Month: May 2024

  • Do One Thing That Scares You

    Hello and happy Thursday, tender friends! Remember the life advice “Do one thing every day that scares you?” It’s been a long time since I’ve attempted to push myself out of my comfort zone with such regularity, but I wanted to at least try to do it sometimes if not every day. I’ve wanted to…

  • God’s Gifts

    Hello, and Happy Memorial Day, tender friends! As you head out to your barbecues or other celebrations while we wait out the rain here in Virginia, I wanted to share this moment of gratitude. I had one of those moments this weekend. Those moments that make you ask, “Why God, why do I get all…

  • Kale Chips With a Twist

    Hello, tender friends! I LOVE kale chips. When people act like eating healthy is a burden, it’s because they’re doing it wrong. But I have a little secret: we didn’t have enough kale for me to make a batch of exclusive kale chips when we harvested our first round of kale from the garden, so…

  • Go Big or Go Home-speech

    Hello tender friends! This is a speech I gave last week at my public speaking group. It covers the same time period as a speech I shared before- when I studied abroad in 2007 in Valencia, Spain my junior year of college. Here goes:  If you’ve ever lived abroad, you know that everything has the…

  • Choose How You Show Up

    Hello, tender friends! In the spirit of choosing how I show up, I decided to dress up in a nice shirt for a work function even though it wasn’t necessary. I had almost 3 hours of driving round trip that day, and I was determined to make it a treat for myself. It worked. Making…

  • Mother’s Day Mini Adventure

    Hello, and happy belated mother’s day, tender friends! I hope your celebration was as fun as mine! We had a family mini adventure that I’d been pondering for a while. After church, we headed to a grist mill (you can see the turbine outside the mill in the background). We walked around “town” (population 139…

  • Write Yourself Well

    Hello, tender friends! Here’s my literary confession: I had a fantasy for over 2 years about writing a book with the same title as this blog post. During the most traumatic times of my life in the past, I completely ceased all writing, even journal writing. With the traumatizing situation going on with my family…

  • How to Measure Health

    Hello, tender friends! This little buddyy had his 4-year-old wellness check up this past week. They checked his height and weight, but fortunately didn’t see any problem with it. The doctor I took him to last year actually suggested that I feed him white sugar and ice cream to increase his weight. Thankfully, this doctor…