by Janel Breitenstein | Jul 29, 2022 | prayer, spiritual life skills/spiritual disciplines, time alone with God
So it’s summer, which means family rhythms tend to find their way down the Slip ‘n’ Slide,* right? Between hauling my kids to VBS and a new puppy who’s, like, 72% adorable and 28% pain in the neck (as so many puppies and toddlers are, by...
by Janel Breitenstein | Jul 15, 2022 | difficulty, emotion, enduring love, failure, fear, grief, kids, motherhood, Parenting
My daughter was 14 months old when she got glasses and began to wear the felt purple eye patch I’d stitched for her. Coincidentally, it was the same month, she started walking at last and pushed through her first tooth. We’d noticed she frequently went...
by Janel Breitenstein | Jul 1, 2022 | Africa
So personal updates can feel a little like coming out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck on my shoe? Talking about my life, as well as finding material my four teenagers rubber stamp, feels…well. Awkward. But I do appreciate the ways so many of you follow...
by Janel Breitenstein | Jun 13, 2022 | challenging, children, failure, faith, Holy Spirit, kids, Parenting, waiting
When my kids were younger, I tried my hand at writing a children’s book. It was the story of a boy in a small town whose grandpa had a magical house: The House of Broken and Beautiful. His grandpa was beloved, though some who didn’t know him suspected him...
by Janel Breitenstein | May 20, 2022 | discouragement, encouragement, failure, faith, Parenting, tweens and teens
It’s become legend in my family–the night I went to see Hedda Gabler at my university as a freshman. Somewhere in Act II, I think, my friend Paul came on stage wearing a painted-on black eye. And that’s when I promptly began to feel lightheaded. I...
