This is the blog home of Sarah Siders. Welcome.
This is where I write and think aloud on all the things I live and know: Jesus, working motherhood, church planting and being a human.
I split my time several ways: 40 hours a week I serve in military social work, evenings and weekends are spent developing programs in our church, and 24/7 I'm a wife and mom. In the late evenings, early mornings, and any chance I get, I write. Oh, and I also sleep.
Writing is a side job for me right now, but let me tell you a secret: it's my dream job.
I will always be a social worker at heart, and I want to launch a world-changing family life ministry theWELL. But if I could do anything, I would write, just like I do here, but full-time.
So thank you for visiting, reading, listening and participating in the conversation with me. Not only do I enjoy hearing from you, but all your "likes", "shares" and "thumbs up" get me a little closer to my dream. So I'm really grateful to you for helping me get there.
A little about our family:
My husband is a stay at home dad for our toddler, while he pastors our church "on the side". Around the Siders' house, we do life in community, and for the past two point five years, we shared our home with various townies who need a landing pad for a few months. We're taking a break from being roommates, but we still have plenty to do.
Thank you for visiting. I hope we'll get to know each other better.
And welcome to our life.
{Photos by RoseWheat Photography}
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| The Siders family: my two boys and me. |
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| I adore this little one. |
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| My boy and his majestic blues. |
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| Such a playful person. He loves life. |
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| Me and my love. |
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| My friend says this shows my "dreamer" side. I think I agree. |
Story of the Logo:
When I thought about what I wanted this blog, and me, to represent, I knew I wanted it to be about justice. When I thought of justice, I thought about standing up for what is right. Standing up straight and tall.
This made me think of a tree, which is meaningful to me in other ways. Trees represent safety and shade, courage and growth, a presence through the seasons. They start small, with a invisible shoot, lying under the ground where no one can see it.
But there is so much happening there. The tree is taking root, grabbing up nourishment where it can, establishing connections. And the further down it goes, the higher it can grow upward. The more wind and weather it can take.
So I drew trees, several of them. I didn't like any of them. Until I turned my tree upside down. I drew the roots first, then added leaves to them.
When I was done, I turned it rightside up. The roots had become the plumage at the top. I added birds and leaves, which look alike because they they are so similar in our growth process. Let me explain.
When we grow leaves and fruit, we attract others, the birds, to come and sit in our shade. After time, those who sit near us and learn from us begin to look like us, which causes us to grow in accountability, and it encourages our teaching and our giftings.
When they are ready, these little birds go out to plant their own trees, leaves and fruit. And they will attract their own birds. You will see near the bottom the leaf/bird that is sitting near the ground, getting sent out to plant more of himself and spread the goodness he has gained from the tree.
I want my life, as well theWELL, our church plant, our family and The Siders House Rules to be a tree like this, a place of refuge and empowerment for all who come near, whether for a day or a year or a lifetime.
Welcome to The Siders House. I'm glad you are here.
Get to know me with a few selected selections from my life as the wife of a pastor, mom of a toddler, aspiring social worker and roommate to whoever's in the basement.
Enjoy.
April 2012: Life Together
“Do you mind if I bring my snake?” David asked Josh, maybe in a text message two Mays ago. I didn’t mind, as long as she stayed where snakes stay, in glass cages. David moved in a short while later, snake and opinions in tow, along with Derek, the post-military intelligence, twenty-something, who lived almost two lives in his short years. And Rachel unloaded the truck into the room across the hall, two steps from Josh and me. These were our first roommates. Keep reading on "Life Together".
“Do you mind if I bring my snake?” David asked Josh, maybe in a text message two Mays ago. I didn’t mind, as long as she stayed where snakes stay, in glass cages. David moved in a short while later, snake and opinions in tow, along with Derek, the post-military intelligence, twenty-something, who lived almost two lives in his short years. And Rachel unloaded the truck into the room across the hall, two steps from Josh and me. These were our first roommates. Keep reading on "Life Together".
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| David |
Living and Dreaming in Community: intentional living among friends and family.
Our family snapshot at the moment.
As of today, we have 8 people living in our house: two parent students, one paraeducator, one student-photographer, one social worker and one pastor. And two little babies loving life. It's busy but I can't really imagine life any other way at this point. Really, I can't.
So here they are:
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| The Bowkers Three: Kelley, Megan and Wee Wittle Wiam |
I benefit so much from being around him, soaking up all that he is, from having him for a best friend.
But there's one tiny problem. We never have anything to talk about. Unless you count church. Church goers. Church not-yet-goers. Church used-to-goers. People who like us this week. People who don't like us this week. People who will probably not like us next week. We talk about the church plant. Church policies. Church finances and meetings and who-what-when-where churchy stuff. Yup, that's pretty much all we talk about. We also talk about our son because he's hilarious and parenting is extremely rewarding/challenging. Sure, I squeeze in convo about adoption and my work and what my friends are up to. But these two things take up our lives. I think they're supposed to, but I didn't know what I was getting myself into, okay?
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| See how happy we were. This may have been due to the fact that we had other things to talk about. We're this happy most of the time, but it's just a bit more complicated now. |
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