They place that newborn in your arms, and an unconditional love for your child overwhelms your entire being. How could you love someone to the depths and intensity that you would lay down your entire life for this little one even though you just met? Read more
Can We Fast-Forward this Part?
As a writer, one of my favorite pastimes is watching a great drama. Storylines and character development not only entertain but fascinate me at the same time. You can find my husband refilling his soul on a motorcycle or a morning duck hunt, but my sport is movie watching. Give me a remote control and a two-hour drama, and I’m one happy couch potato. Read more
What is Screaming the Loudest in your Life?
Guest Blogger: Tanya Jo
Every Wednesday a group of wonderful women meet at my house for small group. They all come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but what unites them is their desire to become a MOM. This was me more than six years ago and my heart behind leading the small group. I want the women to know they aren’t alone and to give them hope. Plus God has a lot to say on the subject. Read more
Our Kids: Can We Love Them Too Much?
The parenting instinct is a strong force. One episode of the nature channel will cause you to forever keep your distance from a mother and her young. I remember watching a cat get viciously bombarded by some blue jays. The commotion I witnessed from the bird parents who were guarding their young was shocking. The screeching was unlike anything I had ever heard. Our neighborhood cat strolled underneath a tree that held the nest where their babies (who just days before had shed their shells) were now sleeping. Read more
The Push and Shove of the Instant
Hurry, hurry, hurry. Ever feel like you are running through your life? It’s like sitting down to the Thanksgiving table or a detailed, extravagant meal at a restaurant. Hours and hours of work went on behind those kitchen doors, but we devour it, quickly rushing on to the next course without any thought of the precise temperature the oven was set to or the exact timing for the turkey to be basted, turned, and checked. Read more
Home Sweet Home
Every year when I arrived at my grandmother’s house, I was greeted with the inviting smell of baked cookies. Her deep, Southern accent welcomed us with open arms and an excited, “Hey y’all!” Her house was a warm place of joy and comfort, and the layers of the love I felt there enveloped me like the huge quilts that covered her beds. Read more
She Said “Yes”
It’s such an exciting time in a girl’s life when the guy of her dreams proposes and her answer is yes. From huge jumbotron screens in sporting stadiums to Christmas lights spelling out “will you marry me”, the uniqueness in each personal proposal makes the romantic in me smile. Read more
Frantic Christmas
The countdown is on. Days are being crossed off the calendar and gifts crossed off the Christmas shopping list. Can you feel the rush? The push? The drive to get it all done? There are cookies to be baked . . . oh, who am I kidding . . . cookies to be bought and Christmas cards to be addressed. And yet, amid all the hustle and bustle, do you hear what I hear? Do you hear His soft whisper beckoning you to be still? To be loved by your Creator? Read more
Did You Get the Lead Role?
Do you feel like a minor character in the drama of life? Like when the director handed out the parts, yours was less important than the lead’s? Ever scroll down your social media news feed and see people with thousands of followers and thousands of “likes” and wonder, Why them? How about when you are flipping channels with your remote or staring at the magazines, waiting to check out in the grocery line? Read more
Puzzle Pieces
Whether it be scrolling on social media or reading the bumper sticker in front of you as you wait for the stoplight, it seems like a day doesn’t go by when there isn’t a phrase shouting at us, reminding us that our time here on earth is special and limited. Phrases like: Life is short, eat dessert first. This is your one chance at life. This is not a dress rehearsal. Make it count. Every day matters. Seize the day. Find your destiny. Don’t waste time. Stop and smell the roses. Read more