by Jess Connell · April 27, 2015 First I asked myself, What is the most essential thing for me to be doing right now? Then I reminded myself of the reasons why I want to DO those essential things. I’m not under the illusions that mere DOING is going to change my heart, my home, or […]

by Jess Connell · June 24, 2015 On a post last year about the growing expectations on young woman to look physically perfect (and increasingly generic), a commenter wrote: Quick thought from a guy – Know what really hurts? When a girl spends a mountain of care and attention trying to win over exciting but […]

“It takes incredible amount of courage and strength to go against the grain of what people want you to be.” ~Janet Mock, trans advocate, in a documentary about Bruce Jenner’s recent ESPN award No it doesn’t. It doesn’t take strength at all to go your own way. That is what comes naturally. This is the human […]

Hi there. I bet if you’re reading this, you’re a happy mama with a cute baby you love… I can relate to that.  Luke Ebenezer (A.K.A. Lukearoni, Lukey, cutest-baby-in-the-whole-wide-world) is our 7th baby, and like I’ve done for all 6 babies before him, once he was ready to start eating solids, I started making the food […]

by Jess Connell · December 28, 2015 WHAT WORKED IN 2015: WE ADJUSTED TO BEING A FAMILY OF *NINE*— Yes, this year, we had our 7th baby, sweet Luke Ebenezer. I successfully fought off postpartum stress, and worked to be OK with the extra weight that (for me) comes with successful breastfeeding. (He’s 10 months […]

by Jess Connell · October 13, 2016 {NOTE: For those readers who don’t know our family, we’re the Connells. Doug’s my husband and I’m Jess. At the time of this trip, we had 7 kids (Ethan-14, Baxter-12, MeiMei-10, Silas-8, Moses-6, Theo-3.5, Luke-18 months), and I was 6 months pregnant with our 8th child. I’m publishing journal […]

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN FASTING? Simply put, fasting is choosing (for a set period of time) not to eat food in order to devote yourself more single-mindedly to the pursuit of God through Scripture and prayer. Christian fasting differs from the ritual/scheduled fasting found in other religions, and is not done in order to earn favor. […]

by Jess Connell · June 24, 2015 On a post last year about the growing expectations on young woman to look physically perfect (and increasingly generic), a commenter wrote: Quick thought from a guy – Know what really hurts? When a girl spends a mountain of care and attention trying to win over exciting but […]

by Jess Connell · July 13, 2015 I’ve been a Pastor’s wife for three and a half years. The first two of those years, my husband was an administrative pastor, which was a very different thing from the counseling and discipleship pastoral role he has now. It’s not been very long, really, but it’s been long enough to […]

by Jess Connell · December 12, 2016 People say crazy things to pregnant ladies. But it doesn’t mean we have to take those comments in to the deep places of our heart. We talked about one of those, last week: “Your Daughter Needs a Sister!” (an Acceptable Christian Lie). One commenter shared how the classic […]

In this series about convictions, we’ve talked about: And in that last article, we left off at that pesky place where we come to a different conviction than someone else in the Body of Christ. So what do we do then?!? Unlike being under the Jewish law, where 600+ rules guided daily life (and many […]

My blood began boiling over this issue a few years ago, when the (supposedly) “safe for the whole family” Christian radio station in my area began advertising “Mommy Makeovers” throughout the day, every day. The ad went something like this: “Sick of your post-baby flabby midsection? Ready to treat yourself and your body to some […]

Q: How do you get your kids to stay in their beds? Mine are continuously coming out until 10:00 some (a lot of) nights. So the time between 8:30 (when they go to bed) and 10:00 (when they finally fall asleep) is spent herding them back to bed, getting them drinks, laying down with them, etc. […]

1. THEY ARE PRECIOUS AS BABIES. PRECIOUS!!! We built a pen out of the cardboard box from a deck box. We taped it to the floor in a trapezoidal shape so they wouldn’t have any 90-degree corners to run into (and get suffocated by the others, which apparently can sometimes be a problem with small […]