It was a Thursday when Grandma died. I awoke to my husband's kind hand touching me in the darkness. "Laura, your Grandma is in Heaven," he said. We were to fly to Georgia on Friday to get one last visit with her and say our...
The last two years I have gone to the "Great Homeschool Convention" in Cincinnatti (they have 5 conferences around the country). The first year, an ad came up in my Facebook feed that one of my favorite authors Ann Voskamp was going to be there,...
So here is the thing about us moms. Aren’t we all just trying to make the broken things a bit more beautiful? My dear friend wrote a sprawling, honest manifesto last year on motherhood. One of my favorites. “Filling someone’s heart and loving another as they journey...
Mothers, you are a gift that your children open every day. When the sun rises, or before, and they come running to you with their padded feet, special blanket in arms, saying "Mama, up!" and you open your arms and draw them in to your heart...
I’m raising a nudist, shoeless, headed-toward-a-mullet-and-dreadlocks hooligan. Lately, it seems as if everything, big or small, can ignite a battle of wills. At the end of the day, the unpredictability of toddler whims and toddler timetables leaves me feeling like I’ve been negotiating a U.N....
Thank you to those who commented on my Around the World with Kate and Mack book review from April 21st or who liked our Missionary Mama page on Facebook in the following week. I am sorry for the delay in getting out the winner for the free...
The auditorium of hundreds of people quieted to a hush as she walked on the stage. My heart skipped a beat as I saw young adults putting their cell phones away and young children sitting on the edge of their seats, enraptured by this beautiful...
Oh glorious Monday! You heard me right, I am celebrating Monday today because 1) I love May. Bring me aaaaalllll the flowers. And 2) my husband is home. He was away on a 10 day trip, and I can't lie, it wasn't pretty around our...
I’ve been through a lot of heartbreak in my life. In addition to the real, lasting losses in my life—the death of my father and my mother’s mental illness—there are scores of disappointments. Awards not won, books not published, stories rejected, and opportunities on which...
I’ve had some pretty awesome dates lately … with my toddler. Last week, we started a ritual I hope we continue for the rest of our lives. We held hands walking to the coffee shop, ordered a kid’s hot chocolate and a small decaf coffee,...