by Janel Breitenstein | Apr 15, 2023 | Family, Gospel, Humor, Parenting
Author’s note: This week was one of those where I was pretty consistently busy nearly until bedtime. I would recommend this pace to pretty much no one. But I continue to have real-life kids, like the one to whom I have been raising my eyebrows about chores three...
by Janel Breitenstein | Apr 3, 2023 | children, faith, Family, Holidays; Occasions, kids, prayer, prayers, spiritual life skills/spiritual disciplines, tweens and teens
This morning my teenagers are peeling themselves out of bed for that oh-so-exciting first school day after Spring Break. And for all us types with less liturgy in our lives, it might actually be easy to let Holy Week slide into that sludgy pile of Great Things I...
by Janel Breitenstein | Mar 31, 2023 | Africa, fear, helping others, poverty, social justice, spiritual life skills/spiritual disciplines
If someone ever asked me what surprised me about living in Africa, I’d have a million answers. Nearly every day held in its ebony hands something to learn or figure out or shake my head over: a motorcycle carrying a coffin. A girl made to sell banana pancakes...
by Janel Breitenstein | Mar 17, 2023 | challenging, closeness and intimacy, closeness; intimacy, compassion, difficulty, discouragement, guest post, kids, Parenting, stress
Four years ago, my husband and I squinted through snow flurries as we wound our way to Denver. We were driving my 13-year-old to an MRI screening for cancer. Lymphoma is a primary consideration, the radiologist had said, goading us toward the test that day. Those of...
by Janel Breitenstein | Mar 7, 2023 | anger, conflict, difficulty, emotion, Marriage, staying in love
I was glad/sad to see high click-throughs for my recent post, When Valentine’s Day is hard. Maybe I’m reading into it. But maybe some of you are army-crawling through hard times. Or know someone who is. (Or are curious to see exactly how I would tackle...
