Have we met? If not, I'm Shannon. From the page, platform, and podcast mic, I'm inviting you to open your Bible with me and live like it's true. I've just wrapped up two book projects, and I'm contemplating what to work on next. Can I get your input? Thanks so much....

Here's one of my recent posts, featured last month on the "True Woman" blog--a ministry of Revive Our hearts.  I was driving home one night with my two littles strapped into their car seats behind me. It was dark and rainy. I saw the orange cones lining the busy...

Here's my latest post, featured this week on the "True Woman" blog--a ministry of Revive Our Hearts.  If it’s not in your church's foyer yet, it will probably show up soon: the sign-up table for women’s Bible study. Will you glance over at it, wondering if you should...

Kari Patterson and I are both first time authors, published by Kregel. Since she lives in Oregon, we haven't officially met, but we've become fast friends. I highly recommend Kari's new book, Sacred Mundane. See details below on how to win a FREE copy!   You know the...

Congratulations to... Shirley Strait!!! Shirley, my publicist from Litfuse Publicity Group will be in touch via email with details on how to claim your prize. You can also email your mailing address to info@litfuse.com. Thanks so much to everyone who participated in...

It's here! It got to hold my book in my hands for the first time this week! It feels like an eternity ago, when I first announced my book's "due date" to you, as I compared writing a book to having a baby. And now, as I held my brand new book, I felt a bit like a new...

Hi friends. Thanks so much for keeping up with me, here on my blog! It's been an exciting year. Though I may have done fewer updates here on my site, I've been busy with... My book! Control Girl: Lessons on Surrendering Your Burden of Control from Seven Women in the...

This was first published on the Dove Parenting Blog (minus the faith perspective, which I will include here.) When our son was in elementary school, I walked down to the basement to find him snuggled on the couch next to Daddy, watching a war movie. “What are you...

Back when my kids were much younger and still rode places with me, I asked them a question one day. We were driving down a long road, and the car was quiet, and so I said, "Guys, What is the thing you most love to think about when it's quiet? Where does your mind...

I live in a time when machines do my laundry, gasoline gets me where I'm going, and an empty bin in the produce aisle seems odd. I live in a place where the flick of a switch gives me light and the twist of a handle gives me clean water. I live in a world of...

Back when Cole was in second grade, our friend Nate ran for State Representative. Nate invited our family to join a group of friends walking with him in the 4th of July Parade, and we accepted the invitation. We had never walked in a parade before! As we lined up, and...

This was published last week on the True Woman blog. By: Shannon Popkin I walked into the building, my heels clicking on the church sidewalk and my arm loaded with my Bible and a stack of handouts. As a mom of three littles, it was no small task to arrive on time,...

Here is my guest post for KatieMReid.com. Katie and I met at the Speak Up conference last summer, and discovered we both write about giving Jesus control! I was a really good mom to littles. I was good at keeping little fingers away from electrical outlets, little...

I got to babysit for the cutest little four-month-old baby boy recently. He cooed and smiled at me, and looked into my eyes while I sang him a song. When I fed him his bottle, he locked his chubby fingers onto mine. I figured that meant we had "bonded", and it was oh...

Years ago, whenever we were having company, I would try to clean the whole house at once. And I do mean whole. I wouldn't just vacuum and dust and scrub and scour. I would also organize the cupboards under the sinks and re-stack the clothes in the closets so they...

I'm excited to introduce a book, recently published by Kregel Publications (which, incidentally, is also MY publisher!) titled The Peaceful Wife.  The author, April Cassidy, is a blogger at The Peaceful Wife Blog and Peaceful Single Girl. Early in her marriage to...

I was lying in bed with the flu. You know those times when you're overcome with pain and discomfort and you're just not sure you can soldier on? This was one of those moments for me. I was that sick. In the middle of my flu fog, I suddenly heard a little voice beside...

My friend, Alice, had been either sick, or caring for sick children, throughout the entire Christmas season. So by December 23rd, she still hadn't wrapped any gifts. Though she still felt miserable, Alice wanted her little girls to have at least one whole day of...

"I don't even care about buying Christmas gifts this year!" Even though I couldn't see my friend's tears over the phone, I could hear them in her voice. She's going through a deeply painful trial, and oh, how I wished I could give her a big hug. I wish, for her sake,...

I'm writing at True Woman today: Just before we moved into our new house, the previous owners were kind enough to give us a box of Christmas lights. They even pointed out a diagram, penciled onto a wall in the garage that showed which strand of lights went on which...

