The morning was nearly perfect. I was up before 6 o’clock to sip coffee, pray and spend time reading my Bible in blissful silence. At 6:30, the kids thundered down the stairs and tumbled into the room. My littlest one leapt into my […]
When I close my eyes and think about my grandfather, my memories are cloaked in a deep sense of contentment and warmth. I remember his gentle chuckle, the twinkle in his eye and never feeling like I was a nuisance […]
In keeping with a tradition that I have a hard time keeping up with, I give you the Haveman highlights from 2016… The majority of last year was spent in anticipation of a new kitchen. And after six months of […]
A few years ago, my husband and I purchased a pressure cooker as a wedding gift for a young couple. I thought they were crazy for wanting a pressure cooker. But when you are running late to a wedding and […]
Twenty years ago, I whipped up my very first Thanksgiving feast. I secretly wanted to prove to my new man (and his mother) that I knew my way around a kitchen. And the meal did not disappoint. But flaunting my culinary […]
If you are a dish in my house, you will have a hard life. Between four kids and a clumsy mom, you will get slammed around, cracked, chipped and ultimately meet your demise on the hardwood floor. It’s just how […]
I have a confession to make. I always thought I had it worse than all of you regular school moms this time of year. While you were jumping for joy to have your kids out of the house on the […]
When I was young, I used to lie in bed at night and pray for my future husband. I was enamored with the knowledge that the boy I’d marry was out in the world somewhere, a stranger growing up in […]
If there is one toy in our house that enjoys idol status, it is the Bakugans. For those of you unfamiliar, they are little transformer-like spheres that morph into monsters and battle each other. My boys delight in collecting, trading […]
I remember when pop culture magazines started touting headlines that forty is the new thirty. Still in my twenties, I’d smirk at Courtney Cox smiling on the glossy cover and think, “Nice try, Courtney. Forty is totally old.” But now I’m […]