Scientific Name : Diphylleia grayi This flower is called a skeleton flower because its petals turn crystal clear when they make contact with water. When dry, the flower is white in color! When the Living Water of Christ pours over our lives, we become transparent and clear. People can see through our flaws to something […]
Author: kristinlhanley
Don’t Worry, I’m Not All I Seem Either
Right before Christmas, I wrote down the top 19 memories from 2019, but truthfully, they weren’t necessarily my top memories: they were just the ones I wanted to remember. After all, sometimes we just want to forget the painful events that pushed us over or left us gasping for air. Social media has deluded us […]
What Can I Do With My ‘Today’? When You Feel Overwhelmed By Change
I wrote a letter to my daughter this morning. I do it every year around her birthday, so yes, I was tardy this trip around the sun, but it still got done in 2019. Since she doesn’t read my blog, I don’t have to worry about her finding out–unless you leak it, but you won’t […]
Iron on Iron: Why Accountability Counts
Proverbs 24:11: ” Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” For many Christians, accountability hovers over the same category as humility, perseverance, and character. We know we should have it, but the thought of accountability makes us uncomfortable too. Ironically, having accountability upfront with safe and healthy believers makes […]
That’s a Gift? How Sometimes our Hardships Are God’s Fulfilled Promises
I’ve been reading through Scripture and Advent devotionals for myself (and the kids). We are so familiar with the story of Christ’s birth, sometimes we don’t slow down long enough to contemplate the implications of Immanuel, God with us. Or how Jesus fulfilled numerous prophesies foretold hundreds of years before He came. Or that He […]
12 Things We Want for Christmas
“Back in 2013, the LA Times reported that the average American home has over 300,000 items in it and there are over 50,000 storage facilities nationwide (and this is the fastest growing real estate segment!)” We have so much stuff, we are drowning in the waste of it all. This year, we’ve decided to cut back […]
When Christmas Feels Like a War Zone
For all the fans of “It’s A Wonderful Life” and Jimmy Stewart . . . Just months after winning his 1941 Academy Award for best actor in “The Philadelphia Story,” Jimmy Stewart, one of the best-known actors of the day, left Hollywood and joined the US Army. He was the first big-name movie star to […]
Rethinking Education
I don’t agree with this guy 100%, but he does raise some interesting questions. Does our educational system need revamping? Even if a child “succeeds” through high school and college and graduates with a 4.0, how much of that information will they remember? Have they learned more than how to regurgitate facts? “Forgetting is almost […]
Birthdays Make Me Do This
More than New Year’s day, birthdays serve as a catalyst to analyze, to ask the questions: what am I doing with my life? Am I where I want to be? What do I need to change to be where I want to be (in relationships, in my health, at home, in my spirit, etc.)? Five […]
A Few Things Homeschooling Has Taught Me
I rarely write about homeschooling, even though I’m passionate about this area of our lives. Despite the world’s quick—and often ignorant –judgements on homeschooling families, I don’t want other families to feel judged or condemned from me if they choose to utilize the public or private educational vectors. Parents can parent well regardless of how […]