Hope doesn't ever stop, but it sure can feel hard to find. When I didn't know the words, hope belted out a wild number still, like a siren call, inviting me into a life of feasting and beauty and rest- a feathered life- hidden under the wing of the one who sings over me with great delight and love.

I KNOW GREAT HOPE IS PERCHING ON YOUR HEART TOO, SOME DAYS WE JUST NEED TO BE REMINDED OF THE CHORUS. LET'S SING TOGETHER.

Welcome to this little corner of the Web!

I'm a wife, a mother of four, a writer and a New Yorker. I'm passionate about cultivating deep roots in a city that feels worlds away from the soil of home. My heart comes alive in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but I'm learning to love subways and urban grids, hot dog stands and take-out. Don't even get me started on my obsession with Italian Ice (Shout out to my buddies at Ralph's!) Our family moved to Manhattan, with crazy dreams of carving out a haven in a harried metro center. What we didn't count on was coming face to face with our own harried hearts.

I'm more surprised than anyone that I homeschool my children, but my love of learning has found a home in our days of exploring the world together. I've been married since I was 20, and became a mom a year later. Sometimes I can't believe that I am a grown up. I never feel more like myself than when I'm in an airport and on the move, and so there are days when I struggle through the tasks of laundry and homework and dinner time. . . .repeat.

But, in my wrestling to find beauty in the mundane, I've discovered something sacred: an opportunity to paint my brush all over my corner of the world and create something lovely for those who dwell here and those we welcome in. Making a home has become my art.

I'm also the co- host of the Momheart Podcast with Sally Clarkson. You can take a listen HERE. I also adore my role mentoring writers as the Editor of The Better Mom.

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The posts here are much like the conversations I'd love to have with you around my table, so they change and grow and morph with each season and what's going on in the world. This place is a no holds barred home for my words and heart. I do write a lot about how grace has changed the focus and lens of my life, and about the beauty and struggle that accompanies a life I long to have lived with abundant creativity, cooking yummy food, parenting, and homeschooling a crew of kids in a big city context.

I write a lot about beauty in the everyday and in the unexpected. In the midst of busy rhythms, and also in pain or grief, I'm convinced that when we seek after beauty, especially together, we'll find it. Every time. And when we find beauty, we find hope...and girls? Hope Sings. That Emily Dickinson knew what she was talking about.

Upcoming Speaking Events:

Declare, Dallas, TX

Allume, Greenville SC

MomHeart, Irvine, CA

MomHeart, Dallas TX

Winsome, Mann's Choice, PA