As a home educator, I have one of those closets in my house. You know the one I mean. It’s the closet that won’t shut and is the black hole of everything homeschooling. Puzzle pieces, math manipulatives, parts of speech sorting activities, and dice all go to the closet to die. (Pun intended.) When IContinue reading “Just the Right Time”
Author Archives: Sarah Young
Prayer in the Present Tense
Listen HERE We drove 2,088 miles to be with my parents for Christmas and 1,662 miles to come back home again from my in-laws’ house. Driving from the top of the country to the bottom and back again gives my family the opportunity to see varied landscapes, animals, architecture, and people. It also expands myContinue reading “Prayer in the Present Tense”
The Beauty of Advent
The Burden of Advent
Did you get it right this year? Advent, I mean. Did you do it right? Did your perfectly clean house smell like gingerbread? Were all of your gifts purchased and wrapped before December began? Have you had angelic family devotions every night where your children gathered around the piano and sang Silent Night perfectly onContinue reading “The Burden of Advent”
“Letters from Father Christmas” : A Review for the Advent Season
In 1920, a small boy asked his father a simple question: “What is Father Christmas like and where does he live?” In answer, the father began the tradition of writing a newsy letter from Father Christmas to his children, detailing the preparations for the holiday, the past year’s events, and other fun tidbits from theContinue reading ““Letters from Father Christmas” : A Review for the Advent Season”
The Blindness of Advent
Listen HERE Fourteen years ago, my grandmother gifted us an ornate advent calendar. It is shaped like a house, and each door is numbered. She also sent little ceramic animals that I remember from my own childhood. “Put one in each door,” she wrote in her letter, “and then, each day you can see whoContinue reading “The Blindness of Advent”
The Battle of Advent
Listen HERE I live on a reservation where I see many battles. Even while I watch my little boy fight imaginary foes with a wooden sword, I am praying for my brothers and sisters in Christ who are fighting the battles of addiction, grief, loneliness, rejection, generational trauma, and hopelessness. Those foes rise up withContinue reading “The Battle of Advent”
Growing Popcorn
Listen HERE It takes 100 days for popcorn to grow. I planted the seeds in May. I watched the stalks grow throughout June and July. By August 25th, the yellow ears were ready to harvest. My kids helped me take the kernels off about fifty of the cobs, and I couldn’t wait to fry themContinue reading “Growing Popcorn”
Word of the Year
Listen HERE I am a word person, and my word for 2024 was “Rise.” I had in mind Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, getting up earlier (an unreached goal of mine every year), and overcoming obstacles. I hadn’t thought of rising dough or the kneading it takes to ensure the rising works right. I haven’tContinue reading “Word of the Year”
Today’s Babel
Listen HERE What havoc the original Babel incident caused! God confused peoples’ languages, forcing them to disperse, teaching them that uniting behind evil is not uniting at all. What if it happened again? But this time, God determined the point at which the world was full of language. The last word would be the proverbialContinue reading “Today’s Babel”
Sarah Dixon Young 