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A little writing update + moving to Substack

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 Hello dear friends, Today, I deviate from my typical stories and share a little writing update. I began this blog one year ago and it has been a joy. In my first post, I wrote this: “I humbly come before you with my words, honored you have chosen to read them. I pray they encourage and inspire you. I have no big plans here. No desire to monetize the blog, start a side business, or amass a following. Nothing other than the desire to have a creative outlet, hone my writing skills, and encourage friends and family.” These words are still 100% true. One of those desires gaining momentum in the back on my mind has been how to hone my writing skills.  Since the first time I submitted a poem on a whim to Commonplace by Daughters of Promise and shockingly had it accepted, I’ve had three additional pieces published in their tri-annual magazines. What a sweet thing to see my words and images printed alongside others in a publication I treasure. I’ve begun to think more deeply a...
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Shining Light || A poem

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       Five days after Hurricane Helene ripped through our yard, my husband went to the store to buy more chainsaw oil and returned with tulip and daffodil bulbs. “An act of resistance in the face of destruction,” he announced. One of the many reasons why I married this man. Hope would still push up through the soil of our patch of earth.      We would donate to organizations on the ground in WNC, reach out to neighbors, buy food to restock our local food panty, and pray for the devastation that followed the storm. All the while, we would hope. Hope for rescue, for miracles, for open doors to share about Jesus, for laughter, for redemption. As we sat in darkness without power for eight days, we would hope for light- physically and spiritually in our world. Interestingly, Helene means “shining light.”      I resisted despair by marveling at all the tiny creatures and parts of creation that were not destroyed- how did the zinnia petals and...
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Muddied hands || a poem

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  *This poem was inspired by a writing prompt from Exhale, an online community for mamas who love to create in the margins of motherhood. The prompt was to take a picture of someone and begin your piece with “I want to remember you this way.” I had just pulled out my camera to snap pictures of my kids playing in the mud and so this fit together perfectly.* I want to remember you this way muddied hands, messy bangs crouched and focused where from dirt and water imaginations bloom and fairy houses form. I want to remember you this way crooked front teeth, wide smile laughing and free where time is limitless and bordem begets creativity. I want to remember you this way sun-kissed freckles, sea blue eyes safe and held where gravity and love tether us as we sit beneath the trees.
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Let's Fly

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      I finally have a quiet moment in the house. All the kids are in their rooms for a nap or quiet play for the next hour, a blessed event indeed. A myriad of things I could/ need/ want to do tumble around in my mind.            Absentmindedly, I reach for a small butterfly field guide I recently purchased on a girls trip to the Smoky Mountains. Painting watercolor butterflies has been my creative attempt this summer and I figured I could practice with photos from this book.       A homemade bookmark from my son lays tucked inside from last night when I marked the next butterfly I wanted to paint. Bright orange with black lines, it’s boldness had caught my eye: the Gulf Fritillary.      Opening the book again, I glance at the photo on the following page with the below view of it’s wings where my breath catches. I know this butterfly . I hurry out to our sunporch where my framed photo of a b...
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Bucket Lists: on ambition, rare things, and faith

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           Carried along by ambitious tidal waves of the new year, I made a bucket list. Next to neat little squares to check off, I wrote down twenty items for 2024 in my bullet journal. Real life confession: It is May and I’ve completed one. Yes, you can laugh. I did when I just took a peek at the list. In my defense, many are seasonal and have yet to become options, one I attempted, but was canceled and therefore, is not my fault, and one is in the process of being completed.      They really are not outrageous things like “go to France!” or “run a marathon!” No, they are quite do-able things like go to the local art museum, run a 5K, finally make a recipe from Pieometry , or sew a skirt. What really ignited me as I stood at the precipice of a new year, was not only the excitement of a new year, but of the anticipation of the day after the new year. On January 2nd, my baby turned one which meant I was about to wean which meant I...
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