Category: life stages

pregnancy and labor: resources and reflections [part 1]

pregnancy and labor: resources and reflections [part 1]

For those who were wondering why my previous post on women in ministry was password-protected, I initially wrote down some unfiltered thoughts to give to someone at church who had asked for my opinion, and didn’t know if I should make it public just yet. […]

the other side of the world

the other side of the world

On July 10, 2023 at 1:44 p.m., I landed on the other side of the world. All I heard was, “Roll over to Barbara!” as my heavy, aching body collapsed into our doula who had just seconds before had her face right in front of mine, […]

39 weeks pregnant

39 weeks pregnant

I initially started blogging from reading various mom-blogs filled with homeschooling tips and Pinterest-worthy recipes. It seems like a large percentage of the blogosphere is occupied by mom-bloggers. And recently it has come to my attention that I am soon becoming one of them (gasp). […]

count-down: 1 week

count-down: 1 week

Today marked the first rain of spring. Peter got his wisdom teeth out this morning and I finished my last week of in vivo experiments. It feels like the beginning of something new, the start of a new season. Tomorrow, I give my research seminar […]

desiring the slow life

desiring the slow life

I think I’m not alone when I say we want to live “the slow life”. The question I would pose next would be, “Well, what does that mean?” We have dreams of the slow life being lived out on a farm. It seems the most […]

the turn of a season

the turn of a season

The air turning brisk this past week was a sure sign of the season turning to fall, as was the official month turning to October as of today. “I think fall is my favorite month of the year,” I commented to Peter as we walked […]

portraits of a pandemic winter

portraits of a pandemic winter

It is a Saturday morning in February. The flakes are coming down in steady streams of white and the only sign of life outside are little figurines of dog walkers making their way through this snowstorm. My husband is lying supine on our couch, engrossed […]

marriage is making me more human

marriage is making me more human

Marriage is on the decline, they say. According to Pew Research Center, 39% of respondents believe marriage is obselete and 1 in 4 of today’s young adults may never marry based on current trends. “Getting married huh,” was the response of my senior PhD student […]

beside the manger

beside the manger

Hi friends 🙂 I don’t know about you, but when Christmas comes around each year, it brings me back to memories of Christmases past. This Christmas, I write to you from an AirBnB in Denver, Colorado. It’s 9:43a.m. and the house is quiet as my […]

my Princeton days

my Princeton days

I had never bought a stuffed toy in my life. The practical woman my mother was, she taught us that you only buy things you absolutely need or that serve some sort of useful function. Stuffed toys fell into neither of those categories, so as […]