Pushing Past Hurts to Build Deep Relationships

Pushing Past Hurts to Build Deep Relationships

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You’ve probably heard this quote by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: “If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.” Many of us dream of having great relationships with a spouse, children, co-workers, neighbors, friends or extended family. Even self-professed...
Change Bad Habits with the Power of Replacement

Change Bad Habits with the Power of Replacement

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Replacement is my new watchword. It’s my key to changing anything I don’t like about my life. This may seem simplistic and even intuitive but let’s see how well we measure up with this little quiz. The Vacuum of Habit If you answered true to any of these questions,...
Burying a Friend in the Back Yard

Burying a Friend in the Back Yard

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I’m not usually given to weepiness over a pet. I only have a dog, ferrets, and bearded dragons because I have kids. When my nest empties, the ferrets and dragons go with the kids. (The dog probably won’t live that long.) So you’d think when it came time to putting an...
Who Will Inherit My Treasure?

Who Will Inherit My Treasure?

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I have seen a squirrel run up a tree backwards. I have seen the pale blue smoke of dirtbikes hanging in the morning mist. I have seen mailmen without a smile. I have seen ants heft a crumb, heaving in unison. I have seen a dead friend in a casket. I have seen puppies...

The Noblest Profession of All

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I am changing teams. I have homeschooled my girls for the last three years and loved, loved, loved all the amazing time I have gotten with them. But my ten-year-old is like her dad and feeds off the energy of those around her–the more kids, the happier she...

Naked and Knotty

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Standing fully clothed in the shower while combing through a knot in my 10-year-old daughter’s hair was a sublime place for an epiphany about God’s perfect parenting practices.

Cuttin’ the Ham

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I’m going to tell you a story. A family of five generations was preparing the holiday dinner together. In the kitchen, the youngest child watched as her mother trimmed a 1” piece off of each end of a massive ham before placing it in a large broiler pan in preparation...

What (I Think) I Missed

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I did something today that I haven’t done in almost 10 years. I wept for my son. My lost son.Not my firstborn, Aiden, who was stillborn. But for my second. Tristan, my second child who survived my erroneous gene pool only to be lambasted outside the womb with autism....

The Cost of Wealth

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I was sitting in the lobby of my kids’ occupational therapy office reading with abject horror and sorrow the highlights from the newest “US” magazine. On the front cover were two big celebrities’ daughters, both three years of age. I couldn’t read the gossip because...