by Emily Wierenga | Dec 5, 2012 | depression, faith, foster care, humility, imperfect prose on thursdays, Jesus, mary the mother of Jesus, motherhood, sadness, she loves magazine, virgin mary
As of this month I have no one. My nanny, a girl of 18 who’s been coming since we took the boys in, has moved. Trent has started coaching, so the hours are long in the bleak of winter dark and the kids are so small that I bundle them all up in snow-pants and toques... by Emily Wierenga | Nov 7, 2012 | boys, busy, imperfect prose on thursdays, motherhood, organization, parenting, scheduling, she loves magazine, sons, stay-at-home, working mom, writing
Sometimes it’s hard, knowing how to balance ourselves with our kids and our husband and the washing machine going 24-7. Sometimes it’s about finding ourselves in the piles of laundry, in the peanut-butter kisses and the sticky hands trying to close your laptop when... by Emily Wierenga | Nov 6, 2012 | (in)courage, book club, children, devotional diva, eating disorders, evil, fear, God, good, homeschooling, love, mother, motherhood, pastor's daughter, prayers, she loves magazine
we’re five on a couch, eating cookies. my husband will not be pleased. i will have to vacuum, yet again. (i vacuum constantly.) but food is one thing i try not to have many rules about. it makes me happy just to see my children eat.because once upon a time, i... by Emily Wierenga | Oct 3, 2012 | conversation, devil's punch bowl, divine, female, femininity, God, nativity, oregon, she loves magazine, wild goose festival, womanhood
We’re sitting at the Devil’s Punchbowl in Oregon, watching whales breach and spout and the surfers are riding hard, waves frothing at the mouth and blue skies above.There’s a shine where the whales are surfacing, as the water glints off their backs, and we’re eating... by Emily Wierenga | Sep 26, 2012 | book launch, book release, chasing silhouettes, death, dying, eating disorders, giclee print, giveaway, hope, imperfect prose on thursdays, meal, nurses, she loves magazine, skinny
Rachel Naomi Reimer wrote, “What a blessing it is to outlive your self-judgement and harvest your failures.”I think it’s a blessing just to outlive something.Because the nurses said I should have died. Funny, I didn’t feel like I was dying. I didn’t really feel like I... by Emily Wierenga | Aug 29, 2012 | cancer, children, flowers, garden, identity, love, mum, needing, parenting, she loves magazine
…As a mother of four boys—two of them my own—I’m trying to need them in the way that Mum needed her flowers, in the way that she needed me when she got cancer. In the way that she would leave messages on my answering machines which consisted mostly of “umm,” and...