Becoming Analise

(First, you need to have these pictures in your head to capture Riley Grace's personality! :-)) Now, read on! I wish you could be a fly on Riley Grace’s bedroom wall when we begin her nighttime routine. She’s got the routine down to a science, and you better not try to help her with it! She wants to get the chap stick and books and Bible book and socks, etc. She wants everything to be done in her order and in her time frame. But all the steps are worth it just to hear her childlike prayers at the end!  Here’s a rundown of Riley Grace’s most recent prayers: “Dear God, thank you for Mama because she has a headache, and You didn’t make her better, so please make her better. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.” “Dear God, thank you for Grams, and she has a my bed at her house, and she didn’t take the rails off, and I want the rails to be off because I grew up. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.” “Dear God, thank you for making Nana better because she do...

Last week, I was on FaceTime with my parents, and I mentioned to them that I had given up Amazon Prime for Lent. My mom replied with, “Wow, I didn’t realize you shopped that much!” Haha, no, I don’t shop so much that I need to give up Amazon Prime for Lent! I meant to say that I had given up TV shows (namely Downton Abbey ) and movies on Amazon Prime Instant Video for this Lenten season. Let me tell you that this has been a REALLY REALLY DIFFICULT thing to give up. Since Christmas, I had gotten into the habit of searching for a show or movie to watch almost nightly, and many nights (ok… most nights), my time in the Word was exchanged for an episode (or many episodes) of Selfridges or Downton Abbey or some other show or movie. When Riley Grace was finally in bed, I just wanted to relax and veg out (my nighttime snacking habit also got worse and worse…), and I didn’t feel like focusing on reading and studying. That felt like work. I wanted to relax! I wanted to get lost ...