By Sara Parker Share your story of how God provided a miracle in your life or in the life of someone you love. Comment below! A couple of weeks ago, we sat down to an embarrassingly unhealthy meal of hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate milk. About ten minutes into the meal, our 8-year-old son Kai had stomach pain so sudden and severe that within a half hour we were on our way read more

By Sara Parker I have never tried to persuade someone to adopt, and I won’t start now— even during National Adoption Month. I am not simply placating when I agree that many people have valid reasons not to pursue adoption. Sometimes, the timing is not right. Sometimes a spouse is not on board. Sometimes the financial situation is too dire. And sometimes, let’s face it: it’s just not how read more

By Sara Parker I don’t understand how October is almost over and not a trace of Fall can be found anywhere. No brisk breeze in the air (except those few glorious days last week before we returned to our regular temperatures - nicer yes, but still not Fall). Not a red leaf in sight. Nope. The weeds are still growing in the garden beds at a maddening rate, and I am still avoiding the read more

By Sara Parker A couple of weeks ago, I had a moment of sheer loneliness. E-mails were clogging my inbox. I was behind on my friends’ Facebook goings-on. I hadn’t spoken with my mom or any of my sisters for a couple of weeks. As I scrubbed gunk off of dishes before loading the dishwasher, I analyzed how I could possibly feel so lonely. It was absurd, really. I see people all day long read more

By Sara Parker I was confiding in my husband this afternoon about my desire for a baby. One of my best friends had a baby girl a few weeks ago, and holding that warm little bundle of sweetness was enough to re-kindle the ache in my heart. It’s hard to describe the ache…the pang of sadness paired with the ping of joy. The ache often comes when I get the privilege of holding a precious read more

Written by Sara Parker We're revisiting this post from May in honor of the 9/11 anniversary - reading it again, do you feel the same way post 9/11 anniversary? Leave your comments below! I know. I know. The rejoicing over Osama bin Laden’s death was over-the-top. Inappropriate, to be sure. I get it. But can I just be controversial for a moment and suggest we cut read more

By Sara Parker Apparently I should have screened the Bible before setting off on my goal of reading the book of Proverbs with my 6- and 8-year-old sons. You see, the New International Readers Version is a lot more frank and easy to understand than the New International Version—and a large portion of the book of Proverbs focuses on avoiding adultery. I wound up skipping over sentences read more

By Sara Parker Our sons were 2 and 3 years old when it started. I would look in the rearview mirror and wonder who would fill the next seat in our car. I’d set the table and imagine another little one in one of the empty chairs. At night I would lie awake, scheming about which room would be used for our next child, and what colors I would paint it if the new member of our family happened read more

By Sara Parker As June begins to melt into July, I have come to three realizations: It is about to get EVEN hotter. I find that difficult to comprehend. So does my six-year-old, who just the other day asked how many more degrees it would have to get in order for us to “burn up.” Summer is almost half over.   My math is off, I know. But really, read more

By Sara Parker Silence. With these four… I don’t get a whole lot of this… And I’m not talking about sleep (although, I certainly do not get enough of that either)… I’m talking about SILENCE. Blessed, beautiful, read-a-book-without-interruption, take-a-shower-without-someone-banging-on-the-door, listen-to-the-radio-and-sing-along-to-an-entire-song kind of read more

By Sara Parker A few days before returning from a recent family trip, I got a call from the friend who was caring for our animals while we were away. She broke the news that our dog had apparently done her business all over the game room upstairs. I told my friend not to worry about it—we’d take care of the mess when we came home. I assumed she was blowing things out of proportion. Our read more

By Sara Parker In 2005, my husband and I were living in Maryland, which ranks among the top ten states for high cost of living. I had quit my job to become a stay-at-home-mom to our two newly adopted sons, who were then 1 and 2 years old. The boys filled our home with laughter. And also lots of dirty diapers. But mostly laughter, because they were just so darned cute. But I read more

By Sara Parker So, I must confess... I have very rarely prayed over the small things in my life. I do recall, when I was around 10, my grandmother bought me a ring with an emerald jewel. I was enamored with it, having never owned something so delicate and valuable before. Looking back, I am guessing it was costume jewelry, but at the time, I was sure it had cost a couple hundred dollars. read more

By Sara Parker I first attempted to read the Bible from start to finish during the summer between high school and college. To mark my place and record my journey, I jotted down the date in the margin after completing each section. The first date recorded in my Bible is July 15, 1997. I lasted a whopping four weeks at my quest, and apparently gave up after completing the reading of Numbers read more

By Kristan Doerfler We arrived in Rome at 10 a.m. local time Saturday. It is now nearly 2:00 a.m. in Greece Monday morning. A fair percentage of our group of 30 have slept maybe 2-3 hours since we crossed the pond. We toured major Rome sights during the day to keep the jetlag from setting in. Our original plan for the Beatification was to meet in the hotel at 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning to read more