House on the Rock

[Disclaimer: This post is an up-to-date revision of last year’s anniversary reflection, Joe Stepped In: A Tribute to my Husband. I recommend reading this one:)] The anniversary post I typed on this day in 2023… Read more

I’m up before dawn on a Sunday in May — one week away from the now-dreaded day when many in our midst will don floral dresses and pick up a bouquet on their way to… Read more

The mechanized whir of a coffee bean grinder roared through the Starbucks lounge as my friend leaned in, eyes watery and full of compassion. Her hands encircled a steaming espresso, her voice barely above a… Read more

Welcome to friendship in your late twenties — the roaring, soaring, tears-pouring twenties. It seems the easy days of community we created in college are behind us. Walking with each other through hard tests and… Read more

Mom, I wanted to write to tell you that I’m a mom now, too. And I never thought I would have to walk this journey without you, but it’s happening — it’s here. He’s here.… Read more

I was struck this year by the bookends of life. In the past fifteen months, I have watched my mom’s final breaths on this earth while anxiously awaiting my son’s first. I’ve drawn up the… Read more

Of all the lyrics on my 20-hour labor playlist, there’s a line from a Hillary Scott song that rings most resonant in my mind — Sometimes I gotta stop, remember that You’re God and I… Read more

It was a blustery Upland February in 2018. Little college-freshman Cali sat in the padded dorm chair of Bergwall Hall desperate to process everything that had just happened on a life-changing study abroad excursion throughout… Read more

Christmas has come and gone in a whirlwind of candlelight services, peanut butter kiss cookies, and sweet together time as a family. While it was technically our second Christmas without Mom, in some ways it… Read more