Danette > Recent Status Updates

"Your influence will be the turning-point in my life. So long as I have brains and hands to work with, I will keep striving to create another home like this when my time comes. Any girl that takes me will get a better husband because of you; any children I may be blessed with will have a better father because I have known you."
And there are women in the world who do not care about being mothers!

But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned-every one-to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:5-6

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return:
To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.
Isaiah 45:22-23

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O god:
let all the peoples praise you!
Psalm 67:1-3

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning (repentance) and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling,

Isaiah 30:15

If this assenting act of faith is weakened in the soul, if the invisible seems to be uncertain and the visible seems to be the only reality, then it is no wonder that we are frightened when visible and sensible comforts are threatened - as they often are in this changing world. The person who is not thoroughly persuaded that he stands upon firm ground will be afraid to stand his ground.

It was the contentment, the hope, the unity, the pluck, the mutual love, the confidence, the ambition, of the group that touched his imagination and made his heart run out to them.

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19

12/9/26 Read with my preschool class

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Proverbs 30:5

Sandwiches taste so much better when you can look out on a sight like that as you eat them.
Birkdale Tarn

The war just finished had not yet allowed the full blooming of life, but Lazarus was out of the tomb.

Our sinful hearts bend toward denying our creatureliness and attempting to self-sustain. But, friend, here’s the good news of the gospel: Jesus draws near to us in tenderness and grace still. He helps us pursue the feeding that’s crucial to our survival as moms, moment by moment, as we depend on him.

Even if you can’t digest much meaty doctrine in this season, you can still rest in the cradling care of Christ, for he will “tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isa. 40:11).

What we all want as a family is to keep well and strong and good, in body and mind and soul; to conquer our weaknesses, to train our gifts, to harness our powers to some wished-for end, and then PULL, with all our might.

...her heart was grateful and full of hope. She had lost the father of her children and the dear companion of her life, and that loss could never be made good. Still her mind acknowledged the riches she possessed in her children, so she confessed herself neither desolate nor forsaken, but something in a humble human way that the Lord could take delight in.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
Acts 17:30-31

But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.

Psalm 59:16-17

Let us release our kids’ performances and successes from our control. Let’s not look to them to validate our worth. Let’s prioritize the health of our families over the idols of success and activity. Let’s continue to remind our kids that there are things more important than being the best and cheer them on for things that matter, like character and kindness.

Tech-addicted kids don’t play well, they don’t attach to their families well, they are exposed to sexual images earlier, their reading suffers, their imagination is crippled. You absolutely must get this piece close to right or die trying. I don’t say this to overwhelm or discourage you but because I believe it is so crucial to modern parenting. We have to be different from everyone else here.

If you do not want to send your kid to preschool and prefer to keep him or her at home with a day rich in conversation and play - going to parks, making cookies, visiting the library, reading books, taking naps, mashing Play-Doh - I do not believe you are doing your child a disservice. On the contrary, your child is doing just precisely what a little three- or four-year-old should be doing: Playing.

I think one of the tragedies of our times is how everyone is segmented according to how old they are. Schools, churches, gyms - whenever people tend to gather, they’re grouped according to age. This is to everyone’s detriment.
Childhood is made richer by doing life with those who are not exactly the same age - those babies and old people.

I agree with the chapter “The Gift of Being Uncool”.

But even now, as the mother - the keeper of the home, the playdate maker, the activity chooser, the controller of the remote, the setter of the passwords, and the owner of the devices - I am the biggest influence in my children’s lives. I can use this influence in a powerful way.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
Acts 5:30-32

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:11

Jesus Christ is no security against storms, but He is perfect security IN storms, He has never promised you an easy passage, only a safe landing.

Since 90 percent of your serotonin is made in the gut, a damaged intestinal tract can also mean descending into an inexplicable fog of depression or feeling as if your life is being run by a humming undercurrent of anxiety.

So when I proclaim, “Let them be kids!” it is mostly NOT passive. It is NOT an exhausted resigning of duties, a last-gasp, fizzling at the end of day, free-range, unsupervised, “Oh, what the heck…” free-for-all. To let them be kids, we must be adults. When we let them be kids, we are the gardeners working faithfully so childhood can grow. And our work is worth it.