By Nicole

So I started BlogHer's NaBloPoMo Soup Challenge  today.  I am 10 days late and 5 posts behind.  But we won't dwell on that.  Today's prompt is "What is your passion?"  I got a little nervous, because there are lots of things I really like to do, but I wasn't sure they would qualify as passion... so I looked it up.  Merriam-Webster  gives quite a few definitions for passion.  I am choosing definition number 5b to write from, which is, "a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept." Great.  I have lots of passions.  Some of which include running, beading, reading, writing, raising my kids, loving my husband, serving God, and spending time with my family.  I also doodle a lot.  Even at times when it could be considered mildly inappropriate.  So, since some might find the other passions I listed a bit boring or cliche, I am choosing to write about my doodl...

One of my favorite nights of the week is Thursday.  Not because it is relaxing or there isn't anything going on.  In fact, it might be the most hectic and latest night of my week.  Thursday night is the night that Jason and I go to bible study.  He goes to men's group, and I go to women's group.  We smooch in the gym and head into our separate classes.  I look forward to the class because of the opportunity to fellowship and pray with women who love God and want to be closer to Him.  I have grown so much because of that time, even though I must admit that most weeks I have to say, 'Um, no...' when Lucy asks if we finished our chapter.  Even when we did the Beth Moore study on Esther ( phenomenal!) I didn't always keep up.  Some nights we pray and cry out to God longer than we spend in the book and other nights we dig straight into discussion of the chapter and the topic.  God has put some amazing women in my life, with such wonderful sto...

Ahhh, life. Doesn't it move quickly? Who are we to think that we have any control? Why do we try to cram so much in? Wouldn't it make more sense to travel through life one major life event/crisis/phase at a time? Wouldn't it make even more sense to slow down, enjoy what matters and quit letting the stupid stuff stress us out? Just the other night Jason and I had a teary (postpartum - back off) conversation about how quickly our kids are growing up and how at the end of the day, when they are tucked in and drifting off to sleep... it is just that, another day. Another day gone, a day older, a day that we can't make up or redo. What were we like that day? Did we feel like we had been good parents or bad parents? Had we gotten too frustrated or angry over something just plain stupid? How did we make their life better? Or did we make it worse? We have a lot going on and a lot of pressure on both of us to take care of all the junk we think is important. I keep ta...