Good morning, beautiful humans! Pour yourself something warm (or cold - it's summer after all) and settle in. This week has been all about transitions and adjustments, and honestly, I'm learning as much from my kids about adaptation as they are from me.
It’s been a long time since I’ve written a Sunday Brunch and I’m sorry about that. It has been an incredibly challenging start of the year for me and at the same time I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier. In short, I’ve been finding myself and really enjoying what I found.
Family Slice
Kim started her new office job a few weeks back, and wow, the ripple effects are real. After years of us both working from home, suddenly we're navigating a completely different family rhythm. I'm now the primary keeper of summer schedules, the one fielding the "Mom, I'm bored" sighs, and the official snack procurement officer.
There's something beautifully theological about how families reshape themselves around new circumstances. We're not the same family we were two weeks ago (2,000 years ago) - not because anyone changed fundamentally, but because our context shifted and we're all learning new steps to the same dance. We all understand how this concept works, right? Why is then so hard to apply this slightly mundane concept to the way we interpret scripture? But I digress.
The kids are adapting faster than I am, honestly. They've already figured out the new morning routine and who to ask for what when. Meanwhile, I'm still reaching for my coffee at 10 AM wondering where the morning went (I mean, where. did. it. go.). But there's grace in this messiness, this figuring-it-out-together energy that feels very much like how God moves in community.
Kim seems lighter, too. Being wanted and valued in a professional space is showing up big time in how she moves through our home. Watching your partner step into their gifts is its own kind of worship.
Did I tell ya’ll that we became a minivan family 🫣? WHERE WAS THIS VEHICLE WHEN THE KIDS WERE LITTLE? If you’re on the fence over if your family needs a minivan here’s your sign: your family needs a minivan.
This Week's Special
The Supreme Court's decision in Tennessee v. Skrmetti has been weighing on many hearts this week, including mine. For those who missed it, the Court upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and the implications stretch far beyond one state's borders.
In my work with Transmission Ministry Collective, I see daily how these legal decisions impact real families - parents terrified about their children's futures, teens questioning whether they'll have access to healthcare as adults, families considering moves across state lines for basic medical care.
What strikes me most about this ruling isn't just the immediate harm (though that's devastating), but how it reflects our culture's deep discomfort with letting young people have any agency over their own bodies and futures. We trust teenagers to work jobs, drive cars, and make educational choices that will shape their entire lives, but somehow careful medical decisions made with parents, doctors, and mental health professionals are deemed too complex for their involvement.
The theological question underneath all of this: do we believe children are made in the image of God with inherent worth and wisdom, or are they merely projects to be managed until they reach some arbitrary age of acceptability? The Gospel suggests the former, but our legal system increasingly suggests the latter.
All this being said - I do think that a lot is misunderstood about the ruling. Yes it’s a defeat and yes it’s devastating. but a lot of things have been left unsaid by the Supreme Court and I have been worried that we’re missing a much larger, more sinister bill that is happening right under our eyes.
The Crust of the Matter
Last Thursday's dive into Mark 1 has me thinking about where good news begins. The author of Mark’s Gospel starts Jesus's ministry not in Jerusalem's religious centers but in Galilee - the mixed, marginalized region that "proper" people looked down on. Think about the makeup of where you live, I’m sure you can highlight areas that are more well off and some areas that are considered rundown, or even dangerous. I mean, why would the good news start with people that think that they don’t need good news anyways?
This week, as I've watched our family adjust to new rhythms, I keep coming back to how God seems to prefer starting revolutions in ordinary kitchens and carpools rather than in boardrooms and sanctuaries. The kids asking "What's for lunch?" while I'm trying to work becomes a moment of incarnation - God showing up in the interruption, the need, the pivot toward care. Just like Jesus, who kept getting interrupted by hungry people and chose presence over productivity every single time.
Mark's "good news" wasn't a theological concept but a lived reality that began with real people in real places making real adjustments to include more love in the world. Sometimes that looks like a spouse taking a new job. Sometimes it looks like learning to be the parent who packs the splash pad bag. Sometimes it looks like showing up for trans kids when the courts won't.
The good news is still starting in the margins, in the families figuring it out as they go.
Momhood
Previously this section was called Bytes, a small segment about anything geeky in my life. While I’m still passionate about that, my momhood has been something I’m more passionate about writing.
We've instituted Monday Summer Planning Sessions, and they're becoming my favorite family tradition. Every Monday morning, the kids and I sit down with the calendar and plan out the week's adventures. Of course we don’t do this by hand and far be it from me to do this with an app. No, we design our schedule and have my friend’s Cricut machine print it out. I mean, look at this!
The first week's democratic process resulted in: Faux Calligraphy Tuesday, splash pad Thursday, and Friday we go to the library.
I love how naturally they balance structure with spontaneity. They want plans, but they also want flexibility. They want adventures, but they also want the familiar comfort of our neighborhood library. There's wisdom in their approach that I'm trying to apply to my own life.
Being "Mom" instead of "Dad" in these moments still catches me sometimes. Not in a dysphoric way, but in a grateful, almost-surprised way. Like, this is really my life. I'm really the mom who negotiates board game logistics and mediates sibling disputes about toys.
The ordinariness of it feels like a miracle some days.
Pie To Go
This week I'm diving deep into TMC work - we've got some exciting projects brewing that I can't wait to share with you all. Also hoping to finalize some camping plans after my son specifically requested this adventure. Any Richmond-area folks have recommendations for family-friendly, safe spots?
📖 My book writing is officially back on the calendar after months of avoidance. There's something about having capacity that changes everything. When you're not just surviving, creativity has space to breathe again.
📝 And speaking of breathing room - I'm experimenting with Substack Notes this month to see how it impacts community building and growth. If you're on there, come find me! I'll be trying to share daily glimpses of family life, quick theological insights, and probably too many thoughts about minivan convenience. But of course, I’m not gone from Instagram.
Thanks for being here, friends. Your inbox presence feels like good news starting exactly where it should.
With love and caffeinated gratitude, Miche
P.S. - Don't forget about Thursday's "Spill the Tea" if you're a paid subscriber. We're diving deeper into Mark 2 and its radical vision of who gets access to healing. The theological implications for healthcare justice are... well, you'll see. For the month of July, they’re free for all to get me back in the swing of things.