THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Category: beauty (page 4 of 4)

Love is the new sexy

Reading Time: 3 minutes

love is the new sexyI was brushing my teeth that night in my PJ’s, mulling over the day, when I had one of those moments–y’know, where God just tugs my chin upward a bit, lets me peek in a bit to what’s solid: to what He’s really doing in all these mundane days that slip by, another X on the calendar.

I walked to the bed, sat down next to my husband, suddenly overcome. It was late; we’d just had a struggling friend over, and my husband had spent hours in conversation seeking out practical solutions with her.

I recalled how my day had begun. A close Ugandan friend had lost a family member in the night—one of three family members he’d paid for to go to the hospital this week. I spotted him the loan for transportation to his village, for the goat he was expected by tradition to provide. But it was my husband later who texted him, telling him it wasn’t a loan, but a gift. read more

Do You hear what I hear? On music, faith, and heaven as reality

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Do You hear what I hearOn my father’s side, my family carries a long tradition of music, particularly in amateur a capella. My husband jokes about that time when he first took a road trip with my family, and we started singing in the car—with all the choral parts. He may have felt a bit bewildered. He still says that when all my extended family sings Happy Birthday, it’s something to behold. (It is! They sent it to me on video for my birthday this year. I was in harmonic heaven.)

So I sing now, by myself—while I wash the dishes, or as I plod along on the guitar I’m learning; the acoustics in my concrete house are pretty sweet. And I sing particularly when I’m happy, my husband has noticed.

But of course, when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Though, sure, God gets a big kick out of skillful music, I get a little into myself at times—to the rich sound reverberating off the walls, even to my own fantasies. (I know. Ugh.) Let’s just say the “worship” swivels its focus a bit.

Wonders of His love

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Christmas brims with odd contrasts, right? It’s the beckoning, warm technicolor of light displays in frigid darkness; the cheery fires while we peer out at naked, frozen trees; the heartache of the empty spot at the table in the midst of bubbling conversation; God arriving on earth in a barn.

9 Simple, uber-practical ways to express gratitude this month

Reading Time: 3 minutes
9 Ways to Express Gratitude This Month!
  1. At dinner each night of November, see if your family can collectively think of 10 more things you’re thankful for. Keep a running list—and consider making it into a creative decoration for Thanksgiving Day: A vase filled with your list written on slips of paper, or written artfully onto craft paper that covers the table—complete with Sharpies or crayons prompting guests to add their own.
I am thankful for... craft paper table cover

A Slice of Beauty, a Slice of Thanks-living

Reading Time: 2 minutes

beauty thanksliving

“Mom! It’s the one with the crossed bill!”

I ducked my head at his urgent whisper, peering out the glass. Sure enough—an Openbill Stork. Three feet in height and layered in glossy black, this one seemed shiny enough that it might have just glided in from Murchison Bay, a handful of kilometers from our home. Weeks before, my son and I had sat quietly together, watching the same variety of stork leverage that gapped bill upon of the fist-sized snails that creep somberly across our yard. read more

The Way I Am

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Is anyone else out there guilty of subtly rigging their own personality assessment? Turns out that, surprise! God’s knowledgeable engineering of me might not have been so inconvenient or, uh, misguided after all.

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