Scribbling Barefoot

The first time I traveled to Ethiopia, I wasn’t traveling as a tourist or a missionary or a philanthropist, I was traveling as a mother.

 So when the heights of Addis Ababa broke through the clouds and I peered through the airplane window to get my first view of Africa, I wasn’t thinking of a land or a people.  I was thinking about my son.  He was there . . . somewhere.  A little six-month-old baby who was legally my child and who needed me desperately.  I was there to become “Momma” to him.

 But when I left Ethiopia after my first trip in 2009 Keep Reading…

As we’ve shared with all of you before, we’re planning to work with Lifesong for Orphans in Ethiopia for six weeks this summer. We’re doing LOTS to get ready, and wanted to share a little bit of our preparation with all of you.

Enjoy!

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Better late than never . . . right?

The Good Braider by Terry Farish

I picked this up at the library because a friend mentioned wanting to read it. I was surprised to find it in the Young Adult section; I’m always conflicted when I find really good fiction labeled YA. I guess I’m afraid it will keep adults from reading it, but then I wonder if more teenagers will read it because it is labeled YA. Who knows?

Anyway, I really enjoyed this. It’s a pretty quick read, and Keep Reading…

Recent events and my recent thoughts have converged in what feels like a firestorm within my soul.  And I must say, I’m surprised.  As obvious as it seems, I didn’t see this coming.  I didn’t see myself opening up, re-evaluating, and re-thinking what once seemed so clear to me.  And I’ve wrestled (I tend to do that with the hard things), and I’ve read and I’ve prayed and I’ve discussed.  And I’ve thought about writing my thoughts, and I’ve backed away, because the truth is I don’t really know what I think.  But after some conversations last night and this morning, one thing has crystallized, and there’s one thing I need to say: Keep Reading…

I’ve lived a very insulated life, not free from pain, but seemingly free from tragedy.  I shudder to even write that, as if I’m reminding fate that I’m due.  I know life doesn’t work that way, but it’s hard not to fear that it does.  I’m 32 years old and all four of my grandparents are still living.  What a blessing that is.  As N.T. Wright once said, “I’m one of the least bereaved people I know.”

But even in my mostly happy life, one can’t escape the burden of brokenness.   Keep Reading…

Every year I watch for spring for three long months.  I’m ready for green grass and warm breezes on the day after Christmas.

Winter in our part of the country is drab and gray.  The grass turns brown, (I was an adult before I realized that this is not the case everywhere), except for the pine trees all the trees lose their leaves, and the skies seem permanently overcast.  We don’t get much snow here Keep Reading…

If you’re reading this in a RSS reader, click over and see our new blog design. Thanks to Casey for putting up with my whining and uploading a new theme for me.

You may have noticed that we’ve also changed the title of the blog from Picker Point to Scribbling Barefoot. The way we use this blog has really changed of the last several years, so we thought a name change was due as well. We rarely post about family happenings, although we’ll still do that occasionally; if you want to keep up with our crazy kiddos, follow us on Instagram or friend us on Facebook.

Instead, I plan to continue to use this blog as an outlet to write and think. Casey will post occasionally, but I will continue to be the main writer.

Take a look around and let us know what you think! We’ll continue to tweak things for the next few days.

We’ve given up tv for Lent at our house, so that means lots of time for reading. I love it!

Caleb and I have been reading Prince Caspian together at night. When we come across a word he doesn’t know, he yells, “Dictionary!” and we look it up the definition. Reading aloud to my kids is Keep Reading…

I’ve been thinking a lot about True Womanhood lately. What defines the essence of womanhood, and what ideal should we hold up to our daughters of how their lives should look?

There seems to be a lot of confusion in our world, and even among Christian circles, about what True Womanhood is. Many people, a lot of them men, have defined their ideals and held them up highly as qualifications for the great title of True Woman, everything from woman as a flawless beauty whose character is defined solely by her sensuality to woman as a meek and mild home-body whose greatest calling is to her husband and children. Just as the secular culture demands that true women either over-emphasize their sexuality or their professional achievements, conservative circles often fail to see a woman’s value outside of her roles as wife and mother. And yet, in both of these extremes, I see woman being defined by how she meets someone else’s needs, as if she has no identity or calling outside of that. Keep Reading…

On Sunday morning, Mary Beth and I sat down with one of our ministers at church, Ron Cook, and talked more about what we’re planning to do in Ethiopia this summer. I know we’ve outlined some of our plans here on the blog, but I thought it might also be helpful for some of our friends and family who don’t go to church with us, to hear the interview themselves.

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