Worth Your Time (Summer 2026)

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On June 22, 2026

In Book Recommendations, Worth Your Time

worth your time

Happy summer to my readers! Below is a list of articles, books, movies, and videos that I’ve been collecting over the past several months. Let me know what you enjoy and any recommendations you have for me too.

Articles: 

The Unexpected Parenting Comfort of Ecclesiastes by Jen Wilkin 

This one spoke directly to the depths of my weary parenting soul: 

“We want to protect children from temptation and negative influence, but the task feels insurmountable. We can feel powerless, asked to sail through uncharted waters with monsters left and right. But in the middle of my parenting fears, the Lord brought to mind timeless help to serve as a compass: He reminded me about what does not change.

Did my children face unprecedented challenges with technology and social pressures? In one sense, yes. But on closer observation, these were old challenges with new wrappings. The Book of Ecclesiastes goes to great lengths to drive home the point that there is nothing new under the sun.”

America is Closing Its Elementary Schools, and No One Wants to Say Why by Anthony Bradley

I often wonder if we should be paying more attention to population decline (which is happening almost everywhere in the world except Africa) and what that will mean for the future of governments, missions, and the Church.

“Schools are closing in low-income urban districts where private school is not a realistic option for most families, in rural counties where no private alternative exists within driving distance, and in communities across the economic spectrum where the conversation about homeschooling has never meaningfully taken root. The closures are everywhere because the cause is everywhere.

The cause is a birth rate that has been declining since 2007, long before homeschooling became a culturally visible phenomenon. The United States fertility rate now sits at approximately 1.6 births per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement level required to maintain a stable population. Fewer births in 2007 meant fewer kindergarteners in 2012; fewer births in 2015 mean fewer third-graders today.”

Are Christian Artists Free to Ignore the Fall? by Ryan Currie

I’ve always been interested in Thomas Kinkade since I grew up near his hometown (my mom taught one of his kids) and watched in real time his spectacular rise to fame and equally devastating fall. I liked this article because it helped me to put words to why certain “Christian” books and movies leave me so dissatisfied. 

“But a Christian artist’s body of work should include depictions of both light and darkness—ultimately pointing beyond itself to the transcendent fullness of goodness, truth, and beauty. Thomas Kinkade’s life reminds us that art cannot save us. We cannot paint away the fall and the troubles in our lives. But we can look for (and create) art that points to the redemptive pattern of beauty.”

Is Christian Publishing Bad For the Church? by Tabitha McDuffee 

Since I’m in the process of publishing a book, this was a helpful and important series to read. “Once Christian publishers hitched their wagons to Facebook and Amazon, they were stuck. Wherever Facebook went, they had to go, too. So, as algorithms developed and existing social media platforms changed and new social media platforms emerged, publishers and authors were tossed about by the shifting winds.”

YouTube: 

Mark Wiens at Migrationology. We’ve known Mark’s family since he was in high school, when he was growing up as a ReachGlobal Africa MK. He’s now a popular travel food blogger, and we love his channel! He’s always so positive, fun, and informative, and I can give Johnny free rein to watch any of his videos.

Christus Victor by Getty Music. My current favorite Getty song on repeat. 

Black + Evangelical  This excellent documentary is one that I wish every white evangelical American would prioritize watching. Listening to other perspectives (especially those grounded in Scripture) is so valuable. 

Books:

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller

This is a compelling memoir of a white girl who grew up in several African countries in what was essentially a colonialist family. I found the underlying historical narrative especially interesting, but also appreciated how Fuller examined the tension she experienced in her genuine love for Africa and Africans while growing up in a racist world. 

You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful by Karen Swallow Prior

I read this book while writing my own and resonated with so much of it. “Every Christian is called to “full-time ministry,” regardless of who signs the paycheck (or even whether there is a paycheck).” I’ve written a whole chapter on this. Stay tuned. But meanwhile, read this one. 

The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality by Glen Scrivener

This is a truly fantastic book, and I recommend it to anyone–Christian or not–who wants a better understanding of ourselves and our culture. Here’s the premise: “If you’re a Westerner—whether you’ve stepped foot inside a church or not, whether you’ve clapped eyes on a Bible or not, whether you consider yourself an atheist, pagan or Jedi Knight—you are a goldfish, and Christianity is the water in which you swim.” I plan to write a post about this book–so more to come.

