with the kids

A Conversation About Christians & Mental Illness

It took a tragedy in the life of a Christian “celebrity” pastor to begin a conversation among Christians about mental illness. There have been occasional blog posts and articles addressing the topic here and there, but I’ve never seen anything on the scale that I have since it was announced that Rick Warren’s son committed … Continue reading »

Easter Morning

There’s something about a gloomy Easter morning that just doesn’t seem right. The sun should be shining. The weather should be glorious. But yesterday it was gloomy. Our house church community didn’t let that stop us from getting together at the park for some Easter worship and celebration. The kids hunted for eggs which contained … Continue reading »

A Holy Moly Christmas

This December our house church got to experience the Holy Moly Christmas curriculum. Disclaimer: I am a writer for sparkhouse, the publisher of Holy Moly. I am not being paid by them to use it in my house church or post about it here. I genuinely think it’s awesome! It’s been a blast to come … Continue reading »

5 Ideas for Growing Kids Spiritually

This month I wrote what I’ve learned about how to grow kids spiritually for A Bundle of THYME Magazine. Here’s a snippet: One of our responsibilities as Christian parents is to teach our kids the basic tenets of our faith. This includes everything from how to pray, hymns and songs about the Lord, the specifics … Continue reading »

Habits of a Child’s Heart

After wrapping up our series on the Holy Spirit I was unsure where to go next with the kids. The summer months mean that people miss a lot of Sundays and everything slows down a bit, including my brain! After some surfing on the web for ideas I remembered a book I’ve been wanting to read for some time called Habits of a Child’s Heart. Continue reading »

A Bird, a Tragedy, and a Redemptive End

The night before my oldest daughter’s 10th birthday she learned a tough lesson. Four days earlier we brought home a baby parakeet as a birthday present for her. She spent months researching how to care for parakeets and visiting the pet store. Finally, it was time to get one as a pet. Unfortunately, the cage … Continue reading »

Fruit of the Spirit Revisited

We’re spending a few weeks on the Holy Spirit for Treasure Box time. Last week the kids in our house church heard the story of the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost and made pinwheels so they could “see” the wind blow. This week we made a short visit to Galatians 5 and the Fruit of … Continue reading »

Why I Don’t Trust the Church

This is from a dear friend of mine named Becky Keller. The feelings she expresses are raw, honest, and vulnerable. I think what she’s written is brave and well articulated which is why I asked her if I could share it on my blog. Becky is a nurse who has worked with psychiatric patients and … Continue reading »

with the kids

Faith, community, and service together

Holy Week

Teaching by Doing

Outgrowing affirmation?