karin madden

  • Home
  • Sunrise With A Six Pack (Blog)
  • Meet Karin
    • Truth In The Details {4×4 of 4 things about me}
    • Hear My Story
    • Food Allergies
      • Recipes for the picky ones
  • 31 Days Series
    • 31 Days of God’s Promises
    • 31 Days of Good Deeds
    • 31 Days Of Walking The Path
  • Essential Oils
    • What’s The Deal With Essential Oils?
  • DIY
    • DIY Deodorant
    • DIY {easy} Facial Toner
    • DIY Liquid Laundry Detergent
  • Contact
  • Subscribe and Free e-book

April 11, 2014 by Karin 2 Comments

The Party You Are Invited To Join

It’s easy to hole up inside, isn’t it?

It’s easy to find a comfortable spot, close the door, and lock out the rest of the world.

It’s easy to do this when you’re tired; and it’s even easier when you have to start all over again.

It’s hard to leave your real life friends.  It’s hard when they have to leave you.

It’s hard to pull yourself together for a coherent conversation when all you want to do is hide, or sleep, or survive.

But, we weren’t made to hide or just survive.

It’s hard to get out there and be real.

Karin in Montana

But, it gets easier with each step toward the door… with each new friend.

Come meet us at the park…

4-ish?

The text lit up my phone; a smile lit up my face.

We’ll be there…

We fall into the trap believing God doesn’t care about the in’s and out’s of our days.  Those minutes in the day when we wonder,

What difference does it really make?

The truth… it is in the smallest details of our lives where we really live.  In the daily duties, routine requirements, and sometimes mundane monotony – this is where our breath meets the breath of God.  The small things matter to Him.

Skiers

The children we feed, and clothe, and teach, and adore.  The spouses we support, and battle, and love.  The places we wrestle and realize what it really means to sacrifice.  The places we carry our crosses, and realize sometimes we are someone else’s cross to bear.

The friends who carry us through care-free laughter to crying discouragement.  The real life ones and the ones we seek in the quiet recesses of late night stillness.  Somewhere behind computer screens.

The internet.  This generation’s backyard picket fence.  The way we find each other.  The place we meet, hearts on our sleeves, to remember we are not alone.

Red Barn

So, today I throw my dance card out there with a group at 5 Minutes for Mom (and, man, do we sometimes need 5 minutes… or 50). They are hosting the 2014 Ultimate Blog Party. And, we could use a good party.

If you are visiting from the Ultimate Blog Party 2014, welcome!  You’ve found the place I rise at sunrise (or something like that) with my pack of six.  I write about faith through the eyes of a mom, military wife, and woman who spent more than three decades believing in a distant God.  This is the place I re-live the moments of madness in motherhood and genuine gratitude.

I’m glad you’re here.

Thank You Boot

If you’ve been reading along with me for a while… I want you to know, I am grateful.  I am truly thankful you have taken a few minutes from your day to meet me at the picket fence.  I hope the words I etch in this place bring you inspiration and encouragement.

I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.  ~ Mother Teresa

Thank you for being part of my sunrise.

 

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

Karin Madden

Filed Under: A Day in the Life, Community, Faith, Friendship, Together Tagged With: 5 minutes for mom, friendship, in this together

October 19, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

She said so… (#19)

31 days of God's Promises

PROMISE #19 ~ HOPE

Hey girl.

Her sweet southern-ness flowed through the line.

It was dinnertime… one of those dinner times that everyone was actually sitting down.  All six squirmy kids and two weary wardens.

 I got your book.

I glanced at my husband and whispered her name.  He nodded, touching my arm…

 Go, talk to her.

I slid onto the corner chair, this attempt to hide from the sadness.  My voice instantly took on the familiar cadence of what seemed a lifetime ago.  The tune of the south rolling from my lips came easily as I talked with my dear friend.

Have you had a chance to look at it?  It’s really great… it really makes me hopeful… gets me almost excited.  You know, for when… well, someday.

I had sent her Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven.  I poured through it the year before.  I don’t remember exactly what brought me to reading it, but through the rearview… the time was closer than it appeared.

I haven’t read it yet, but my honey has already picked it up.  He loves it.  I’m going to read it as soon as I get a chance.

We talked a while.  At first, about all things normal.  Kids.  Husbands.  The used-to-be’s.  The remember-when’s.  We laughed.  We had always laughed… the kind that grips your side and makes you think life will always feel this good.

We talked about God.  The past couple of years… the years she wore pink and fought hard… these years we talked about Him more than anything else.  Funny, in 20 years, we had never really talked about Him at all.  Now, His name would not stay long from our lips.

 I just want you to know…

She choked the words, this woman who defined strength and emotional control (except for when she fought with her dear sister, every bit as southern and stubborn as she).

 I just want you to know… you’ve been a great friend to me.

My brimming tears broke their barrier and flowed.

You’ve always been there for me, supported me, even though we have lived far apart.  I just want you to know, I am grateful for you.  For your friendship.  I love you.

