October 17 marks the 10-year anniversary of my family’s arrival in Arizona, and I wanted to share the story about our leap of faith that led us here. In the fall of 2008, my husband and I faced a difficult decision. The recession had detrimentally affected both of our jobs. At the time, I was part of a dedicated team at my employer, serving a specific client — Lehman Brothers. Collin was working part-time in the evenings for a local... Read more
As I wrote a few days ago, my son turned five years old on October 7. Two weeks prior, I created birthday party invitations for all twelve of his preschool classmates. The next day, when I dropped my son off at preschool, I asked his teachers to put one in each child’s take-home folder. On the invitation, I asked parents to RSVP by October 5. By October 5, only four parents had RSVPed — three said yes, one said no.... Read more
My littlest boy, Peter David, turns five on Sunday. He came into this world in a great big hurry — my shortest labor to date, 90 minutes start to finish — and was very nearly born in the front seat of our minivan. Thankfully, we made it to the hospital just in the nick of time. He was also my biggest baby, weighing in at a whopping 9lbs, 0oz. My Peter was unique from all of my other babies in... Read more
My book manuscript was due October 1, and I sent it to my publisher at 11 PM on Sunday night. (Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?) This project has been at the forefront of my mind since April, and it’s pretty much consumed my life since the beginning of August. For the last two months (except Labor Day weekend, when my husband and I went to Disneyland for our 17th wedding anniversary), I’ve been leaving the house every... Read more
Pro-life site LifeNews published a piece this morning accusing “George Sorors” of spending $246 million to smear SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Curious, I clicked on their link. And I was subsequently disappointed. They linked to a report from the Media Research Center stating that “100 of the 544 Women’s March partners received a total of $246,637,217 from Soros between 2000 and 2014.” Not 2018. They also discussed additional donations Soros had made to other left-wing groups in the past. Let... Read more
It is a really tough time to be an employee of the Church right now, and I don’t blame those who may want to leave their job and find another. It’s a scary position to be in if you are worried that a flood of lawsuits may put your job in jeopardy. My heart also breaks for all the laypeople who have essentially been caught in the crossfire between angry laity and panicking clergy. There have been a few good... Read more
I’ve been really disturbed by what I’ve been seeing on social media lately regarding victims of sexual assault. I’m concerned about the allegation against SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and I’m utterly appalled by this tweet by the President (as well as the fact that over 72k people “liked” it as of this writing): I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement... Read more
Please note: This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here. I’m writing this review of Haley Stewart’s new book, “The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture” at the small park and splash pad/skate park near my home. I hadn’t intended to write this on my phone, but the moment my kids arrived home from school today (9/13), they begged me to take them to the park. It’s still over... Read more
My husband, Collin, and I had been married for exactly 11 days. We were living in a small one-bedroom apartment in Minneapolis, MN, where I was a student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Collin worked as a contractor for a local IT company. I remember my alarm, set to a local radio station, going off… I can’t remember the time but I think it was around 7:30am. The only thing I heard before I hit the snooze button... Read more
Please note: This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here. I originally read Rebecca Frech’s newest book, “Can We Be Friends?” this past May. I reread it this past week in preparation for this review, and it was just as good the second time around! This book is basically a handbook about friends and friendship for shy, socially awkward introverts (although I think extroverts can get a lot out of it, too!). Frech discusses the... Read more
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