Love, The Duffeys

 Greetings Dear Friend: "How are you doing?" This is a question we have been receiving a lot lately.  It's really hard to answer this question.  We are hanging in there.  We have had appointments and meetings every week since the tumor diagnosis.  We have been overrun with information. We have felt overwhelmed by blessings.  We have received so much love and support.  We have had no choice but to be humbled.  We are also going about business as usual.  Justin hasn't missed a day of work.  I continue to tend to the home while perfecting my new job of chauffeuring.  We have had to confront hard realities.  We have had tough conversations.  We have also had fun. We have laughed.  We have loved.  We have lived.  The interesting thing is that there are moments of pure bliss and then there are moments of fear.  We are human, but we are resilient.  We are weary, but we are hopeful. At 9am in the morn...

Greetings Dear Friend: We started our third official homeschooling year last Monday.  We welcomed a kindergartener and a second grader to the Duffey Schoolhouse this year.  Our home offers an education in life, not just academics.  Before our kids were born, God led Justin and I to cross paths with a homeschooling family that we just fell in love with.  Two sweet little girls captured our hearts, exuding the fruits of the spirit at such a young age.  I remember telling their mom after Barrett was about a year old that I couldn't teach my son.  I wasn't qualified.  She encouraged me that surely I could.  I had been teaching him all along...to eat, to walk, to pray, to be gentle.  In that instant, the seed was planted.  All these years later, I can't imagine spending my days any other way. Through the first few years of parenting, I did a lot of soul searching.  What did I want my kids' childhood to look like?  What did I want pa...

Greetings Dear Friend: On August 9th, 2003, Justin and I vowed in front of God to join each other in marriage, working together through all the trials and triumphs of life until death parts us.  It feels as though twenty years has passed so quickly, but at the same time, truly understanding the vows we made has been a slow process.  We have learned so much about each other, truly building a life together.  Over the years, we have faced quite a few bumps in the road, but I can tell you the times that we turned toward each other instead of away only made our relationship stronger. We often hear the phrase "tie the knot" in reference to marriage, which comes from a medieval tradition of using rope, cord, cloth, etc. to bind hands together during a wedding ceremony. This reminds me of a passage in the Old Testament, which discusses the importance of companionship.   (Look up Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).   It reminds us that two are better than one because we have the ...