Is this you? Are you looking for ways to grow as a disciple? Perhaps you have been a follower of Jesus for a long time, but are looking for fresh ideas, or ways to revitalize your Christian walk? Or maybe you’re a new believer and want to grow more like the Lord? I’m by no means… […]

It can be difficult for parents in any season of life— with a newborn, with two or three little ones, with the time commitments of little league, with teens, or (as in our case) with a large family that bridges many of these “seasons”– to prioritize marriage amidst all the “busyness.” Here are 10 ways Doug and I purposefully work […]

“You are a God of seeing… Truly I have seen Him who looks after me.” ~a pregnant Egyptian slavewoman, in the middle of nowhere… a nobody really… making much of the One who found her in the wilderness, gave her water, and blessed her. When in the wilderness, it makes sense to look at what […]

Life as a mom of young children can be chaotic and challenging. Let’s talk about the ideas and practices that can help us embrace this important season of motherhood.  Listen as Jess talks with Emily Jensen (mom of 4 kids, ages 3 and under), about the lies we sometimes believe about being a mom of littles connecting with kids […]

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros have the cutest, hippy-dippy love song. It’s my most recent favorite song to capture some of the way I feel about Doug: Oh, it gets some things wrong. Don’t go looking for perfect expressions of truth among imperfect humans. Every human offering gets some things wrong. And yes, it’s…

One mom posed this question after reading my article, A Child Left To Himself. Q: I have two little girls (2.5 and 10 months). I would love to hear how you manage this [keeping kids near you and watching and training them throughout the day] practically and still get things done! When you say they are near are they […]

Last fall, I unexpectedly encountered someone I haven’t seen in decades. Mercifully, it was in a crowded setting where we did not have to interact, and I don’t think he ever saw me. I didn’t even recognize him at first. But when I was young and impressionable, that person-across-the-way deeply impacted my life through manipulative… […]

I’ve always thought of myself as pretty brave. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know but I looked to the externals and deemed it so: moving around the world, multiple times, as a growing family keeping having babies even though it HURTS (!!!) every time, and makes life harder quitting my dream job and moving to… […]

Years ago, when I worked for Governor Huckabee, oh the dreams that I had! Having worked for the States of Arkansas and Texas, ladies, I was determined. I’d work my way up through the political ranks, and one day, be a Senator. And to tell the truth, when I get put out with political goings-on,…

Recently, talking with two dear friends, one was experiencing a “storm” in parenting her nearly-but-not-quite-adult “child.” Each in our little trio had experienced something similar in recent years. We each admitted that– in those moments, in our hearts– we feel inwardly assaulted by trying to pinpoint what we had done wrong, and what alllllllllllll the […]

Does your husband have to do a jig… …written according to *your* dance steps… …in order to “get” sex? Does he have to follow a particular formula in order? Does he have to (effectively) win the lottery? Is there an unwritten set of rules that he needs to do *something*– do the dishes, get the […]

There have been seven times in my life I’ve personally heard the words, “it’s a boy!” 1. In July 2002, following a painful, long delivery, after fearful words were spoken about meconium and the baby didn’t breathe for a long while, I heard, “it’s a boy!” as an afterthought before the NICU team whisked him away….

Happy New Year! This time of year, goal-setting gurus and exercise hounds browbeat us into putting forth measurable, specific goals or resolutions. But the far more challenging question for me is this: WHO WILL I BE IN 2014? If I was a yelling shrew throughout 2013, what will change my heart? Can a simple goal, that…

Last summer, we hiked the Wonderland Trail with our 7 kids (ages 14 down to 18 months). The Wonderland is a 93-mile loop trail around Mount Rainier, with 22,000 feet of elevation gain. People have taken anywhere from 20 hours to 15 days to hike the entire thing. We did it in 12 days. Here’s… […]