My one request for my 45th birthday was to go to the ocean. My husband Shawn and three daughters took me to a little beach town along the Central Coast of California called Cambria. I didn’t realize until we arrived that this was the same town my late husband Ericlee took me for my birthday almost 20 years ago. The memories [...] Keep Reading
Featured
10 picture books by AAPI authors you should add to your bookshelf
May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI) in the United States. In May, we celebrate the histories of Americans hailing from across the Asian continent and from the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The legislation to annually designate May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month was instigated by two [...] Keep Reading
5 myths and 1 important truth about grief
After my husband’s death, I quickly discovered people had a lot to say about grief. As a young widow at age 37 and mother of three young girls, I was often surprised by the comments. Sometimes they would share their insights in hopes of offering comfort. Oftentimes these opinions were driven by myths about grief that get passed around, rather than [...] Keep Reading
Mentoring friends: The power of “going with” them
Yazmin lingered in the pews at the back of our church sanctuary, chatting with a friend as she bounced her baby boy, who was just a couple of months old at the time. I knew her from our mom’s group and as a leader in our church’s Spanish service and youth group. I had just finished emceeing a two-day conference on the theme of discipleship, and [...] Keep Reading
Global Glory Chasers: Traveling the world from the comfort of home
Sometimes when life hands you lemons, you have to make lemon meringue pie. Or maybe you go all in for lemon primavera pasta or a French lavender-infused lemon tart or Mediterranean garlic-lemon chicken kebabs! Well, you get the idea. Make lemonade if you have to, but don’t sit around feeling sour. This past December, we were supposed to be [...] Keep Reading
Walk, Run, Soar: Run not just for exercise but also to worship
One of my favorite running heroes is a man named Eric Liddell (known as the Flying Scotsman). Eric was a sprinter who inspired the Oscar-winning movie Chariots of Fire. He won the gold medal in the 400-meter dash during the Paris Olympics in 1924, and he also went down in history for refusing to run an Olympic race on a Sunday because of his [...] Keep Reading