“Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, & Bad Attitudes …”

Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes … in You and Your Kids is the best book on parenting I’ve ever read! The authors, Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, propose an honor-based approach to parenting (which is actually applicable to other areas of life, as well)! In families, it’s easy to focus on behavior, … Read more

Core Prayers

Are there certain things you find yourself praying over and over, such as when you pray for yourself, your family, and your ministry? I do. I have a list of some things I pray regularly. These have become some of my core prayers. I’m sure there is no perfect list of core prayers, and I’m … Read more

Managing Chaos With Online Calendars

With the adoption of Ethan in 2008, Joleen and I went from being a clergy couple to being a clergy couple with a child. In other words, the chaos only increased! Shortly after bringing Ethan home from Korea, we set up online calendars using Google Calendar. The benefit is that either of us can access … Read more

Marking Moments and Making Memories

We’ve always tried to mark moments and make memories by taking photos, especially with the kids. Over the last several years, the blog has given us a place to document part of the journey (much of which is in the category of adoption). Another way we’ve tried to mark moments is by creating photo books … Read more

Our Worship Playlist

Music, particularly worship music, plays an important role in our family. In fact, one of my favorite spiritual disciplines is listening to worship music. In 2007 (before kids), I wrote Songs for Leaders, a post reflecting on some songs that were encouraging me and challenging me, at the time. In 2010, I wrote about how … Read more

Replenishing After Easter

Taking a break after Easter has become a family tradition. It started before we had kids, but now, it’s more important than ever. We used to take off a few days after Easter, but with kids, we have to work around the school calendar. This year, we took two days off after Easter (school holidays), … Read more

Our Girl is 5

It’s hard to believe, but Sarah turned 5 this week. Today, several friends and family members, including my dad, who happened to be visiting from Tennessee this weekend, helped us celebrate Sarah’s birthday. Sarah requested the Disney Brave theme, even though she’s never seen the movie (too scary). But, she likes Merida’s bow and arrow!

Ethan Joined Our Family Six Years Ago!

Today is one of our favorite days of the year—Ethan’s “gotcha day”! Six years ago today, Joleen and I were in Korea and Ethan became part of our family, a day after meeting him for the first time in his foster home. In some ways, it’s hard to believe it has been six years already. … Read more

2014 Bishop’s Retreat

We just returned from the 2014 Bishop’s Retreat for Our Clergy Family, which was held in Lancaster, PA. The retreat is for pastors and their families from our conference. Tracy Radosevic, this year’s presenter, is a storyteller, and she was excellent. Tracy spoke often about, and from the perspective of, the Network of Biblical Storytellers. … Read more

Celebrating Sarah’s 4th Gotcha Day!

It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since we went to Korea to get Sarah! (See the day we met Sarah and our first hours with Sarah.) Actually, it’s been a little over four years, but we waited to celebrate due to a cold Sarah battled for a few weeks. Recently, we took a … Read more