Old picture, same sentiment. And boy, am I glad I cut that hair off.

I must be a very hard blogger to read -  I covered everything from my tinies and their antics to same-sex marriage to my thoughts on organized religion and then stuff about my marriage and my parents to politics and current events and then I’m back to Wikileaks again but wait! First let’s have a Whole Food Challenge, too!

I was all over the place. Thanks for sticking with me, even though I’m clearly a crazy person sometimes who thinks (and writes) way too much.

I’m taking some time this week to revisit my favourite posts of the past year.  I tried to include the ones that got the most comments or visits or links but I also have a few that I just couldn’t leave out. I simply loved them, even if I was the only one who did. 

These are my favourites (and hopefully yours!) from the last half of 2010.

In which my entire concept of God changed when they were born
I kind of think that God gloats over us while we’re sleeping.

In which I can’t have an iPhone
I can admit this: I can’t be trusted with an iPhone. I would be a terrible person, all of the worst stereotypes, if someone let me have one. Time and attention is such a gift in this world we live in now.

In which this is my reflection on motherhood
If someone asked me to go back to talk to my “pre-kids” self, what would I tell that girl?


In which we are eating and praying and loving – right here
Even though I liked the book “Eat, Pray, Love” at first, after a year or so, I started to realise that I had a different response now. And it all centered on this: We can eat and pray and love, right here, in the life we are living, in the story we are writing off the page, too. We can find wholeness and love, wellness and truth without a single plane ride.

In which this is how breastfeeding changed me
I knew all the reasons why it was good for the baby. But one of the hidden benefits of the whole breastfeeding journey was how much richness it brought to my own life.

In which I am the keeper of my home
After the blog post below about being a working mother, I tackled the scriptural idea of “keeping the home” – as I saw it.

In which I am a working mother – and proud of it
After a minor dust-up in the Christian mother blogosphere about working vs. staying home, as it pertains to the scriptural instruction for women to be “keepers of the home,” I wrote this in response.

In which Brian reveals his true calling

Despite the morning breath and 12 years together, the romance is still there.

In which The Nines is indicative of the larger gender issue in the church
One of my most visited posts EVER, it was my response to the lack of female speakers in a user-submitted conference. And you know what? We want the women.  We want to celebrate women’s history and voice. We want to see women on our boards and in our pulpits – and not just in a symbolic way. We want to be the voice of God in our culture, giving women honour.

Any thoughts?

These aren’t necessarily the most popular or the most commented or even the most eloquent – but they’re the ones I loved and remember from this year….

In which we were wounded but we are being healed. I still don’t know the end right now. We’re still on the journey and I am full aware that the day we open the doors to the church or resume fulltime pastoring, that the journey won’t end. We will just start a new leg. But I have become very thankful for the wounding, very thankful for the breaking, very thankful for our desert. We have become so much closer and, I feel, so much truer. I feel authentic for the first time in years.

In which I tell a poop story. The title about sums it up.

In which I can have it all…just not all at once. I am trying to recognise that the values matter, no matter where you are. Sometimes those are lived out in a different context. It’s hard because we both grew up in churches and traditions that really valued the hero. So it’s hard not to be drawn to the heroic. But it’s very important that we are obedient first.

In which we have abandoned the TV. We made the decision to get rid of our television this year – here’s why.

In which I don’t want to join a denomination but I don’t know why. I’m still working through this one.

In which I ask you to decide which one is more embarrassing. I have two “most embarrassing moments” and could never decide which one was the worst. So I put it to a vote. And they tied.

In which I am quieted. One of my lunch breaks at Christ Church Cathedral.

In which Anne turns two and I turn reflective. A collective of photos of Anne and what I’ve learned from being her Mummy.

In which we are in week 34 – Circumcision, to snip or not to snip? It’s crazy the amount of opinions people have about foreskin.

In which I am my beloved’s…and vice versa AKA My thoughts on mutual submission. The idea of submission has been used for centuries to subjugate women, to justify abuses and generally rip the heart out of half the globe while crippling the other half that uses the word “submit” like a bat. But there is value and goodness in the word and in the concept in a marriage. It’s just that we don’t think “submission” only lines up with our gender.

In which I am refocused. Somehow I can develop the expectation that I’m not allowed to have bad days or struggles or even take the time to really heal from them. Like somehow I’ve arrived?

In which I give birth to my son standing up in a parkade. You knew this one would be in here!

In which cleaning and scrubbing can wait. This afternoon and evening, I was going to be productive. You know those kind of days….you’ve got eight times more on your “to-do” list than you could possibly accomplish even if you didn’t have two tinies, one of whom is potty training and the other, just 11 days old. But, full of good intentions and a little self-delusion, you decide to embark on it anyway. And your tiny children simply can’t allow it.

In which even the Cabbage Patch doll didn’t emerge unscathed. One of the favourite Not-Me Mondays.

In which we make recommendations for new mums. A collaborative advice post – good stuff!

In which there is a practical side to this. I’m not completely esoteric and cerebral about this simplicity thing. A couple of people have asked what I am actually doing to reflect a simpler way of life. Here are a few off the top of my head (while the tinies snore….time is limited!).

In which this is how Anne adjusted to Joseph. This happened when Joseph was about one week old. I have been thinking about it ever since and finally want to write about it without crying. This has deeply affected me and reminded me again that I have a deep, soulful daughter even at just two years old.

In which I had one perfect moment today. I felt rather frazzled. And tired. And pretty darn sure that two kids were enough for anyone, thankyouverymuch.

In which it is the fourth MONDAY of Advent. It’s amazing to me how this simple act – lighting candles, reading from the Bible, praying together – can transform.

In which Brian’s hands have changed. This one has gone further than others I’ve written. It generated the most ‘off line’ emails as well.