I love the Christmas season, but it always seems to go too fast.  It usually leaves me a little sad.  I find myself wishing that the love and generosity we seem to extend in greater measure at Christmastime would last all year.

My son, Landry, started playing tackle football as a 4th grader last year.  He joined a team that some of his classmates were already a part of, the Stampede. It didn’t take long for us to realize that this team was special.  The team’s head coach, Grant Gocke, not only coaches the kids in football, but coaches them in life and their walk with God.

For much of my life, I have struggled with low self-esteem.  These struggles have run deep and wide, resulting in years of self-deprecation and self-loathing, and for many years I struggled in silence.  I wouldn’t dare bring it up to anyone because that would have just made me feel worse about myself.  But eventually, after I was several years into adulthood, I began to voice my private struggles to others.  In doing so, I found that others were surprised to hear my confession.

Often I have stepped out to enjoy a nice summer evening when my enjoyment is suddenly interrupted.  Without notice, I become the innocent victim of a blood-sucking mosquito.

My ten year old son, Landry, is an old soul in a young body.  He loves “old” things from prior generations – music, TV, movies, pop culture, sports history, American history, and many other sorts of history.  I’ve often said that he was born a century too late.

Do you ever feel like you’re running on empty? Maybe you started out with a full tank, but you have a leak that has been slowly draining your resources.  Perhaps it’s a relationship, your health, your job, your finances, a bad habit, an addiction, or a combination of one or more of these.

For Mother’s Day this year, I had the chance to spend the day with my husband and kids, just the four of us.  After eating lunch, we were discussing what to do next.  I wanted to do something that we would all enjoy, and I suggested that we go to an indoor golf facility. 

“I give up!”  How many times have you said these words?  If you’re like me, you’ve thought or spoken these words countless times.

I frequently travel by plane for business.  During one particular flight last year, as we were close to reaching our destination, we encountered a storm that brought about some heavy turbulence.  Out of the numerous flights I had flown over the years, this was the most significant and prolonged period of turbulence I had ever experienced. 

When I was a young girl, I lived next door to my mother’s parents, T.C. “Butch” and Lucille Dollins.  My grandparents lived in a simple, wood-framed house.  It was small,