Last night, I printed the final daily schedule for Princess Milkface’s quarantine homeschool, and I had to chuckle. Her school has been painstakingly numbering each day of the distance learning curriculum (just in case we lose track of how experienced we’re all becoming at this “new normal,” I guess). That’s right. Day 40. 40 days of homeschooling. 40…where have I...
Happy Father’s Day Weekend to my Honyay… …the Dad who loved Captain Starburst enough to set very high standards for how I, as stepmom, would engage and support him, not as a mom but as a Sharapu who would always love him and be there for him. I’m so inspired by watching you continue to be Dad, but in a...
Dear Princess Milkface, The night before your 7th birthday party, you cried inconsolably because you were afraid you wouldn’t be enough. As we sat on your bed and snuggled together, I listened to you share your fear that your friends would be disappointed at your party. That they wouldn’t have enough fun or enough time with you. And as I...
Yesterday morning, I awoke to news alerts about bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. It is heartbreaking to think about all the people who were killed, simply for choosing to worship their risen Lord or getting away to spend time with family. These acts of violence hit close to home and remind me of a...
I woke up this morning thinking about today being Palm Sunday. Thinking about this final week of Jesus’ mortal life on Earth. Today the church remembers Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem when he was honored as a king. Just days later, He would be rejected, mocked, and ultimately crucified. I was reflecting on how fickle the people of Jerusalem must...
This verse is such a conundrum for me. I see it, and immediately feel the Holy Spirit’s tug on my heart that this is what I was created to do. So simple right? Be still. Know that God is God (duh). So then why do I keep finding myself going, going, list-checking, going….from the 3rd time my alarm goes off...
I’ve been wanting to share about Lady M’s adoption day for quite some time. Yet, every time I sat down to write, I would get stuck. How do I appropriately honor a day that was so beautiful for our family, yet tragic at the same time? I’ve seen this quote a few times, and it makes me stop and catch...
I never would have guessed that I’d describe being face-to-face with the kid (now young man) who molested Princess Milkface as “beautiful.” But, when the therapist who facilitated our meeting used that word at the end of the session, I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate.
A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, Honyay pulled me aside when I got home from work. I was already in a frantic state from work drama, kid pickup, and rush hour traffic, but I had no idea what was coming next. “You’ll never guess who called me while I was cooking dinner.”
What to Call the Stepmom? Just before Honyay and I got engaged, we did a Thanksgiving roadtrip with Captain Starburst to visit family in Maryland. We created many fun memories on that trip, but one stuck more than any other. We were playing The Game of Things with the whole family, including Captain Starburst’s cousins. If you haven’t played before, it’s...
Welcome to Blessed and Blended…a community for people who read our story….to give that space to have a moment to exhale…to settle in….to feel that sense of relief that you’re not alone.
C.S. Lewis says, “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You, too? I thought I was the only one.’” That is my prayer for this blog.
I’ve been married to my wonderful husband (Honyay) since 2011, and I’m mom-in-charge of a 19-year-old stepson (Captain Starburst), a 17-year-old adopted daughter (Lady M), and a 7-year-old biological daughter (Princess Milkface). Our blended family has been so blessed by God’s faithfulness in the midst of life’s trials, and I feel called to share these blessings through our stories.
There are sensitive topics that I plan to share, illustrating how God has blessed my family with our experiences and has been faithful in so many ways. For this reason, I will protect my children’s privacy by keeping this blog anonymous. It works out well because I’ve used these made up names within our home since, well….since we started our home in 2011!
I’m so thankful that you found me, and I pray that my testimony will give you moments of “What! You, too? I thought I was the only one,” that lead to a sense of connection, laughter, and hope in God’s blessings and faithfulness.
Grace and Peace,
Sharapu