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When Receiving Love Feels Like the Hardest Thing to Do

in Be Kind to Yourself

Last week, a friend and I talked over our foamy hot beverages about how we both struggle asking for help, about how the #1 worst, Most Dreaded Thing for both of us is being a burden to someone else. It’s a familiar song for military wives (she is one, I was one), and the enneagram 2 in me only picks…
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If You Struggle with Belonging, My New Book Is for You

in Back Roads to Belonging· Belonging· Books· Seasons· Writing

Oh yes, I know this familiar territory of struggling to find my place and my people–maybe you do, too? It’s coming up on the one-year anniversary of my daddy’s homegoing to heaven, so lately I’ve been thinking a lot about him. An avid storyteller, many stories he told my sisters and I began with his characteristic, “When I was a…
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On Weighing the Risks and Plans that Fail

in (In)Courage· Confidence· Courage· Faith in Action· Family· Listening· Seasons

If you see a small creature scampering in the woods or along a path during winter, you can bet the little guy has weighed the pros and cons of being seen. In my own corner of the Colorado pines, I don’t often see chipmunks this time of year. Painted black stripe across his back, the chipmunk leans towards sleeping more…
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A New Year’s Catch-Up and Blessing

in Encouragement· Faith in Action· Seasons· Writing

Happy New Year, dear one! My daughter went back to school this week, and I had a hankering to sit down and write a blog post like it’s 2011 and just tell you what’s going on in my neck of the woods. So have a seat, dear one, and let’s chat. How was your Christmas? Glory be, Christmas break was…
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Book Recommendations for the Advent Season

in Advent· Authors Extraordinaire· Fun Stuff· Seasons

Looking back on these November weekends, my family spent a little time hootin’ and hollerin’ at the TV, watching our Alma Mater Oklahoma State’s football team win some and lose some. My girl and I have probably logged in too much time watching either the Great British Baking Show or any number of Hallmark Christmas movies. We’ve already had a few…
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High-waisted Pants and Emotional Muffin Tops

in (In)Courage· Colorado· Friendship

As I readied myself for church on Sunday, I pulled a new pair of jeans from the closet — wide-legged jeans with a super high waist. They’re on trend, people, and I am here for them in every way. As I zipped up this blessed piece of clothing all the way north of my belly button, I thought, Where have…
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When You Must Walk Through Life-Stirring Change

in (In)Courage· Change· Courage· Faith in Action

I swivel in my office chair, wrap my hands around my chai latte, and think to myself, “Now, if I could only wrap my head around this writing project due soon . . .” I move up to my desk and tap tap tap a couple sentences on my trusty laptop, then look up to stare outside the window. Tap, tap, tap, prop…
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For the Mama of the Graduate

in Courage· Faith in Action· Family· Parenting· Teens

I stand over the kitchen sink, eyeing several familiar Eskimo Joe’s cups in its open mouth. My son James, the one who brought the cups from his room some time ago, rummages through a cabinet. “Uh, James darlin’,” I say, pointing at the stacks of colorful plastic cups. “Do you plan to put these in the dishwasher or do you…
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A Peek into Our Kids’ Futures

in Change· Faith in Action· Family· Parenting· Teens

As the sun slides behind the front range mountains of our Colorado town, my family of five slides into our seats for a late dinner at home. Over tasty Change Your Life Chicken, Ethan asks me to retell a story from his when-he-was-little years. I set my fork down, run my paper napkin across my mouth before placing it next…
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When You’re Outside—Or Inside—the Clique

in (In)Courage· Change· Friendship

After moving to the sparsely landscaped Albuquerque, New Mexico, I discovered the most vibrant group of friends within a local church’s Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group. When the day dawned on our second year in that arid desert town, I eagerly anticipated joining MOPS once again and connecting with those same awash-with-life mamas. The morning of our first gathering, I…
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How to Build a Life Remembered by Others

in Faith· Faith in Action· Family· Goodbyes· Home

Perhaps like you, I learned in the early morning hours of February 21st that Billy Graham had died at 99 years of age. And as my daughter and I wound our way through the slushy, snowy roads toward her school that day, we listened as our radio station payed tribute to this man who for so many was a hero…
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Waiting for Comets

in (In)Courage· Parenting· Teens· waiting

I’m tap tap taping on my keyboard inside the Starbucks at Target when a dad carrying two infant carriers, one in each hand like barbells, comes in to sit at the table next to me. The carriers are draped with matching sky-blue blankets, and I smile knowing it’s likely twin boys snugged under them. Since I’m also the mama of…
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On Instagram

This week brought to you by family heart-to-hearts This week brought to you by family heart-to-hearts around the fireplace, tulips on the table, and my first trip of the year to the garden store. ⁠⁠
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Never underestimate the ministry of flowers for you and your family. ⁠⁠
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"Home is never simply a threshold you cross. It is a place you make and a place that might make—or unmake—you. In this halfway space, we would begin to learn the costs of stepping into the role God first gave in a garden: to be, like Adam and Eve, the makers and caretakers of a particular place." ⁠⁠
~Christie Purifoy (@christiepurifoy), in her stellar book Placemaker ⁠⁠
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#backroadstobelonging
Holler if you're a fellow expert at coming up with Holler if you're a fellow expert at coming up with worst-case scenarios and making plans to divert them. ⁠⁠ 📣
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In this particular case, I thought I had foreseen every possible problem. I took measures to ensure the best possible outcome. I’m not talking about anything outlandish or expensive. Rather, I used good ol’ hard work and productivity to take care of things responsibly.⁠⁠
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And then came the turn of events only God saw coming, and all my forethought and “responsible planning” didn’t amount to a hill of beans. I didn't asked for or want this outcome, but it was what I had.⁠⁠
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Yeah, it's easier for me to daily assess the risk of doing something than to lean into trust.⁠⁠
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I write more about this at my second online writing home, @incourage. Visit the link in my profile to read more. 💛
I belong where it will snow in April (and May!), b I belong where it will snow in April (and May!), but where spring always comes, eventually. ⁠⁠
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Where do you belong today?⁠⁠
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#whereIbelongWednesday
Remember my post from a few weeks ago about our fr Remember my post from a few weeks ago about our friend Ryan, a USAF vet, who lost all all feeling and control from mid chest down due to a sudden spinal stroke?⁠⁠
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This is his wife, Rebecca, and she is one of my dearest friends in the whole wide world.⁠⁠
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Sometimes when a change comes that turns our world upside down, God works through others to turn it right side up again.⁠⁠
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This gal has surely been a turn-the-world-right-side-up gal in my life, and now I'd love it if *we* could help do the same for her.⁠⁠
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As Ryan undergoes physical therapy and rehab in the spinal cord unit of the VA hospital in Denver, we would like to help Ryan and Rebecca defray the many costs not covered by insurance following this spinal stroke, such as:⁠⁠
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▫️Outfitting Ryan and Rebecca’s home for needs regarding Ryan’s limited mobility.⁠⁠
▫️An outfitted vehicle that’s wheelchair accessible.⁠⁠
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These needs and several more are on Ryan and Rebecca's own dime, and they cost a shockingly WHOLE LOTTA DIMES. ⁠⁠
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If you're interested in helping with these needs and/or sharing about it with your people, please check out the link to our fundraiser in my profile.⁠⁠☑️
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Swipe to see a pic of Ryan and Rebecca and a pic of the GoFundMe page.⁠⁠
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And on behalf of Ryan and Rebecca, thank you for your continued prayers!⁠⁠❤️
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