I was 12 years old when life changed in a way I did not have words for yet. That is the age when a girl is still becoming herself. I still needed someone to help me understand my body, my emotions, my friendships, my fears, my gifts, and my future. I needed a steady voice. I needed a woman who could have said, “I have been there. You are not crazy. You are just growing up.” My mom was not there for so many of those moments. She missed school events. She missed heartbreaks. Sh

Some seasons of life ask for faith before they offer answers. Not the kind of faith that feels neat or easy. Not the kind that comes with a clear timeline, a clean plan, or a promise that everything will make sense by Friday. I mean the kind of faith that stands in the dark and says, “God, I cannot see what You are doing, but I believe You are still good.” Foster care has taught us that kind of faith. When we first said yes to fostering children, we had plans. Of course we di

The foster care crisis can feel too large to grasp. Thousands of children. Thousands of courts, caseworkers, birth families, and licensed homes. Thousands of stories shaped by loss, safety concerns, trauma, hope, and hard decisions. Then one number brings the scale into focus: There are roughly 0.93 children in foster care for every Christian church in the United States. That does not mean every church can simply “take one child” and call the problem solved. Foster care is mo

The pro-life movement has been very loud outside abortion clinics. The question is whether the church has been loud enough in courtrooms, foster homes, public schools, food pantries, maternity homes, group homes AKA "orphanages," and neighborhoods where children are already fighting to survive. And before you read on, when I say "the church" in this blog post, I'm absolutely not talking about a physical church building with a specific name. I'm referring to "the church" as us

Some callings arrive like thunder. Mine has been more like a whisper that will not leave. It shows up while I am folding laundry. It sits with me in the pickup line. It follows me into the kitchen when one kid needs help with homework, another needs a snack, another has big feelings, and another has somehow lost a shoe we just saw ten minutes ago. I am 40 years old, raising four kids, carrying the beautiful weight of marriage, motherhood, home, faith, and purpose. I know God

I have not written a blog in a long time, and the reason is both simple and huge: I have been finishing my very first book. Even typing that feels strange. Exciting, yes. Terrifying, also yes. For months, most of my creative energy has gone into pages no one has seen yet, chapters that have been revised more times than I can count, and a project that has quietly become one of the most meaningful things I have ever done. If you have noticed the silence here, thank you for stil

My mom was called home exactly a year ago today on October, 20th 2020. Many words have run through my head since the day she left, but yesterday was the first day I finally attempted to write them all down. As I tried to gather my thoughts of all the words to describe my mom, it was easier to grab hold of all the things she wasn't. She wasn't in my life at all from the time I was 12 years old. I would talk to her from time to time, maybe every 3-4 months. Randomly I would get

My grandmother was called home several months ago the February morning we got snow in East Texas. This doesn't happen often, and I'll...

Maybe they will be super difficult and hard to parent. Maybe they will have emotional damage that is beyond repair. Maybe they will cause...

As I watched a steady stream of young men and women file into the Cooper's house the day after Jacob was called home, I snapped this...

As I made my way down the steep steps of the courthouse to the long, narrow walkway the distance to my car seemed to get farther away...

Recently I set out to stain our porches to mark that off my summer to-do list. It was around 95 degrees outside when I started this...

Often times when I'm stressed or questioning if I'm making the right decisions...I eat cinnamon rolls! Haha Just joking...kinda! But who...

This summer I attended an amazing women's retreat in Waco. The planning that took place for me to attend was in depth to say the least....

About three months ago after driving in the rain I realized I was in need of new windshield wiper blades. I used the nifty book in the...

When I started the 2017-2018 school year teaching 1st grade there was one little boy in my classroom who was living in a foster home. He...

Before we started this journey we tried to prepare our family and friends for what was ahead. When anyone brings foster children into a...

After having a tubal pregnancy Eric and I were unsure about what our next steps were with becoming parents. We were excited to be...

Webster defines this as: not conditional or limited. When we use the word "unconditional" before the word "love," we are claiming to love...

It was a few weeks after "Andrew" was placed with us that his caseworker, Rachel, came to visit. She came in and introduced herself....