When a single mom goes out on a date with somebody new It always winds up feeling more like a job interview My mama used to wonder if she'd ever meet someone Who wouldn't find out about me and then turn around and run I met the man I call my dad when I was […]
It is Wedding Week. I am in the last seven days of one of the most sacred seasons of my life. I am ‘between beds’ like some people are ‘between jobs’ or ‘between relationships.’ We’ve moved the Single Girl’s Bed out, but the Married Couple’s Bed hasn’t arrived yet. So I’m sleeping on a mattress […]
“On the slips of paper in front of you, I’d like for you to write down your top five priorities. Think of the most important things in your life, and write one on each slip of paper.” Peter and I were in the second half of a two-day marriage workshop this past weekend when the […]
When our kids were little, we were so uptight. It was so important to us that our kids do the right things, say the right things, belong to the right things. That’s all well and good, and I encourage you to do those things. Learn all you can. Pray for your kids. Get them involved […]
We were in that post-bedtime crazy-making part of the day. I had given them all I’m going to give, I had done all the talking and listening I was going to do with a happy heart, and they were testing God’s protection in their lives by pushing me to my very limits. I mean, come […]
I’ve never introduced the boys to anyone I’ve dated throughout the last five years because I was so deeply committed to protecting their hearts and not parading men through this house who wouldn’t be around for next Sunday’s dinner. (Not that I dated with this kind of weekly frequency, and not that I routinely fix […]
Jesus grew up without his biological dad. Joseph married Mary, knowing she was pregnant with a child that was not his own. He knew that the marriage to her was a package deal, that the boy came with the girl. I wonder if he had to learn to love Jesus. I mean, I imagine Jesus […]
There’s just so much to us. Legos on the floor. Seatbelts. Spilled Gatorade. Unfinished homework. Incomplete grocery lists. Leftovers for dinner. Missing winter coats. Knots in shoelaces. Piles of Laundry. Arguing. Whining. Clutter. Broken toys. Wayward Nerf bullets. Decisions. Grace. Love. Forgiveness. Laughter. Tears. Wounds. Worries. Healing. And heaps of so much patience. In our […]
“Mom, I just have one question.” He was in the backseat of the car, still consistently the safest place for such fodder. I suspect there is something exponentially safer about hard topics when Mom’s eyes are occupied with the road and other drivers. “Ask me as many as you want, buddy.” “Will you still love […]
I have a photo of the Last Halloween. The boys are five and three years old, and they are dressed as Power Rangers, green and blue. Robb is dressed as a member of the Ohio State Marching Band, and I, having simply snatched my wedding veil off the wall of our bedroom, am dressed as […]
Maybe it’s because I am forever a hostess at heart, and wherever there is a party there is also food a’ plenty. Or maybe it’s just because I love when a story comes to life, especially when I can get into the minds of the characters. Either way, whether I’m thinking with my head, my […]
I mean, really. That's pretty much what it comes down to.
My mind does funny things when I'm folding laundry. It's like all these little blends of cotton evoke some kind of memory train. In her book, Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult opened with a list of things that can happen in the course of nineteen minutes. Among these, she wants us to see that a high […]
Ever feel like you just have to pretend you’ve got this thing together? Pretend you’re brave? Pretend you’re normal? Tricia Lott Williford has released her second book, Let’s Pretend We’re Normal: Adventures in Rediscovering How To Be A Family. Teaching from the book and her story, Tricia will share "Four Steps for the Journey" as […]
My husband died when my children were three and five years old. I realize that’s a sudden and abrupt way to start, but it happened to us very suddenly and abruptly, and I’ve rarely found a way to ease into that introduction. Death came to our home in only twelve hours. Emergency room doctors diagnosed […]
I never intended to be a single mom, but then I guess not many of us in this tribe aimed for this title. I’m rounding out four and a half years of flying solo, and I feel like I’m finally finding my groove. Or maybe it’s just a good week, or I’m basking in the […]
To read this article in its entirety with PJ Parenting, click here. I was drinking iced coffees at Starbucks with my agent, whom I love deeply and implicitly for more reasons than just the fact that he launched my career. He asked me, “Trish, how will you redeem this #BrokenFootSummer? How does a writer make […]
The subject of this blog post asked that I take it down based on the personal backlash he has received. I have chosen to edit the post accordingly, since he had no idea what he was stepping into. What a weird and terrible day for my heart. Many of you watched it unfold on the interwebs. Throngs […]
Tucker and I spent yesterday at Children’s Hospital, which is in itself a really beautiful place. I spent the day feeling like we were on some part of Disney property with all the colors and foods and things to see. I’m not even kidding. We wandered around for the hours between our appointments, and I […]
We had been on several really great dates before I realized he was keeping a secret. Whenever I complimented him on who he is, who we were together, or what I enjoyed about us, he responded with warning phrases like, "Withhold your judgment for now, sweetheart," or "Be careful around me, darlin'. You don't know […]
