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luna.
In our family, when a kid saves up his or her first 100 dollars — from allowance money only; no Christmas or birthday gifts allowed — David matches it. Judah did it a couple years ago, and used a good portion of the money for an epic Lego set. Amelie reached her goal about six months ago, and we’ve been proud to watch her take her time with deciding how to spend it. She finally landed on buying a pet of some sort, so David helped her research different options. He and his brother Joe grew up owning reptiles, so I have a feeling that was a big influence on…
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15 years.
Today David and I celebrate fifteen years of marriage. While cleaning out our attic last week I found a box of my old journals, one of which included a list from the winter David and I started dating, when we were 21 years old. Before I share it, remember that we were best friends before we dated and knew each other very well after a year and a half in a small college together: studying, serving, hanging out in the same friend group. From March, 2003, I present to you the “List of things I love about David Gentino”: His heart: passion for the Lord His heart for the lost…
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saturday evening.
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the gift of mothering.
Today is my eleventh Mother’s Day, and I’d like to give thanks for the gift of mothering. Being a mother is a daily, moment-by-moment chance to practice the command of Jesus to lay down and die to myself, to take up my cross and follow Him. Being a mother has broken me, has shown me the limits of my performance and control like few other experiences in my life. It’s revealed the depth of my sin — the capacity I have for laziness and self-pity and anger and resentment. It has pushed me to the limits of my wisdom and energy. It’s challenged my idols of people-pleasing and comfort. Being…
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spring knitting.
It’s spring, which means all my heavy wool yarn and fat needles are tucked away for cool weather, and I’m busy knitting dishcloths. I’m having so much fun! I’ve learned three patterns so far, they are simple beginner patterns, but still it seems to take a lot of practice. I highly recommend knitting dishcloths. It’s fun to open your drawer and see a stack of cheerful colors looking up at you. And when I get them to look just a bit neater, I’ll give them as gifts. They’re quick and a ball of cotton yarn is $2.99 at Michael’s — less if there’s a sale or if you…
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easter weekend 2019.
Easter weekend is my favorite weekend of the year with our church. We had such a great time that it took me a whole week to recover and share about it here on the blog. We like to make the weekend feel sort of like an at-home retreat by having the Good Friday evening service, a Saturday egg hunt and cook-out, and then services Easter morning with brunch served in between. This year we added in serving lunch for one of the ministries our church partners with, Providence Home, Friday, so we got the fun of hanging out together there too. The cook-out on Saturday afternoon was one of those…
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4 years.
Four years ago: Today:
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what are you feeding yourself?
This winter I read a book called You Who: Why You Matter and How to Deal With It, by Rachel Jankovic. It’s about our identity as Christians and how many of us seem to have lost sight of that identity and are drifting along, unsure of who we are. As I read, I realized how much the values of the world shaped my approach to life. This didn’t happen intentionally or consciously. I love God and I’m a sincere follower of Him — I’m in full-time ministry, for Pete’s sake. But somehow, as I read, I realized that even so, a whole set of values that’s foreign to God’s will…
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front yard garden tour.
Yes, we are the neighbors with a vegetable garden in our front yard. It may be a little un-orthodox here in the south, but people generally seem intrigued, and sometimes downright inspired. It’s definitely a conversation starter. We still have garden beds in the back with lettuce, radishes and onions currently growing, but they’ll need to go away for the kitchen/back porch renovation, so David’s gradually migrating to the front. Plus we’re thinking of making the back yard more of a place for parties and kids to run free and play (i.e. not consider our raised beds sandboxes), and using this front space for the garden. He started everything from…
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snickerdoodles and kitchen news.
Amelie has been on a baking kick this spring. She really wants to be able to make a batch of cookies completely by herself, so I told her to pick one recipe and we’ll make it over and over and over. That’s the best way to start, I think. Her choice is Snickerdoodles, which are pretty much a universal crowd-pleaser. Amie is a born servant. If I had to guess her Enneagram number, I’d say it’s a 2 (Helper), although I’m doing my very best not to peg my kids. She’s kind-hearted, generous, and loves to serve people. And so it’s perfect that her growing love of baking…
