Guess what, moms and dads — kids cry in church!  Shocking, isn’t it?  I know.  It’s even been confirmed by Pope Francis!  Who knew?  Yes, friend.  Children fuss and cry and flail around and poop their pants and spit up all over everything…IN CHURCH!!  Can […]

In a few short hours, a new year…a new decade…will dawn.  Is it really possible that it’s going to be 2020?  All signs point to yes, but still.  I have a hard enough time believing that the 90s weren’t just a decade ago, but 20 […]

Never would I have believed it if someone had told me 10 years ago that a two-day, 638-mile road trip with my family of six could be peaceful.  Truly, that sounds horrible to me!  Yet, here I am with day two well underway.  Rain is […]

“Happy birthday, Baby Jesus!” I whispered to myself through clenched teeth.  Of course, while the words were pleasant enough, the tone inside my head was considerably…not.  This is supposed to be the joyful week of Advent, I thought.  But if these children keep bickering on […]

Maybe it’s the fact that our second kid in as many weeks is down with a nasty stomach bug.  Or maybe it’s that in 10 short days, we’ll be celebrating Christmas with my parents, siblings, sibs-in-law, nieces and nephews.  Actually, I guess you could say […]

This week, we light the second candle on our Advent wreaths.  To the Hope we found last week, now we add an Advent of Love.  Love of the Father who sent us His Son.  Love of the Son who humbled himself to be born into […]

Hope.  Such a short word; such earth-shaking meaning.  It inspires us, lightens our loads, carries us onward.  Hand in hand with faith, Hope draws us out of ourselves and into something greater.  And in this first week of Advent, our focus on Hope brings us […]

Do you ever get so concerned with the big picture that you miss what is right under your nose?  I know I do.  Especially around the big holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, we moms have a tendency to think big all the time.  We need […]

I love my green Hunter boots, even though I hardly ever wear them.  Rain passes so quickly around here and it’s usually too warm to make wearing them worth it.  Today, however, it’s been cloudy and cool so my favorite boots came out of the […]

Dear Reader — You’re going to have to excuse me for a moment.  See, today’s a rather big deal in my family.  My dad is actually retiring.  And, while I’ve noted this fact on my social media accounts, that doesn’t mean much to my parents.  […]