It’s Christmas morning in the early 2000s. Rainbow lights tucked between evergreen branches twinkle above me. Shredded gift wrap litters the floor like candy wrappers. Steven Curtis Chapman sings softly from our CD player. Out of nowhere, it strikes. A painful ping in my chest accompanied by an unwelcome thought. This will be over soon. […]

If you pay attention to enough stories, you’ll soon recognize that most of them are based on the oldest and best story of all. They tell us that the world is broken, people aren’t doing well, and they desperately need something or someone to fix their circumstances or save them. In the end, the hero […]

She awakes to a tiny wail. Disoriented, she makes her way to the nursery for the third time that night. After another sleepy feeding, she hears her other children begin to chatter in their rooms. They’ll want breakfast soon. Sipping her coffee in hopes it will wake her body and mind, she scrambles the last […]

I’m sprawled out on the floor beneath the Christmas tree. My hands are gripping the tree’s trunk, and if I move at all, our precious evergreen will fall completely over. Sappy water will stain the carpet, and every delicate ornament will break into a thousand pieces. Tears are streaming down my face and I’m trying […]

The bedroom doors of our farmhouse were fitted with vintage metal locks. Although they looked charming, they were a nuisance because you could lock and unlock the door from the inside of each room, but the only way to unlock the door from the outside was to put your hip into it. I mean really […]