red balloons

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I had the privilege of having one of those combo television/VCR units in my bedroom when I was in high school. I vividly remember watching Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock save the passengers on the bus in the movie Speed at least once each day. It was 100%…

Hey y’all- it’s a cloudy, dreary August morning. I am tucked into the window seat of Mason’s hospital room, staring out the window at the dark and gloomy sky. For those who don’t follow Mason’s CaringBridge site, as a quick recap- after 65 full days in the hospital, Mason was able to go home on…

Hello and welcome back! If you missed my post last week, I shared a major life update and the reason that I’m back to writing weekly. I want to use this blog space to share encouragement for how to look for the light- or the red balloons- during a dark and difficult season. Although I…

Hey y’all- once again, it’s been months. But boy, do I have a major life update to share. And it has challenged me in ways that I had never even imagined- I have had to dig really, really deep to keep finding my red balloons. For those who haven’t read my original posts, or were…

Hey there y’all- happy new year!  I’m well aware we are two (now three!) weeks into 2024- I received the best gift ever on my birthday (New Year’s Eve) and woke up New Year’s Day with a severe case of COVID. I am finally able to sit upright for more than a few hours at…

Hello friends! It’s been months. I have been so busy with the #thingsIplantoworkonthisyear that my writing has taken a back seat to life. And as I just read through my last post (emergency contact info), I can’t help but want to apologize- that was a dark and depressing place to leave anyone for months!  This…

Hello, my friends. I’m trying to stick to at least an every other week schedule to post, so here I am, but to be quite honest, you may not want to hear from me today. I am sitting in a place of anger this week. If you asked me to pinpoint the actual cause, I…

Hello again! My goal to start out the year is two posts per month, so I’m trying to sneak this one in before we roll into February- even though this weekend has been jam-packed with pageant prep, basketball games, Kylie’s first pageant (I’m so not a pageant mom!), more basketball games PLUS Kylie’s birthday party-…

Happy new year! I understand that it’s actually January 8th, but this is just how my life goes- I’m typically pretty late to the party in all ways- but once I get there, I always have a good time- so with that said- happy new year! (If I could add sparkles and glitter here, I…

It’s a chilly, rainy October morning. I am intentionally taking time away from my normal to-do list because I feel like it has been forever since I’ve had time to try to get a few thoughts out of my brain and onto paper. I have been lost in the duties and responsibilities of being a…

Welcome back- it’s been awhile. I WAY overestimated the amount of time I would have to sit down and write once school and other extracurriculars started again. I know that may sound like an excuse to some but if I explained how many places I am scheduled to be at the same exact moment almost…

So here we are- July 31- which in Georgia only means one thing: school starts this week. I can’t decide if I am sad to be going back to a schedule where the kids are at school or if I’m ecstatic that they won’t be eating constantly and needing to be driven to this camp…

Hello and happy Sunday! I realize that I completely missed posting last week. I wish that I could say there was something that kept me too busy and that there was a solid reason for it. There were absolutely things going on- we had just wrapped up our annual summer escape to my home in…

While I like to think that we would have been in Chattanooga frequently, 2020 was a crazy year, and we did not make it back until April 2021. Todd was signed up to compete in the same Ironman half-triathlon that I had seen him complete in 2019. The triathlon itself was in May, but a…

Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a beautiful little city tucked in the southeast corner of the state. It is a short, two-hour drive from our home in Georgia, and during the last 12 years of making the drive home to Minnesota, has always been a place I thought I might like to spend more time. As you…