I’m so used to these canvases hanging on the wall that I don’t often stop to admire them anymore. They aren’t anything fancy, they aren’t framed, they’ll never be discovered as pricey works of art, and one of them even has a puncture hole from our last move. But they are proof that we chose […]
Today my daughter came to me with some pretty heavy Heaven/Hell, God/Jesus, Adam/Eve, good/bad, prayer/worry questions. I took a deep breath and I tossed up a quick prayer that He would help me help her. For nearly an hour, she asked questions and we talked about big things. We walked away after a big hug […]
The only perfect holiday is a perfectly imperfect holiday. You can be all in and living your best life and not have it all together. This is normal and happy and 100% in keeping with my kind of holiday. Take my family, for instance. This morning we found our Elf on the Shelf and then […]
Why do we put so much focus on making memories that look rosy and perfect? We owe ourselves permission to live real, honest, unfiltered, truthful lives that are both imperfect AND beautiful. For Example, on a recent family camping trip… Our daughter had an epic meltdown in the camper because her pants felt weird and […]
I might be one of the few who took that whole stay-at-home thing as a direct order to do what exactly what I wanted to do anyway- stay home with my people. Slow down the schedule. Scale back the commitments. Settle into a less fussy existence. But introvert re-entry can be a lot of work. […]
Perhaps the biggest obstacle we encountered after our wedding was this. We were married. And guess what? GETTING married was way more fun than BEING married. Because, you guys, it turned out that being married was work. And he never went home, because he was home. And my money was his money and his money […]
I read an article years ago that said the best thing we can say to our child athletes is, “I love to watch you play.” It sounded nice and I even gave it a try with my nieces and nephews, but I never completely understood why that simple sentence was better than the typical good […]
Sometimes I’m tempted to get a little braggy over just how high the highs of my life can be. I’d like to tell of how good the good times are and how happy the happy times are. I could get a little cocky about how I thrive in certain situations and how I’ve nearly got […]
In 2009 our 4-year-old and 6-year-old daughters were diagnosed with a very rare and progressive genetic disorder. In the years that followed, our daughters’ health declined. Their bodies fought to do the most basic tasks and they became susceptible to even the most common illnesses. Things like the cold and flu that are a bummer […]
I very much desire to be happy and present in this life I am living. I will not press pause on my life and wait until everything is order to resume living. I will not spend my time and energy trying to meet the demands of the outside world. I will not wish this time […]
