Small town girl with big world vision
“If I drive all the way up there, they better damn well let me see my son, or I’ll get a gun.” These words might have been ripped from the headlines of the recent mass shooting that happened in Texas, where an abusive husband attacked the church congregation his ex-in-laws attended. At least 27 people…
Meet The Fiancé. In one week, he will be The Husband. He makes me laugh and think. He loves my quirks and gives me grace for my flaws. He is a companion and partner beyond what I could have imagined. He makes me better. He is the love of my life. In this little house…
It’s a surreal thing, holding a baby that has the nose of someone you love, and the chin of someone you love, and changes everything about the life of someone you love. I guess that what it means to be a grandmother. For one short week over Thanksgiving, I got to spend time with Sunshine…
She’s here! I’m a Nana!! I’m so excited to announce that Sunshine had a little girl yesterday. This little Pumpkin was born in the early hours of October 31st and weighed in just under seven pounds. Sunshine was in labor for over a day, and is tired, but very happy. She’s already the best mama…
Sometimes love doesn’t seem like enough. Sometimes there is so much broken that it seems impossible to meet the deluge with love. Sometimes things don’t magically fall into place. The pain doesn’t go away. The goodbye still happens and the choices others make seem completely wrong. None of it feels good. Or right. Or the…
Look at these two pictures. It seems like a different child. In a way, it is. Both are Peter Pan, but one was taken when he was with our family in America, and the other was taken when he was with his friends in Latvia. The difference is part of the orphan mentality, a…
It has been two months since we got the news that Peter Pan did not want to come to America on a student visa. Two months since Little Man and I decided that we needed to go to Latvia anyway because love shows up. Our hearts may have been breaking, but the only thing that…
In the age of Instagram and Twitter and all things social, I feel like I’ve been falling behind lately. I’m a fairly social person, and I like to take pictures. I have been labeled as a “paparazzi” by a certain sassy Latvian, who claims I would take a picture of her on the toilet if…
Imagine you are coaching a Little League team. There’s a lot of things you need to track—the batter at the plate, the play in the field, the kids wriggling in the dugout. You look over to the bench and see Kid #1 spitting sunflower seeds at Kid #2. You explicitly told them not to spit…
It’s amazing how your whole world changes with a few words. “I’m pregnant. I need you.” “I’m not coming to America. I don’t need you.” Both these phrases have reframed my future and the future of the ones I love. It’s taken me a while to process what this means for all of us. The…
