|
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
 written by: Rebecca Stone
I know I participated in Christmas plays every year of my childhood. But, for some reason, I can only remember two in particular. One was during kindergarten. We all wore hideous red bow ties. (Yes, I have pictures. No, I won’t share them.) The other was fifth grade.
That year, the director gave the girls in my grade one line: Luke 2:19. Easy enough, right?
For some reason, on the night of the performance, no one spoke when our turn came. Instead, we caused a giant, pregnant pause in the Christmas play. Finally, after what seemed like 10 minutes, the director said the first couple of words to get us started.
Ever since that day, I’ve pondered that verse myself
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Thursday, December 01, 2011
 written by: Heather Eure
I miss the salt marshes and the smell of pluff mud when the tide is low. Thinking about the lowcountry of South Carolina reminds me of God’s work in the life of my family. And His work in me.
Recently, because of difficult times and my husband’s layoff, our family uprooted from a contented life in South Carolina to a different existence in rural North Carolina. We’re adjusting. There’s a lot of beauty and peace around our new home, but moving here isn’t what I had planned.
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
 written by: Rebecca Stone
I've noticed something since moving to Kansas. People here don't walk. They saunter.
Now, this can be kind of a pain when trying to park at the grocery store. I've been driving the car my husband used more often when we were in Colorado. It's a stick shift, and I'm not good at driving it. So I often kill the car and have restart it while waiting for a saunterer to put away a cart. (Totally embarrassing, I might add.)
That said, I don't think sauntering is a bad practice. In Colorado, we didn't do much sauntering. It was more like zooming. To piano lessons. To church. To school and back again.
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
 October is Clergy Appreciation Month. We hope this blog from our archives helps offer some thoughts on how you can encourage the leaders in your church this month.
written by: Suzanne Gosselin
Last October, during clergy appreciation month, my husband and I volunteered to babysit for our pastor and his wife. Over the summer they'd taken in a couple of foster children, adding two more to their family of seven. When we arrived for an evening of free babysitting, our pastor said, "Thank you so much. My wife and I haven't had a date since we got the foster children."
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
 written by: Missy Wetzel
Every journal I've ever kept has fallen victim to one of two fates: I'd lose the keys (during my adolescent, "Dear Diary" days) or I'd rip out half the pages (during my self-conscious high school days).
As a writing major in college, Rule 1A was to keep a journal. First drafts, fragments of poems, partially formed thoughts—these things should be written down daily to keep the creative juices flowing. I gave it a try, but Writing Rule 1A was always trumped by Little Miss Type A. Again, I would rip out half the pages. What if someone came across what I wrote? They'd find an unfinished product, and I'd be embarrassed.
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
 written by: Elissa Huebert
I often wonder how many diapers I've changed over the last seven years of parenthood. How many loads of laundry? How many puddles mopped? Faces wiped? Time-outs enforced? These days, I do so many of these things on autopilot, thinking ahead to the next item on the endless to-do list of parenthood.
Last year, I found an amazing little book called The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, a monk who lived nearly 300 years ago. It changed the way I looked at the daily mundane tasks.
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Friday, September 02, 2011
 written by: Suzanne Gosselin
I was young when my mom first told me about how she came to know the Lord. She'd grown up in a family that attended church on rare occasions, but she had a Christian grandmother who prayed for her. As a college student, sitting in a secular philosophy class, she heard the professor say: "Today we're going to learn about the philosophy of the apostle Paul. This guy was a real nut job." But as the day's lecture progressed, the Scriptures took hold of my mom's heart.
Later, she dug out an old Bible and began reading the book of Matthew. When she reached the verse about the wide and narrow gates (Matthew 7:13), she knew which gate she wanted—and she asked Jesus to be her Savior.
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
 written by: Julianna Lawson
The passage jumped out at me this morning:
"Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you (Isaiah 26:8–9)."
Walking … we wait. How is this? The two seem at odds.
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
 written by: Paula Moldenhauer
Though Stephen is now a wide-shouldered young man of 15, I can still see him sitting on Gramps’s lap, a chubby toddler with white-blond hair and big blue eyes, eating cantaloupe. Once Gramps discovered Stephen’s love for the melon, he almost always brought one when he came to visit.
Stephen was five when Gramps died. Years after his death I would sometimes find my little boy in some quiet place with a big tear running down his cheek. One day the Lord showed me how to ease Stephen’s pain.
|
By RioFamilyBlogger on
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
 written by: Denise Morris
Have you ever suffered a painful loss? A job, a miscarriage, or a disease that stole someone you loved? Have your children ever seen or experienced heartache that you desperately asked the Lord to protect them from?
Sometimes unanswered prayers seem to come in waves. Job in the Bible knew this type of questioning—his children died, his property was stolen, and his body was ravaged with pain. Job's friends came and started offering opinions—accusing Job of faithlessness, sin, angering God.
|
You must be logged in and have permission to create or edit a blog.
|
Plays, Pauses, and PraisePosted on: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Moving Out of the MarshPosted on: Thursday, December 01, 2011 Changing GearsPosted on: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Repost: Give a LittlePosted on: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 One for the Record BooksPosted on: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 Practicing His PresencePosted on: Tuesday, September 06, 2011 For ExamplePosted on: Friday, September 02, 2011 Walking, We WaitPosted on: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 Taking DelightPosted on: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 Tough Topic: Unanswered PrayerPosted on: Wednesday, August 10, 2011
|