Kara’s Collection: Ramblings of a Broken-Hearted Mama

Kara’s Collection: Ramblings of a Broken-Hearted Mama

from an article originally posted September 7, 2014…  

I had my first big chemo, we took pictures, then ran away for a week. It was a hard pill to swallow seeing me meet that bottom again. But we know how to manage it. But who really wants to be managing awful? We want to be living! On the day my big chemo started, they started my 2-week cycle of oral chemo. I had learned to live through the haze of their yuck, but on top of the giant chemo, well, I met my bottom. Jason and I know this dance. I fight for good moments on bad days. Often, I don’t remember the good moments and need reminding of them. And my people are gracious to remind me.

Come, Let Us Adore Him

Come, Let Us Adore Him

The Christmas season is upon us. My daughter and I were at our neighborhood drugstore the day before Halloween, and the employees were already pulling the orange and black decorations off the shelves and replacing them with Christmas garlands and Santa paraphernalia. As we walked past them, my sweet girl ooohhhed and aaahhhed over the candy canes and twinkling lights, but I felt a pit of dread in my stomach—another Christmas season, another couple of months of attempting to find that weird balance between creating a magical, memorable holiday for my family while teaching my children the reason for Christmas—the birth of our Savior.

Kara’s Collection: Living Well Within Limitations

Kara’s Collection: Living Well Within Limitations

from an article originally posted September 5, 2014…  

Each day presents each of us living with a choice. It is often hard to choose well. We are so regularly caught in the flow of our going, we fail to see the choices presented to each of us in our living. Most of our choices consist of attitude choices, living choices, choices to live in a hardened, bitter state or a grateful, soft state. If we are honest the battle for these attitudes is fierce.

When God says no

When God says no

A wise friend and I were sharing hearts over coffee the other day, and I asked how she was navigating a difficult situation so gracefully; she said, I just try to trust Jesus and be faithful in my little corner. Such simple words, but they challenged me deeply. You see, I’m in a similar situation that I have prayed and prayed to be released from, but God has answered with a firm, No.

Kara’s Collection: Dearest J. K. Rowling

Kara’s Collection: Dearest J. K. Rowling

from an article originally posted September 3, 2014…  

When I was in college, my dearest friend Amy babysat a dear professor’s family that had an evening ritual called “tiger time.” Amy came home to our room and told me of the delights of this family. Each evening the children pretended to be baby tigers as they jumped in bed with their mother, the mama tiger, and they would snuggle and read each night. As a babysitter, my dear friend was asked to step in for the mama tiger and perform the honorary task of tiger time—it delighted my dear Amy.