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When we chose to name him Ryan, it was a name I had loved beyond the course of my pregnancy. Writing it constantly on a paper practicing each stroke.
Ryan was a sweet and quiet little man. Please and thank you was a part of every sentence he spoke. He was my partner in all things reading, play-doh and Nintendo. Loved the movies Aladdin, Jungle Book and Fern Gully. His favorite book was “If you...

Decorating for Christmas has always been a favorite for me, since the kids were really young, to surprising them when they returned from school, and after 30 years of accumulating gifts, creating crafts and hand picking my favorites, looking back, I love all the stories they have to tell.
Each year I haul up the many totes filled with holiday decorations, a workout in itself, place them on the...

“Sometimes our vision clears only after our eyes are washed away with tears ~unknown
As I step into the surge of water cascading from the wall, the angry stream scolds my face while I allow the anguish to cauterize me. Squeezing my eyes closed, I remain there, as if surrendering will wash away the hurt. Permitting the painful, yet soothing water to sting at my expression, while I muddle through...

 
She Let Go
by Reverend Safire Rose
She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of the fear. 
She let go of the judgments. 
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head. 
She let go of the committee of indecision within her. 
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t...

When the opportunity arose to attend a retreat with 34 women I had never met it was one of the few times where I believed more in the promise of hope then the dread of fear, and decided to leap.
Knowing there was a cushion of months before having to follow through, it was often easy to say yes as I looked towards a future plan, but somehow, with this adventure, I still felt courage drawing me in.
The...

There are times when I am overwhelmed with grief, with the loss that has occurred in my life, leaving a scar that will never heal…
On September 17, 2003 my brother Joe died in surgery when they were trying to repair an aneurysm in the back of his brain. And even though twelve years have gone by, I can still remember it like yesterday.
The house was quiet with Joel and Zach off camping and Chelsea...

I love the quiet of the mornings...
With coffee in hand I find a quiet place and listen. Exploring the peaceful daybreak I observe the familiar sounds echoing throughout the house. The furnace quiets and the house creaks in its absence, nature awakens around me with the promise of dawns approach, birds already busy singing sweet songs of hope.
I am refreshed by the blaze of orange bursting through...

Scars show us where we have been, they do not dictate where we are going ~ David Rossi
She was nearly ready when I entered the house, shuffling through her make-up case as she fended off her frustration in a search of missing items. I gathered the pieces I noticed on the floor and handed them to her and she laughed in the way only Deb can as she continued to get ready.
Although I was grateful that...

To get through a hard journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping...

Learning to begin again
“Sometimes we get so focused on the difficulty of our climb that we lose sight of being grateful for simply having a mountain to climb.” Oprah
Often we begrudge change, especially from circumstances we did not choose. But the truth is, change is often our greatest teacher, always promoting the growth we would have otherwise avoided. Change will inspire the confidence needed...