Teaching Our Kids to Welcome Others In
I’m willing to bet that, like me, you don’t have to reach too far into your memory to recall a time you stared down a middle school lunchroom situation. Whether you were thirteen or thirty-three or...
View ArticleWhen Your Roots Are Slow to Grow
I’ll admit it: I’ve cussed more than once over my gardening frustrations in Colorado. Planting in pots offers me great success, yet attempting to grow boxwoods or roses or carrots in the ground brings...
View ArticleA Prayer for the Graduate and for the Mom of the Graduate
A couple of months ago, someone asked me how I was doing in light of my baby girl graduating high school in May. Smiling weakly, I told her I’m doing okay more often than not, but the “not doing okay”...
View ArticleCoping with Life’s Storms — and the Threat of Storms
Growing up in the heart of tornado alley, my family and I were in close proximity to no few number of funnel clouds. My childhood soundtrack consisted of Oklahoma City-based meteorologists, Mike Morgan...
View ArticleWhen Friendships Change, Remember These Five Truths
I invite a few close friends over for a grown-up tea party, and before they arrive, I rhythmically move around the table arranging small crustless sandwiches, lemon bars, scones, and cream. I set out...
View ArticleWhen Finding Friends Is Hard, Ask Yourself These Questions
While today I’m quite content on the friend front in my town of Colorado Springs, it certainly wasn’t always that way. When we moved here twelve years ago, we knew a few folks — friends we still have...
View ArticleWhen This Christmas Looks Different from Those Past
I tiptoed out of bed just before midnight, too full of sadness to sleep. I’d kept the tears at bay all week as I hopscotched from work to errands to chores, their distraction accomplishing what...
View ArticleBonafide Help for the Discouraging Seasons of Life
While 2022 held a good deal of sky-reaching highs, it had its lows too. One of those lows was an onslaught of personal discouragement that followed me from 2021. This wasn’t present in every area of my...
View ArticleWhen Mysteries of the Past Become Clearer in the Present
You can no longer live in a place, yet that place can still live in you. From 2004 to 2007, our family lived in a little house outside of Dayton, Ohio. Earlier this month I visited our former abode for...
View ArticleFor the Times You Carry More Dread Than Delight
I birthed my daughter twenty years ago today — exactly ten days before my own 29th birthday. I’ve always loved that May means celebration time for the Strong girls. May is also the month when I...
View ArticleHope for Hard Friendship Breakups
I bounced into the nail salon, excited to give my nails a little spring TLC. A new-to-me nail tech with curly dark hair framing beautiful brown eyes met me and delivered a warm greeting. She waved me...
View Article5 Things to Know When You Open the Door to an Empty – or Emptier – Nest
While doing the pivotal work of figuring out which spaghetti sauce to buy in aisle 8 at the grocery, I turn when a voice to my right says, “Well, hello, Kristen!” I smile when I discover it’s a good...
View ArticleWhen You’re Slammed with Waves of Regret
Sitting on the lanai of our lodging in Kihei, Hawaii, last month, I was immediately transported to 2010 when we lived here courtesy of the United States Air Force. I was tagging along with my husband...
View ArticleWhen You Need to Change Your Expectations This Christmas
After moving my mother-in-law into an assisted living facility this past spring, my family helped organize, clean, and empty her home. Let me tell you, this activity teared us right up. From 4th grade...
View ArticleChange and Loss May Linger But THIS Is Also True…
I took in the bounty presented on two large tables: ham, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, three different kinds of jello salad, and a chocolate sheet cake. Standing in my childhood church’s...
View ArticleWhen You’re Doing the Work of Two People in a Friendship
Author Elizabeth Stone wrote that being a parent is “…to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” As a mama to three beloved older children myself, I say, Amen, Elizabeth. Certainly,...
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