Moving is stressful no matter how much you purge and prepare. Change is rough on everyone. As a military family, we moved from state to state and were in flux for weeks traveling and dealing with boxes. It sometimes felt …
Driving into Hope
We are a few weeks into school, and this morning I drove the boys to kindergarten and fourth grade. (It’s not my week to drive the middle school girls, so I get the quiet ride.) I dropped them off and went about …
The Day I Got Schooled by Maya
I met Maya Angelou in New York at an event for the last book she wrote, Mom and Me and Mom, in 2012. I waited for about an hour in line to meet her and as I was waiting, I was …
Mister Rogers and 9-11
My husband, Dan, served 20 years with the Air Force and he is often asked what kinds of planes he flew. He chuckles and answers, “I don’t fly. I developed and acquired the systems the Air Force uses.” Pilots are …
Easy Overnight Oats
We all survived the first week of school! We made it through the excruciating back-to school supplies list and the complaints from the boys about “having to go to school EVERYDAY.” We pulled through my two-year-old’s tears (which became my …
My Friends Think I’m a Stay-at-Home Mom
In our increasingly digital age, many parents are given the opportunity to work a more flexible schedule. Occupations that previously required a steady presence in an office, distant from home, are now presenting options for flexible schedules and working remotely. …
Five Reasons Why We Don’t Talk About Depression
I’m in my ‘30s and a mama of three. I probably seem like a super happy person most of the time. I love to laugh, sing show tunes, read novels, go on beach vacations and drink coffee (or wine) with close friends. I love writing, …
The Holy Work of Motherhood
Lying on a cold, hard doctor’s table in the middle of the night, too scared to utter a cohesive sentence, I began bartering with God. If only he’d allow this child to live to term. If only he’d stop my …
The Six Principles of Motherhood
We were sitting in the teacher’s lounge, day four of my very first week of teaching. I was chatting with Paula, a third grade teacher, who’d been in the business for 20 years. She had three teenage boys at home. …
When Passion Feels Like Failure
I couldn’t explain the tug on my heart to work with refugees and immigrants. I just knew it was there, under the surface, staying strong through the years of raising kids and going to seminary. But though I downloaded volunteer …