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No Longer a Reflection: How My Adult Children Helped Me Ditch Legalism & Embrace Freedom
When our son was getting ready to graduate from high school, I asked him which senior photos he wanted on his announcement and party invite. In an effort to let this occasion be more about him instead of me, I intentionally set myself up for not caring what he chose. With exactly 199 photos to pick from, it shocked me how fast he chose his top three. And the one that went on the front of the announcement? Him in a bland, thrifted Nike sweatshirt with a ripped collar and stain on the front, a plain white T-shirt underneath, a backward hat, and none of his perfectly straight, expensive white…
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Mental Fitness: Decluttering Your Mind Today so You Can Organize Your Thoughts Tomorrow
Emotional well-being. Psychological resilience. Mental health. Call it what you want—the point is we all have a brain and therefore we all deal with mental fitness in one way or another. Unfortunately, some of us come from generations where counseling or therapy wasn’t just uncommon… it was looked down upon. As a result, we grew up with preconceived notions about the whole concept, some of which included shame, guilt, and fear. So what’s a human with pain points to do? Here are four things I’m working on that you can too. I’m far from mastering them, but I’m seeing progress. Hallelujah, amen, pass the guac. 1. Pray Seem too obvious…
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4 New Tips & Tricks I Learned from My First Out-of-State Decluttering & Organizing Job in Seattle This Week
If a client reached out and asked for decluttering and organizing help from two states away, you’d assume it would be virtual, right? Nope. Cue the airplane… she wanted my hands-on help, so I booked my first out-of-state job! With only a few weeks to spare, we discussed details and decided on a three-day window. I had a graduation up there anyway, so we split a flight and I bounced from a fun vacation to a fun job. Win squared! I had never decluttered and organized so intensely for three days in a row before, especially clocking 11 hours a day. It worked out great, but was eye-opening for sure. …
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Morning Has Broken Me: Why Early Peace & Quiet Usually Wins the Daily Struggle Over Sleeping In
As a kid in church, I always liked the tune of the old Christian song, “Morning has Broken,” but I never understood the lyrics. I broke a glass, my sister broke a bone, and a huge earthquake broke three jars of our jam. But how does the morning break? Now that I’m the size of an adult, I realize it’s more tied to breaking through something, like a surface or a barrier. The sun silently initiates “go-time” and morning has commenced. A light has risen. Something fresh. A new beauty. Psalm 5:3 says, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you and watch…
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3 Things I Learned About Myself While Saving Money in Vegas Last Week
When your husband signs you up for a free four-night, five-day trip in exchange for listening to a two-hour timeshare presentation, you pack your bags and go. If that sounds like a cringy-but-totally-worth-it trip, read on to see how we also saved tons of money on food and Ubers. But if you timidly opened this because you’re slightly horrified that two Christians even went to Las Vegas, this post is probably not for you. Feel free to close it, judge us quietly, and move on with your day. Haha. Just because it’s called the City of Sin doesn’t mean it’s a sin to go there. On the other hand, my…
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Firstborn Groom: The Failures & Successes of Organizing Our Son’s Wedding
The blur of our past few months was topped off with the most incredible wedding celebration between our son, Micah, and his new bride, Hannah. But before we could all walk down the aisle, the amount of mind-boggling details had to be put into motion. For a Type-A mom, a take-charge dad, and their firstborn son you’d think that would be fairly easy. Not so much. Here are a few things that went well, and a few things we’d do differently. 5 Months Out – They’re engaged! Take pics, call family and friends. Seems like an easy task, but the order in which you tell people makes a difference. A…
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Chronic Disappointment: 5 Ways Our Family Has Dealt with a Year of Long Covid Pain
This week marked one year. Also known as Long Haulers, this title is for people who still experience symptoms more than 4-12 weeks after being diagnosed with Covid-19. If we’d known our teenage son would go this far past three months of being sick, I’m pretty sure we would’ve bought stock in heat packs, ice packs, melatonin, back scratchers, electrolytes, muscle rub, and baby aspirin. Here are the five things we’ve done in order to deal with the never-ending pain and frustration. 1. Tests, Drugs, Pain Killers I gave western medicine a chance at the beginning for two reasons. One, to make sure our son Brock didn’t have anything life-threatening…
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Heart Attack vs. Acid Reflux: How Our Trip to the ER Taught Us the Difference and How To Be Prepared
After an hour and a half of sleep last Tuesday, I awoke to a gnarly feeling across my whole chest that grabbed both shoulders, clenched my ticker and wouldn’t let go. If that’s too manly of a description for ya, here’s a more feminine version: I felt a smidge of pressure around my décolleté with a petit side of warm fuzzies gently pushing on my heart. Any-way… the point is I couldn’t sleep. Back, side, front, other side—didn’t matter. I couldn’t get comfortable and the pain intensified so I finally got up. Within minutes I stood in our family room staring at my phone arguing with myself about whether or…
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5 Ways to Untangle Your Tinsel: Tackling Christmas Without Tackling Your Family
Ever found yourself stressed and annoyed at just the thought of getting ready for Christmas? I know—it can happen to anyone. Our culture tells us we can do it all but fails to equip us with the tools to get there. So when I catch myself thinking, “This year is going to be so much better than last!” I know high expectations are looming. Here are a few things I’ve started doing that help make this season a tad less hectic. Disclaimer: The way I created this list was by struggling with all five of these things. So don’t you dare think I have these mastered or even managed. I…
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My 4-Day Frustrating Forced Phone Fast: What I Learned in the Silence of Being Unplugged
Day: Saturday morning Location: Apple store Issue: Stripes on screen I stood on the curb at the quaint mall, 20 minutes before they opened, fifth in line. I hid my irritation around the nearby strangers, but inside I felt my nerves starting to get on each other. It’s fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s just stripes. A few stripes are fine. It’ll be fine, right? Oh my gosh—what if it’s not fine? “Hi. How can I help you?” I turned my phone in the man’s direction. “I have an issue.” “Ohhh, yes.” He tried to hide his best-guess diagnosis, but I knew he knew. My issue consisted of irregular…
