girltalk - Conversations on biblical womanhood and other fun stuff http://www.girltalkhome.com en ryan@formandfocus.net Copyright 2012 2012-05-17T01:06:38+00:00 girltalkhomehttp://feedburner.google.com 52home http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/52home472 http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/52home472 12:40 p.m. Daddy's day off.

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]]> Janelle Bradshaw 52home 2012-05-17T01:06:38+00:00 Adoption is Wonderful http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/adoption-is-wonderful http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/adoption-is-wonderful Yesterday at lunch, while eating leftovers from my first attempt at Ethiopian cooking, my son Jude told us stories of orphanage life. How the nannies washed all their clothes and shoes by hand and the water flowed like a rushing river over the orphanage ground. How the girls showered first in the mornings while the  boys watched TV--but not on school days, mind you. How he loved to play soccer and tag with his friends. How at night, after the nannies had put them to bed and closed the doors, he and the other boys would get up and play, only to rush back to their beds when they heard the nannies coming. How he ate lots of macaroni and spaghetti.

This morning I cuddled with Sophie after she woke up and discovered that her feet are very ticklish. This little girl is full of life and joy, so different from how quiet and clingy she was in the orphanage and our first few weeks at home. Sophie charges into a room with a yell and has absolutely no concept of "inside voice." I instruct her a lot about using an "inside voice," but recently it got lost in translation. I told her I would give her a drink once we got "inside" and she thought I meant to ask for the drink in an "inside voice" and so repeated her request in a whisper. Oh well.

Right now as I type, the four kids are running around like crazy downstairs because it is Daddy's day off. As my husband recently wondered: how is it that twice as many children make more than twice as much noise? Already, it is hard to imagine what our family was like without these two precious children. I am so grateful to all of you for your prayers and encouragement along the way.

That's all I have to say. Just, thanks. And that adoption really is wonderful. 



]]> Nicole Whitacre Adoption is Wonderful 2012-05-16T19:05:06+00:00 52home http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/52home471 http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/52home471 5:38 p.m. Teething Victim

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]]> Janelle Bradshaw 52home 2012-05-15T22:34:54+00:00 How’s Your Time Trending? http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/hows-your-time-trending http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/hows-your-time-trending "One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove that prayerlessness is not from lack of time." ~John Piper

When was the last time you told a friend, by way of confession: "I'm ashamed to admit it, but I have been too busy to post status updates on Facebook lately." or "I know I really should do better, but I just can't seem to find the time for Pinterest." or "I am so tired that I can't possibly wake up early enough to read the news online or follow what's trending on Twitter."

If you've said anything like this recently, then this new series of posts is not for you. You can stop reading now, because you clearly have better things to do.

But if you, like me, ever experience nagging guilt over missed quiet times or avoided conversations or unfinished housework or schoolwork, and yet still find time to tweet and pin, then lets talk.

I know it's easy to knock Twitter or Pinterest. Low hanging fruit. But it is much harder to steward these technological blessings appropriately. And in many ways, that is what the Internet and social media are--evidences of God's kindness and common grace to mankind.

Through Facebook I can re-connect with au-pair friends from Europe and keep up on the latest progress in my friend's adoption. I can pin recipes on Pinterest instead of typing them out, printing them up, sliding them into sheet protectors, and storing them in a huge notebook. I can go online to get advice for cleaning my ceramic tile kitchen floor or to upload videos of the kids for far away family to see. And if I discover that I am out of sour cream right in the middle of making Sour Cream Fudge Cake, I can google for substitutes and avoid disaster (and I did!).

But it is precisely because the Internet can be so useful, so beneficial, so enjoyable, that it can also be so dangerous. For it is often the good things that distract us from the best things. And never before have so many good things been so easy to access, just a click away.  

So we're going to start a new girltalk conversation today--about pinning and prayer, hashtags and our homes, blogs and biblical womanhood. Join us, won't you?



]]> Nicole Whitacre How’s Your Time Trending? 2012-05-15T14:07:30+00:00 52home http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/52home470 http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/52home470 May 13, 3:09 p.m. "Real" Mother's Day

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]]> Janelle Bradshaw 52home 2012-05-15T00:24:31+00:00 New @52home Store: It Is Well http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/new-52home-store-it-is-well http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/new-52home-store-it-is-well

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

~Horatio Spafford

Now available at 52home@home



]]> Nicole Whitacre New @52home Store: It Is Well 2012-05-14T14:14:23+00:00 52home http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/52home469 http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/52home469 7:13 p.m.

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]]> Janelle Bradshaw 52home 2012-05-12T00:00:55+00:00 A Mother’s Aim http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/a-mothers-goal http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/a-mothers-goal "You fulfill yourself by denying yourself, preparing the people you can’t live without to live without you"

~Andrew Ferguson

HT: Kevin DeYoung



]]> Carolyn Mahaney A Mother’s Aim 2012-05-11T17:30:23+00:00