A testimony. A resource. A memoir.

Not ashamed to admit that I am a creature of habit... find something I like? I'll go ahead and wear it out. Most cases, that takes a LONG time to happen. Insert my breakfast.... there have been a few modifications along the way, but since about 2017 you can pretty much guarantee that my first meal of the day will be some kind of scrambled egg hash. I love it. I love it. I love it. Honestly, lets go ahead and call it my brunch. I definitely don't want to eat when I first get up - I look forward to drinking my coffee super slow and then if my schedule allows, I make this around 10am most days.  Not a food blogger, so I'm not going to give you a really long step by step OR exact measurements of anything.... but, here is what I currently cannot quit! Heat Skillet at Medium, then add: 1 tsp Ghee 1 cup Pura Vida Fire Roasted Vegetables Mélange (I buy at Costco!) 1/2 cup fresh spinach 1 Trader Joes Chicken Breakfast Sausage OR Pederson's Bacon (bacon only on family breakfast d...

It is my friend Callie's fault, but now when I play tennis I start every game announcing the score at "Lovers"..... if I'm playing a friend they are used to it, but when I play a new opponent they always end up asking me about it - and sometimes even using it, too - by mid match. Callie also calls the score at 15-30 "Happy Hour".... won't lie, I've stolen that one too.  Tennis is such a happy place for me. I don't care if I am watching a match or playing a match - truly, the sport brings me a crazy amount of joy and I just wish everyone in the world has something, as trivial as this game, they love as much as I love it. Because it makes me just so happy - what a gift! I love it because you can start as young as you want, but man, the older you get this game seems to be like fine wine. Almost every time I'm playing on a court I'll look beside me to see players truly twice my age out there still swinging their racquet. Life-long sport... ye...

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so . This morning in my daily reading I was taken to Psalm 107. The Psalms have been such a blessing to me in so many seasons of my life, but specifically this year as I'm reading through the historical count of the Old Testament, I have been so encouraged by reading the Psalms right alongside. It is like a peek into the journal of those living through really weighty circumstances - we get to see their cry, their praise, their pleas, their emotion all poured out to God. It gives me great comfort to know that this is all found within Scripture... it means not only is it something to encourage and teach me, it is something welcomed before the heart of God. And boy have I poured my soul out in the good and bad for years and years and years.  I'm always looking for themes when I read and without question the STEADFAST LOVE of the Lord is one of the most pronounced themes in the book of Psalms. It is a cry to rejoice in it, a cry to thank Him for it...

Does your family share a "GIFT IDEAS" note? If you don't, you should.... it is actually quite genius in that every time one of us opens our mouth with an "I want _____" we immediately open up the note and add the link in. It is shared between BJ, myself, and all our parents. It is a life-saver come birthday and Christmas time, because I am constantly adding / editing specific things I know my kids want to receive.  Well, BJ is the biggest user of our shared list. I don't know who he thinks is buying him things, but almost daily I get a notification that he is in the note adding something. Yesterday my parents texted us to let us know they'd love for us to stop buying them tangible gifts - they want our words, they want our time, but they don't need us to give them "stuff"... to which BJ responded back with a link for a man-purse he wants them to buy him. No joke ;).  Well, Father's Day is coming up and if you need ideas.... here is the ...

THE OVER-SHARER SHARES AGAIN   For the very small handful of people who have asked, I’m answering to the masses (err, bigger handful). On February 1, I decided to take a social media fast. Our church was challenging us to a 21-day fast and I chose to fast not from food but from something else I had been looking to for satisfaction, delight or distraction. Here we are at the beginning of summer, and with the exception of popping on to facebook to check in with my business partners, I have found great freedom stepping away from social media (right now). Currently, I don’t have a plan to return, but I also know that I should never say never…. …Watch me pop right back in and eat crow in mere moments if I was to say I would be off of it forever. Honestly, social media has been a beautiful thing for me personally, and professionally, for well over a decade. It has allowed me to authentically and organically share my passions, ask my questions, get and give referrals, build and reconn...

Dorothy Grace "graduated" from preschool a week ago and I cannot really even believe it. I know that most of life has felt like we are in a weird time warp since 2020, but somehow, this feels crazy to me. Perhaps it is because she's my last baby. Perhaps it is because that's just it - in comparison to my "big" kids, she is still the littlest baby. Perhaps it is because I'm already dreading the speeding train at which life happens once we enter kindergarten. All I know is this: Dorothy Grace, you are magic. To have a front row seat to your life brings me more joy than I'll ever be able to put into words. You are funny, you are endearing, you are witty, you are creative, you are 5 going on 13. The saddest day of this past year was when we got you your first haircut. Yep, we made it to five, but mainly because your curls are what my mama dreams were made of. We had to cut about 6 inches off of your hair and when we did, your ringlets fell heavy an...

Okay, so admittedly I am not a blogger in the sense that I do not actually know what I am doing.... so friends, bear with me - humor me, maybe - as I attempt to simply put all of the amazing ideas that so many people shared with me when I asked about gifts for Tripp, my 9 year old son, this Christmas.  I'll start with this - there are the usual suspects that if they were recommended once, they were recommended a dozen times... and it would come as no surprise, I imagine, that they included all things Lego, Nerf and _______ boards.   But there we tons of other ideas that were honestly new, to me, and I would love to share them with you! I've put them in somewhat of a category... and linked them all! Let me know what you purchase or if you have other ideas to add to this awesome resource!  Hope this is a blessing to all us parents of boys, ages 8-13 , shopping this season! Gadgets Drone https://amzn.to/35PO3q0 Yoto Player https://amzn.to/2UKYWCT MP3 Player https://amzn...