About TulipGirl

Hi, I'm TulipGirl! I've been blogging at tulipgirl.com for over three years. My very own url was a Christmas gift from Hubby. *mush, mush*

Hubby and I met right after highschool, thanks his loving and meddlesome aunt. We had a four year long-distance courtship, and have now been married 12 years. We have four fabulous boys. They are ages 10, 9, 8, and 6. They are so different from one another, and yet ALL BOY and very energetic.

For 3 1/2 years we lived Kyiv, Ukraine working with a church-planting team, in support of a Ukrainian pastor and Reformed denomination. It's amazing to see the return to faith of so many people, after seventy years of communistic atheism. We've been back in the States for about two years and finally feel a bit settled. For now. Hubby is working on his master's in U.S. history and transnational migration. His PhD program will take us Who-knows-where, and we will eventually return overseas again to teach and be supportive of local church plants in a more "tentmaker" sort of situation. I've recently begun again in university, and am looking forward to more learning and research opportunities.

I started walking with the Lord when I was a child, as did my parents. So, I was blessed to have a mostly Christian upbringing. I'm a navy brat and we moved frequently. That meant we attended many churches and many types of churches. I'm now presbyterian. *grin* I believe that Reformed theology reflects what the Lord reveals to us in the Bible. My personal growth in the Lord and my study of Reformed theology has been very key in me becoming more grace-conscious in my parenting.

I was homeschooled in high school and until recently, homeschooled our children. In Ukraine, our youngest went to a Russian language dyetski sad, kindergarten. Last year the older boys were in a local Christian school, with teachers that have been fabulous in helping them with the Ukraine-->American and homeschool-->school transitions. And this year all the boys are homeschooling again, with Hubby as their primary teacher. And let me tell you--he is fabulous!

I've been involved with online communities since my oldest was 6 weeks old and I found a guestbook style comment forum for a stay-at-home-moms website. That website is now gone, but the community of mothers is still together--some of them for 11 years! With the many moves we've made over the years, I'm thankful that the Lord has given me relationships online which don't alter much when we have a location change. Right now I'm part of the ad/mod team at Mothering By Grace, a community that has blessed me tremendously and challenged me in my walk with the Lord as well as my relationship with my family.

I've found that God has done so much through this growing and changing, both in my relationship with Him and also my relationships in my family. I rejoice at the grace He shows me, and how He has helped me see that I need Him and His grace day by day, moment by moment. God has brought healing in my relationships with my children and in my heart. When I'm not active with my boys, I enjoy blogging, watching tv-on-dvd with Hubby, puttering around in the kitchen, going on trips with the family, studying theology and psychology, advocacy work, digital and traditional photography, biking going to the beach and reading.