Nourished: Third Culture Kids and the Village They Need by Anna Danforth

If you are raising kids outside of your home culture, you need this book. It’s an incredible resource, meticulously researched, practical, and full of hope. 

Could This Be Home? by Brenda Metro

Along the same theme of third culture kids, my friend Brenda has written a wonderful book for kids who are transitioning to a new place. For any family heading towards a big move, you need this story for your kids. 

The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan

This is a true story about one house, two families, and that tiny piece of land in the Middle East that can’t seem to ever find peace. If you want to understand both sides of the story behind the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, you will deeply appreciate this book.

The Time of the Child by Niall Williams 

I’ve recently read several “Christian” novels which I can’t recommend here because they just felt trite, preachy, and shallow (see the Thomas Kinkade article above). In contrast, this novel felt incredibly Christian, even though I’m not sure the author shares my beliefs. This story has rich themes of a father agonizing over how to show love to his adult daughter, the otherworldly love we can experience for a baby (even one not our own), and most importantly, how vulnerability is what builds connection and community. I loved this story. 

This is not a fast read. It is slow and contemplative, but the writing is gorgeous. I often highlight beautiful sentences in books since I can only hope that someday I can create the same kind of art. In this book, I had to stop highlighting because there were so many beautiful sentences.

Movies:

Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy on Netflix: If you’ve read my writing for any length of time, you know I am continually burdened by American consumerism. As Christians, we must be aware of this and push back against it when we can. 

The Wild Robot: I never would have guessed that I would wildly sob through an animated movie about a robot and a baby goose, but here we are. As an adoptive mom who is launching children into the world, I have never felt more seen. 

Quotes:

“For I have accepted God’s idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that He wants me to be.” – Elisabeth Elliot

Don’t Stress So Much About Creating Memories

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On June 2, 2026

In Parenting

Parents of little ones, you can relax. Your kids’ memories will not be what you expect.

We were at Disneyland, Josiah was five years old, and we were chatting as he held my hand. 

“Mommy, is it true that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth?” he asked me. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “I think that there are a lot of happy places. Like Chaza Mwamba [our favorite beach house in Tanzania].”

He thought about this for a moment and then decided, “I think the plane is the happiest place.”

I’m not sure I had learned the Required Parent Poker Face at this point in my parenting.

“The plane?” I sputtered.

The plane, for me, was probably the Least Happiest Place on Earth. Being locked in a metal tube for sixteen hours, thirty thousand feet above the earth, unable to sleep, is not my idea of fun.

“I get to watch so many movies,” Josiah explained. 

‘Tis true. Long-haul flights were the only time in my children’s lives when they got to watch as many movies as they wanted, pausing only to eat the endless snacks handed to them by smiling flight attendants. I suppose, for a five-year-old, this was the definition of a bliss even greater than Disneyland.

creating memories

In the summer of 2017, my parents took us to the awe-inspiring Zion National Park in Utah, where we rode bikes through valleys guarded by massive red-rock cliffs. My children’s memories of that trip? Playing Wiffle Ball in the sprinklers with Gil and playing four square with their grandparents at our Airbnb. They remember nothing about Zion.

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I Am Not Enough for My Kids

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On May 14, 2026

In Parenting

I am not enough for my kids

I brought my children home through sheer determination, but it was not enough.

For about ten years, adopting children was my part-time job. During some years in Tanzania, I drove downtown two or three times a week, fighting an hour or more of epic Dar es Salaam traffic each way. The social welfare office was located in a large warehouse-type building divided into cubicles. Birds circled in the rafters above my head while I sat and waited (sometimes for hours) on a hard wooden bench outside my social worker’s office. She shared it with two other people, their three desks crammed so close together that there was barely space for anything else. She kept my files in a plastic grocery bag. 

I never called in advance, because I learned that my social worker would always tell me not to come. So I never called; I just showed up. She was there only about half the time, so I wasted half of those long trips.

Ninety percent of the time, even if she was there, there was no movement on the adoption process. But I took the chance and made the drive again and again because I wanted her to see my face. My strategy was this: to make an overworked, underpaid social worker so sick of me that she eventually did what I asked. It worked. 

