Family Archives » Sondra Kraak https://sondrakraak.com/category/family/ Trails of Love and Grace Fri, 09 Oct 2015 14:13:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 It’s Time to Fall Again https://sondrakraak.com/its-time-to-fall-again/ Fri, 09 Oct 2015 14:13:12 +0000 https://sondrakraak.wordpress.com/?p=1603 Fall. My favorite season. I close the windows of summer and bask in the new quietness of the inside. The spicy aroma of cinnamon, apples, and cloves overcomes the sweet fragrances of snapdragons, lilies, and roses. Nature walks lead to pockets full of pine cones, acorn hats, and seed pods. Tree limbs bow, yielding to […]

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]]> An Honest Look at 10 Years https://sondrakraak.com/an-honest-look-at-10-years/ https://sondrakraak.com/an-honest-look-at-10-years/#comments Sun, 19 Oct 2014 18:59:56 +0000 http://sondrakraak.wordpress.com/?p=1226 Ten years ago I said “I do”to Nate, and vowed to be his wife in good times, hard times, sick times, fun times, confusing times, and any other times Nate and I might traverse together. Some might say we’re lucky to make ten years, and a look at the marriage statistics in our culture would confirm […]

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]]> https://sondrakraak.com/an-honest-look-at-10-years/feed/ 3 Home https://sondrakraak.com/home/ Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:27:41 +0000 http://sondrakraak.wordpress.com/?p=766 Home. In the house in which I grew–up and out and on and into–me. Laying down to rest after an early plane flight, the smell of the pillowcase finds me. I whiff years of love. I feel the air here, as if it were the same air I breathed the first eighteen years of my […]

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]]> How negative emotions can be good for you https://sondrakraak.com/how-negative-emotions-can-be-good-for-you/ Thu, 28 Jun 2012 20:51:02 +0000 http://sondrakraak.wordpress.com/?p=323 I hardly live a day without some sort of frustration (or other negative emotion). It could be a hang nail that sets me off. Or it could be a harsh word from someone I love. Or it could be spilled milk, like yesterday at dinner time when I pulled out the tray of the high […]

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]]> Monday Gifts: Fellowship Offerings https://sondrakraak.com/monday-gifts-fellowship-offerings/ Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:11:33 +0000 http://sondrakraak.wordpress.com/?p=319 When Jesus said, “Come to me, all who are weary and I will give you rest,” I think he had in mind the ministry-mom walking in the door after church. It’s early to church for me on Sundays, stay for two services, home at (a late) lunch time. One child wants to tell me about Sunday school, […]

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]]> The Work of His Hands https://sondrakraak.com/the-work-of-his-hands/ Wed, 23 May 2012 18:24:07 +0000 http://sondrakraak.wordpress.com/?p=283 I knew I liked my ears rubbed, but I forgot how soothing it is when someone finger-brushes my hair. My five-year-old daughter is pretending to style my frizzy waves with water from the sprinkler, and I like her standing by me, a sort of reversal with her rising above my sitting form and doing my hair. I’m always […]

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]]> Picking Your Life Up Off the Floor https://sondrakraak.com/picking-your-life-up-off-the-floor/ Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:48:47 +0000 http://highuponarock.wordpress.com/?p=206 It was the end of a long day in which frustrating events had strung together like beads on a necklace, an ugly mismatched necklace I’d only be wearing in a fashion nightmare. We were having cereal for dinner. In the midst of sternly voicing frustration over something child-related, I spilled the Life on the floor. […]

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]]> Why is there an empty baking powder container with a straw in it sitting in my fridge?…and other questions you ask when you live with small children. https://sondrakraak.com/why-is-there-an-empty-baking-powder-container-with-a-straw-in-it-sitting-in-my-fridge-and-other-questions-you-ask-when-you-live-with-small-children/ https://sondrakraak.com/why-is-there-an-empty-baking-powder-container-with-a-straw-in-it-sitting-in-my-fridge-and-other-questions-you-ask-when-you-live-with-small-children/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:48:06 +0000 http://highuponarock.wordpress.com/?p=202 Why does it smell like onion grass in my daughter’s bedroom? Who broke my headband? Why are my piano keys sticky? Where is my spatula? Who wiped all these boogies on the wall?…and who will clean them up? If you have children, or have been around children, you know that anything is a toy. And […]

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]]> https://sondrakraak.com/why-is-there-an-empty-baking-powder-container-with-a-straw-in-it-sitting-in-my-fridge-and-other-questions-you-ask-when-you-live-with-small-children/feed/ 1 It’s a Long Road and a Steep Mountain https://sondrakraak.com/its-a-long-road-and-a-steep-mountain/ https://sondrakraak.com/its-a-long-road-and-a-steep-mountain/#comments Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:19:10 +0000 http://sondrakraak.wordpress.com/?p=72 Passing the field where last year’s Easter egg hunt took place, my four-year-old daughter said, “Next year we’re going to have an Easter egg hunt again and I will go.” I asked her what Easter meant. “Honey, we haven’t had it for a while.” Yes, but what does Easter celebrate? “Eggs and candy.” I sigh. […]

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]]> https://sondrakraak.com/its-a-long-road-and-a-steep-mountain/feed/ 3 Why I Am A Stay-at-Home Mom https://sondrakraak.com/why-i-am-a-stay-at-home-mom/ https://sondrakraak.com/why-i-am-a-stay-at-home-mom/#comments Sun, 29 May 2011 19:19:57 +0000 http://sondrakraak.wordpress.com/?p=50 One December afternoon when my daughter was ten months old, I went to get her up from her nap and found her wrapped in colored lights, a human Christmas tree. Apparently, attracted to the multi-colored display on the windowsill, she had reeled them into her crib. What keeps me home day after day, tending the […]

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