The following is a post I wrote five years ago. It's hard to believe my little girl just started 7th grade last week. We are still choosing love over fear and having our ears open to those who need us to hear their stories. Read on. I’ve always loved the start of the school year. I love pointy pencils, folders with clean edges, fresh bottles of [...] Keep Reading
back to school
{A blog series} All Things New: My new normal
The following is a guest post written by my widow friend, Danell teNyenhuis. I met her through a young widows group in Fresno, California called G.I.G. (Gals in Growth) facilitated by grief counselor Patty Behrens. I hope her story gives you a glimpse of what life after loss can look like. I love the way Danell has embraced her "new normal" and [...] Keep Reading
Transitions: Leaving space for the grief and the glory
On Sunday evening, we rolled into town after a glorious day relaxing at the lake with family and friends. This was the grand finale to our 12 weeks of summer fun. We packed these weeks with Track & Field camp, travel to San Diego and Haiti, sleepovers with Grandma, staying up late if we felt like it, days for lounging and days for chasing [...] Keep Reading
The Hard Work of Building Bridges
The original version of this essay was published on May 16, 2016 in Self Talk the Gospel. I’m fascinated by bridges. I live in California so you can imagine the first bridge that comes to mind is the Golden Gate Bridge. Regal. Majestic. Glorious. Poppy red-by-day and glowing-with-lights by night. Iconic to the San Francisco skyline. The [...] Keep Reading
Make cooking into a creative competition for kids (with pizza dough recipe)
The smell of garlic mixing with basil wafted to my nose. Laughter filled the room as kids rolled out billowy pizza dough into creative shapes and ran to the "market table" to retrieve ingredients. In the corner, some oil and Italian sausage were sizzling in an electric skillet. "What will help thicken our sauce?" one called out. "How much [...] Keep Reading
