A few days ago I sat chatting with a friend about how strange grief is. She’d lost a child many years ago and we talked about how the hard days, the birthdays, the anniversaries, Christmas are hard but the hardest days are the ones that take you by surprise. On the big days, you dread…

As a teenager and young adult I thought of success as getting a good job, living in a big house and being someone important in my community. Basically, I thought I needed a lot of money and prestige to “make it.” Then real life came along. Vance decided to go back to school shortly after…

Just when I think I can’t… God reminds me that I don’t have to. He fights for me. So today I will raise a hallelujah. I will sing it at the top of my lungs.  “I’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm.  Louder and louder gonna hear my praises roar.  Up from the…

Widow. I keep seeing that word and thinking, “This is who I am now. I am a widow.” But then I think, “No. No way. I am too young for this. This cannot be true. Vance cannot really be gone. ” But I am apparently just the right age and this somehow is my reality.…

Over the last dozen or so years that I’ve had social media, I’ve used it differently at different times. I’ve been the oversharer, the political ranter, and the virtual garage saler. More recently I’ve moved to mostly using Facebook for school, church and community things and sharing less about my family and personal life. I…