Thirteen years ago this month, I woke up in a hotel room alone, unemployed, unsure, and frustrated. The toilet didn’t flush properly (yes, it overflowed) and the hot water had been shut off (no shower for you). My husband had gotten up before the sun so that he could plow roads of ice and snow […]
Author: kristinlhanley
Finding the Oasis
Everyone knows what an oasis is (we picture lush palms and fruit and aqua waters), but do you know what makes it especially restorative and beautiful is that it’s found in arid places. In other words, the oasis is defined as such because it’s surrounded by the contrasting dry desert. We too, like sojourners in […]
Unraveling Depression’s Patterns
In a recent Hallmark movie, carefree and confident Annie asked the main character Harold to look in the mirror and state 5 things that he liked about himself. Awkwardly and with some embarrassment, he couldn’t come up with one. His response scared his “life coach” so that she started addressing his lack of self-confidence. Now, […]
21 Ways to Recirculate Respect in Our Culture This Year
Last year brought out the ugly in people. Make no mistake, those putrid waters already lurked below the surface, but all restraint was thrown off as people ridiculed, shamed, trolled and blasted people over differing opinions and perspectives. Whether the topic involves COVID, politics, religion, or parenting, we need to regain a sense of maturity […]
Being Female isn’t a Feeling
“It is a naïve sort of feminism that insists that women prove their ability to do all the things that men do. This is a distortion and a travesty. Men have never sought to prove that they can do all the things women do. Why subject women to purely masculine criteria? Women can and ought […]
Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It
In recent dialogue with a friend, who happens to have grown children, she related to me a conversation she had with her daughter about politics, culture, and the world in which we now find ourselves. Her daughter told her mom, “I am just going to keep doing what I know to do. Love my husband, […]
The Danger of Propaganda and Dismissing Free Speech/Press
If you had told me twelve months ago that our current president of the United States would be banned from all social platforms, unable to communicate with the American people, barely covered by the “news” sources, and so publicly hated by the Congress mob, I would have scoffed. Not in America, surely. We value our […]
The Shape of Leadership:A Soft Heart with a Strong Spine
Aaron was reading a section out of a John MacArthur book on the strengths of the apostle Peter. His impulsive, go-for-it attitude endears him to me, and I feel a keen sense of hope knowing that Jesus chose him despite his rash run-and-then-trip responses. Yes, he sunk under the waves, but he did get out […]
The Purpose of Silence
For the last four years, our homeschool family has gathered with other families to teach, learn, and grow together. Each mom takes time weaving in her personal touches to the lesson, whether it’s history, science, art, music, or Latin. My friend Dinah teaches the music portion, explaining the notes and beats of a musical composition. […]
More Fall Reads
Heather Morris’ depiction follows Slovakian Jew Lale Sokolov, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz in 1942, and shows how he fell in love with a girl he was tattooing at the concentration camp. Based on his true story, this novel takes the reader from three years of brutality before his eventual escape. Morris is discreet with […]