“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Proverbs 27:17

These two boys (and the tagalong little brother) excavate the edges of their creativity, bravery, strengths and weaknesses in the security of an unbreakable friendship. That’s how God designed it. You become the fullest version of yourself and experience the fullest version of Him in the context of accepting, loving relationships.

Our five-year old son has been talking about his end of year school concert for months. I took my seat in the concert hall this week, shouldering months of subconscious dread. His preschool is for children with special needs. I feared the toll performance pressure would take on the kids, overstimulation, and unlimited unknowns. I was overcome with the sheer possibility of our son feeling like he was physically unable to do something he really wanted to do, a familiar kind of torment.

Today was a perfect, unplanned Tuesday afternoon. We stayed in town at the park until bedtime, and then came home and jumped in the pool for “summer baths”. There is nothing better than having all three boys out exploring together. This is Lifa’s last summer in high school, and we all cherish time with him. And he’s so fun!

Five years ago, I stepped into our front garden with a baby strapped to my chest. Rented tables with homemade placemats were set for 60. We served an American Thanksgiving dinner to our South African guests, choosing to give thanks while we didn't know our family's next steps. My husband and I relished in a garden full of laughter and warmth that day, never pausing to even taste the meal.

We ate leftover pumpkin pie in our garage late that night. It was a delicious and sacred moment, our own Thanksgiving faith-building feast when we didn't know what tomorrow held.

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” -Charles Schaefer

The Ladd family adults have had a heavy week. I haven’t been showing up for my kids the way I want to. So today, we play. Sunshine, peanut butter sandwiches, bodies in action. I don’t need to wait until it feels better.

David is crowned king of all Israel in 2 Samuel 5, 22 long years after he was annointed future king. He ascended to the highest heights as a giant slaying, princess-marrying hero, and scraped rock bottom as a hated refugee, clipping a king's coat in a cave while he relived himself. (💩 happens in the Bible too! See 1 Samuel 24.)

A familiar enemy mobilized to capture David when he became king….

Benjamin has been BEGGING to build at the Cape Town Science Centre. We had an exciting morning building, breaking, learning and sliding!

My American heart beats for turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie when the calendar turns to November. America's Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for more than the food... but the food sure is good.

Thanksgiving dates back to 1621. One hundred Pilgrims set sail from England one year before seeking religious freedom. Winter came quickly and tragically, and half of the new colonists perished.

I abandoned breakfast table manners completely this week. My five-year old son is struggling to sit still. Every meal is a brutally painful process. So, instead of continually starting our morning with frustration and fighting, I have reformatted breakfast. I turn on worship music, put his breakfast at the kitchen counter, and he dance-eats while I pack lunchboxes. It has changed our morning story this week…

Our lawyers told us today that they weren’t surprised that Benjamin’s 🇿🇦 visa application was rejected because at least 70% of them are. I had called to understand our options. The options were there was no option except to bring him in this afternoon to the visa processing center to appeal.
We showed up at the end of an already-tricky day and found an over-crowded room that flabbergasted even the center’s staff and our legal representative.

Parenting strategy at the end of a tricky week: Sit down in the soft green grass of one of the most beautiful places on earth and create challenges that involve your children sprinting to a timer and doing their own occupational therapy. 👏Everybody👏Wins👏

I've started compiling a collection of the Friday Calls to Worship for publishing. I never intended for a 300-word message to go beyond a WhatsApp to a few friends. It's been surprisingly encouraging to dip into the archives, walking week by week through a pandemic with a younger version of me, one who didn't yet know she was also in the thick of special needs parenting. It all started because I spent an enormous amount of time lying next to my toddler between 2020 -2022. I had to wait for him to be in a deep sleep and tiptoe out of his room….

This week has been full of sinus pressure and extra evening events. Frank, the very large puppy, has decided to follow me through the house, only stepping in the exact places I step at the exact time I'm stepping there. Benjamin and Wyatt have started sneaking food off each other's plates and battle-throwing it on the floor instead of eating. This is Lifa's last week of grade 11 before he starts writing exams. THEN IT'S HIS LAST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, AND IS ANYBODY ELSE FREAKING OUT!?!

My younger children's understanding of the world, time, relationships and life in general is fantastical, nonsensical and at the mercy of their moods. My five-year old measures time, height, days and all units of power in larger than life numbers like fifty-hundred-trillion-and-threeteen. He processes big ideas from the backseat, saying, "MOM, the days just keep GOING AND GOING". My favorite of his latest song lyrics are, "God has so much power, He doesn't have to shower. He never even gets diiiirrrrttyyyy."

I planned a walk in the forest today. Wyatt loves a good nature walk, and Benjamin comes back to himself as we gulp in wonder and fresh air. Benjamin crumbled to the floor in tears when I told him our wonderful plans. My knee-jerk reaction is simultaneous overwhelm and frustration. His personal implosions demands, “Help me. I am unhelpable”.

Just when you start to think you’ve done it all… you take your son in a crop top Spider-Man suit to see ostrich organs in jars! Another adventure in the books! I love watching the boys learn and explore. Let it be known that Benjamin very brave and sat on an ostrich, and he intends to never do that ever again. But the ostrich burger got two thumbs up! 👍👍

I haven’t been online much this week because life has been extra full of normal life stuff. I just haven’t prioritized posting it. I’m pausing this evening before I put down my phone for the night to re-watch, remember and take a deep inhale of this rich, beautiful, sometimes normal and sometimes not life God has given me…

We pray for our children to know their identities in Christ every single night. We cannot predict the twists and turns of life or understand the ways of the world. But they can withstand it all if they know who they are and Whose they are. We teach them Bible stories so they have testimonies to stand on when the waters start to rise.

The Israelites were caught between an army and an ocean, yet they walked through the depths on dry feet...

In 1951, researcher Nikolaas Tinbergen wanted to know if exaggerating a specific stimulus could impact behavior. He created cardboard replicas of butterflies that are attracted to their mates through color and movement. Tinbergen's cardboard butterflies were much brighter and designed to move more regularly than the actual butterflies they replicated. He found that male butterflies preferred the more stimulating cardboard butterflies than the living, breathing females next to them. Tinbergen called the cardboard butterflies"supernormal", or an exaggerated ("super") version, of a "normal" thing.

We’re picking some of the BIG topics that we all have to address with our children again and again through every stage of life. It is so, so empowering to sit with other women around God’s Word, share stories, and let encouragement build up in the presence of worship, the Word and women. Please pray for me as I prepare a teaching on body image, purity and pornography. See the video and info below for more details. If you’re in Cape Town, PLEASE COME!