by Anna | Jul 4, 2017 | at (in)courage
While not anywhere near the entanglement of modern day slavery, there is definitely a culture of enslavement right here in the free world. We are bound, all right. Maybe with proverbial chains, but nonetheless these shackles are our reality: Fear. Low self worth....
by Anna | May 28, 2017 | at (in)courage
I haven’t watched a full broadcast of the 10 o’clock news in years. It seemed to me that each night, the news became darker, more saturated with gloom and despair and evil. And there came a point where I decided that I just wouldn’t watch any longer. I do read...
by Anna | Dec 1, 2016 | lifeblog
It’s here. The first day of December. It hasn’t started to snow here in Minnesota yet, but I’m holding out hope for a white Christmas just the same and I made it snow on my blog. So there, weather. Today is a BIG day. It’s the first of...
by Anna | Sep 8, 2016 | lifeblog
Twenty-seven years later, Jacob Wetterling has been found. The horrific details have been dredged out and pushed into the light, and collectively we begin again the grieving process of a boy most of us never met, but whom all of us mourned. He changed our Minnesotan...
by Anna | Feb 6, 2016 | at (in)courage, lifeblog
Two months ago I had a baby girl. She’s my third child and our second girl, and in my twelve weeks as a mom of three I’ve learned more than I have in all my 33 years, like: I can do almost anything while nursing a baby, I need less sleep to function than I thought,...
by Anna | Feb 3, 2016 | lifeblog
This is the second post in a three-part series on Embracing Rest. In case you missed it, here’s Part 1. So why do we resist rest? Rest isn’t just for stressed out busy people; rest is for the everyday people whose lives are full of good things. Rest is for the...
by Anna | Feb 1, 2016 | lifeblog
My life right now is not very conducive to embracing rest. My life right now is not very simplified… but I’m craving both rest and simplicity. Rest does not equal sleep. Rest is defined in several ways, and yes – sleep is one of them – but the definition of rest also...
by Anna | Oct 26, 2015 | at (in)courage
The trees know winter is coming, and they’re preparing for it from the inside out. I’m not quite sure how to process this knowledge that the trees have, but it feels important, kind of enormous. The trees flourish even (mostly?) in their dying. God has built Truth and...
by Anna | Sep 19, 2015 | at (in)courage
I may be a bit of a summertime Scrooge, but it feels like my family got slighted a bit this year with all the house craziness and pregnant mama chaos. I missed moments, entire days wiped out by fluster. My husband and I went on exactly two dates, and there was no...
by Anna | Sep 8, 2015 | lifeblog
I wrote recently about being a megaphone, about living in my sweet spot, about the job that has my hands and heart. Here’s what I didn’t share: sometimes it’s hard to watch others rise while you fall. Over the past year especially, I’ve...
by Anna | Aug 28, 2015 | at (in)courage
. . . This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful . . . We are invited, each of us, to be beautiful. To see and seek beauty in our everyday, in each other. And so our charge is not how to become more beautiful, but to ask instead: how can I add to the beauty? Does...
by Anna | Jul 13, 2015 | lifeblog
Today (yesterday, now) was a hard, hard day. We had a full beautiful weekend, attending a wedding and two days at family camp. We made memories and chose not to pick lots of battles. We allowed candy and late-night movies. Sam got to sleep on the top bunk and jump on...