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If you've been to my house, you've probably been on the extended tour, which takes exactly 3 minutes and includes our master bathroom because it's black and people usually like it.   My house is small. Brad jokes it used to be 2,800 sq ft until I painted it down to 1,500. I say, "we live in a little house, so we can afford to leave it ." We have lots of quippy ways to justify to ourselves and the other grownups how it's totally cool that we still live in our starter house.   Honestly, it has been a...

"With all I am, I long to see Your beauty. Just one glance can change my whole perspective… I'm ready. To see You, see You rightly, just as You are To see You in all Your Glory, just as You are… You're beautiful You're beautiful You're beautiful You're beautiful…."   With my eyes closed, I try to calm my mind to see His beauty. There are times in my life when I KNOW I've seen glimpses. In Africa, when the city's lights went out, and the sky exploded in stars, unfazed by our manufactured light. Standing in the downpour spray...

I am sharing an older writing today that showed up as a facebook memory from 2015.  I can't even remember what the issue was that prompted all of my late night worry.  I didn't edit it or rework it.  I left it in raw form because it impacted me today when I re-read it.  When something blesses me that I've written, it basically assures me it was God, not me talking :)    "Longing for Calm" prints can be ordered off my website.  Be blessed today! Amanda   Do you wake up in the middle of the night and can't...

What is the ace you keep up your sleeve?  What is the one thing (or is it even multiple things) you secretly hold on to?  Your safety net, your just in case?  I think there are many reasons we guard these pieces for ourselves. For me, I am facing the reality head on that I have spent years clinging to my ace because I am afraid that playing it will reveal that my hand isn’t actually good enough.

I had a feeling. I knew it was not going to be good news. We were driving down the road when I noticed a dark, new spot on my calf. I called my dermatologist the next morning. I was around eleven when I had my first scary spot taken off. Most of them are nothing…today it’s melanoma.   This is my second battle against the bad skin cancer. My last one was fifteen years ago. At least this time Brad was stateside. Last time he was in China, and it was the loneliest I've ever felt.   I’m not sure...