Welcome!

I can’t help but write the real. I believe in the power of personal stories to tell a greater story. I also believe in the freedom that comes when you “receive your own life.”

I write as a Christian woman who grew up in a pastor’s home yet sometimes struggled to believe.

I write as a devoted wife who’s a hopeless romantic but knows marriage is the hardest gig of all.

I write as an adoring mom who loves my kids even if I sometimes want to kick motherhood to the curb.

I’m a former academic, recovering homeschool mom, and lifelong Believer who still wrestles with doubt.

Real life is full of irony, isn’t it? It’s also full of redemption, something I celebrate with every post I write and every story I tell.

Writing the Real?

Whether motherhood has you in the valley defeat or an Evil Light Fixture has conspired to ruin your life, you’ll always find the same theme here — how the epic and the everyday frustrations are tinged with hope.

I invite you to receive your own life. Not the life you wish you had but the real life you’re actually living today.

I write so that all of us who show up here might receive the honesty, heartache, and hilarity of the right-now even as we wait with hope. Together, let’s reimagine what’s right in front of us.

Possibility extends her hand to you.

And so do I.

Still curious? Start here for a sample of what you’ll find here.

That’s the stuff you really need to know. But if you’re a backstory junkie like me, you can keep reading.

My Former Life

I used to be a history professor, specializing in the American South and African American history. I also served as a curator / guide for a local historic site. My former life feels like a long time ago but I’m still fascinated by the past and the way it intersects with the present.

In 2007, I traded my college classroom for five years of homeschooling my own kids around the kitchen table. These days the kids are in public school. You can read more about that here. We’re not for one way of doing school over another. There’s no right formula, though I wish there was. I’ve written about our journey toward finding grace and freedom in our educational choices because this is an issue that has many parents bound up and I don’t think we have to be.

My Current Life

I’m a wife, mom, writer, and part-time communications director for a local non-profit.

I’ve been writing on the internet since 2007 and in scattered journals since adolescence. My first “published” work was a collection of poems in 1983, complete with stitched binding and a wallpapered book jacket. I have since moved beyond 5th-grade Haiku and for that we can all be thankful.

I’ve been married to my college boyfriend since 1995. We’re parents to three kids — a high school daughter who looks like him, a middle school son who looks like me, and a elementary school son who looks like all of us.

I love SO MANY THINGS but here’s a current list of faves: my family, thrift stores, personality tests, houses, coffee, screen porches, the perfect beverage, struggling kids in my community, making anything pretty, Netflix, books, quiet, and the relentless love of Jesus. Not necessarily in that order but I make no claims about consistent righteousness.

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Blog series I’ve written on specific topics:

Soulful encouragement + real-life tips for living your ordinary life with extraordinary purpose

Because making space for our hoped-for work when there are sheets to wash and kids to raise and a real job to show up for takes creative strategy and courage. I wrote this series because I don’t think the answers are as “all or nothing” as we assume. There’s hope in the messy middle.

A series I wish someone had handed me years ago as an anxious mom overwhelmed by the many different educational options we have for our children. If you’re struggling too or simply want a balanced, grace-filled approach, this series is for you.

A four-part series as you establish rhythms for yourself and your family during new beginnings — whether it’s a new year, a new school start, or just a season when you need to begin again. Again.

A Time for Everything: A Series About Rest, Opportunity Cost, and Margin

A 31-day series in which I give you permission to let go of expectation and embrace your real life. From motherhood and marriage to home and avoiding mom-jeans, this fun and soulful series is about how being our real, authentic, God-created selves translates into everyday life.

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