What’s in a Name: Mother’s Day Reflections

Motherhood is a job of teaching and correcting, loving and giving, it’s keeping house in the physical and emotional sense because sometimes that house you’re keeping is just room in your soul for little hearts to grow bolder. It’s a job of creative manipulation and constant service. It’s refining and holy and strange and beautiful because, as much as it is a job of teaching…it’s much more a job of learning.

Growing Pains: Let’s Talk About Fear

He is big enough to handle your fears. I’d go so far as to say that He longs to. His desire if for relationship and that isn’t built by pretending and putting on a brave face. It’s built with the courage to admit your humanity and allow him to make something better of it.

Growing Pains: The Value of Preparation

Preparation. We need it for everything; food, building, family outings or road trips, education, etc. All areas of our life are touched by preparation. Before I leave the house with my children I can usually be found stuffing a bag with an extra pair of underwear, a couple water bottles, some reading material, a snack or two, toilet paper or hand sanitizer if we’re going to an unpredictable public park. I prepare the bags, the truck, myself and I often forget about our hearts.

“Yes Day” Challenge

Relaxing feels like we are dropping a ball, but so often it is putting a yoke back on us. We return to the guilt and the drain over and over again because it is familiar. I push myself harder than I need to at home with the kids because I have to prove that this job is  important and important has to mean exhausting.

A Year Inside These Walls

Well, we have reached the one year mark of this whole Covid craziness. About this time last year I was in Hawaii, soaking up the sun and the rumors of the Covid crisis reaching the U.S. were starting to flood in. We returned home early to quarantine properly and have spent the majority of the

Unexpected: A Love Story

In just a few days February will be upon us and, with it, a slew of anniversaries in my home. February has always been a big month for us. It’s the month that Ted left the Marine Corps in 2013. This wasn’t a decision that I had a part in, but it set the stage

Would you Hear my Heart?

He wanted us to see his heart even if his actions were misguided.

Does it really matter?

It feels good to be here again. My writing time has taken a serious nose dive over the last several months. Here is a little back story. In ordinary circumstances this blog is one of my social outlets. A place to put all the adult conversations (is it considered conversation if it is just me

Advent with the Jesus Storybook Bible

  There is frost on the trees at my house and the glittering crystals are getting me excited for the most wonderful time of the year…Christmas. I love Christmas. The lights, the smells, the snow, the look of wonder on my children’s faces, the giving of gifts and, most of all, the pause to celebrate Jesus

Apheresis Awareness (Diary of a Donor)

Well, I wasn’t sure just how much of the process I wanted to share. It was immensely personal and I don’t want to use it an opportunity to make myself sound better than I really am. On another note, it was an insanely educational and encouraging experience that can facilitate healthy discussion. I made up