A Quiet Simple Life | Sallie Borrink

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

A Quiet Simple Life

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Ever Feel Like You Stink at Everything You Do and Are?


Honestly, that’s the way I’m feeling right now. I feel like a lousy wife, homemaker, friend, church member, Christian, blogger… You name it and I don’t feel like I’m doing a very good job. Well, I feel like I’m doing ok as Caroline’s mama, but everything else stinks.

I guess I just didn’t want to come on here and prattle on about things that really don’t matter or pretend like I’m happy as a lark when I’m not. I’m not unhappy. I don’t know what I am. I guess I am just a new mom in the midst of a baby with a growth spurt who isn’t getting enough time to herself and feels like she is doing a lousy job with everything.

These forty-five minute naps a few times a day are just killing me. It takes me fifteen minutes to decompress after I put her down for a nap and she goes to sleep. By the time I get started with anything else, she’s awake again. I love her dearly, but the lack of time to do anything that takes any extended amount of time and/or concentration is becoming a real challenge to me. It is getting to the point where I’m seriously thinking about going to bed at 8:00 p.m. and getting up alone at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. so I can get some time to myself.

I’m also really frustrated with just the lack of a general routine or schedule. At 10:00 a.m. I couldn’t even begin to guess what time we will eat dinner that evening. Caroline does not nap or eat at consistent times or consistent intervals. (And not just during the growth spurt.) So to make any kind of meal that takes any amount of preparation or timing is just about impossible.

Well, that’s where I am. I’ve got lots of things I’d love to blog about, but my blogging time has been almost non-existent lately. We’ve been on the go so much that it’s actually getting a little depressing – dentist, eye doctor, grocery shopping, errands, blah, blah, blah. It adds to the whole lack of a routine thing and just makes it all that much more complicated.

So, that’s what’s going on. I’m just not going to be feeling like I am and come on here and pretend that life is blissful. Yes, I am blessed beyond words and, yes, this too shall pass. But right now I’m just in the midst of it, I can’t figure out how to make it better, and I’m finding it all more than a little discouraging.

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40 Things I’ve Learned By Age 40 | #8-15


I’m continuing my series of 40 Things I’ve Learned By Age 40.

8. Time does heal most wounds, but not all and not completely.

9. It is easy to measure success in life. Simply ask yourself, “Am I more Christ-like now than I was a year ago?”

10. Your dress size does not determine your beauty or your value.

11. You cannot change other people. Think how hard it is to change something in yourself, even when you really want to change. Why do you think you can change someone else? Only the Holy Spirit can change someone.

12. Most relationship problems are the result of expectations.

13. If you desire to grow in godly wisdom and discernment, you will suffer. There is no way God can grow you in these areas without putting you in difficult situations that present you with the opportunity to make a foolish choice and fail to discern the truth.

14. Sometimes God doesn’t give us what pray for. This should make us fall flat on our faces in gratitude.

15. You are the only wife your husband will ever have. If you are a lazy homemaker, boring conversationalist, crummy cook, disinterested lover, or undisciplined mother, your husband has to live with your shortcomings every day. If you are a diligent homemaker, interesting conversationalist, thoughtful cook, eager lover, and disciplined mother, you will be a joy to your husband each day.

See all of the posts in this series:

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Classic Books You Hate or Have Never Read | Literature True Confessions Time


Cindy at Dominion Family has an interesting and funny discussion going on (archived link). People are admitting the books they absolutely hate that are considered to be “classics” within the culture, the church, and/or the homeschool movement.

What a catharsis! Really. I’m going to admit something I’ve never admitted here before. I am not a fan of classic literature and I am abysmally poorly read in this area. For being a teacher, an honors college graduate, blah, blah, blah… I’ve read very few classics and I don’t particularly feel that I’ve missed anything.

I read for three reasons.

  • First, I read to escape. And when I want to escape I don’t want to think, I don’t want to deal with someone else’s horrific problems written in the form of a novel, and I don’t want to wonder every time I turn the page if I am going to be assaulted by language or content. So that narrows down my reading possibilities quite a bit.
  • Second, I read to know and understand who God is. So I stick to the classics of the Christian faith, dead authors I respect, and other carefully chosen newer works.
  • Third, I read because some aspect of our culture or life has caught my fancy and I want to understand it.

I don’t read to impress people or to say I’ve read all the great works of literature. I don’t read because Oprah says it is a good book. And I don’t read something just because “everyone” is reading it.

By and large, I don’t like contemporary Christian fiction. At all.

So here are some of the books I’ve never read. I have attempted some, but gave up. These are just a few that I thought of off the top of my head. I’m sure once other people start leaving titles in the comments my list will grow significantly.

Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
War and Peace
Tom Sawyer
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Huckleberry Finn
Nothing by Tolkien
The Catcher in the Rye
The Grapes of Wrath
To Kill a Mockingbird
Lord of the Flies

There’s a whole additional list of books I read in school that are classics that I didn’t like. But Caroline needs my attention so I’ll offer my personal pan of those books as other people mention them.

So what do you dislike? What have you never read that everybody just loves?

Can’t wait to see what makes the list!

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40 Things I’ve Learned By Age 40 | #1-7


1. A woman is complete in Christ – nothing more and nothing less. Marriage and/or motherhood may change her worldly status and role, but they do nothing to make her more complete in Christ. Salvation, wholeness, and meaning are found in Christ alone.

2. To be a homemaker, I need to stay home. I do have a need to get out and, in order to be a good homemaker, I can’t stay home all the time. However, there is a point where my being out and about begins to negatively impact our home life. And the more I am out past that point, the negative influence in my home increases dramatically in the form of eating out, less nutritious meals, and various homemaking tasks that are left undone and/or get behind. It also increases our stress level because things are not flowing properly at home. As the manager of the home, what I do really sets the tone for how life unfolds for the three of us.

3. Being an older mom brings with it some surreal moments such as a day when you are discussing how to get your daughter to eat cereal and sleep through the night as well as your eye doctor telling you that bifocals are in your not-to-distant future.

4. Not everyone will like you or attempt to like you. Some people will dislike you for reasons you will never understand.

5. Only a very few people will truly understand you or attempt to understand who you are.

6. I believe 98.74% of the time that girls/women spend thinking/dreaming/worrying/obsessing about boys/guys/men is totally wasted.

7. There are only a few people in life who know you deeply, truly love you, and have only your best interest in mind. For me, these people are my husband and my parents. You have to know exactly who they are and then trust them to give you good advice when you are in situations where you are too emotionally involved to think clearly.

See all of the posts in this series:

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