Passing by the state prison where Daddy worked, I used to stare up, up, up at those looming gun towers and impossibly high chain-link fences topped with razor wire, wondering how it felt to be trapped inside – to know that the big, wide world outside is rolling along, but you’re stuck within these confining ...
Stress: Kudzu of the Spirit
Sister-mom, are you stressed under? Does everything feel like it’s heaped on top of you and you’re unable to wriggle out from beneath the pile? If so, you need an intervention before your hope gets smothered under there. Not to scare you, but hopelessness is a very real possibility. Its seeds are planted amid relentless ...
Searching for Balance
Hey, did you hear about twenty-seven-year-old Amber Miller, who, in her thirty-eighth week of pregnancy, completed the 26.2-mile Chicago Marathon then checked into a hospital to plunk out a healthy baby girl? Now that’s what I call a mom on the fly! Well, you and I might not officially run marathons, but we both know ...
Pint-Sized Hero
I mourn today. And I just can’t seem to stop my eyes from leaking. I lost one of my heroes a few days ago … five pounds of solid heart. His name was Rocky, short for Rachmaninov (he was a Russian toy terrier). He was 13. I know you understand the hollow ache. Which of ...
Bless this Mess
Did you know pregnancy actually alters a woman’s brain, changing the size and structure of areas involved in emotional attachment to their young? A recent Nature Neuroscience study found that motherly nurturing skills – like perceiving the feelings and perspectives of others – are enhanced in pregnancy and continue for at least two years after ...
Ee-ther or Eye-ther
The talking head on the TV screen ranted on about the error in his political opponent’s reasoning. And then suddenly he began squawking about how this particular issue was not one in which one should err. What? He said errrrr. Made it rhyme with “burr.” Wait. He had just rhymed it with “bear” when he ...
Tool for Peace: Kindness
As confrontations roar these days between people of opposing political opinions, torqued neighbors make it feel like you’re living on the threshold of hades itself, and snarky online comments inflict flaming arrows of hidden origin (and sometimes not so hidden), I’ll admit it hurts my heart. Yours too, no doubt. And I know it hurts ...
BFF Club Winners
CONGRATS to the winners of my recent BFF Club Giveaway! (Keep reading for more about the BFF Club.) First of all, Robin Taylor’s name was randomly drawn to win an adorable Blessed floral shirt just like the one I’m wearing in the photo. And hey, I just might have a few more awesome Blessed Mom ...
A Mom-entous Occasion
I’m getting ready to launch a new book Sept 1 called Too Blessed to be Stressed for Moms. So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the hidden joys (and challenges) that go along with momhood. So isn’t it just like Papa God to drop a wonderful mom-moment of nature right into my lap? I was ...
Baby-Loves
I returned on Monday after a three-week trip, starved to devour the nourishing presence of my grands. I’m spoiled, you see, by the fact that they live next door, and I’m blessed to be part of the everyday lives of my twin almost 3-year-olds and their 7-year-old brother. (I also have another 1-year-old grandbuddy who ...