The Whole Kristen ca-Doodle

I love personality quizzes.   I recently became intrigued by the  Enneagram types , have been known to investigate my  Meyer-Briggs type , and even found out my  Hogwarts house .  You might think they are bologna or worthless, and you might be right.  But, I think they are insightful, reflective, thought-provoking, convicting, and frankly, fun.   I also love spiritual gift inventories, which I participated in during an adult study at church once upon a time, and in another study, some time later, I participated in a study about defining my faith.  Those things are life-changing, eye-opening, and somehow super comforting.  To be sitting in a place where you are really understanding what and why you believe what you do is incredibly peaceful, even when some of your answers are I don't know .  Furthermore, it allows you to more easily identify when or why those beliefs change.  I recommend taking that journey if you are ...

I knew I needed to do it. I was too afraid to start.  I rehearsed the conversation in my head over and over, but still didn't know where to begin.  I had excuses:  They are too young.  They won't understand.  It doesn't directly affect them.  They don't have the historical perspective yet. But the truth is, I was afraid to tell my children about Charlottesville, because I was afraid to reveal to them the ugliness of humanity, the failure of my generation and their grandparents' generation to address social ills and instead to sweep them under the rug.  I was afraid to see my pain, confusion, sadness, guilt, and fear reflected in their innocent faces.  It was hard enough to address the inadvertent mispronunciation of the African country, Niger, by a classmate, and the loving, necessary correction of that mispronunciation by another of their friends, last year,  and the conversation about words the people use to steal the humanity a...

Love is to me what smiling is to Buddy the Elf. It is my favorite. And love wins.  Every. Time. The families at my daughters' school who take in multiple foster children and change their lives.   #winning My neighbor's cousin and her wife who adopted a baby boy with Down syndrome, who passed away, and later adopted a sweet baby girl who also has Down syndrome.  #winning My community that binds together every summer to work collectively to put lunches in the hands of children who might otherwise go without . *  #winning My neighbors, who are engaged, and each have a child from a previous relationship, but refuse to let the breakup of those kiddos' parents get in the way of forming their new, modern family, and co-parent like champs .  #winning The aunt and uncle who built a new home considering how it will best welcome their plethora of nieces and nephews.  #winning My sister who lost her mom too soon, but honors her every day in th...