Has the weight of the world ever kept you up at night? I'm pregnant while raising a toddler and a teenager - the perfect combination to need sleep and to lose it! I've tearfully prayed through many nights this week for my children and the world they are inheriting. The darkness seems to shout louder and louder with confusion and temptation coming from every direction. But God is not surprised at the world He is entrusting our children to. He is not lacking in wisdom, compassion, or omnipotent love.

Yesterday, we had a "How the heck do you parent a teenager!?!" day. It was normal, non-extreme growing up stuff that leaves a mom awake through the night wondering if she's single-handedly ruined his life. My emotions are exponential right now thanks to pregnancy hormones, so Chris had to be the sole adult and handle the situation with grace and wisdom. He nailed it. He's an awesome dad, and Lifa is an incredible young man.

It's earlier than "they" say we should share the news. But this is what we do. We share life as it happens, and we go through the lows and highs together. We use this space to stay connected to friends and family all over the world, and we want to share the news!

I was sick this week with a head cold that left me foggy during the day and sleepless at night. I rarely made it to my treasured morning quiet time with the Lord before the day got going. My teenage son had a hard day in the midst of it. Two hard things happened to him on the same day, one of them requiring a tough conversation between us.

This is a message that changed me. This is something God has been doing in me for the last several years, and I’ve been able to teach it many times to moms around the world in the last few weeks. Just last night, I taught this to an international mom’s retreat through Zoom, and got to encourage women fro Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria, America, Canada, South Africa and the UK. The spoiler alert is…

It's still raining! We're still in lockdown! We're getting creative - and using A LOT of exclamation points!!!

Day 1 of this rainy lockdown was verrrrrrry long. That night, I knew things were going to have to be different - for the good of the people. Life looks different right now, so we have to live it differently. We have much larger workloads than than we did during our first lockdown, and both kids have very different interests and needs. And also... RAIN.

My husband bared his greatest life struggle in his sermon on anxiety this Sunday. He was even more candid than I expected with the painful details of his battle and the toll it took on our marriage. The first 5 years of our 5 3/4 year marriage were the hardest of our lives. We were hard-pressed on every side, literally facing life and death.

A story about the story: I wrote this article last week for Help Club for Moms, which is why it sounds a little more generic (appropriate?) than most of my other personal stories. BUT I wanted to share it with you here and tell you this one frenzied moment I begin with - and the way God met me in it - has intrinsically changed me. Forever. I think I said the same thing to Chris every night when we got into bed last week: “I’m becoming different from that one moment. I think God is doing something in me.” Isn’t He good? So, as you read today, I want you to take heart that God can change everything about you in the moments when you don’t even like you.

was learning that He created and commanded order from the very beginning. Check out Genesis 1 and 2. Literally, the very beginning. This week, I poured deep into the Biblical narrative of God’s created order. I spent 3 evenings teaching moms about it and felt like I was just scratching the surface.

Chris Ladd is the man of my dreams, BUT he's got a few things to learn about life. Ok, its' just one thing: BIRTHDAYS.

I love to celebrate and have infused that love into my children. Lifa is an absolute boss at celebration, and one of Benjamin's first words was "Hooray!" (Future daughters-in-law, you are welcome.)

Yesterday, Benjamin and I went to a nearby park for a playdate. We had a very unusual encounter as we were getting ready to leave. It went something like this...

Chris was on the trampoline with Benjamin. Benjamin was hurdling his body from one side of the net to the other, ricocheting like a wrestler in the ring. Chris kept his knees bent, lightly moving up and down so Benjamin could "jump" with his dad. I stood beside the trampoline scene with deep joy and great conviction. "I'm done," I told Chris while he half-bounced. He looked a little nervous.

Chris Ladd and I could not be more opposite types of human. Some key differences are played out most obviously in the kitchen. When were dating, and our differences were intriguing and charming, we loved to try new recipes together after Lifa had gone to bed. In marriage, we view our differences as strengths to work together… and also the very things that make the hair on the back of our necks stand up. We now do zero cooking together. Sometimes we even take turns being in the kitchen! We consider it finding a way to win.

Here’s an article I wrote for the Help Club for Moms. I love being challenged to write for this powerful ministry - I always learn something new when I press into God for others!

“True freedom never comes until we fully realize that we don’t need to struggle to get from man what God freely gives us: love, acceptance, approval, security, worth, and value.” Joyce Meyer

Benjamin had the BEST birthday. He’s 2. He won’t remember it. (I took about 3,000 pictures that I will look at every 9th of April for the rest of time.) He doesn’t have to remember the events of his 2nd birthday. Birthdays build. They are our stories’ punctuation marks. You stop one year of life, and start the next. Each year builds on the previous one.

Today was a little heavy in the Ladd house.

Benjamin turns TWO tomorrow, and family feels extra far to me on the special days. Chris was weighed down with the unavoidable admin (and admin hiccups) that come with living overseas. We are calling it a night and just going to bed. Tomorrow is a new day, and we're having cake for breakfast!

The Ladd family got bamboozled with the stomach bug on Monday. I got it first, and Chris got it the worst. I picked Lifa up early from school and promptly declared the house a state of emergency. Chris didn’t even get out of bed until 6pm - right before Benjamin’s bedtime. Everyone is standing, eating and funcitonal today, but Benjamin has a serious deficit in his daddy love tank after a busy Sunday and sick Monday.

The dinner table has always been the Ladd family's home base. Seven nights a week, the table is set and placemats are spread. We share our highs and lows, and linger when time allows to chat about the day.

I love to feed people - especially my people. I plan and prepare. I relish in serving creative, healthy meals. That’s why this announcement makes me feel like my own tectonic plates are shifting: We are Taking a Break From Dinner.

We’ve had major highs, breakthroughs, wins and worship in the last few weeks - at the same time as debilitating exhaustion, strain and pain. And there’s been some plain old medium stuff.

We cut back on things we didn’t have space for - like blog writing, cooking big dinners, and some late night international meetings. We learned new things - like how to high school, the maximum physical capacities of our people, and how to find God’s sweetness in the medium things. Activities pulled us further apart, but intentionality brought us closer than ever.

Here is a very up close and personal article I wrote for Help Club for Moms. It’s a look inside the typically unblogged, un-glamorous realities of daily life. It’s geared toward moms for the ministry, but there’s some real truth and real talk for everyone!