For many of us, fall ushers in a new kind of busy. We are finding our new rhythms for the school year. Extracurricular activities are starting up again. Seasonal holiday activities are on our minds. Home and garden projects demand our attention. And all of it crowds around our regular, daily to-do’s. We might miss […]
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This summer, my husband scoped out his family’s farm in Michigan for interesting rocks. Combing through the fields and woods on his family’s land, he discovered several rocks of interest, carting them up to the house in a wheelbarrow. I’m not sure how he sees the potential in these drab stones. I look over the […]
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One bright Tuesday as I walked my dog around our condo complex, I spotted a dad with his two young sons. In front of his open garage, he set out a shiny green bike for his preschooler and a red tricycle for his toddler. In the middle of their street, he had set up an […]
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Last week, a package came for me. Inside was a new Bible and a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. I could hardly wait to open both of them! It used to be that I would have categorized one of the items as sacred and the other as secular, and although I would argue that the Bible […]
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“Play with me, mommy!” I hear this a lot, and I bet you do too. Right after the earnest request, one of my boys will lead me by the hand toward their block tower, or superhero capes, or plastic doctor playset. In recent years, I’ve battled more than my share of beyblades, lost many Nerf […]
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In many traditional households across America, moms are carrying an invisible workload. We are “the rememberer,” the one who coordinates all the moving pieces that go into running a household. This looks like planning meals, monitoring the levels of shampoo and laundry detergent, setting the kids’ schedules, keeping the refrigerator stocked, booking medical appointments, and […]
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I step outside in the early morning hours, our eager dog by my side. We walk through grass glistening with dew past the barn and pasture where the horses are already grazing. There’s a bit of a chill to the air; the hay field ripples with the breeze. The sun’s first rays illuminate the mist […]
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Out of Place – Elisa’s Story The first time someone scoffed at me for wanting to live in the southeast U.S. I was in 11th grade. He said, “Oh, they don’t like us down there. They still call us Yankees.” So? I thought. It’s where I belong. From the time I was 16 years old […]
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Out of Place – Heather’s Story There was nothing atypical about that first day of physical therapy school. But the next three years would be filled with heartbreak, success, failure, and some of life’s greatest lessons. Twenty-five of us sat in a medium sized classroom; each equal parts excited and nervous at the same time. […]
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Out of Place – Joy’s Story On an Irish summer day, overcast with a gentle breeze, a fourteen-year-old girl sits alone. A stranger in this place, she has found comfort in the whispers of the ocean. Her free time finds her wandering the trails along the coast. Today, as she sits on a large rock, […]
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