Welcome, dear reader!

Please come and take a virtual seat on the front porch of our double-wide.

My husband, Mark, built this porch. Isn’t it grand?!

You, yes, you are very welcome here.

Sit long, talk much…you are safe.

One of our four kids is bound to come running out the front door and offer you a drink of your choice.

Order your favorite one and let us love on you.

While you sip on your cold–or hot–beverage, let me give you a tiny glimpse into my heart.

 

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I believe in words.

Some people see the world through the lens of colors, shapes, and creative design. Some people (like my ADORABLE husband) see the world through numbers, percentages, angles, and algorithms. Me… I see the world through words. Words everywhere, in every situation, for every person. There is a wonderfully precise word that fits each second of every hour, each hour of every day.

It is important that you know right here at the beginning, I believe in the power of a well placed expletive.

My mama taught me that.

I believe in family.

I am the wife of my very best friend.

October 6th, 2001 was the first day we went to the battle field and the war zone as a married unit:

Selfishness is our enemy.

Love is our battle cry.

Grace is our strategic plan, and forgiveness is our ally.

I believe love starts here, in our home.

We tell our kids on a regular basis, “When we (mom and dad) are dead and gone, THIS family is all you will have left. Make it work!”

Morbid? Maybe. True? Absolutely!

Love starts here, in our home. If our children cannot show each other even one second (which sometimes is all they can muster up) of kindness, compassion, forgiveness and love, there is zero point in sending them out into the world.

LOVE STARTS HERE!

I believe good food and good wine have the ability to heal.

I believe in the absolute necessity of a dinner table full of all the people we love.

I believe in laughing until my gut aches.

I believe in leaders who limp.

I believe in sitting in uncomfortable places with people long enough to be stained by their pain.

I believe trauma, grief and loss alter our hearts forever.

I believe in honesty.

I believe in messy, undone, broken, beat up, and left for dead people. I am one of them.

I believe in counseling. Seriously. Real, professional counseling for all the people fore-mentioned.

Well really, I believe in counseling for ALL the people.

I believe in my sweet, merciful Savior; Jesus.

I believe He is in the business of redeeming lives, repaving roads and refining a people for Himself.

I believe He is good, always good.

I believe He meets us right where we are and woos us tenderly.

I believe I would be desperate, dry and dead without the Holy Spirit who breathes life into my soul.

I believe I am nothing without Jesus. He is everything to me.

 

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These thoughts are merely glimpses into my heart. I hope you will stay around as I write about the seemingly-mundane stories that billow out of my life, from my soul, and off of the double-wide porch.

We laugh a lot here. We cry a lot, too.

We stumble together as we navigate this giant journey of joy and pain called life.

Thanks for coming over!

Sit long, talk much.