by Janel Breitenstein | Dec 22, 2016 | Africa, beauty, challenging, closeness and intimacy, difficulty, discouragement, emotion, enduring love, failure, faith, fear, Gratitude, Holidays; Occasions, time alone with God
Yesterday was one of those days when I felt like I was walking against the wind so much of the day: straining uphill, my too-thin sweater tugged around me as I grimaced, head down. As my husband and I lifted down plates for dinner, I recounted the parts that made me...
by Janel Breitenstein | Dec 19, 2016 | children, Family, Gratitude, helping others, Holidays; Occasions, Home and Hospitality, kids, Parenting, practical, Printables and Freebies, time together, tweens and teens
Already tried the Christmas-movie-night-while-stringing-popcorn tack? Exhausted your board game tournament ideas? Sent your kids outside till they’ve sledded their little hearts out? Here are a handful of easy-peasy ideas to abet Christmas Vacation Chaos. Have an...
by Janel Breitenstein | Dec 16, 2016 | challenging, difficulty, discouragement, emotion, encouragement, enduring love, failure, faith, fear, Holidays; Occasions, stress, time alone with God
Ever feel like your heart’s two sizes too small for the Christmas season? I may have recently given my radio the stinkeye for its heartfelt counsel for me to have a holly-jolly Christmas this year, when I really felt like sulking, washed down with a swig of wassail...
by Janel Breitenstein | Dec 15, 2016 | closeness and intimacy, emotion, enduring love, faith, fear, friendships, relationships, time alone with God
To the untrained expatriate, swooping into American culture (like yours truly) I gotta say: Face Swap weirds me out a little. My family and I, piled on the sofa, have guffawed at, say, my daughter spontaneously sprouting my husband’s five-o’clock shadow. Or my...
by Janel Breitenstein | Dec 9, 2016 | children, closeness; intimacy, Discussion Questions, Family, Holidays; Occasions, interview your child Fridays, kids, love, Parenting, practical, Questions to take your relationships deeper, relationships, time together
For ideas on how to make the most of these questions, see the first interview. In the Christmas story from the Bible, what character would it be the coolest to be? What’s one of your favorite activities to do around Christmas time? What’s one of your best Christmas...
