Becoming Analise

My youngest daughter Lena is two and a half years old, and her favorite place this summer is ...the pantry. She brings me snacks to open all day long, and she loves that there's a shelf just her height! Summertime is the time for too many snacks, as we're all home all day long, a nice reprieve from the busy school year - but it does increase our grocery bill. One morning, she asked me if she could have a snack. It was 8:30am and she was already asking for a snack, like cookies, she suggested. :-) I told her she could have something healthy, such as a cheese stick or an applesauce. We had just eaten breakfast, and I knew that she was merely bored, not hungry! I heard her rummaging around in the pantry, and a few minutes later I heard a bag rip open and cookies poured into her plastic Minnie Mouse bowl.  "It doesn't sound like applesauce in there!" I called to her.  She started cracking up laughing as though she didn't realize that she had grabbed a bag of cooki...

Every January, I chose a “word of the year'“ to try to focus on throughout the upcoming year. I pore over Scripture passages, seek the Lord’s wisdom, and lean into truths He’s been teaching me through other people, books, or the local church. It’s an exciting time for me to look back at the past year at all the Lord has done through my life, my family, and my church and anticipate what He will do through us in the New Year. The New Year is brimming with hope and possibilities as the Christmas season comes to a close, and I hunker down with my old journal, new journal, and Bible.  I realize it’s June now, but I forgot to share my word for 2025! Truthfully, forgetting to share it has also been paired with forgetting to focus on it at all. As I was skimming my 2025 prayer journal, I came across my notes for the word I had chosen.  My Word for 2025: URGENCY My prayer and goal is to be urgent about Kingdom-work. What will this look like in my life? Daily intentionality: Do NOT negl...