Red Tent Living

Playing With Tears

By: redtentwomen December 12, 2019December 11, 2019

Day to Day, Faith, FemininityFemininity, recovery from sexual abuse, Taylor, trauma, Trauma Recovery5 Comments

*The following post is from a sexual abuse survivor and may contain elements that could feel triggering. It has been three years. My body feels heavy, my pulse throbs in my neck. The memory, so violent and traumatic. My mind has begun to recover but my body has been slower to follow. During an EMDR…

On Cows and Childbearing

By: redtentwomen December 11, 2019December 11, 2019

Day to Day, Faith, FemininityAbusive Marriage, Femininity, Infertility, Jess Moravian, Road to El Roi3 Comments

My husband is a rancher, and we met later in life after I’d had my own children. Being a ranch wife has yielded insights I never expected. One of the stark realizations of my status as a human female has been through the observation of cows. Cows on a ranch have an economic value based…

A Different Kind of Life-giving

By: redtentwomen December 10, 2019December 10, 2019

Day to Day, relationshipsAdult Children, Disruption, Erik Erikson, Generativity, Human Behavior, Janet Stark, Raising Kids7 Comments

Our oldest son turned 26 this year. All day, as often happens on our kids’ birthdays, I found my mind returning to the day he was born. At two weeks overdue, I was SO ready for him to be born – though we didn’t know yet that he was even a “he.” We went to…

Confessions of a Modern Nomad

By: redtentwomen December 9, 2019December 8, 2019

Day to Day, Faith, TravelChange, Creative Writing, Kelsi Folsom, Mothering toddlers, Moving3 Comments

“Working with our life circumstances is how we render reality perfected. Perfection is unattainable. ‘Perfected’ is possible.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach from Simple Abundance The cup of coffee my husband left for me on the nightstand is lukewarm now, reminding me I was supposed to actually get out of bed half an hour ago. I…

The Doors

By: redtentwomen December 6, 2019December 4, 2019

Day to Day, Faithboundaries, Experiencing God's Love, Jean Masukevich, Receiving God's Love4 Comments

I imagine God putting a big beautiful and sturdy door on the front of my tender heart. The door is made of the finest cherry wood and engraved with beautiful swirls and intricate details. It is solid and it protects my empathic heart and soul. Outside the door of my heart it says WELCOME! My…

Attending My First Yoga Class: Creating A New Tradition

By: redtentwomen December 5, 2019December 4, 2019

Day to DayBest In Yoga, First Yoga Class, kelly barnes, Yoga1 Comment

I never really liked activities that required my body to move. Growing up, I preferred reading over playing outdoors. I never participated in any sports activities in school because I hated getting sweaty and my body was not well coordinated. Growing up I never liked exercise, because fitness was never my priority.

The Christmas House

By: redtentwomen December 4, 2019December 3, 2019

Day to Day, FaithAnticipation, Christmas Miracle, Faith, family traditions, Heather Ellison, Hope, Moving6 Comments

Money was tight. I mean tight. There wasn’t any extra, not a lick. We had stepped out in faith to build the house. THE house. This was the house we would stay in forever. This was the house our children would move out of and our grandchildren would run into. We had been working and…

Raging Orphan Need

By: redtentwomen December 3, 2019December 2, 2019

Day to Day, Faithattachment disorders, Darling Mom, Darling Mom Podcast, Orphaned, Recovery from Abuse, Shandee Mikesh16 Comments

There has been a lot published in recent years about attachment disorders and the effects of children who are not properly secured and cared for. We speak of orphaned children with kindness but as if they are far away. It is difficult to tolerate looking into their need filled eyes that have stopped reaching for…

Ponder

By: redtentwomen December 2, 2019December 1, 2019

Day to Day, FaithBecky Allender, Nativity, Pondering, Three Wisemen15 Comments

I have always loved the wise men. As a young child, it was my favorite part of the Christmas Eve pageant in our beautiful church. I don’t think it had anything to do with my mother having sewn the costumes and created their crowns from her costume jewelry, but it might have. The sanctuary seemed…

I Was Born Aboard the Titanic

By: redtentwomen November 29, 2019November 26, 2019

Day to Day, Faith, Literatureabandonment, Barbara Beecham, Childhood Trauma, Poetry4 Comments

I was born aboard the Titanic many years ago. The ship that “even God himself cannot sink” according to its builders. What Man has pieced together, let nothing put it under – the cold North Seas.