Laughing at My Future

Time for a quick, very real chat. I'm currently sitting at my messy dining room table, surrounded by piles of clutter that needs to be tossed or put away, looking up at a kitchen that needs to be cleaned. This is what my house has become in a very chaotic couple of weeks. A deeper look tells me that it's not just the chaos of rehearsal season, homeschooling, or just life in general - however, a deeper look tells me it's a character thing, and one that needs to change starting NOW. Starting yesterday, really. Sure there is the clutter of this week's school pages, and dishes from breakfast and lunch. There are the shoes that got worn and thrown off in a rush to move on to the next activity of the day. BUT, there are also piles of books I simply haven't gone through, put away, gotten rid of... read . There is a tote overflowing crochet projects that are partially done. There are decorations lying out waiting to be arranged, and clorox wipes that simply never got pu

Today I served on our worship team for the morning services. I've been serving in this department in one capacity or another for over 20 years, and it's one of the greatest joys for me. I LOVE worship. I love singing. I love our team. And yet... One of the reasons I so easily fell in love with worship was that I was raised very closely to it. My daddy was on a worship team for basically my entire life until he passed away. Even after he got sick, even after he'd been through multiple rounds of chemo, he still faithfully served. It was something we did together and it made it mean all that much more to me. I'll never forget the first time I went on to lead worship after he passed away; I nearly didn't make it to the stage. It caused me physical pain to be up there without him at least in the building. Or alive. It took my breath away, and for many months - years, really - there would be moments where I experienced that same overwhelming sense of loss. I'

One of these days I'm going to sit down to type out what's on my heart, and it's going to be the wittiest, most lighthearted piece of blogging literature you've ever read. Maybe. In my dreams anyway. Not today. A few months ago I was in my bible reading plan, and somehow managed to simultaneously hit on the story of Gideon (in the Old Testament) and the story of the father asking Jesus to heal his son (in the New Testament). I've read both of those passages over and over again over the years, but something about them being presented to me in the same day just jarred me to the core in the best way. I've wanted/needed to sit down and write this for awhile but haven't quite been able to get my words out. But today I'll lay it out as simply as I can, real, rather than perfect. So these two stories: In the Old Testament, Gideon was selected by God to lead a charge against an enemy. He was scared. He doubted himself, and I think maybe he was a little uncer

I've come to discover that the most frustrating thing in the world as a writer isn't necessarily a flat-out writer's block, but rather having a zillion words in your mind and the complete inability to get them down on paper. I can't tell you how many countless times this has happened to me in my book-writing journey. In my mind, I've practically finished, not just the book I'm currently working on, but the entire series! On paper? On my computer? I think I've succeeded in putting down maybe 25,000 words, tops? (For reference, I've found the best way for myself to make it through the editing process is to submit a manuscript that is between 85 and 100 thousand words.) So yeah, I'm not making much progress. And it is driving me insane! This year in our homeschooling, all three of my girls are at a charter school working with their teacher for a solid 3 hour block every single week. And at first I didn't even know what I was going to do with mysel

  This is my Olivia Jane. She's almost 10, and most of the time has more energy and excitement than a solid dozen of me. My sister-in-law and I used to say that she could be enthusiasm for hire. Sure, when we're in the middle of adding and subtracting fractions, or that dreaded long division, she's not necessarily that happiest of children, but let's be honest here, not many are at that point. ;) In general, though, this girl is the personification of " joie de vie,"  or "joy of life." Sometimes it's aggravating, but in general, it's inspiring. My incredibly talented sister-in-law shot this. You should check her out! www.crystellemariephotography.com Enter the "tween" years, and all the fun life lessons that come with them. All of the sudden, my sweet, happy, tender-hearted girl has discovered meanness. And don't get me wrong, I'm not only saying she's fallen victim to it, but she's also turned it around on o

There are many popular terms circulating these days describing friendship or a group of one's close friends - tribe, village, squad, and I'm sure several others that I'm not hip enough to know (or use - fam, anybody?). My preferred term these days is tribe. If you follow me on social media, you see it a lot. Ballet tribe. Mom tribe. Homeschool tribe. And you know why I like to use it? Because for me, it's the most accurate. When I think of the word "tribe," I think of a large group of people, some related by blood, but all related by location, purpose, and life itself. They work together to support each other, help each other succeed, celebrate wins, mourn losses, and laugh through the tears in the nitty gritty. They go to war together when something or someone is trying to invade one of their own, and together they fight (in whatever capacity they're able to) until it's over. This  is what tribe means to me, and this is why I've chosen it as my &q

Oh hey there, remember me? The one who keeps promising to be better at this blogging thing...but isn't? Well, I'm back. Again. And I'm going to try. Again. (Side note: my hubby has positively ruined  the term 'try' because he's a Star Wars freak and will continually quote Yoda if the girls or I say the word. If you don't know what I mean, I urge you to look it up. Warning though, you can't unsee it. Ugh.) Let's be honest here - I'm an author. Well, an aspiring author. Technically, a one-time, self-published, hoping-for-more, aspiring author. And this type of writing (blogging), which I feel like I'm supposed to working on is a lot different than the type of writing I'd like to be working on (fiction/novels). And it's way  more difficult. After all, if you read enough books - campy, trendy, thrilling, uber-formulaic novels or true classics - if you read enough, you can write a work of fiction. It might not be a NYT best seller, but