This year has been one of the more challenging & growing years of my life & my families. And still, it’s been ripe with one of the most tender, cherish-filled events I’ve been given.
Here are some of my favorite posts from the year I want to share with you. Some are food feasting, sharing the table stories & encouragements. Others are heart & mama stirrings. I will be posting my favorite recipes this weekend, which will be a shorter list.
- Justice, Mercy & Humility for Your Unique Family You read some article and say to your spouse, “We need to do this,” but it was never your call in the first place? What is deep within you? Translate this into, “What is God calling your family to do, not your local church, your extended family, your friends?”
- Vulnerability Births Hospitality The truth is, we all have bits of awkwardness, dull, talk too little or too much. Yet, what makes us attractive and hospitable is that
we don’t have it all together. It’s in our weakness, where Jesus pours out his lavish grace and shines.
- The NEW Adam Restores I’m falling in love again & again with a Redeemer who has rescued his beautiful bride. I believe in the beauty of his bride, even if it appears hopeless at times.
- Loving Your Introvert: Thoughts from an Extroverted Mama But, what if these little introverts were quite content where they were. What if these little introverts didn’t need us to feel sorry for them or push them to become someone they were never meant to be? What if they don’t need, or even want, that many friends?
- Where do Women Extroverts Fit in the Church I have had to fight the lies, which spoke to me as a young girl in my mother’s shadow of a woman who is extroverted is more sinful than the introverted one. It’s the woman who kept quiet sitting at her husband’s feet calling him ‘lord’ who appears blessed.
- Handling a Person’s Soul like a Piece of Fruit Like the tangelo’s skin, my mom’s heart skin could appear on the outside unscathed. Yet, upon peeling back the layers, the inevitability of bruising is undeniable.
- Where I Have a Confession on My Hospitable Skills He uses the ordinary to create extraordinary, simply by making room with a hot fire of coals.
- Christian Call of Sharing Your Table Do not believe the lie that this culture, society or even the church espouses that entertaining is hospitality. That you must have it together, or be an extrovert. Those are lies from the pit of hell, and you can send them back there.
Maybe it’s Jesus showing up in this typical of mornings with his friends fishing, through his purposeful preparation–making room, in order for them to see him. To know him. Is that what hospitality is suppose to look like.
- Sacramental Act of Sharing Your Table “…in Ancient Near East culture, it was gathering around the table & sharing a meal where covenants were created and hospitality was formed. If I had you at my table and served you food, I was making a declaration, “This shared meal is an act of our binding that I will not betray. You are part of the family.”
- Logistics on How We Arrived Here at our Health, Budget & Story When I have two little girls who are looking to their mama as a model of what a high self-esteem, healthy eating patterns are…how can I ignore this? I want my girls to love food. I don’t want them to be the typical girl who shys away from finishing her dinner, or not asking for seconds, because it’s a “fat thing.”
- Presentation in a Bowl of Simplicity I’m eating with my heart, or at least trying to. Not with my eyes…but thanking the Sustainer of life that I am given one more breakfast to cook simplicity in a bowl for my girls.
- Finding Joy in Meal Preparation When I stand at my small kitchen counter, with black cutting board & chef knife in hand, I get an opportunity to be mindful. I have but one task (or two when interacting with two girls), which is to slice the onion in half for preparation.
- The Genesis of Our Third Child & Her Name, Her Story, Her Entrance Where we meet Caprice (her birth story)
- Where I Have Found My Hospitality Being a vessel to see the glory of the Lord shine is nothing shy of Eden beauty. It’s not in the how it’s played out, which makes this story holy, sacred, good. No, it’s in the doing.
Hospitality is lovingkindness, pure and simple.
- i miss you Know that I miss you Veronica. Know that I miss you Cadence. And know that I miss us Ben. We will find our footing again. We will find our new rhythm, dancing to the beat of our new family drum–I’m confident. But, right now, in this very moment, I’m just a little sad we have to wade through the hard to get to the glory.
