“Scoot together and say cheese!” I said, pointing the camera in their direction. The girls scrunched their bodies closer, chocolate dripping from their chins, doing their best to control their silliness long enough for a quick photo. It was the …
6 Tips to Help a Grieving Mom
I didn’t enter the “Mom Club” in the normal way. In fact, the first four+ years haven’t been “typical.” The day I officially became a mother, I joined a few clubs: new mom club, mom club of medically fragile babies …
Fighting for Your Marriage When Life Beats You Up
In the parenting journey, just as in life, nothing is guaranteed. The unexpected happens to all of us, but there are some things that not only come as a surprise, they turn life on its head. And in those moments, …
Prayers From the Heart
When I was a young mom with four kids under the age of six, I felt guilty at my lack of a significant prayer life. My prayers didn’t measure up to what I thought they should look like. Looking back …
Shifting Sands
Have you ever stood on the beach and walked out thinking the sand was firm only to find it was butter soft, so your feet just melted into it? Shifty sand is a difficult place to stand, and it reminds …
The Rebellion of Opting Out
Modern family life can feel a lot like a hamster wheel — a constant race you’re never winning. We overschedule our kids and ourselves, wedging some must-do activity into every waking moment of the day, until we’re short on time, …
Keep Passion Alive in the Process
I am the queen of unfinished projects, and I have a tub full of unused yarn hiding in my basement to prove it. No, I’m not 80, I used to crochet baby blankets for my friends’ new additions. Creating something …
Choosing Every Day
I speak as the single mother of two pre-teens (8 year-old-boy and 12-year-old girl). I have also been a first-time mother at 20; the mother who was married to a software engineer working for Lockheed; the mother who moved from another …
The Death and Resurrection of Faith: Reflections on Good Friday
A year ago on Good Friday, I admitted something out loud that I’d known for some time: my faith, at least as I knew it, was dead. I made my admission to a trusted friend, telling her that if being …
Behind the Glasses
I sat in a beach chair and cried. Not legit crying with sobs and shudders. It was subtle – the kind of crying where your tears just turn on, as if they were emotional garden hoses connected to a leaky …