A New Perspective On Creativity

The word creative was not a word I ever considered when identifying myself. I am not spontaneous or easygoing, a talented artist, a musician, or a poet. Instead, I am structured, a planner, and an organizer of people and things. Yes, I had preconceived notions of what it looked like to be a creative person….

Continue Reading

When Life is Not Fine, and Finding Beauty Difficult.

“How are you doing?” she asked. “I’m fine,” I replied. But, I wasn’t fine, and afterward, I realized I was simply giving a standard answer. After all, as Shauna Niequist said, “I’ve been training all my life to pretend I’m fine.” In hindsight, I should have said, “Actually, I’m fine, but only if being fine…

Continue Reading

Learning to Live a Perfectly Imperfect Life.

The first house we owned was a 1950’s three-bedroom, one-bath, nine hundred square foot home that needed some love. And we loved that home for almost ten years. During the time we lived in that house, we replaced siding and windows, cemented a gravel driveway, and rebuilt the bathroom from the studs up. We did…

Continue Reading

Summer Planning, an Invitation to Remember How to Play.

While we have only now fully emerged into spring, I am already finding myself preparing for summer activities and making decisions about our schedules for fall. I’m not sure how we got here so quickly. When the boys were little, I loved planning for summers. I would make summer binders with printed calendars and space…

Continue Reading