Christmas is supposed to be the time when "All is calm, all is bright." Really?? My expectations for myself (and everyone else) tend to be highest at Christmas time. And so is the stress. Take last Saturday, for instance. Saturday afternoons at our house often include...

Last year, I came up with a tricky gift tag idea. I formulated this plan because I was frustrated by the way--in years past--my kids had figured out what was inside their packages long before Christmas morning. They had shaken the boxes of legos. They had peeled back...

She wasn't still a Playboy Bunny when she joined. But she wasn't yet a regular Bible Study girl, either. She was climbing from one world into the other. And sometimes that's tricky. Even though Robyn Dykstra is my friend, I hadn't heard her story before I read her...

repost from 2012 "Do you want to go to the football game on Friday?" I asked my third-grade son. "It's the Homecoming game." "Homecoming? Oh, yeah... Is that when they announce the football players' girlfriends?" "What? The football players' girlfriends?" I asked,...

by: Christy Wood My oldest child is snuggled next to me on the bed. We weave our fingers together and I ask her a question that is quickly becoming familiar. "What was the best part of your day?" I lay there and smile as I hear about playground escapades, art...

There was a voice that seemed to ring out above the background noise, during my late 20's and 30's--the years I was home, taking care of preschoolers. I'm not sure if it was an audible voice, or one in my head, but I know I heard it clearly. The voice claimed that a...

A while ago, my friend "Jennifer" asked me for some input on her marriage. As a busy mom of preschoolers, Jennifer felt like she was dangling by a thread. And like most damsels in distress, she wanted her husband to swoop in and rescue her. She wanted him to look...

Siri is like a giant mother in the sky. She gives wisdom and direction generously to all who ask, without getting exasperated--no matter how dumb the question. Down below, sprinkled across the earth, are millions of lost, frustrated, confused, tardy, unsure...

September, 2013 My friend Sarah says that appliances talk to each other in secret and make plans to go on strike together. If this is true, our appliances must be especially ruthless, because the dishwasher and washing machine chose the week we had a family of seven...

I was scheduled to be induced at 3:00 p.m.  And I was huge. So huge that people had been making comments for months. I was quite tired of startled strangers commenting on my shape. I wanted to blend. So I decided to go to Kohl’s. I had three hours before we needed to...

I glanced curiously at her, trying to get a better look. She was on the other side of the room, so several other workshop attendees were blocking my view, but every once in a while I caught a glimpse. She was wearing flip flops. Shoulder length hair. Pretty smile. I...

My son, Cole, played tee ball when he was five. His team wore purple tee-shirts with their names on the back. On the front, in big black letters, was the team's sponsor: Gutter Pro's. One day, when we were driving, I had the news on in the van. Cole said, "Mom, quick!...

Several years ago, I was surprised to hear some college kids I knew, calling themselves "evolutionists". These kids attended a Christian college, so I was confused. I had thought Christianity and Evolution were mutually exclusive. I did some digging and learned that...

My son, Cole, who is 15, loves being a small group leader at Ada Bible Church for the 1st grade boys. This is a picture one of his boys drew of him. It's actually a pretty good likeness. Cole is leaving on a missions trip tomorrow, so I'll be filling in. To prepare...

My daughter (on the right) went on a missions trip with her youth group to Costa Rica. She got home last Tuesday, at about 11:30 p.m. That same night, my sister was flying in from Colorado an hour later, so our family stayed at the airport and huddled around a table...

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon. I told my room mates to go on to lunch; I wasn't hungry. Really, I wanted to be alone when I made a certain phone call. I dialed the number, heard the familiar voice. Then in a matter of moments, I severed a relationship that had...

My friend was shopping for shoes, when she heard a mom, close-by say, "Lilly..." Then, when no response came, she rose from the bench said again, "Lilly?" Surrounded by shoe boxes, the mom turned in a circle, scanning the perimeter. With alarm filling her voice, she...

Last week, I took my 11-year-old with me to Costco. (Why do so many of my stories take place at Costco??) He had just been there on a field trip, and received a badge with the Costco logo and his name on it, which resembled an employee name tag. So he was wearing it,...

Last time, I told about the fish Cole got for his birthday, and the teensy weensy fish fry, which we left in the care of Aunt Joy, while we went on vacation. I left off, just at the point, where we returned home, dashed to the bathroom, and stopped short, with our...

