I could tell by the way he walked from the bus to my house that the weight of the world was on my son’s shoulders. We had been navigating some pretty heavy things during this season. Just the stride of his walk set off alarms in my head that it was time to talk, really talk.

I feel like the hollow echo when entering a courtroom is unlike any other experience. Just getting there is crazy enough: you dress up, your heart is pounding, you frantically try to find the courthouse and find parking. Then your ears ring with the loud creak of the door as you open it and your heart races as you search the room to figure out what you are supposed to do.

Every Mother’s Day I think about forgiveness and the $2500 pebble a surgeon removed from my son’s right ear! Here’s why.

This afternoon I found myself glued to the television watching the film Saving Mr. Banks. I had originally viewed the movie the day it released in theaters in 2013. I’ll be honest. I’m a Mary Poppins fanatic. The television remote control will always find it, the movie album is perched on my closet shelf, and I’ve seen the Broadway play four times. I even own a Mary Poppins snow globe. Why?

Isn’t it interesting how over time we can start to think that sin isn’t really a big deal? It makes sense… spend 10 seconds online and you’ll find article after article not only celebrating sin but also those who applaud it. It’s becoming easier and easier to fall into the lie that since it isn’t really hurting anyone, sin must not be a big deal.

I’m one of those busy moms living a full life who decided to go back to college a few years ago. My brain felt a little sluggish and old, especially coming out of a season where the theme song of “Elmo’s World” lived rent free in my head.

Have you ever had someone try to hold you to a perfect standard that just wasn’t possible to attain? I am a terrible artist, and it would be like someone holding up the Mona Lisa to me and expecting me to paint a perfect copy. It’s impossible! But so often as women we find ourselves carrying the terrible burden of trying to live up to this crazy standard.

One of the toughest seasons of my life was the spring of 2019. My 16-year-old daughter had run away from home multiple times. I could see from her Instagram check-ins that she had been in Texas, Colorado, and just hours away from our home near Tulsa much of the three weeks she was gone. 

Middle school students are a different creature. It’s like they hatched from an alien planet. Your sweet, relatively normal child has morphed into a hormone-filled teenager who can be surly, cranky, full of attitude, and downright crazy.

I love when people ask me what my favorite chapter is in the Bible. Mainly because I love talking about it, but I also get great enjoyment out of watching people’s faces when they read the first sentence:

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”

This is something we all dread as parents: I found something on one of my boys’ phones that really bothered me. As I was jotting down some notes on my phone about how to handle this, I realized my process could be valuable to others.

The air is humid. The sun warms the sand as the water ebbs and flows. Movement begins slowly. Sand divots appear across the landscape. Then teeny tiny sea turtles desperately chip away at their shells, struggle out of their nests, and embark on the most important journey of their life.

Raising two boys has caused me to despise the word “good.” It seems as though any question I ask is often answered with that word. How was school? Good. How was church? Good. How was your sleepover? Good. It drives me bonkers! 

We all walk through seasons of dry times where we travel a dusty and weary land. We traipse across the barren landscape, parched and in need of some refreshing. We carry backpacks full of worry, disappointment, to-do lists, or weariness while searching for relief.

My name is Kelly and I suffer from “always-need-to-be-on-the-move”- itis. In laymen’s terms… I don’t sit well. I never really have. 

I WILL:
1. I will ask Santa for a vacation to the Bahamas…ALONE… and a nanny back home to take care of the kids and laundry.

Her future was decided. She was a young woman pledged to be married and preparing for the engagement time to be complete so she could begin her own family. Then her world was turned upside down with a few simple words.

Finding the light of Christmas can be such a challenge for single moms. We work hard to make beautiful Christmas memories for our children. We pour ourselves into making that happen, which can often make us feel exhausted and weary.

This has been a special year for Arise Single Moms as we’ve celebrated our 20 anniversary. We’ve highlighted this momentous marker by writing various blogs called “20 Things.” This month’s is one of my favorites. 

An upcoming wedding anniversary is another one of those pesky things in the life of a single mom that makes its way around whether we want it to or not. A date that just sort of causes a stir in your spirit.