine does just that in Love Like You Mean It. Lepine begins at the first verse of 1 Corinthians 13 and explains each descriptor of love in the order in which Paul wrote them. Each chapter includes real-life examples from married couples, too. This always ends up being one of my favorite parts of any book about Christian living. What practical help did I find in the book? One thing Lepine does really well is write short and practical sentences–sentences that you can easily remember later on,…
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The Mom of Legend
“I heard she had five kids and lived in a house with no dishwasher.” “I heard she had seven kids and lived in a house with no dishwasher and ran her own business from home.” “I heard she had ten kids, lived in a house with no dishwasher, ran her own business from home, and somehow found the time to write!” Every woman standing around Lynn rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. Nobody could do all that.” “No, really, I heard she could,” Lynn said. The women standing in the small clique dispersed around the room. Similar conversations were happening all over the church basement as the Greater Grand Rapids…
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A Day in the Life of a Homeschooling Family
My alarmed blared at 6:30am just as my kids came into the bedroom. Samuel had probably been awake since 5:45am when Brian left for work, and Ruthie still looked slightly sleepy. She sucked on her two fingers and pulled gently on her wispy blonde hair. “Can we have a snack?” asked Samuel. I sleepily rolled over and looked into his brown eyes. “Not yet,” I said. “I’ll get up and get ready and then make breakfast.” “Mommy?” asked Ruthie. “Can I have a snack?” “Not yet, girly,” I said. “We’ll have breakfast soon.” “Okay,” Ruthie said. She and Samuel shuffled off to play with their stuffed animals. I slid out…
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Longing for Home in a World of Trials
As Covid began to spread around the globe, I read a lot of articles and posts from friends quoting Psalm 91, particularly verse 10: “No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.” I understand how this verse could help those who feel afraid, especially during a pandemic. The word ‘plague’ describes Covid well. However, the verse that comforted me the most during those first few months of Covid and still comforts me today is Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Our days fly away from this earth like migrating birds. We might visit…