Being a boarding school mom is not something I talk a lot about online.

Honestly, in part because I haven’t quite wrapped my brain around it yet.

In part because in the year 2019, who tells other moms that this is the chosen educational route for your kids?

What kind of family chooses this as a schooling option?

Especially a family who loves homeschooling, unschooling, world schooling and adventuring together?

I get asked a lot of questions about boarding school.

I get asked how I’m doing, how are the girls doing, how did we make this decision, what impact has it had on our family.

I also get comments and thoughts and opinions, said and unsaid, about boarding school, having our girls away from home and our journey raising third culture kids.

For us, this decision did not come easy.

It wasn’t something we planned for or happily chose.

In fact, it was something I said I would NEVER do.

We’d visited a missionary family in the Congo many years ago before Abby was even born.

Continue reading Things I Would Not Say to a Boarding School Mom at every single page.

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There is a time for everything we experience in life. God knows what has happened, what is happening and what will happen. He knows that there is an appointed time for every single thing under heaven. Nothing is new to him. All the seasons of life are normal parts of our days.

God is with us through it all. He is there with us in every moment.

He has a time for everything.

I was reading Ecclesiastes 3 this morning and reminded of a sweet moment early in our missions career. We were traveling from church to church during our first support raising venture. We’d been in the van all day and the girls, who were pretty young at the time, were ready to run, move, play and use up some energy.

The missions director for the church we were visiting was explaining to me how the night would go, where we could put up our table, how long Jeremy would have to speak and that everyone would want to ask questions at the end of the night.

As she was sharing this information, I could hear the girls running behind me.

Continue reading A Time For Everything at every single page.

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I am always on the lookout for the best Christian books for women.

Whether it’s finding amazing new authors to follow {you can see that list here} or finding the best family devotionals {you can see that list here} or even reviewing some of my favorite books on amazon, I’m always looking for books.

The best Christian books for women that will challenge, inspire, teach, disciple and lead me in my walk with Jesus.

I have quite a large pile with me here in West Africa that I’m going to be digging into over the next few years.

I have quite a few that are still impacting my heart even now, long after the last word was read.

Highlights, notes, quotes, and ponderings from books that cause me to think, grow and move forward.

I’ve been compiling a list of these best Christian books for women to share with you.

Some of them I’ve read. Some of them are in my pile to read.

Some will be authors you know. Some will not.

{and yes, this post does contain affiliate links for Amazon.

Continue reading Best Christian Books for Women at every single page.

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I have decided that learning to “think on these things” is one of the hardest things to do.

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

To which my heart cries, “YES!”

Yet, when reality hits and situations come my way, choosing to think on these things becomes an act of obedience to Christ.

Learning to think on these things takes self-control, solid boundaries, and great faith.

It takes moving forward to the next beautiful thing. Even if it is not so beautiful.

Even when your thoughts seem stacked against you.

In preparation for our second term overseas, I honestly COULD NOT imagine getting on the plane. I didn’t know how I’d feel in that moment and didn’t know know how I’d fly away from America again with a one way ticket.

Knowing the realities of life in Africa, the poverty, the daily struggles, the loneliness, the language barriers, the difficulty of basic things… it seemed overwhelming and daunting in a way I didn’t feel the first time we left.

Continue reading Think On These Things at every single page.

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“You have family mottos?”

“Yeah… Well, we have these phrases that my dad taught us. My mom added some too.”

This is a common conversation when people are talking to our girls.

The next question is always “What are your family mottos?”

Soon, three Goodwin girls are reciting by memory our list of fun family mottos that are a part of our family culture.

They are good mottos to live by and things that our girls can fall back on throughout their lives.

I shared a few of our family mottos briefly in this post but I’ve been asked by some of you to expound a bit and share them all.

Apart from family devotions and parenting ahead, these family mottos are at the core of raising our girls especially in their teen years.

What is a motto?

Dictionary.com says “an expression of the guiding principle of a person, organization; a sentence, phrase, or word expressing the spirit or purpose of a person, organization.”

What is a family motto?

A phrase or slogan that is a guiding principle for your family or a sentence that expresses the purpose or spirit of your family.

Continue reading Family Mottos to Live By at every single page.

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