One of the biggest obstacles to homeschooling is the predicament of finances. How in the world can a family cut their income in half so mom can stay home full time to teach the kids? Especially in Colorado, with the insane housing market, a potential recession under way, and skyrocketing prices, I get it. The…
Author: Julianna Duerksen
Homeschooling Starts at Birth
So many times, I’ve heard moms of littles share how overwhelming the thought of homeschooling is: “I could never do that!” Or, for those who’ve dared try, stress themselves out by recreating public school at home — desks, whiteboards, and the pledge of allegiance to top it off. I hear them. Especially with multiple children,…
Zoey’s Story
I sat in the darkened ultrasound room, three stories up in a 15-story office building in downtown Denver, waiting to see yet another maternal fetal medicine doctor. I was 37 weeks pregnant, and was feeling pretty confident after the growth scan ultrasound. Of course, the stenographers aren’t allowed to tell you much, but after so…
Day 31: Christ is the Gospel
Advent is over, the long-awaited Christmas day here. This waiting, hoping, anticipating has been not for an event or celebration — but a person. For the glory of Christmas is Christ. And just like it’s easy to miss the baby in the manger amid the gifts, lights, and celebration, so it’s often easy to miss that…
Day 30: The Gospel for Our Joys
Is your heart joyful this Christmas Eve? Then there is no better tune to sing to than the beautiful melody of the gospel. As we’ve journeyed the many beautiful applications the truth of Christ’s exhaustive, redemptive work has on our lives this advent, I pray that the gospel has indeed made you joyful. The truth…
Day 29: The Wonder of the Ordinary
Have you ever been struck by the nondescript, matter-of-fact telling of the Christmas story in Matthew 1? I could only imagine my response if one of my students handed in story with similar lines: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.” “Now the birth of Jesus came about in this way.” “And they returned…
Day 28: The Gospel for My Service
I was astounded. Maybe it was obvious to most people, but I had never thought of it before. I still vividly remember painting the hallway in my family’s house three or four years ago and listening to an “Ask Pastor John” podcast that rocked my world. Somehow, I had carried around the idea that even…
Day 27: The Gospel for our ‘Goodness”
I need the gospel most when I am feeling best about myself. Ironically, that’s the least likely moment for me to think about it! A thousand times a day, I experience firsthand the reality that “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9), as I depend on my own confidence or abilities to survive…
Day 26: The Gospel for our Relational Longings
Christmas is a painful season for many, for the more family and home and love are celebrated, the more we feel our lack. Whether you’re feeling the loss of a loved one, the straining of a broken relationship, or a thousand other reasons for loneliness and pain, Christmas can indeed be hard. There’s something about…
Day 25: The Gospel for our Angst
Angst describes our world – and too often our own hearts — so well: a deep feeling of unsettledness, discontent, or brokenness. It’s often difficult to identify the cause, but whether we let it out (“I’m crying and have no idea why!”) or hold it inside, the problem doesn’t solve itself. Why am I bringing…
Julianna Writes 