The whole process took years. And then it took more years to go through the American immigration process (which was its own special nightmare). But I did it four times, and nothing was going to stop me. There’s a reason why Dobson’s techniques in The Strong-Willed Child failed on me when I was five years old. Determination has always been my strength. I wanted to adopt four children, and I got them.

I took that same determination into parenting.

I was going to be the mother that these children needed. If love and grit could do it, I was going to do it. They would be happy. They would be healthy. They would be motivated and responsible. They would appreciate books and cooking and serving others. They would be trustworthy and kind. They would have a secure identity in being adopted, being both American and Tanzanian, and being Third-Culture Kids. They would love each other, their childhood, and learning new things. 

I had a strategy to accomplish each of these goals. I was determined: I would find a method, a chart, a book, a list, a boundary, a consequence.

But what I discovered is that bringing them home, as challenging as it was, was the easy part. Raising them is much harder. And I’ve slowly, incrementally, had to accept this hard truth: Determination is not enough. I am not enough for my kids. 

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I Wrote a Book

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On March 28, 2026

In Writing My Book

I wrote a book, you guys. I didn’t know if I could actually do it, but I did. I just turned in a manuscript to my publisher, and it’s 65,000 words–around 250 pages–divided into ten chapters. Technically it’s still a draft of a book, so there are many months of editing ahead of me, but it feels like clearing a giant hurdle–hopefully the hardest part.

For the last six months, working on this book has consumed almost all of my free time. My job is full-time (and it’s been busy!), so that meant that I had to squeeze writing into all the extra spaces. I didn’t send out Christmas cards or make Christmas goodies for neighbors and teachers. I missed out on most of the family movies. I reluctantly decided not to attend Urbana.  I watched none of the winter Olympics. I went to fewer of Josiah and Johnny’s soccer games. And I didn’t blog. 

But finding the time wasn’t the biggest obstacle. The hardest part was all the thinking. So much thinking. It filled up my brain to overflowing, as I frantically scribbled down ideas during stoplights or running out of the bathroom before they left my head and were lost forever. I was always, always thinking. I didn’t know that my brain could actually hurt from exertion until I wrote this book. One night after a day that included several hours of writing, I had a dream when it felt like a million voices were trying to talk to me all at once, and the strain of trying to process them all woke me up. 

And then there was the mental battle. So many times, I’d carve out the time to write and then stare at an empty screen, no idea how to start that chapter or that section. I’d have a bunch of notes and a bunch of thoughts, but my perfectionism wouldn’t let me get something out that wasn’t amazing. “Don’t be afraid to write a terrible first draft,” was advice I read once, and it became my mantra. I’d repeat it ad nauseam until I forced myself just to start typing something. After an hour I’d read it back to myself and usually discover that it wasn’t as terrible as I first assumed.

That doesn’t mean it was all great at first. There were two chapters in particular that I struggled with and many times, considered scrapping altogether. I had to constantly fight against thoughts of This is so stupid. Everyone will hate this. No one will want to read it, while mentally writing negative Amazon reviews instead of writing my book. But I wouldn’t let myself give up, and I’d keep praying and thinking and discussing with Gil (who was always so patient and long-suffering) until I got it right. And let me tell you–there have been very few times in my life that have matched the euphoria I felt when I finished a chapter. 

I’ve dreamed about becoming an author for almost my entire life, and I’ve thought seriously about this book for the past three years. I’ve still got a lot more work to do and several more months of waiting, but I can’t wait to share it with you. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without your support and encouragement, my dear readers. Thank you for your part in this too. 

I’m hoping that I’ll have more time in my life and in my head (even with all the editing) to write more in this space again. So please keep coming back! 

Related: I Signed a Book Contract

If you’re curious what my book is about, this post from 2016 is what planted the seed.

Worth Your Time (2025)

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On January 9, 2026

In Book Recommendations, Worth Your Time

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been pretty quiet around here. All my writing time and energy are pouring into my book! I’ve written seven out of ten chapters with three more to go. My goal is to finish the first draft by April, which means that you may get to see the finished product this time next year.

Before 2025 gets too far behind us, I want to share the recommendations I’ve been collecting…and neglecting to pass on to you. Enjoy!

Articles:

No Chance of Survival: How a Deadly Plane Crash Yielded a Growing Spiritual Harvest by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra

This is one of those stories that will make you cry and rejoice and wonder at the mysterious, hard, beautiful ways of God. 

