Dear Nate… (on your first day of Seventh Grade) This year is already different. You are different. You’re growing up, exploring everything, and very much transforming into your own person. I’m honored and exhilarated to watch you become your own, unique person. In a family of runners, you’re trying football instead. All your siblings hated...Continue Reading
Dear Sam (on your first day of high school), Here we are—fifteen years old, freshman in high school, and learning to drive. It feels exactly right for you to be tackling these milestones, and also a bit startling. To see you in the halls of high school, with boys who are 6’2 and girls who...Continue Reading
Has there ever been a weirder start to a school year? On your first day of high school, you went to bed at 2 a.m. This was after saying goodbye to your big sister—and then driving 900 miles from Nebraska, smashed in the backseat with your brothers. This is a metaphor for your place in...Continue Reading
I traveled to Latin America to speak to missionaries. I taught three afternoons of Bible studies to the women and three mornings of Bible studies to teenaged kids of missionary families. This was for the annual conference for the region so over 100 of us gathered together to connect and learn. When I’m working with...Continue Reading
Dear Mom of a New Senior- This will be one of the biggest years of your life. I just finished it and can now see what I didn’t know. Mostly, this year will feel like planning a big wedding, with celebrations for ten months straight. Then, right after the big event, you prepare for the...Continue Reading
Next week, Mike and I headed to the Dominican Republic for six days. We are so excited to be part of the Lutheran mission work in Latin America. As we prepare for the trip, I invite you to be part of the love and words we will bring to the missionaries serving 43 church plants...Continue Reading
You’re Looking for Connection Our family has packed and unloaded our minivan a dozen times this summer. We’ve traveled to a cottage in Seaside, a cabin in Breckenridge, the quiet lakes of Nebraska, and the hot, crowded streets of downtown Houston. It’s been a summer of thousands and thousands of miles, of awe and excitement,...Continue Reading
You’ve seen the pictures and watched the livestream. Now, your kids are headed home from The Gathering and you have high hopes that they came away transformed in some way. And not transformed in the way that they’re too tired to talk about what went down the past five days. Connecting with teens is usually...Continue Reading
Welcome to Houston, the most ethnically diverse city in the U.S.Our people are loyal and loud. The brutal heat, constant traffic, and devastating hurricanes unite us in deep and important ways. And so, when it comes to welcoming visitors, we do it with confidence.Welcome to the very best big city in the world. Here’s what...Continue Reading
2022 I could write a book about this one. Not necessarily the advice I have but rather the complete shock I’m in to be so sad the second semester of my oldest’s senior year. Here’s the deal: I have vowed for 17 years to not be a clingy, needy mom when we got to this...Continue Reading
