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You are here: Home / Archives for My Life

My Life

Is This Thing Still On?

April 13, 2021 by Kristen

I didn’t really mean to quit blogging.

But here we are more than 6 months between blog posts and I realize that maybe I have actually quit blogging.

A lot of things were cancelled in 2020. Like you, I spent most of the year riding the wild wave of the pandemic and holding on for dear life. Keeping my head above water mentally, keeping my family safe and trusting God to keep Mercy House going– took every ounce of strength. My blog was hacked and the fight to recover it was exhausting. Social media became of toxic hotbed of political opinions.  My heart broke over race issues and the ongoing tension and denial that remains.

I simply didn’t know what to say anymore. And the last thing I wanted was for my voice to add to the mounting noise.

After a dozen years, 3000 blog posts, 5 books and a non-profit, I guess I decided to be still.

Quiet.

I was talking to my oldest daughter who will start her senior year of college soon, finishing with a Fine Arts degree before heading off to Grad School to pursue a career as an Art Therapist (what?!). She said of social media, “Mom, I just don’t want to be a content creator. I don’t want to turn my art into “a product.”

Her words really hit me. (I love adult children.) Somewhere along the way, blogging and social media became about a platform for content creation and branding, marketing and feed aesthetic.  Like my daughter’s art, which is holy and precious, I didn’t want to turn myself, the stories from the non-profit I love, or this blog into another product for consumption.

I didn’t want to be a content creator and the best way to stop the merry go round and how it made me feel, was to simply, get off.

Last week, I received a sweet email from an older lady, someone I’ve never met in person, and the email subject simply stated, “I miss you.”

She asked me to come back to this blog occasionally. “You have been vulnerable with us, which is not only endearing, but has taught me so much. Your ability to put things in words helps those of us who have more difficulty expressing ourselves. But if you just need the extra time for yourself that is OK.  I understand. I pray for God’s strength, courage, wisdom, and other blessings to be given to you and your family,” -Charlotte.

I wanted to reply and say that I continue to live the most incredible story through my work at Mercy House Global. My written storytelling has morphed into almost daily storytelling on the Mercy House Global App and that community has become so dear.

Instead, I decided to “pick up my pen” for Charlotte and maybe for you, and put my answer here.

Maybe I’ll do that a little more often. You (I) never know.

 

10 Comments Filed Under: My Life

Are We Still In 2020?

October 23, 2020 by Kristen

The other day I mentioned a fond memory to my kids. My husband, youngest daughter, the dogs and I had driven halfway between our college kids' university to meet up for dinner. As you do when you're all homesick for each other. We grabbed dinner to go and ate at a park--very global pandemic. I was meandering down memory lane, as moms do, and they all stopped and looked at me like I was crazy, "Mom, you're talking about Spring Break. That wasn't years ago...it was in March, this ... Read More

13 Comments Filed Under: My Life

Surprise! I Wrote A Children’s Book

October 11, 2020 by Kristen

I have dreamed of writing a children's book for more than 30 years. Well, I did it! And do you know what's even better? It’s available today! I wrote it for Mercy House Global and one of my friends (and employee) illustrated it and that makes me so happy. It's pretty amazing to check something off your bucket list in a year like 2020. As our 10th year of ministry as a non-profit approached, I started thinking about a celebration and someone suggested we have a giant birthday party for ... Read More

7 Comments Filed Under: My Life

Mercy House Global is a True Story

September 22, 2020 by Kristen

Over the past decade, I’ve cried a million tears, told a thousand stories and witnessed the miracle second chances of a hundred teen moms and their babies that are still alive long after the world left them for dead. This is the true story of Mercy House Global.  At first news of the global pandemic  in March, I knew it would make what we do in Kenya more difficult and even more critical. I hate it when I’m right. In the last couple of months, we’ve rescued a girl who was sold for a loaf ... Read More

6 Comments Filed Under: My Life

Living a Paradox: The Truth About A Contradictory Life

September 2, 2020 by Kristen

I'll never forget the moment of clarity I had in the middle of the pasta aisle. It was the day after I returned from a trip to Kenya with my family. I ran into an old friend next to the spaghetti sauce and she hugged me and said, "so, was your trip to Kenya just ah-maazing!?!?" She drug out the last word and her voice went up and I was afraid to commit. It's the tone used to describe a memorable vacation in an exotic place with a lot of exclamation points. Before I could answer, she said, ... Read More

20 Comments Filed Under: My Life

5 Questions to Ask Kids about a COVID School Year

August 23, 2020 by Kristen

guest post by Janel Breitenstein Last week I joined the ranks of those with weighty personal loss from COVID—and 2020, the Year with No End. There’s a lot of talk of loss this year, so I won’t add mine to your pile just yet. But we also chatted around the table last night about the loss of youth group this summer; the loss of full weeks of summer camp. And now, nearly all extra-curriculars cancelled. I’ve also written you before about helping kids turn suffering into praise. So as we head ... Read More

4 Comments Filed Under: My Life

The Big Lesson of The Year

August 13, 2020 by Kristen

I knew what was coming. The lump formed in my throat long before I heard the "Welcome Home" chant of the mask-covered students waving arms and signs in front of my son's college dorm. I had been here before with my daughter. This is it, I thought as the students escorted my son away with his belongings and left me crying in the car I was told to park. My next thought was they lied. Whoever told me launching my babies into the world gets easier wasn't tell the truth. The day before we ... Read More

9 Comments Filed Under: My Life

Parenting in the Year of Corona

August 2, 2020 by Kristen

I've been writing in this space for nearly 13 years now. I've written thousands of blog posts and hundreds of thousands of words... including many on why I think having dinner together as a family is critical. COVID-19 has given us unlimited time to test this theory. I won't lie--our family dinners take on this pattern: Prepping. Cooking (usually with a helper). Eating. Discussing (politics, immigration, the virus, masks, the future, the hope and hopelessness we felt). Arguing about one of ... Read More

10 Comments Filed Under: My Life

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  • Is This Thing Still On?
  • Are We Still In 2020?
  • Surprise! I Wrote A Children’s Book
  • Mercy House Global is a True Story

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