STAY, in the Breath

letters from a writer & photographer's journey

The Liminal Space of a Woman with Child

When you transition from knowing your own writing voice only within the confines of personal journal pages and letters to family and friends out into the public domain, you wonder what it will be like. I’m only a couple of years into this experiment and here’s what it is like for me: freedom.

I’d written an article or two over the years that reached beyond my personal sphere but nothing like this last year. It feels vulnerable too, but that feeling pales in comparison to the joy of finding my walking legs after the work of crawling. The sense of freedom only enlarges when…

Not Alone, Together

My soul is more deeply stirred by this season of falling leaves than it ever has been. How do we all wake and breathe and walk and live and move through this wonderland without knowing? Knowing our not-aloneness seems mountain spring clear to me today, but why? I can tell you.

A Choice: A Prayer

It was the middle of the night. One of the little one’s had a potty accident. Walking and working with my eyes barely slit open, I had this hope that if I didn’t open them any further, somehow, that would make them easier to close again just as soon as I could get my head back to my pillow. I didn’t want any big thoughts here, just: get it done, go back to sleep. Sometimes it works, but not this night…

An Artist’s Leap, Or Fail?

Five years ago, we lost: job, home, baby and for almost a year and a half—each other. My husband needed work and no one in his industry was hiring close to home. He took a job out-of-state, we put a sign in the front yard and started off on our new adventure, with five kids in tow. But renting in one state and owning a house that would not sell in another didn’t work long term, it hit its limits.

So, Jay stayed where the work was, to provide for us financially, and the kids and I went back to our old house, one state and a million miles away. I made a deal with Jay…

Celebrating with a Give-Away!

  Empty hands, or only a few loaves, and fish, a little oil, a grasping, flailing hope to touch the hem of his garment in the midst of long suffering…He makes it enough. It is not our thing-nesses that we can bring, it is not our own enough-ness that makes it work. It is faithfulness that says “here’s what I’ve got”, and “here’s what I don’t got”, but I press.. Read More

It’s here! (With a give-away to celebrate)

It’s here! The hush of the evening after a brimming-with-life day aaaand!! the second edition of my first book came in the mail! I didn’t say much about it this summer. There’s been so much happening and much to learn I hardly knew where to begin, but I’m excited to unpack a little at a time this journey, tell you more about what I’ve been learning and all the good.. Read More