by Anna | Nov 14, 2016 | lifeblog
Last week our youngest child turned one. Her first year has been one of transition, change and interruption. It’s been late nights and early mornings, dust and dishes, moving boxes and figuring out a new normal. Which kind of never came, besides regular crazy...
by Anna | Nov 4, 2016 | books
Two years ago I wrote a book. I wrote A Moment of Christmas for the weary woman being crushed under the weight of Pinterest-pressure. The woman so exhausted she hasn’t read anything for herself in months or more. The woman desperate for connection with her own soul,...
by Anna | Jul 10, 2016 | lifeblog
These days, mothering may not look like the movies. Or the TV shows. Or most of our Instagram feeds. Or our friends lives. Or what we thought it would look like. These days… Mothering is sharing all of my food. Anything on my plate, going to be on my plate, used...
by Anna | Jul 7, 2016 | #realmomconfessions
I’m honored to share with you a few of the words I wrote that my friend Lisa-Jo Baker published on her site yesterday. Here’s a peek: Sharing my Real Mom Confessions is a joy. Together we’ve shared hundreds of real moments from mothering. Every Wednesday,...
by Anna | Jun 22, 2016 | lifeblog
The other day, my 4 year old took my phone. He held it carefully for an hour, snapping pictures at every turn. I posed with him for a few, but the subjects and angles were all him. All from his vantage point. All things that matter to him. All in the exact way that he...
by Anna | May 24, 2016 | lifeblog
Collapsing into the couch, I stared out across the pond out back, too spent to actually see anything in my view. We’d just had the world’s worst trip to the store, hot on the heels of a day that wouldn’t quit being crappy, and I sent this SOS text to...
by Anna | May 7, 2016 | lifeblog
There are parents without carseats, diapers or pacifiers. Mothers who do not have bedtime rituals or middle of the night feedings. Parents without hand-stamped necklaces or birthstone rings. Parents who no longer have children. These are the other mothers – the ones...
by Anna | Feb 6, 2016 | at (in)courage, lifeblog
Two months ago I had a baby girl. She’s my third child and our second girl, and in my twelve weeks as a mom of three I’ve learned more than I have in all my 33 years, like: I can do almost anything while nursing a baby, I need less sleep to function than I thought,...
by Anna | Feb 3, 2016 | lifeblog
This is the second post in a three-part series on Embracing Rest. In case you missed it, here’s Part 1. So why do we resist rest? Rest isn’t just for stressed out busy people; rest is for the everyday people whose lives are full of good things. Rest is for the...
by Anna | Feb 1, 2016 | lifeblog
My life right now is not very conducive to embracing rest. My life right now is not very simplified… but I’m craving both rest and simplicity. Rest does not equal sleep. Rest is defined in several ways, and yes – sleep is one of them – but the definition of rest also...
by Anna | Nov 25, 2015 | at (in)courage
The seeking of perfection can suck the joy from our souls if we allow it space in our hearts. The first Christmas was less than perfect, yet it was glorious. It was the greatest mix of holy and human. There was straw, shepherds, and a star. There were hard hearts, new...
by Anna | Aug 28, 2015 | at (in)courage
. . . This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful . . . We are invited, each of us, to be beautiful. To see and seek beauty in our everyday, in each other. And so our charge is not how to become more beautiful, but to ask instead: how can I add to the beauty? Does...