After the ISIS attack in Brussels, I looked at my students writing fairy tales about villains and heroes. I don't understand terrorism, but I know the heroes who will save us are sitting in my classroom right now.
Faith & Mental Health
From Wedding Day Joy to Divorce: How Love Changes and Grace Remains
Seven years after my Valentine's Day engagement, I'm helping friends navigate their own marriage struggles. Here's an honest look at how 'I do' became 'goodbye'—and how God's grace followed even my hardest choices.
When Paradise Taught Me to Live in Parentheses: Finding Grace Between Sunset and Praise
I lost myself in a Bahamas sunset and found myself in the parentheses of praise. Sometimes the most profound resolutions aren't about changing—they're about noticing the abstract beauty that's been there all along, waiting for us to stop and worship.
When God Books Your Cruise: A Lesson in Divine Timing
Our cruise was booked solid until a computer glitch got us on board at the last minute. Sometimes what looks like a missed opportunity is just God showing you that with Him, no ship has sailed.
Building New Traditions: When Fear and Hope Battle for Christmas
Charming helped me decorate my Christmas tree, creating our first shared tradition. But as magical as it felt, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sometimes hope itself is the scariest emotion.
When God Shows Up in Grammar Lessons: Finding Faith After Heartbreak
Teaching subject-verb agreement to teenagers taught me something unexpected about the rules of love, loss, and letting God back into a guarded heart.
Pulling Up Dying Impatiens: Why I Can’t Regret My Divorce
Replacing summer flowers with fall mums, I faced the hardest question: why did I choose divorce? Sometimes you have to pull up dying things to make room for God's chalkboard promise: "Behold, I make all things new."
Nicholas Sparks Made Me Cry at Fort Monroe—Still Waiting for That Movie Theater Promise
A stranger grabbed my hand after The Notebook and said, 'Love like that exists. God already has him picked out.' Ten years later, divorced and crying over another Sparks novel at the beach, I wonder why I gave her words so much weight. Maybe importing an Italian eighth cousin would be easier than praying about it.
From Dr. Bogin’s Couch to My Garden: How Tuesday Nights Saved My Life
Eighty Tuesday nights on my therapist's couch after my divorce, now twenty Tuesday nights writing on my porch. Same healing process, different love seat—but I finally crossed the bridge from death to life.
Grammy’s Morning Glories Opened at Dawn—My Evening Glories Bloom for First Dates
Kneeling in my garden with moonflower seeds, I became my grandmother thirty years later. The packet said 'evening glory,' and suddenly I was watching Grammy's morning glories from her kitchen window. Three days of rain made me lose faith in tiny seeds—but nature was just pre-soaking them the way I couldn't.
Writer's Growth 