It's been a beautiful year and we've been incredibly blessed. (Thank You, Lord!) And thank you, friends, for sharing life with us. We love you.

A friend asked me to write out for her what my passion is. We're working on a book project, so she kinda needed to know what I care most about in life. Sheesh. That's a hard question and I feel stuck, like I have to say something really professional. And goodness, anyone who knows me, knows that I'm the worst at being professional. I don't even iron my clothes. I don't even brush my hair all the time because it looks a little wavy when I don't brush it. And, that's not very professional. Everybody knows that.Well, I am good at rambling, so if you don't mind, I'm just gonna ramble around here and try to figure out what in the world my passion is. You don't mind do you? I am passionate about some things. Besides just chocolate and naps and Brent's beard. First of all, I'm passionate about li[...]

The weather has turned cold on me and I've become this shameful wimp, preferring the warmth of the great indoors to the adventure of the great outdoors. We haven't gone out in three days. I think that's a record. I'm not exactly proud.  But, my artist friend tells me that there are so many good things about the cold and winter coming. She tells me how everything has it's own season, and the cold is for tucking in and being more still and quiet and for making art. She says it's when the creatives get all creative. So, I look forward to that--making art. And I've got this book writing project, so I've taken a little time each day to craft with words. It feels good, to look out my window and see the sun but still feel warm in here, all tucked away and eager to create.I've felt [...]

I've come to the conclusion, in my ripe old age of thirty-two, that life is just hard. Even an easy life is hard. Even a life where you married the man of your dreams, and you have two beautiful and hilarious kids and a nice, comfortable house and a great big yard and you live in a free country with more food in the pantry that you could eat in a week. Even with all that, life can be pretty excruciating on the heart. It just is. We all have our own reasons why.And deep down inside, in the middle of all the hard, we're all just looking for joy. We crave it. We just feel like there's gotta be something more than getting up and going to work and coming home and eating some food and watching a show and going to bed and getting up and doing it all over again. There's gotta be something mo[...]

Next month is mine and Brent's 5th wedding anniversary. (In which we celebrate the best five years of our whole entire lives!!!) But Brent found this awesome deal on Groupon, so he grabbed it up and we took off early for a few days while his parents watched our kids. (Thank You, Lord, for parents. Parents who really, really like our kids.) We decided to be a little crazy and go to this theme park together. The two of us had never ridden a roller coaster side-by-side, so we decided it was high time to get our scream on.Oh my goodness. I cannot express to you the amount of intense jubilee we experienced while riding roller coasters and bumper cars and go carts. And the amount of pain. When we weren't laughing, we were yelling for the ride to STOP because it hurt so much. At one point, Brent [...]

Today I walked out in the yard in the rain just to feel alive. Sometimes I do that. Stop everything I'm doing for a few moments just to be. It does occur to me every once in a while that I've been given this gift of life and that God wants me to enjoy it. Seriously enjoy it. And I don't know why, but I've felt bad about enjoying life. For one thing, there's terrible things happening to people on the earth and it does seem strange to me that I'm sitting in my quiet, peaceful yard, admiring a sunflower. I confess, I have trouble knowing what to make of that.But, I know God made me and He made this sunflower and He gave me this yard and this beautiful life, and so I thank Him. And when I don't know what else to do, I thank Him for what's right in front of me. And I tell God, sometimes I just [...]

This morning, I sat on the couch while the kids played and cried just a little bit. I cried because I could feel the season change, the way everything turns, and I realized how much I loved the day long and the light warm and the grass and trees all green and growing. Summer is still here, kinda, because it's feeling chilly already, but I was missing it before it even left, and I wasn't ready for this change. I wanted to squeeze out some more barefoot, lightening bug catching, cicada singing, sand in our hair moments. So, the kids and I loaded up and we headed for the nearest beach. Like I said, it was a bit chilly--I probably should have packed some sweatshirts, but we found a patch of sunlight and played in the warm spots. Thankfully, the water was still warm and the minnows were te[...]

Gideon sits at the table, poking at his lunch, and he’s got this curious look on his face. “Mommy, are there trains in heaven?” Every day, it’s a new question. Actually, every day it’s a bazillion new questions, but this day, he wants to know about heaven. “Um, I’m not sure,” I reply, and I can see his disappointment welling, “but I know there will be lots of surprises there for us.” His eyes light up. Now his face is glowing with that child-like wonder. “What kinds of surprises?”  He’s sitting on the edge of his seat. What little interest he had in his lunch is long gone. I think for a moment, “You just have to wait!” I smile and scoop him another bite.  But, he can’twait! He’s three and a half! What three year old can wait for their surprise? My goodness, I have a hard enough t[...]

There are lots of ways to enjoy your life this summer. And one way, one big way, is to go for a walk in a field of corn.So, next time you see a corn field, don't just pass it up. Go for a walk in it. I mean it. Don't let your whole summer (or your whole life for that matter), go by without traipsing through a corn field. Corn fields can be very adventurous.Now, you might be tempted to run through a corn field. Don't do that. Running through a corn field is dangerous. You could get cut. By corn leaves. And getting cut by a corn leaf is so much worse than a paper cut. Because a corn leaf cut is pretty big. And you could lose an eye. So don't run. Just walk. Though, you can walk briskly if you want. Long as you keep your arms out.  And if you go for a walk in a corn field, stay close to [...]