Everyone who hears that we have a three-year-old and a one-year-old tells us that “they grow up so quickly” and to “take time to enjoy these moments” because they will be gone before we know it. That makes sense; it’s truly shocking how life seems to speed up as we get older. And those of you who know me know that I’m super intentional about everything, and keep trying to ...
I met Rachel in 2013 while volunteering at a summer camp in Banner Elk, North Carolina. According to her, she started falling in love with me after seeing how I was with kids: playful, carefree, easygoing, undistracted, fully present, joyful, silly, and super cute. That same year, she went to Ecuador for six months to serve at an orphanage, and I visited her during Christmas break. We had an amazing ...
Do you find yourself asking this question? Maybe just to yourself, in your head? Or maybe, if you’re feeling vulnerable enough, to someone you know who won’t judge you? “What is the point?” I feel like everyone wonders this at some stage or the other. I know I’ve gone through seasons of life where every day – even multiple times a day – I would ask myself that same question. ...
You want your romantic relationship to thrive, right? We all do. I’ve only been married for five years, but I feel like I’ve learned the secret to it. Perhaps that sounds arrogant but Rachel and I are thriving, and I’m proud of that – just like I would be proud to finish a marathon or earn a degree. Am I shocked by how much effort it actually takes? YES. But ...
I try to live my life with the “faith of a child” that Jesus talks about – a faith that is innocent, full, expectant, and without suspicion or distrust in God’s goodness. Of course, this isn’t easy to do given the unending challenges and struggles that we all face while living out the days He’s given us. However, I have found that nothing is more important, which is why that ...
Tests are not fun. Really, they are the opposite of fun. Many nights in high school, I remember staying on the phone into the early morning hours with various friends trying to cram for an exam the next day in Calc, or Chem, or European History. And then I couldn’t sleep well because of the anxiety of it all. I had a good grasp of the material, but they were ...
A few of my friends recently are having trouble sleeping these days, and I’m praying for them hard because I have absolutely been there during extended times in my life. I've often felt the same as them, and have even been on prescription medication in the past to help my mind detach. When I was struggling with sleep, my mind just kept spinning in random directions. I would have a ...
The other day, I stumbled upon a quote by British novelist Graham Greene which stated: "There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in." When reading a book, it isn’t often that I am stopped in my tracks and forced to think deeply about my life in that very moment. And so I started to wonder: ‘What was that moment?’ ‘What experience opened ...
Earlier this summer, I was putting my two-year-old Maya into her car seat when she hastily and forcefully pushed open the car door and scraped the door of our other car in the garage. This frustrated me. I was like, “Maya! You’ve got to be careful, you can’t push the door open so hard because it hit and messed up the door of our other car!!” I was stern and ...
“Look, Daddy!!!!” “Are you watching?” “Pay attention, this is important!” “DAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” My just-turned-three-year-old Maya is the best. She’s always up to something: dancing and twirling around, climbing on furniture and banisters and countertops to test her strength, or jumping from pillow to pillow on her makeshift obstacle courses. And she needs me to witness all of it. Maya is constantly calling my name and trying to get me to focus ...