“It is the things that you cannot do anything about and the things that you cannot do anything with that do something with you.” – Richard Rohr  One time in a conversation about dress code–as we women tend to have–I felt completely out of place, not because I didn’t have fancy enough clothes or because I felt…

With gloved hands clenched around handlebars, I was surprised I hadn’t felt cold yet.  My riding partner and I were warmed by sunshine and conversation on this brisk morning. After realizing I needed to head home before her, I turned my tires north.  Only then did I realize what I couldn’t heading south.  The headwind…

On Sundays during the 30-day gratitude challenge the goal is simple rest.  I don’t want all of our gratitude muscles to get too taxed. 🙂 Day 19 Challenge: Use your camera or phone to notice something that brings a sense of gratitude. *This post is part of a 30-day gratitude challenge.  Subscribe via e-mail (on the…

Today I am thankful for my friend Matt’s writing.  My first memory of Matt was as a camper at Carol Joy Holling.  I remember rolling over with my junior-high head smushed into my bunk pillow, waking to my counselor–Matt–singing at the top of his lungs, “Oh what a beautiful morning!”  The thing was, he sang…

This is one of my favorite pictures.  Most of the grab-and-grin head shots I have don’t get at the me that I really want to be.  This one does.  A friend at the Nebraska Writing Project snapped it on a writing marathon stop at Heron Bay, a bizarre Bicyclist/Biker Bar outside of Springfield, Nebraska.  Something…

I trudged in the door with my over-filled suitcase in hand.  I didn’t realize it, but packing it so full on my way home from a conference in Dallas had forced my shampoo bottle to explode on my toothbrush. Yum.  Even after a good rinse. . . still yum. Anyway, I was glad to be…

“I shall accept that a messy house at peace is better than an immaculate house tied up in knots.” – Lisa Jo Baker This quote is #7 in Lisa Jo Baker’s Tired Mother’s Holiday Creed.  I clicked on this link yesterday, dreading the holiday rush, and as I read her words, I found myself fist…

The blue and white bracelet sat on our dining room table.  Sometimes it made me smile, and other times it made me nervous.  A visual reminder given for our friend, Sarah serving overseas, the bracelet would stop me in the middle of my normal–and remind me to give thanks and say a prayer.  Sarah’s deployment…

I stopped up short before grabbing the heavy black church door. “Wow, that looks like hard work,” I said to the men bundled up on a sunny-yet-chilly late October day.  As I zoomed in to drop something off at church–doing my normal, checking something off the list quick–I couldn’t help but stop and notice how…

On Sundays during the 30-day gratitude challenge the goal is simple rest.  I don’t want all of our gratitude muscles to get too taxed. 🙂 Day 12 Challenge: Use your camera or phone to notice something that brings a sense of gratitude. *This post is part of a 30-day gratitude challenge.  Subscribe via e-mail (on…