words

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / May 22, 2019

This one is for the middle and high school teachers. The ones no one is bringing a fist full of dandelions to and who will receive nary a handmade card during teacher appreciation days. The ones whose desks aren’t overflowing with gifts and who might do a double take in shock when a student remembers…

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What do you want to be when you grow up

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / May 22, 2019

What do you want to be when you grow up? How many times have we asked and answered this question? Friends I’m starting to think it might be the absolute wrong thing to ask anyone including ourselves. At senior choir night all they read the kids names along with their plan after graduation. This is…

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Listen to them when they are little

Listen When They Are Little

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / May 22, 2019

One summer when my kids were small they all conspired for my time seemingly every second of every day. I remember feeling so overwhelmed. It was so hard to focus on each individual soul when 5 of them hovered in my orbit near constantly, telling elaborate stories and demanding, “Mom, look at me!” (For the…

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Be still my heart

Be Still My Heart

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / February 26, 2019

You guys…there is a whole layer of sweetness to parenting teens that no one tells you. And you HAVE to know. Tonight I left town a night early for a conference to get ahead of some weather. I texted my girls to say goodbye since they weren’t home yet. I felt like the annoying mom…

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Parents of teens

Parents of Teens Let Them Be Young

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / February 26, 2019

A few years ago, I listened to my teenagers from behind the door. It’s where we are now in the world of parenting teens, right? No longer in the middle of their parties and fun…but still we long to know their joy. So we stay close. I had one ear open because a teenage sleepover…

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God is along for the ride

God is Along for the Ride

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / February 26, 2019

I was the crazy lady you saw sitting in the campus coffee shop, computer open and half eaten wrap on my plate. I know I looked like I was coming undone with my glasses sliding down my nose, hair all over the place, not so silently mumbling to myself. I don’t blame you for giving…

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How parents pray

How Parents Pray

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / February 26, 2019

In whispers over the downy heads of sleeping babes, we pray prayers of thanks for the gift of babies and sleep. On the couch late at night when our bigs are past curfew and not answering our texts we pray our Lord leads them safely to our door and that we do not kill them…

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January Grove Offer

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / January 11, 2019

YOU GUYS! If you haven’t yet signed up for Grove Collaborative now is your chance. The new customer offer this month is AMAZING! We are always trying to cut down on plastic use in our home…when the teenager takes AP Environmental Science you all learn more and want to do better….ha! Cutting back on single-use…

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What I Learned About Giving After Having Kids

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / August 25, 2018

If the Giving Tree isn’t the most accurate book ever I don’t know what is. If you don’t know the story The Tree gives its leaves and branches and by the end of the book, he’s given everything to The Boy. It’s left as only a stump. This morning I handed this child the actual…

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Sometimes We Just Have to Be a Mess

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / July 16, 2018

Sometimes we have to let ourselves just be a mess. It’s in the messes that we crack. And it’s in the messes that God cracks us open. I woke up in a funk today after a wonderful day yesterday. A day full of fun and laughter and stories and time and appreciating all the things.…

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