by Emily Wierenga | Mar 12, 2013 | advice, children, church, families, grandmothers, ladies, mothers, relationship, self-help, spiritual mothers, womanhood
She hummed a song to us in Dutch, and I listened with my elbows on the table, to this woman with sterling silver hair.We were there, young moms and grandmothers, gathered around round tables with coffee mugs and plates of squares, learning from each other. It felt... by Emily Wierenga | Mar 8, 2013 | Brother Lawrence, children, christianity, diapers, gospel, guilt, Jesus, motherhood, serving, tiredness, weariness, womanhood
I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her face. From the life in her eyes. She was radiant, and I told her this. But she didn’t see it. She didn’t see how she shone. She just saw the way she failed, every day, to get off the couch when the kids went to... by Emily Wierenga | Mar 5, 2013 | children, daughter, death, grief, husband, loss, miscarriage, mourning, pregnancy, prodigal magazine, wife
She slid so smoothly into the toilet.And you didn’t know you would ache like that, with a baby-shaped sadness.You didn’t know you would watch her wash out of you, that she would stain your bathroom rug red, and that you wouldn’t be able to move from... by Emily Wierenga | Mar 1, 2013 | Burma, children, compassion, documentary, education, justice, ministry, motherhood, Myanmar, poverty, schooling, wealth
I was a single mother this week. Trent was gone on a ski trip with his students, and on the second day of his being gone, my boys finger-painted nude.They made forts in the living room which I had to fix every two minutes and they threw play-dough... by Emily Wierenga | Feb 25, 2013 | a dare to love yourself, anne lamott, brennan manning, children, eating disorders, identity, link-up, mom in the mirror, motherhood, nutrition, self-love
We sat across the table from each other, and there were thin girls walking in and out, and the smell of coffee and the young girl was twisting her hands.She was telling me she enjoyed food. That she was looking forward to being released from the Eating Disorder Unit... by Emily Wierenga | Feb 13, 2013 | abortion, adoption, birth control, children, jin, joey, kill, life, love, motherhood, mothers, pregnancy, sacrifice
Welcome to Imperfect Prose on Thursdays, a link-up in which we celebrate redemption. Today’s Prompt is LOVE.It was one week ago, today.Jin’s and Joey’s mom wrote me, saying she was pregnant again and she couldn’t keep it, she said, and she was...