Last year my friends and mentors asked me to be on their podcast (that just celebrated their one year anniversary!) We had such fun visiting and talking about God, the Old Testament and what it’s like to be a political wife during this season. But one of the first question Chrissie asked me about was how I started getting up so early for my quiet time. I shared with them, as I share here so often, that my alarm goes off every weekday morning at 5:30. Now, do I snooze a few ti

Sunday night we got home from a pool party and if I'm being honest, I was beat. Jeff was traveling, we had a packed weekend and I was just ready to curl up on the couch with my book. But it was Sunday night which means we now have school so there was still stuff to get ready. Lunches, backpacks, do we even have clean clothes? But I decided to say "whatever" and no matter how much I tried to convince myself to go ahead and do it, I just couldn't muster up the energy for it. So

No, really. I totally am. I cannot tell you how many times I've found myself in front of a refrigerator on a Tuesday afternoon at 4 wondering what I'm going to make for dinner. I haven't always been like this, y'all. I actually LOVE to cook - so much so that my maiden name was Cook! (It's as if I was born for the job, right?) But as much as I love cooking, I hate the battle of dinnertime. I hate saying "you have to eat three bites"and "stop making that face, just try it" and

I have sworn up and down my entire motherhood experience that I wouldn't be one of those moms who says things like, "it goes by so fast!" or "you'll blink and they'll be going off to kindergarten". I'm sorry if you are one of those moms, but let's just be real here - maybe sometimes it's best to keep these thoughts to yourself. (Especially when there's a mom clearly struggling to peel her toddler off of the floor at Target. Not that I know any of this from experience, y'all).

For several months, maybe even a year, I felt a prompting to take a break from social media. I’ve argued with God over this because, frankly, I have a love/hate relationship with it. It’s like the boyfriend that doesn’t treat you well but you keep going back because he has the ability to make you feel inordinately special too! But for a while, the hate part of the relationship had been consuming my heart. Despite all my best efforts, my thoughts would dwell on the posts that

It might seem silly, but I actually am incredibly saddened to lose my beloved space of nearly four years. It has been home to my most grand dreams and also the most failed ideas. It has cultivated my love of painting, it was the place I felt the Lord lead me to write words and dare to dream bigger. This space saw me through a season of wilderness, provided comfort to my late night painting sessions during the lonely periods of session and gave my children a space to create wi

Shop Sign Here Well, summer is here and there is nothing like those loosey goosey days to get your kiddos all out of whack, am I right? I sat down early last week to determine what I need to make the MOST out of summer, having the MOST fun but also not going crazy in the process!!! Here are my tips (to myself) for one successful summer! MAKE A PLAN One of the worst things to hear in the summer time from my kids is “Mom, I’m bored!!!” Or how about “what are we going to do to

Yesterday was the sweetest, most emotional mother’s day I have had in a long while. We dealt with four complete (and PUBLIC) meltdowns all before lunch. I had definitely not had enough coffee for that, y’all. By the time we sat down in Sunday School, my nerves were shot and I was already on the verge of tears. Then a precious mother, a season ahead of us, delivered a message of God’s faithfulness in her children’s lives. She shared about not being perfect, but being a mothe

I told one of my girlfriends when session started this year that it was going to be my goal to do one “fun mom” thing a week. One. I know that sounds totally, but any mom understands that your energy is easily drained almost all of the time. There are just simply some days where even when you have the groceries and the supplies and the actual time, getting dinner on the table feels absolutely daunting. That is fact, y'all. But what if I tried to thrive not just survive? What

To say that I am in give-up-mode this time of year would quite literally be the overstatement of the year, y'all. As the number of our goodbyes with Jeff grow fewer, we can feel summertime at our fingertips! Last week was the most unproductive week, leaving me feeling completely bummed out but also overwhelmed for this week. I showed up to my nephew’s two year old birthday party without a gift - and not only did I not bring one, but it didn’t even cross my mind to bring one u

With Jeff being in session, there are many times where I feel overwhelmed by the duties of the day ahead of me. Making meals, doing homework, running carpool, giving baths and - let's face it - just keeping these little people alive in general. So this year I have tried to implement a few changes that simplify everything for me, keeping me on task - or at least close to it. 1. A Load a Day After I had Charlotte, I found that one more small person brings a lot more laundry and