My own words caught in my throat.  This, the woman I had known half of her life… the one who split my sides with humor… the one who had been my cohort in the madness of twenty-something.  She just wasn’t one to spill her verbal love out, so seriously.

I knew.  I knew what it meant.

I saw her a few more times.  I saw the illness take her strength.  Her eyes never lost their sparkle.  In fact, towards the end… I saw a very new light in them.

She never did read the book Heaven.  She went to see it first hand.

I picked up my pen (rather, my keyboard) again, after she went.  The plan was not to write of sadness, but of hope.  Of friendship.  Of the travels with fellow sojourners.  Sisters of the faith.  This faith that came to meet me in my adulthood… the faith that had been barely visible in my youth.

I think about my girl every day.  The site of a bird, the wings of a dragonfly… they were her favorite… mostly I remember her words.

The thing I have learned, Karin, the thing I know now… He is always here.  No matter how bad the news is… it will always be ok.  No matter when the hope I have is dashed with more bad news… it will always be ok.  Even when I die… it will always be ok.

I am a writer of words.  I watch my life through the words I write.  I re-live the moments and sort them like my 10 baskets of laundry.  I see Him in the details.  The detail of every word, of every community, of every friendship.  All for His glory.  It will always be ok.

She said so.

He says so.

 

PROMISE #19 ~ God promises us hope.

 

Hebrews 10:22-24

let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

 

Karin Madden

 

 

Filed Under: Community, Faith, Friendship, God's Promises, Hope, Together Tagged With: faith, friendship, God's promises, hope in the face of sadness

October 7, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

I call you friend (#7)

PROMISE #7 ~ FRIENDSHIP

I love Saturdays.

The house gets messy (er) ~ (I do not know why this is the case on the weekend?)…

The kids play outside, watch too much TV, leave food all over the place…

My warrior is home (usually… unless works beckons)…

Sounds of weed-eaters, lawnmowers, laughter (intermingled with whines and shrieks) fill the air…

Chores are left undone, beds unmade, dishes unwashed, make-up unapplied, hair un-fixed, to-do’s ~ just plain ignored.

I love Saturdays.

The gift of a Saturday…

friendship

A day of gathering ~ between kid’s sports, hair appointments, and shopping (which is way better online, anyway).

gathering of friends

knowing there is one more day until Monday.  One more day to… be still.

So, what is God’s promise on this Saturday?  Friendship.

Share this journey… walk the walk… embrace the gifts from Him ~ together.

The greatest gift in this promise?

His Friendship

 

PROMISE #7 ~ God gives us His friendship.

 

John 15:15

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

 

Filed Under: Faith, Friendship, God's Promises, Together Tagged With: faith, friendship, God's promises, together

September 24, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

Catch and Release ~ when it’s time to let go

They sat behind me.  A group of pretty young women.  The familiarity between them evident… a comfort level between friends… co-workers.  Common souls with clinicians’ hearts, spending days… years together.

A conference.  I’ve been to countless… absorbing and re-absorbing medical details, clinical jargon so familiar to me.  A life before my mama life.  A momentary re-awakening to hibernating areas of my brain.

These young women… seemed almost like girls to me.  I smiled to myself.  They looked almost familiar… a look in the rearview mirror.

I peered to the empty seat next to me.  Searching.  But for a moment, a tugging memory… the voice in my mind almost audible.

Girl, what do you want to do tonight?

The voice vanished.  I looked back, smiled.  The plans would be theirs.  My friend, my school mate, my comrade in the joy and madness of clinical practice… therapy with the injured… my pretty young friend… she is gone.

Our friendship began in college, continued through years of graduate studies, carried over into the workforce… in the same hospital.  We were sisters in arms.  We worked, we played… our group of friends… spanned decades.

Funny, how a moment jolts a memory… in just a blink.  A laugh between friends… whispers of agreement… arms of comfort.  These young women.  They reminded me of us.

A thought.  I scrambled for my phone.  The text.  When was it?  I had saved it.  A treasure for just this moment.  Searching.  There!

Girl   i was just texting to find out when you were having the baby and i found this    congrats

she is gorgeous

ill call soon

She never did.  It was the only picture of my baby that she ever saw.

Her sister would be the one to kiss my baby’s head… a kiss passed on from her auntie… this kiss given at my friend’s funeral.

I smiled, as if nudged on the arm by my invisible companion in this room.

The text was a year ago… to the day.  I just wanted to remind you to look.

The last months, a struggle.  My friend, disappeared into His arms.

I can’t help but hold on the last text.  The last voice mails.  It is odd to hear her voice… but, I listen.  Just every once in a while.  I miss her voice.

Pictures I have seen.  Her loving husband.  He fought so hard, right by her side.  He loved her well.  A dad filling shoes of a father and mother with grace.  The pictures… a beautiful smile next to his.  The face of a pretty woman peering through the lens… leaning on his shoulder.  It is not the face of my friend.  She does remind me of her a bit.  Bright smile… the dark hair… shining eyes.