AI Makes Me Doubt Everything by Tim Challies

“What I am finding is that the existence, the growing prevalence, and the invisibility of AI have begun to seed a kind of epistemic doubt in my mind. When I watch videos I wonder if they are real or fabricated. When I see a photograph I wonder if it is authentic or generated, untouched or manipulated. When I read an article on the internet I wonder whether it was written by a human being or a machine. I don’t know what’s true anymore. I struggle to know what’s real.”

In Adoption, Only Jesus is the Hero by Jen Oshman

“The hard truth is that our love is not enough. Our love, no matter how fierce, will not heal their wounds. And our parenting, no matter how biblical, will not rescue them. Our best-informed, best-educated, best-supported efforts will always fall short. You and I cannot meet our children’s deepest needs, whether they are adopted or not. Our kids need Jesus. And not only do they need Jesus, but we need Jesus. Adoptive momma, we need the gospel. On this journey, we must remember who we are and who we are not. Only Jesus is a hero. Only Jesus is a rescuer. Only Jesus can save lives and redeem people.”

Movies/Shows:

Testament

Gil and I absolutely loved this re-imagining of the book of Acts. It is incredibly creative, deeply moving, and sent us back to our Bibles to ask, “Wait, is that how it really happened?” (And it did!) I highly, highly recommend it. We hope there is more coming!

Between Borders

This movie tells the true story of a family forced to flee their country during the Armenian genocide. Since refugees seem to be frequently vilified these days, it’s good to remind ourselves of why they come and why we want them here. 

Masaka Kids

If you’ve ever seen clips on social media of adorable African street kids dancing their hearts out, it was probably the Masaka kids. This documentary tells their story. 

Books:

The Storied Life: Christian Writing as Art and Worship by Jared Wilson

“To write is to wage war on multiple fronts. The insecurity battle is just one of many.” As I fight my way through writing my book (many times feeling like I am literally forcing myself to put words on a page and wondering why I ever thought I could do this), Wilson’s book was encouraging, affirming, practical, and helpful. Any Christian writer will benefit from it. 

Exile: The Church in the Shadow of Empire by Preston Sprinkle

How should Christians view politics and government? I know Preston Sprinkle is controversial among Christians, and I don’t claim to agree with him on everything. I read this book as research for the book I’m writing, and I found it interesting and compelling. I still need to do more studying on this subject, but Sprinkle has some really good points that every Christian needs to consider. 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

There’s a reason why this book won the Pulitzer Prize: it’s absolutely brilliant. Barbara Kingsolver is the kind of writer I can only dream about becoming one day. That said, this is a devastating story. It took me a long time to get through it because it is so dark. Consider yourself warned: this story is full of profanity, drugs, abuse, violence, and sex. The fact that one little boy is at the center of all of it just makes it worse. Yet I can’t help but recommend it because of its power. It’s not a true story, but it’s a realistic depiction of life in Appalachia in the nineties. I couldn’t believe the events of this story could be historical, so I did my own research and discovered that, yes, the story is an accurate representation. Kingsolver wrote this book as a modern-day version of David Copperfield, and just as Dickens did, she succeeded in bringing to light the harsh realities of poverty and the exploitation that causes it. 

The Hats We Wear: Reflections on Life as a Woman of Faith by Elizabeth Trotter

Elizabeth Trotter is the editor of A Life Overseas and one of my favorite writers. What a gift this book is to women! Elizabeth isn’t afraid to crack herself open and let us see the most vulnerable and difficult parts of her story so that we can learn and be encouraged by what God has taught her. 

The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis by Karen Swallow Prior

Why do we believe what we believe? Hopefully, for Christians, the Bible defines this, but we don’t often see the places where culture has deeply integrated into our beliefs. If you are interested in worldview, art, literature, and how stories and images influence us in ways we don’t realize, you’ll love this book. 

Practicing the King’s Economy: Honoring Jesus in How We Work, Earn, Spend, Save, and Give by Michael Rhodes, Robby Holt, and Brian Fikkert

This is another book I read as research for my own writing, and I loved it! This was written by guys from the Chalmers Institute (think When Helping Hurts). If you are someone interested in poverty alleviation, a business owner who wants to do more for the community, or any Christian with a passion to get outside American consumerism into a more biblical way of seeing life, this book is for you. It is super practical and inspiring. 

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