A Little Isabelle in Mark’s Life

Mark loves to name the family member in several pictures that hang in our stairwell. He typically babbles, “Mommy, Daddy, Mark, A-belle” with a huge grin on his face while pointing to each person in the picture. “A-belle” is his...

The Strength of a Mother

Mark began the week abruptly with a messy diaper, wet pajamas, and a full-blown tantrum. I sat straight up in bed rubbing the sleep off my eyes as I stared at the clock. Of course he wanted to wake up...

Children’s Book Review: “Thank You, God”

I periodically see “#firstworldproblem” floating around social media. Typically the author is stating some problem that would seem ridiculously unimportant and trivial in a third-world country. For example, one person wrote in frustration that they forgot to charge their Apple...

My Husband Should Be Canonized

The last two weeks, a freak pre-summer plague descended upon my homeroom. Within a couple of days, seven kids were out sick, most with fevers. A dozen more were coughing up a storm in my classroom. This is not a...

Love, Marriage, and the Media

A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to interview dozens of people for a video we were creating for our youth group. The question that I posed was simple, “What is love?” The answers were fascinating. Some people...

A lot of Reasons to Smile

As luck would have it, my first afternoon duty of February was scheduled for another rainy day.  As the clouds rolled in and spewed thousands of rain drops, I shook my head.  “Seriously?” I thought to myself.  As the wind...

Six Unexpected Months

During my pregnancy with Isabelle, we attempted to prepare for the craziness that would come with having a baby in the house. Additionally, we began to prepare for the idea that it would never be just the two of us...