A New Thing
This past January, I sent out a New Year's card because a Christmas card just didn't come together in time. My sister got married in early December,...
The Days Are Long
Recently I had a dream about two teenager boys at the beach (stay with me, I know that was a weird intro). We were at the Outer Banks where my...
Shepherd’s story
This Mother’s Day feels different because I am not the same mom I was last year. On December 17, our second son Shepherd was born. We named him...
Mother’s Day 2023; The Gift of Unmet Expectations
“It’s definitely a boy!” These are the words the ultrasound technician confidently said as my husband and I looked at each other, eyes wide. I was...
Easter 2023 – The cost of the crowd
I’ve read the Easter story so many times that it’s easy to glaze over it at this point, even though it’s one of the most incredible stories in the...
Waiting for spring
In typical North Carolina fashion, we had a warm February that caused many of the trees and flowers in my yard and neighborhood to bloom early....
Brave in the small things
My word for the year is brave. I once had someone say to me that I was a brave person when it came to the big things – as in, I would pack up...
When Christmas isn’t what you pictured
Our Christmas looks different than planned. Thanks to a string of seemingly never-ending illnesses and now unusually cold temperatures, our holiday...
When the waiting feels lonely
I like to think of Advent as a beautiful season of anticipation, joy and expectation. And while it is those things, it can also be quite lonely. We...
When you don’t feel ready for Advent
The holiday season snuck up on me this year. And I don’t think I’m alone in that. I’ve heard from countless people how they forgot Thanksgiving was...
When “making the most” becomes unhealthy
“It goes so fast.” I can’t count the number of times someone has said this to me - or that I’ve said it to myself. And while it’s just one of those...
Seasons, part 2: the good and the hard
Living in the present isn’t easy. In part 1 of my two-part blog series on seasons, I talked about how nostalgia for the past and dreams of the...