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Dear Momma Trying to Make Christmas Perfect
Dear Momma Trying to Make Christmas Perfect,
Please stop.
I know your stress. It’s deep. It’s binding—the chaining of emotions to unattainable perfection.
I used to be you.
My young married years were spent attempting to be Martha...
When Wanting More Collides with Christmas
It’s Christmas. The Season of Giving. But I’m struggling. Struggling because I want.
I’ve spent the last week driving around new subdivisions. Dreaming. Houses with granite countertops and more than one kitchen drawer. Houses with...
Because Thanksgiving Changes Me
Clothes pile up in front of my washer. Baskets of clean laundry sit at the end of my unmade bed. My son scratches out letters in the dust on our end tables. Mildew plays...
10 Rules for a Not Bummer Summer
Eighteen.
The number of emails I might receive in an hour. Or the loads of laundry I finish in a week. Or the times I pick up Legos off my floor in a day. Or...
When Mommas Lose It
I hit the wall. My daughter, Ella, was two and I slammed my palm into drywall. To keep myself from doing the unthinkable, I put a hole in the wall of my hallway. With...
Using the Language Our Teens Speak
It’s been less than 10 years since iPhone changed our country, our culture, our world. Gone are the days of pay phones and Facebook via the desktop.
As a member of the generation with my childhood riding in...
Please. Don’t Correct My Kid for Using Manners.
“Don’t call me sir. That’s my father. You can call me Gary*.” The sales associate looked at my twelve year old girl with a patronizing grin.
“Yes, sir. I mean…sorry.” My daughter stumbled.
My daughter, out...
Notes to Self as I Turn Forty
I turned 40 yesterday. I’ll be honest. I’m not sure how I feel about this giant leap into middle age. But I know how I’d like to feel.
I’d like to be great with aging....
Because the Village Still Matters
We sat across from one another sipping our coffee. She was traveling back to her college campus and had asked if we could meet. I jumped at the chance to hear about how her life was...
Will the Real Valentine’s Day Please Rise?
Valentine’s Day.
I have a love-hate relationship with the day. I know I’m not the only one.
It began in middle and high school when I would watch girls parade through the halls with their flowers...
Dead Possums Are Fair Game, A Review
A few weeks ago, I had lunch on a Saturday, wait for it—without the kids. Not only was my lunch date void of playing tick-tack-toe a thousand times too many, but it was full...
When Our Children Fight Us
Her ballet class had been cancelled, and there was no homework. We had an afternoon that wasn’t defined by a dizzying pace of here to there and back again. A first in weeks. But...
Busting the Busy Mom Myth
A few weekends ago chaos peaked. All four members of my household dove into the dirty clothes to pull out something they needed. My family walked around Saturday in stinky socks, pants, and shirts which cancels...
Making the Difference for Just One
A few months ago I tucked my Ella-girl into bed, prayed over her, and kissed her goodnight. She always clicks off her own lamp, so I walked out, cracked the door, and from the...
Raising Our Sons to Be Fathers
A few days ago I received a gift. My five-year-old son, Caleb, fell asleep in the car. Woo Hoo! Because silence is golden. But wait. There's more.
When we arrived home I lifted his lankiness...