The other day, I was at a baby shower for my precious friend, Catherine. I met Catherine through work about five or so years ago. I was an Admissions Counselor and she was my go to Financial Aid Advisor for students. I could always count on her to make sure things did not slip through the cracks. Early on, much … Read More
Operation Baby Rescue
I want to introduce you to a little girl that I met three years ago this month in Kenya. She was about six years old. Honestly, I don’t even know her name. I do know a little bit of her story, though. When we arrived at the Lunga village (which translates as “upside down village”), I got out my tiny … Read More
Why You Should Kick The Bucket List
30 is fast approaching for me. I don’t particularly like that piece of truth. But it’s there, hovering over me like news of an impending hurricane. The past year, I’ve been doing everything I can to protect myself from this storm of a number. I’ve bolted my shutters closed, laid my rain boots out to jump into when both wind … Read More
How To Be More Interesting
I feel like I was a slacker in the reading department during 2013. In hindsight, I realize I started off rip-roaring through a lengthy biography on Daniel Boone, an awesome memoir by one of my former professors called, “Booked,” a Johnny Cash book, and a Dickens’ classic I had started a few months earlier. As a slow reader, I set … Read More
For My First 31 Days of 2014
I feel kind of silly putting this out there. But honestly, I need accountability. Fighters fight and writers write. But sometimes, we writers get stunted, scared, stalled, stagnant, and stuck. What if I fail? What if I never get published? What if everyone thinks I’m just a fraud proclaiming myself as a writer? What if no one reads my book? … Read More
Noise Canceling Headphones for the New Year
I’m surrounded by voices inside and outside of my head. You are too. Sometimes it gets so noisy, the roars of discord make me want to just give up. I bet you’ve felt that way too. These voices just about drown a person who is attempting to doggy paddle to shore, because they can’t seem to get there for the … Read More
Immanuel: Born Into Our World{s}
My favorite past time in the whole world is traveling. While I do believe it’s a small world after all, it’s also a very intricate globe that spins on the axis of time. Like a microchip in a computer holds so much information, so Planet Earth does in the Universe. When I can’t travel myself, I enjoy living vicariously through … Read More
Snowflakes Upon the Royal Coat of Arms
Immanuel. God with us. ….wikki wikka…Hold up…we have a remix going on here. I couldn’t even go any further with writing this because He just showed up. You should have seen the wintery night sky He just lit up with the most unusual lighting scheme, bringing deep blues, golds, and oranges to our attention. My husband and I nearly … Read More
Adding Gifts of Hope to Your Christmas Shopping List
If you haven’t been to Africa and are physically able to go, you should. It will change your life for better and worse. Meeting souls housed in bodies marked by suffering who have so few resources but give more than any proportion you ever have will make you feel worse about yourself than you ever have in your entire life. … Read More
People Just Don’t Get It. But Immanuel Does.
Ever have one of those flustered days, weeks, months, years, or even what seems to be a life time of harried moments strung together by frayed nerves? Maybe it’s just me, but when I get in a tizzy, it often feels like no one “gets” why. Sometimes it’s unreasonable to expect people to be sensitive because they have no idea … Read More