• I tried to write a piece reflecting how amazing adoption is, but I've yet to find the words. All I can say is adoption made us a family. Happy Adoption Day!
    Adoption

    Adoption Made Us Family: Adoption Day

    Today is National Adoption Day. I keep hoping to write the perfect post that reflects just how amazing adoption has been in my life, but I have yet to find words that do this journey justice. While this was originally written on National Adoption Day 2016, it rings true for today and every day since the day we first saw her in the NICU in Texas. All I can say is adoption made us a family. Last fall, I was watching the Michael Weatherly drama Bull. The episode featured a woman who went into surgery expecting to come out with her ability to carry a child restored, but had to…

  • Army Wife Life,  Marriage

    Marriage Advice I Wish I Had 10 years ago

    Do we have a perfect marriage? No! So why take marriage advice from an imperfect marriage? We’ve learned a lot about marriage and life over these ten years. And imperfect is the only kind there is, full of flaws and failures, love and laughter, but with two people determined to keep their promises. (Heaven not Harvard shares links as a participant in affiliate programs including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.) Last November, we celebrated our 10th Anniversary! We’re not quite the wide-eyed dreamers we were when we said,…

  • Election season has never felt quite so divisive as it did this year. The entire country is so desperately polarized. What should Americans do now?
    Faith based living

    The Election is Over. What should Americans do now?

    Election season has never felt quite so divisive as it did this year. The entire country is so desperately polarized. The despair and anger and vitriol are palpable. Our country is at tremendous risk of destruction from within. What should Americans do now? If you are a reasonable, intelligent American, I’m talking with you; I’m walking with you. We need to act like we are reasonable and intelligent more now than ever. I’m not seeing very many reasonable, intelligent responses following the election. As Christians, we faced an impossible decision. As Americans, we faced a truly painful one. But we GET to choose how we act today. Maybe, today we…

  • Faith based living

    What about when God plans disaster?

    Wait, what? God plans disaster? He does. And this might not be my most popular post. But we need to know that God plans the steps of everyone for His purpose, even when it includes an earthly version of disaster. Last fall, I was participating in a nightly Praying the Scripture challenge and I wrote this quick commentary on which I’m elaborating today. Christians are are facing a world that has increasingly abandoned scriptural teachings. Even churches are affirming sin and teaching unsound doctrine. The American political landscape is more divided than ever, and we can’t even trust our news to report objectively. We are wringing our hands, wondering what…

  • It's the deployment balancing act - We struggle with trying to fill our days, keeping mindlessly busy, trying to stop the mental cycle of anxiety and stress, holding our collective breath as we wait for our soldiers to come home.
    Army Wife Diary,  Army Wife Life

    The Deployment Balancing Act – Day of the Deployed

    The Day of the Deployed is always a bittersweet remembrance for me because my husband has deployed several times. While I am so grateful he isn’t deployed today, I know that thousands of spouses still wait, life on perpetual pause, hoping their spouses return safely. I never know how to summarize the experience of deployment for those outside this military community because it’s such a complex experience. We miss them as husbands, and we miss them as friends. We miss help with baths, bedtimes, homework, housework. While we struggle with anxiety and fear, we simultaneously live for every phone call or email and struggle to live at all. It’s this…