The year I was born, my name landed at 20 on the girls “Top Baby Names” list. For the decade overall, it came in at 23. It’s no surprise...

I love choosing a word of the year; it helps me be intentional about a focus for the year and is a simple way to keep myself on track. I...

I love real Christmas trees–the fresh, piney scent, walking through rows of them, lined up at the Christmas tree farm, waiting to be...

In honor of Halloween, something a little different on the blog today. Read on for a spooky story... if you dare! A flash of light blinks...

The bookbags are packed. The first day of school chalkboards are ready. The alarms are set. Tomorrow morning, it's back to school. But...

I settle into my hot pink desk chair, a mug of hot coffee in my hands, and gaze out the window. Below me, tracing the sidewalk in front...

Obsessively track vaccine information. Sign up for all “leftover dose” opportunities to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Abandon...

We are limping to the end of this crazy school year, where I have done all the things from our kitchen: supervised virtual first grade,...

Most of the last year has faded into an indistinguishable blur—day after day, we do the same things. One virtual school day blends into...

She hears footsteps above and pauses, trying to tell which of her children are awake. Throwing the blanket off her lap and pushing her...

The Girl from Berlin is a World War II perspective you don’t come across often in historical fiction. The book is told in popular style...

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked. “No,” she answered. The football game ended and as the parking lot emptied, they danced. He knelt...

I don’t leave the house much these days. And when I do, it seems like I always find myself sitting in one parking lot or another. So if...

I tend to be fairly predictable, an enneagram 9 who typically stays calm and is good at thinking on my feet. I take in all the...

“When the World Stood Still” by Kate Eastham is a riveting story of the 1918 flu pandemic in London, and timely as we battle our own...

In person school. Hospitals with available beds. The peaceful transfer of power at the end of a presidential term. Three things I took so...

We made it! 2020 is over and 2021 is here. 2020 was a lot. It not the year we expected. It was full of surprises and cancelled plans and...

I was the kid hiding a book under my desk at school, trying to read instead of listening to the math lesson. I used my daily piano...

The thrill of hope The weary world rejoices I see the lyrics in devotional emails and on social media and blog posts. I write them on two...

When you blew out the candles on your first birthday cake last year, we had no idea what your second year would hold. It’s been quite a...