-
Tare the Scale: Story of Mercy & Cookies Baking chocolate chip cookies with Tay. Watching V and Tay delight in them brings me immense joy deep within my core, I want them to know tender mercy as my friend would call it. Grace & tender mercy is nothing on my part. He simply tares the scale to show me, “It is done,” for I am undone.
- The NEW Adam Restores I’m falling in love again & again with a Redeemer who has rescued his beautiful bride. I believe in the beauty of his bride, even if it appears hopeless at times.
- Loving Your Introvert: Thoughts from an Extroverted Mama But, what if these little introverts were quite content where they were. What if these little introverts didn’t need us to feel sorry for them or push them to become someone they were never meant to be? What if they don’t need, or even want, that many friends?
- Where do Women Extroverts Fit in the Church I have had to fight the lies, which spoke to me as a young girl in my mother’s shadow of a woman who is extroverted is more sinful than the introverted one. It’s the woman who kept quiet sitting at her husband’s feet calling him ‘lord’ who appears blessed.
- Handling a Person’s Soul like a Piece of Fruit Like the tangelo’s skin, my mom’s heart skin could appear on the outside unscathed. Yet, upon peeling back the layers, the inevitability of bruising is undeniable.
- Where I Have a Confession on My Hospitable Skills He uses the ordinary to create extraordinary, simply by making room with a hot fire of coals.
- Christian Call of Sharing Your Table Do not believe the lie that this culture, society or even the church espouses that entertaining is hospitality. That you must have it together, or be an extrovert. Those are lies from the pit of hell, and you can send them back there.
Maybe it’s Jesus showing up in this typical of mornings with his friends fishing, through his purposeful preparation–making room, in order for them to see him. To know him. Is that what hospitality is suppose to look like.
- Sacramental Act of Sharing Your Table “…in Ancient Near East culture, it was gathering around the table & sharing a meal where covenants were created and hospitality was formed. If I had you at my table and served you food, I was making a declaration, “This shared meal is an act of our binding that I will not betray. You are part of the family.”
- Logistics on How We Arrived Here at our Health, Budget & Story When I have two little girls who are looking to their mama as a model of what a high self-esteem, healthy eating patterns are…how can I ignore this? I want my girls to love food. I don’t want them to be the typical girl who shys away from finishing her dinner, or not asking for seconds, because it’s a “fat thing.”
- Presentation in a Bowl of Simplicity I’m eating with my heart, or at least trying to. Not with my eyes…but thanking the Sustainer of life that I am given one more breakfast to cook simplicity in a bowl for my girls.
- Finding Joy in Meal Preparation When I stand at my small kitchen counter, with black cutting board & chef knife in hand, I get an opportunity to be mindful. I have but one task (or two when interacting with two girls), which is to slice the onion in half for preparation.
- The Genesis of Our Third Child & Her Name, Her Story, Her Entrance Where we meet Caprice (her birth story)
- Where I Have Found My Hospitality Being a vessel to see the glory of the Lord shine is nothing shy of Eden beauty. It’s not in the how it’s played out, which makes this story holy, sacred, good. No, it’s in the doing.
Hospitality is lovingkindness, pure and simple.
- i miss you Know that I miss you Veronica. Know that I miss you Cadence. And know that I miss us Ben. We will find our footing again. We will find our new rhythm, dancing to the beat of our new family drum–I’m confident. But, right now, in this very moment, I’m just a little sad we have to wade through the hard to get to the glory.
-
Tare the Scale: Story of Mercy & Cookies Baking chocolate chip cookies with Tay. Watching V and Tay delight in them brings me immense joy deep within my core, I want them to know tender mercy as my friend would call it. Grace & tender mercy is nothing on my part. He simply tares the scale to show me, “It is done,” for I am undone.
Thank you for sharing this table with me. Thank you for those encouraging e-mails & messages, invitations to dine at your real table & being bold to connect with me about you. I feel blessed!
Backdoor Hospitality 