Resources

A Prayer for Traumatic Birth

A Prayer for Traumatic Birth

By Elizabeth Burtman | March 15, 2024

O God who sees my suffering,     who was present as my little one was brought forth     in the confused mixture of my great joy at their birth     and my great grief as our bodies spiraled out of control,  Your strength [can bring / has brought] [me / us] back from…

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Prayers & Resources for Pregnancy After Loss

Prayers & Resources for Pregnancy After Loss

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | March 8, 2024

A Prayer for Pregnancy After Loss God of hope and healing, Help me to trust again. I know this is a new story, A different pregnancy, Another baby. But my heart still aches for the one I lost. I struggle to believe this journey Could end in goodness. Walk with me each day of this…

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Easy Ways to Pray in Lent

Easy Ways to Pray in Lent

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | February 16, 2024

Need inspiration for How to Live Lent as a Busy Mother? Pray with Scripture: Find the daily readings from the Catholic Church and weekly Scriptures from the Revised Common Lectionary, including images of sacred art for prayer. Check out our Lenten Scriptures for Parents. Read an essay on Lent: What We Need Is Here Our…

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value of silence

Be Still and Know (Excerpt)

By Jenni Ho-Huan | November 10, 2023

Our lives are now larger and more complex than they used to be. To hold steady, have clarity and the true power of a life well-lived, we need a large and deep substructure, one able to hold up the superstructure. This is not only urgent; it is essential to our wellbeing. For not only are…

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bbq pilgrimage

BBQ, Sweet Tea, and a Whole Lotta Jesus (Excerpt)

By Kathryn Whitaker | November 3, 2023

“Lessons in food are lessons in culture, so the more food discoveries I made, the more at home I felt.” – Daniel Vaughn, Texas Monthly Magazine BBQ Editor It all started thanks to our love of barbecue and a YETI cooler. Every four years, the state magazine Texas Monthly publishes its Top 50 BBQ list.…

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foster parenting prayers

Praying for Your Foster Children

By Jessica Mathisen | October 27, 2023

Cultivating a Heart of Gratitude With Our Foster Children On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them…

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orange cutout Christmas ornament of a deer sits on a shelf

Ordinary Blessings for the Christmas Season

By Meta Herrick Carlson | October 20, 2023

Perhaps you are a planner and October doesn’t seem too early to start talking about the Christmas season. You’re already formatting your Christmas card picture, booking travel plans, or deciding which days you’ll take PTO and which days you’ll “work from home” while kids are around on winter break from school.  I’m not very proactive…

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miscarriage support

Supporting Yourself (Or A Friend) Through Miscarriage

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | October 13, 2023

Miscarriage may be the most tragic or traumatic loss you have faced thus far. You might feel resentful or depressed; you may be struggling with your faith or in your marriage. You likely do not want to hear anyone else’s opinion on your situation or your grief. But you still have to interact with others…

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creative God

Creative God Excerpt

By Anna Bonnema | October 6, 2023

Imagine. If I asked you to close your eyes and imagine yourself sipping a mug of tea or a coffee anywhere in the world, could you do it? If you could, would your imagination provide more than just a snapshot image of you at a round table on a busy street or a still frame…

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caring for a special needs child

Count Your Crosses: The Graces of Fortitude and Perseverance

By Kelly Mantoan | September 29, 2023

The cold had run its course through our whole family, taking down each man, woman, and child for days at a time, eating up the entire month of March in early 2011. While everyone else recovered, even five-month-old Teddy, Fulton struggled, weak and congested, long past the point when the other four were back to…

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growing into identity

Korean Washcloths: Messengers of God’s Nearness and Love

By Tasha Jun | September 22, 2023

For years when I was young, my mom took nightly baths, and I would join her. We would pile our thick, black hair on top of our heads, so strong and stiff it would shoot up like onion sprouts. We scrubbed each other’s backs with neon-colored, nylon washcloths, as if we were scrubbing potato skins…

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working mom hurdles

No Breaks in a Broken System: Common Horizon Excerpt

By Anne Marie Brannigan | September 15, 2023

We sit in a small office off the main hallway. The insurance representative is pulling all the forms for me, the new hire at a medical records office. He spots the ring on my finger, my grandmother’s diamond newly set in the band. “Married?” he casually asks. “No. We are thinking of moving the date…

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