When COVID Hit 👊🏼

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Isn’t it incredible to realize that one day, we will have to explain the COVID years to someone who didn’t live through it?! I think this will be particularly difficult for most of us. Processing any difficult event requires we revisit it when things begin to feel more normal. We loop back to think (or […]

How to Choose Art in Two Steps

Dad Leads the Way

I purchased my first original painting with my husband. Dale and I went on a very special shopping spree that day and purchased three paintings, two of sailboats and one of a schoolroom. We were newlyweds, decades from knowing we would one day become sailors and homeschool our children, but the paintings prophesied our passion. […]

Forgiveness in Friendship + Auction

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Read an inspiring story of a mother I know and begin to heal the friendships that matter most to you.

Don’t miss the big news about my FOUR painting auction starting now. Bid for one of these paintings this week!

Mercy from our Families

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My grandfather taught me how to signal across the room, a sign that all was well and that he loved me. A grin accompanied with a longer blink, subtle and yet clear as day. I doubt anyone else would have seen it. We had a family whistle, too, a way to find each other in […]

Back Porch Conversations

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When Dale and I first met, he was dating a woman in Canada and I was engaged to marry a guy in Virginia. Nevertheless, we found ourselves easy conversationalists despite our prejudices. Mine: 26?! Golly, he’s old. His: Her poor fiancé!  We were thrown together over lunch to meet and talk, just an afternoon. Or so we thought. […]

When God Paces You

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Last time, I wrote about how God opens up places of uniqueness, peace, and freedom. I want to talk more about each of these. These tell-tale marks of God’s Spirit. The Bible calls these fruits of the Spirit, evidence that this person has walked through seasons with God as their pace car. For the full […]

Who is Your Pace Car?

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I was a freshman in high school when I ran in my first track meet. I was in the second mile of the two-mile event when I noticed the school principal watching me and checking his stopwatch. At this point in the race, I was far behind or ahead of the front runners. I can’t […]

How Beauty Made Me Sober

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When I was in kindergarten, I remember seeing the janitor carrying a bundle of day old balloons. They didn’t look old to me at the time or my classmates. The entire class was lined up watching those balloons. In the janitor’s eyes, these balloons probably meant trash. But he must have seen the light in my eyes […]

Perfectionism and Art

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You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist . . . It was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas. — The War of Art,  Steven Pressfield All journeys of consequence begin with small steps. Creative work means fighting what Steven Pressfield calls […]

How Special Do You Need to Be

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“Codependency* has no respect for age, color, social standing, or sex.” Anne Wilson Schaef We had just finished a terrific sushi dinner in New York City. We were enjoying a double date with D and his wife who lived in New Jersey. D had helped us find a babysitter, so we could enjoy driving his […]