JOYFUL + RISING NEWSLETTER #65
APRIL 27, 2025
Happy Sunday, my friends!
I hope everyone had a joyful Holy Week and Easter celebration! What a treasure it is to celebrate a RISEN Lord today and every day as Easter people!
Our family enjoyed the official start of a new tradition in our home—a family Seder meal. We put on an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos before sitting down to do the Seder. Then, we ended the evening with a full meal and dessert. Having the children present during the Seder was beautifully chaotic. It’s a tradition we hope will continue to become more and more sacred with time and the addition of family and friends.
What traditions do you and your family enjoy during Easter celebrations?
In this week’s newsletter, all subscribers will find:
Prayer for the week
Brief Life and family updates
Recent blog updates
Short devotional
Paid subscribers will also be able to access:
Extended devotional and application questions (y’all this one is GOOD—you can use a free trial week to access it if you want to!)
Our FULL Seder meal menu with printable recipes!
Recipe for carrot base mac & cheese: we tried this earlier this week and it was Liam approved!
Let’s jump in!
PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Lord, thank You for joy we share as Easter people. In Your abundant grace and mercy, You not alone forgave us for our sins, You saw fit to call us coheirs with Christ—a people with everlasting hope. This world is full of distractions designed to pull our focus away from this truth, but we pray that Your Holy Spirit would continually guide us lovingly back to peace. Amen.
LIFE AND FAMILY UPDATES
We are working hard to wrap up all of our homeschool lessons for first grade with Liam. One of the hardest parts about homeschool is “unschooling” myself and remembering that we have the privilege of flexibility. He’s making amazing progress, and we have enjoyed all of our curriculum so much. Here’s what we have worked through this year:
Language Arts: The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts Level One + Handwriting Level One
Math: Sonlight Math-U-See Alpha and Beta Levels — he flew through the alpha level and we just started beta. He has loved this curriculum so much.
Science: Noeo Science Biology I
Social Studies/History: Mixture — Ancient Civilizations and Geography Level 1 by Evan-Moor; The Story of the World Books and Study Questions; lots of library books and custom curriculum using Georgia Standards of Excellence as a guide
If you ever have questions about homeschooling, don’t be afraid to shoot me a message on Instagram!
Little miss Brielle is growing like a weed! She cut two teeth recently (at the same time). I’m also convinced she is already trying her best to crawl around and keep up with her brother. Watching her do something new every day is absolutely wild—and bittersweet in a way.
In this next month we will hit two big milestones as a family.
We will celebrate Marsaili’s 2nd birthday in Heaven. I’m honestly having more challenging feelings around this than the anniversary of her passing because that will officially mean she has already spent more birthdays in Heaven than she did on earth with us.
Josh and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We’ve lived so much life together in the last 10 years, y’all. It’s crazy to believe it’s already been a decade!
JOYFUL + RISING BLOG UPDATES
Here are the latest blog posts from the past couple of weeks in case you missed them!
One of the biggest fears I’ve had to work through since Marsaili’s passing is the fear that I won’t do enough to show my children how God is good in all circumstances. It’s easy to forget that He doesn’t call me to save them—He calls me to steward them. This post is all about the ways I faithfully steward them even through grief.
A Grieving Mother’s Gaze: A Good Friday Reflection on Mary, the Mother of Jesus
This post is a heavy one, but one that is close to my heart. I explore the realities of crucifixion through the eyes of Mary and how my experiences as a bereaved mother have impacted the way I see her faithfulness and cherish Christ’s work at the cross. If you’ve ever wrestled with the heaviness of grief, this post invites you to see Mary’s journey through new eyes.
A while back I wrote a post about the reasons couples choose to sleep separately, and the wrongful assumptions people make about that choice. After three years of mostly sleeping in separate beds, we finally put Bri in her crib for a full night. This post is the story of that transition.
In an effort to challenge myself, I decided to explore poetry for the first time in over 15 years. Doing hard things helps us strengthen our skills, so this poem is a first (hopefully) of many to come as I share about grief in a different artistic style.
WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL
He Keeps Count | Psalm 56:8
“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” Psalm 56:8, ESV
In this verse we see a God who is not only powerful but deeply personal—a God who draws close enough to collect our tears. In our rawest, most vulnerable moments, He is not distant or indifferent. He sees, He remembers, and He holds every sorrow with care. This kind of intimacy with our Creator offers comfort, dignity, and hope in the midst of grief. What a magnificent God we serve who shepherds our hearts with such care!
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