When it Feels Like a Lost Cause

"It's a lost cause," I thought to myself as I looked out the window. Having been neglected for two years, my once beautiful vegetable garden was now a tangled mess of ankle-deep grasses, weeds, and thorns. Every time I looked at it, all I could see was my...

Learning to Let Go

Eight bags lined the hallway outside my four daughters' bedrooms. Tired of living in a constant state of clutter, the girls decided to clean out their closet and purge some clothes. Before they could discern what should stay and what should go, they covered every...

Challenge or Blessing? You Decide

"What is your favorite part of this weekend?" My cousin asked as she leaned across the table with a smile.  "Having everyone under the same roof," I said confidently. It had been a year since we had all been together.  "What is the hardest part of the...

Reframing the “Mondays”

"Well, it's a Monday!" is a phrase often heard to describe an otherwise difficult start to the day or week. Whether you've said this yourself or been the bystander as someone else begins to lament over their morning woes, the way we frame our week...

An Interrupted Walk

A brisk walk in the morning takes me down the same beaten path. The faster I walk the faster I can get out of the heat and on to the real business of the day. Only five more minutes. Only a quarter of a mile left....

20/20 Hindsight: Seeing LIFE with Clearer Vision

"That's hard with 20/20 hindsight," my husband texted me as I finished processing the "what-ifs" of a past loss with him.  "It's unhealthy and unproductive to dwell in the past," his text continued. "It can't change anything."   If only we could have 20/20 vision in the present,...

Always Something to Celebrate

The look on my son’s face said it all. What had been a wonderful family day was being overshadowed by a disappointment that to others might seem minor but to him meant everything. Before he could stomp up the stairs and stew allowing the cloud of frustration...

Uncomfortable Celebrations

“Where did the time go?” I think to myself. Staring at my daughter dressed in her graduation gown, my heart simultaneously holding the joy of pride and the pain of letting her go. “I miss you, mom,” marks the pages of my tear-stained journal this morning....

What are you Celebrating?

"How many more days, Mom?" my five-year old son asked over lunch. This was a question that had been on repeat for the last month or more. Anxiously awaiting his birthday, my son could barely contain his excitement. Until one morning, he woke up and said, "Happy...