This a young mother… walking through her own loss.  Raising young children without their dad.

The two smiles… a visible comfort.

It is an odd feeling… this joy… and pain… all at the same time.

Joy to see his face lit in happiness.  The sorrow on that face had lingered in my mind.  The prayers from my own little ones… for the comfort of this dad… traveling alone down this path of parenthood.

Pain, too.  She is really gone.  Something so suddenly… final.  A gift as I hear another whisper…

She is with Me

Do not be afraid

The joy swells over the pain like a crashing wave.  A gift from Him.  These two souls to meet.  All in His timing.

A message… from the third of our musketeer pack…

he has a girlfriend.  Is that ok?

This mixture of joy and pain running through her mind as well.

it’s ok.  it’s God’s timing.  He’s better at it than we are.

The joy.  The joy in this very truth.  He is better at it than we are.  Trust.

He will teach us… to catch… and… to release.

 

Psalm 62:8

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Filed Under: Faith, Friendship, Joy, Mercy Tagged With: faith, friendship, joy, letting go, pain of loss, trusting God

September 3, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

The Greatest Treasure Found…in the Packing Up of a Life

We walked into the room.  My friend and I.

A lifetime of stuff piled in front of our eyes.

We were here as an offering…

His hands… His feet

A timid offering in the very middle of this field of grief.

We came in service…

to honor a woman I had never known

to help a man… a friend to my warrior… a man I had just met

to serve a God my eyes have never seen

My friend and I, we stopped… breath gripped in our throats, hearts heavy… we prayed.

Help us to be like You

We looked at each other, having just wrapped arms around little ones… little ones who face this earth with a brave daddy… while a mama prepares a home in heaven.

this is hard

please guard our hearts… keep us focused… pour Your water through us

We went to task.  A mama’s work.  Sorting, cleaning, organizing, boxing, moving, trashing, saving…

The saving

She, a mama like us, saving her treasures.  Baby blankets, toddler shoes, tooth fairy secrets, photos, cards… the treasures we mamas save… the things we can’t bear to part with… fearing that parting with the things means parting with time.  This time… now.  Parting with the time of our little ones’ youth… the precious baby years… the years that our young ones run, love uninhibited, arms wide-open… to mama.

He guarded our hearts for a time.  Through hours, He pointed us to our work.

Then a memento… a smiling photograph… a joy-filled time… peeked through the piles.

It could be mine

The clothing, left on hangers, the gear of her warrior husband, the children’s clothes… in all imaginable sizes.  She, a warrior’s wife… a mother of six…

it could be my house

my stuff

my memories

These things we all love to save.  We packed her things… these memories we long to hold… into boxes.  The treasures left behind, we tucked away, to ease a heart-break at their mere sight.

I save all the same things.  I don’t know why really.  Perhaps a “pack rat” tendency inherited from parents who lost everything while a world was at war?  Life as a warrior’s wife requires the thinning of things… but, I save nonetheless.

I save every memory I can

in the hopes that I will somehow be able to come back

Come back to the same place in my mind… the place I am joyful, the place I love so much… this place of motherhood.

I save for my own.  The treasures I hope may trigger a childhood memory… tucked far beneath… only to be brought into the light… by one small trinket.

I sat on her floor… sifting through her prizes of motherhood.  I prayed for her children… for her husband.  I prayed that the memories never travel too far from their young minds… until they can see her loving mother eyes again.

I held her things… and felt my own mortality… I held it in my hands.

These things.  They do matter.  What I saw in this sifting and packing up a life…

The things stay here… the memories that they trigger are the treasure

The greatest treasure she left them?  The thing I have seen most of all… in their young eyes…

She taught them about Him.  She surrounded them with Him.  They know where mama is… where she waits for them… they know she waits with Him…

this is her greatest treasure

 

2 Corinthians 4:6-7

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Filed Under: Faith, Friendship, Joy, Military, Motherhood Tagged With: faith, friendship, joy, military, motherhood

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Meet Karin

Hi! My name is Karin Madden. Writer. Warrior wife. Mom of six pack. Homeschooler. German-blooded southerner. Welcome to the place where I explore what it means to grow stronger - spirit, soul, and body. I write to inspire and encourage - to remind you we are not alone. By being bold with grace and speaking truth in love, we can become who we are meant to be. I'm glad you are here.

Connect With Me

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Search the Sunrise

What I Write

Sunrise Archives

Pinning at Sunrise

Visit Karin's profile on Pinterest.

Recent Sunrise Posts

  • When You Have A Promise To Keep November 9, 2016
  • When You Are In The Secret Place April 21, 2016
  • When You Need To Hear – Do Not Be Afraid April 6, 2016
  • The One List We Need To Write January 1, 2016
  • The Dance May 29, 2015

Sunrise on Facebook

Sunrise on Facebook

Copyright © 2025 · Executive Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in