Hop Over to My New Site!

Did you know that I'm now writing at JessConnell.com? MakingHome still contains 7 years of articles on marriage, Bible study, sex, family, womanhood, and more, but since 2014, I've been writing on my own self-hosted website. Please come visit me there!

Here's a great place to start: my Top 25 Articles on JessConnell.com.

Grace & Peace,

Jess

Stay Connected & Get My FREE Book

I've heard from a number of you that you keep forgetting to visit my new site: jessconnell.com, and add it to your feed. I'm writing there every Mon, Wed, and Fri, so take this as your friendly neighborhood reminder! :) 

Come see me; I want to hear from you!

ALSO: Go grab your free copy of the book I released last week! It's called One Thing: Top Tip (From a Mom of 6). Or, it is now available for purchase at Amazon.com. 

Please, let's not lose touch with one another! Subscribe to JessConnell.com (if you don't read blogs via RSS feed, there's a link on the side of my site where you can sign up to receive an email every time a new article is published to help you remember to check in). 

Let's keep growing together!

Blogging Somewhere NEW

Here's my NEW news:

I'm blogging at jessconnell.com now! 

Yes, after over seven years writing here, I've decided to move to a self-hosted website with just my name, so that all of my writing-- blogging, fiction, non-fiction, can all be in one spot:

You'll want to update your RSS feed & adjust your links. Be sure to check it out and pass it along to friends. I'm posting there, beginning today. 

I'll have one more major announcement later this week… so check back for more info at JessConnell.com.



Details: All posts and archives will remain here, at least for the time being. I am in process of moving over classic & favorite blogposts from the last seven years over to my new website. If you have favorite posts you'd like to see over there, please comment on the post or send me an email!

Thanks for continuing to read & grow alongside me. 

Blessings to you & I hope to see you over there, at jessconnell.com!

"Now We Remember"

Merry Christmas to loved ones, far and near

Whether a great or a terrible year,

Lovely reasons exist to celebrate:

The One for Whom all the world did wait

Indeed, the whole of creation groaned

For the One who could rightly for sin atone.

Our good and glorious God above

Sent Jesus to offer the world His love

After birth, life, and death, He rose to the sky.

Gave the gift of the Spirit to guide us by.

Now we remember, rejoicing, elated

Each year His birth will be celebrated!

Whether a great or a terrible year,

It's a Merry Christmas: Emmanuel is here!

~Jess Connell, 12/25/2013

Visionary Living

I watched as some good friends of ours prepared to send their oldest daughter off to college.

This was no ordinary sending-off; you see, we lived overseas. Our friends knew that they wouldn't be able to easily or cheaply send an overnight care package full of fresh-baked cookies. They knew that their daughter couldn't drive home over a weekend for hugs and R&R.

Their daughter was (and is) a very bright and well-rounded gal. I watched as my friend, the mom, cast a vision for her daughter. That vision, knowing her daughter well, included something like this: "What kind of academic goals have you set for yourself?" (She listened.) And then she said, "your dad and I want you to know what our academic vision is for you-- and that includes making the Dean's List every semester." (Now, remember, they knew their daughter.  This isn't a one-size-fits-all goal, but they knew that for her, this was a reasonable challenge.)

I think back to that sometimes, as a parent, and as a woman.

What kind of vision do I need to be casting for myself?

There is a huge difference, and we all see it, between an 80-year-old woman who has spent her life scowling and criticizing and grumping and an 80-year-old woman who has passed her days with humility and joy and gratitude.

Have you noticed it? Have you seen the wrinkles around the eyes of a woman who has spent her life smiling and laughing? They contrast sharply with the woman with deep furrows of despair from having grumbled and complained her way through the decades.

If I am like that daughter, being sent off into this next year of life, what vision am I taking on? Whose vision am I stretching to meet?

What kinds of qualities do you want to possess by the time you are 80?

What are you doing now to achieve those qualities in your life & heart?