By Michelle Loveless (with Shannon Popkin) It had already been a long day in Urgent Care. Now I was in an unusually long line at the pharmacy. I had my three kids with me, whom I had just picked up from school. They were tired and bored; not a good combination for...

I heard about a little girl, who had a picture of her extended family pinned up in her room. Three of the people in the picture had died, and so she crossed them out with a thick black marker.  But  she hadn't done it in a gloomy way; she said, "I am so excited for...

Marcie... was in her early thirties when she visited a singles small group from church. It wasn't a great fit for her, since the group members were all at least a decade older than her.  All except one, that is. Brian. He was visiting that night, too. Neither...

Driving through Tennessee last week, my mom and I stopped at a fruit stand to get some peaches. But before we could get to the peaches, we met the man running the fruit stand. And with this particular man, to meet him was to learn his whole life story.One part of the...

Thanks to Wendy Widder and Kregel Publications for including me in the blog tour for Wendy’s newly re-released book—Living Whole without a Better Half.To enter your name in a drawing for a FREE COPY (to keep or give to a friend), send me an email...

I love taking pictures. Especially of outdoor sports (but only when my kids are somewhere on the playing field).After I click, click, click the game away, I love the fun of popping my memory card into the computer to see what I captured. Will any of the pictures be in...

Nicole tries to make her home a really fun place. She protects down time as a family, and guards her husband’s day off—when they can all be together. She also tries to plan a couple of little family vacations during the year, to a water park or the beach. With an age...

When Ken and I were first married, we invited a little boy named Sammy to go with us to the zoo. We thought it would be fun. He would make faces at the monkeys and roar at the lions. We'd buy him ice cream and take pictures of him feeding the goats. It would be...

Last January, Amy's Bible study group offered a j-term book club. Each group read a different Christian biography, and Amy chose George Mueller. She was so challenged and fascinated by Mueller's prayer life, and the faith he employed, believing that God would give him...

Early on in my dating relationship with Ken, I decided to tell him that I was also occasionally dating a couple of other guys, since I didn’t want him to hear it from someone else.His response surprised me. He said, “What are you doing that for?”               I said,...

Heidi was nominated by a friend who says, "I honestly think Heidi enjoys children more than any mom I have ever met. She simply gives them the gift of her time and attention and really enjoys just being at home with her kids. And she is great with other kids, too!...

Sherrie isn't one of those moms who comes up with all these creative ways of spending time together like it seems so many moms do. She says she's probably below average, in terms of willingness to play with the kids and just general fun-ness. But she does teach her...

There have been moments in motherhood where I watch another mom and think, "What is she doing that I'm clearly not?"It usually happens when my kids are offering up some blatant contrast to the good behavior of that other mom's kids. Maybe her kids are waiting in line...

When Cole turned 10, we gave him a red, Swiss Army pocket knife, which he carried with him everywhere. If we needed a piece of twine cut or a bottle opened, he was our man. (Emphasis on man.) The knife was a rite of passage; a symbol that we trusted him. And it was a...

Some years ago, I served on a jury. On trial was Carlos, who was being charged with home invasion and assault.The prosecuting attorney did a great job, and after three days of evidence, I figured Carlos would be a shoo-in for 'guilty'. Most of the other jurors agreed,...

In class, after their teacher had explained a reading assignment which needed a parent signature, some third graders had an idea. They decided that in stead of doing the reading, it might be easier to just sign their parents' names.Turned out, it wasn't.The teacher...

It's Yellow Ball Monday, and Jen Spica has the ball!My husband and I have tried to train our young girls is how to accept gifts—both ones they like and ones they don’t. It is so hard to receive an unwanted gift with thankful heart and words.  But what about when that...

by: Michelle Loveless"You've gotta see this, Honey," my husband motions me to the window. Standing at the window, gazing into the sky is Henrik, our two year old son. "What are you doing?"I ask our little guy, curiously." I'm going to play hockey with Dominik", he...

Spoiler alert: You might want to read part 1 and part 2  and part 3 before you read on... The day finally came. As I welcomed the builder into my bursting-with-potential kitchen, I could hardly keep from hugging him. He followed me about the house, listening to me...

This week, I'm sharing my top posts from 2012.I'm finding this to be a theme, especially among women in their 20's, 30's and 40's--they are stressed out because of the older women in their lives. This post seemed to resonate with many, and I hope to do more writing on...