STAY, in the Breath

letters from a writer & photographer's journey

Believing Lies & The Way Out

Yeah that photo is blurry on purpose. Kinda like my head. I recently felt very clear-headedly that I should delete all my social media accounts and this blog. At least I thought it was clear-headed.

I reasoned that my extreme need for growth was inhibited by a sense of having to stay-the-same in these places. I needed to stretch, but for a little while, I forgot how.

Dear Mom Who Needs Rest (OR: How to be a Super Mom)

I’ve got a whole lot of hurting hearts on my heart as I write today. People with grief I don’t know how to touch are on my mind. People who find resonance in Jeremiah’s words when he said, “I wish I hadn’t even been born.” I’m praying and I’m wondering what can be done. I’m praying for that illuminating moment we all need from time to time, that hand beyond.. Read More

I Choose Joy Because God

It’s what the children know without an explanation or need for one. It’s what they don’t know too and why they need me to know it. Joy is a choice. The often cited “research” results that children laugh 400 times a day compared to the 17.5 times of an adult has been revealed as an urban myth. However, as a mom to several young children I can vouch that there.. Read More

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…

From Choking to Song

The laboring woman knows how the pain comes in waves. She knows the transcendent way they wash over—wash through—her. She knows they bear tidings of gift and soon the gift itself. Yet the way they come! Such tumult at times that stirs the blood to one of two things: Wild trust or wild fear. Two, so same and so different all at once, it could make us wonder how both.. Read More

Glimpses—For Us

From exploring Corbin, KY (Cumberland Falls) to driving through the Appalachians in TN (Cherokee, Pisgah, and Great Smoky Mountains National Forests) to NC to exploring the wonder of the OCEAN on the Atlantic coast of South Carolina to exploring Charlotte, NC “the Queen City” (that WOW reminded me of Overland Park, KS) to a quick overnight in Knoxville, TN so that we could go exploring Big South Fork National River.. Read More

All I Gotta Do

All I gotta do is share publicly about my prayer life to be driven to my knees. All I gotta do is talk about my kids’ relationships with each other to begin to feel desparate that they’ll never talk to each other once grown. All I gotta do is try and I’ll be sure to face a challenge. It’d be easier not to but, “You must do the thing you.. Read More

To Dwell: A Prayer

“The essence of a thing is always elusive, hidden. The dream of art and prayer is to come nearer, even to slip through to dwell for awhile…” ~ John O’Donohue, Beauty the Invisible Embrace