We Dare
How dare we encourage children to play on the earth’s thin crust beneath which molten lava churns and cracked plates shift and trees—tacked down by roots like those belonging to rotten teeth—drop widowmaker branches upon the drive where my children
Holding on to Everlasting Hope
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest: The soul, uneasy, and confin’d from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come.” – Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Man” I came in from
My Child’s Grief Gave Me Permission to Feel
My six-year-old daughter wouldn’t touch the food on her plate. I asked what was wrong, but she shook her head. After clearing the table, I asked her to follow me back to our bedroom. Kindergarten can really wear her out, and
Life Between Hurricanes
When we arrived on Monday, Orange Beach had just reopened after the intense cleanup following Hurricane Sally. On Tuesday, the Alabama governor declared a mandatory tourist evacuation due to Hurricane Delta churning toward the coast. I was too busy digging for
$1.99 Flash Sale For My Bestselling Novel, How the Light Gets In!
Happy June, friends! I'm having a little downtime after folding laundry and before the baby (who just turned two!) wakes up from her nap to tell you that my newest novel, How the Light Gets In, is currently having a major
The Love Languages of Stomach Flu
Last Tuesday, I awoke at 11 p.m. and thought I might be sick. Swinging my legs over the bed was all the movement I needed to confirm the truth. I clamped a hand over my mouth and tried to run
Love Is Not Love . . .
On Saturday, imbibed with joie de vivre, which always comes with spring weather, I asked my husband for a hammer and some finishing nails. Our girls followed me around. The seven-year-old asked, "What're you doing?" "I'm about to revolutionize this house." "What
The Creek Bank of Life
Last Sunday, I took my middle daughter, almost four, to the creek near our house to look for arrowheads and fossils. We always make our girls wear water shoes in the creek, so they don’t cut their feet on the
My Rainbow Baby
On May 21, 2017, my three-year-old became my middle child. She has been an incredible big sister—never once showing jealousy toward our new arrival—but recently this transition has revealed itself in other ways. For 2.5 years, we have known our three-year-old
Mud Pits & Walls
Nursing my baby like clockwork at four a.m., I rested my head back against the glider and groggily thought how wonderful it would be to have a child born at two years old, so she could sleep twelve hours and