Do you ever wish you had a guidebook for life’s challenges? Challenges that feel insurmountable, and you would love guidance from someone who has already traversed the road you find yourself on? Something easy to read that allows you to feel comfortable with your hurts, feelings, and thoughts? We created those books in the Smart Living in Small Bites series. The first four are on sale now in paperback and Amazon Kindle eBook. Hard Marriage, Suicide Loss, Anxiety Struggles, and Past Sexual Abuse are the first of the subjects we are speaking to. Our writers, just like you, have faced challenges with nowhere to turn. This shared experience led us to help others facing what we had already faced. Each book in the […]

Each Christmas usually arrives with the same lineup of gifts: the big-ticket item you really wanted, some poorly constructed but heartfelt crafts made by your children (macaroni ornaments, anyone?) and the random pairs of socks that someone decided you needed. But occasionally, there’s that one gift you never forget. It might have made you laugh or even cry, but whether you still physically have it or not, it’s never left your mind. Some of Grit and Grace Life’s staff and writers share their favorite Christmas memories and gifts:   The Ugly but Heartfelt Gift When I was 18, I had my first “real” boyfriend. I worked at the mall at the time, and I remember he came in to say hi and […]

Road trips. If you’ve ever been on one, you know they can be one of life’s greatest adventures. They can also be one of life’s greatest frustrations. My husband and I were each raised in ‘road trip’ families. Destination? Has to be by car. Planes weren’t an option since neither of us were raised with excess funds for those things. In my family, we got shoved in our white Chevy station wagon (with a really sweet red racing stripe on the side that my dad was geeked about), fighting over who would get to sit in the back facing the rear. Fast forward to today, and road trips are still a big part of our lives, but now we’re the ones in […]

One of the very best things about the holidays is not the calorie-heavy, “guilt-free” food intake, the gifts, the family gatherings, or even the “you have outdone yourself” decorating. It’s the holiday traditions you create for your family and then repeat each year, ensuring lasting memories in the hearts of all you love. Looking to start some family traditions? Here are a few to get you started: 1. Fill a jar from Thanksgiving to January 1 with special notes for each family member. Write one note a week to tell them something about them you treasure. On January 1, each member takes the notes written to them to begin the new year knowing their worth. 2. Decorate your tree with ornaments purchased from […]

With Christmas right around the corner, many are celebrating what is known as Advent. Now, for those of you like me who did not grow up in the church, you may not have learned that Advent is the period of time in the Christian calendar leading up to Christ’s birth on Christmas. Even though “Advent” may sound like the newest asthma medication, it in fact signifies a time of expectant waiting. In Latin (for those word lovers like myself), it literally means “coming.” Christ is coming and as a Christian, we mark this amazing reality by talking about it, hearing about it in sermons, and reflecting on it during the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. I did not grow up in […]

​​Christmas is days away and I am so excited about sharing this special day with my husband and family. The year started as the previous. A time of anticipation, yet each day filled with the comfortable routine of the past. Until a burning pain in my chest turned my normal into a test of trust.  I had felt the pain before and knew I needed to get to the hospital. Physicians quickly realized the stent placed to repair a blockage in my heart had failed. Surgery was required.  I kissed my husband, climbed onto the gurney, and was whisked away to the surgical suite. Life Is a Gift! Several hours later, I woke to the chirping and pinging of machines. One was […]

Click here to read Part One of “What God Wants to Give Us for Christmas.“ I was so excited this past Christmas about the gift I selected for my husband! It was something he needed, never expected, and actually never considered. His home office chair was made up of bits and pieces from an 8-year-old chair and parts found at a thrift store. It worked and he was excited about his creation. Yet I noticed that as he spent time in the chair, he slowly lowered. The hydraulics no longer worked. And at 6’2”, you need a chair’s hydraulics to work. Otherwise, you look like a giant sitting in a child’s chair—his knees creeping close to his ears. So, his present was […]

“I’ll wait to open gifts,” I said to myself as large flakes drifted downward. “First, the trail along the river.” Because there’s nothing more magical on Christmas morning than following a river while white, fluffy stuff swirls every which way from the leaden skies. It’s now past noon as I write this. My first Christmas not with family. Five years ago this month, I had head surgery. My husband whisked me away to a nearby mountain resort village for a blissful healing time, even though he was dealing with cancer and the side effects of wretched chemo. We packed food for a simple Christmas dinner, a two-foot tree decked in tiny white lights, and a couple gifts. Seeking the One Who Can […]

Several years ago I got this message from Mandy, one of my favorite boy moms: “Am I seriously the only boy mom who has dreams of decorating together at Christmas only to be faced with three boys totally not interested? Just needing some female sympathy.” Well, here’s your sympathy, Mandy. Glad to oblige. It’s hard to sympathize these days, when almost all of my memories of our four-boy-house-Christmas are sweeter than a Leo’s peppermint stick, the kind in the blue tin that my grandmother kept on her coffee table from early November until late January. That’s what the years have done, made me a sentimental amnesiac. But I also feel that lightly singed sensation of having survived something. So I thought it […]

Recently, our oldest child made the leap from high school to college. And I don’t mean college a couple of hours away—I mean really away. She has had it in her head for a long time that she wanted to be in Florida (and not just for college, but permanently) so off she went from Virginia Beach to Miami Beach. In just a few days’ time, our family dynamic changed, and we all felt it. My husband suffered the most, really feeling gutted that his baby was gone. He would comment about her car not being in the driveway, missing her late-night pass throughs to chat while we struggled to keep our eyes open, and even having extra food left over at […]

An ode to the “Valentine’s Day Box”… Oh Valentine’s Day, what a weird, twisted, and torturous holiday you are. I just don’t know how to handle you. On the one hand, you celebrate love, of all things. It’s kind of hard to hate that. I mean, who wouldn’t want to celebrate love? Well, besides Satan and all. He probably hates Valentine’s Day too. Your intention as a holiday, I’m sure, is good and true and kind. But on the flip side, your modern-day execution of Valentine’s Day: It’s the pits. It’s a giant cesspool of commercialism, competition, and insecurity. And I’m just talking about my Valentine’s Day feels here, people. The oddest thing about my jumbled emotions is that they don’t even […]

Having a special needs child requires a certain amount of organization to cope with the endless piles of paperwork. In just the first five years of our daughter’s life, more paperwork has accumulated than in my life altogether. I never imagined the avalanche of white that would follow doctor appointments, test results, therapy sessions, medical bills, healthcare claims, prescriptions, as well as school, grant, and scholarship applications. I soon found myself overwhelmed and drowning in piles of important details. Too often I was caught unprepared without detailed information of my daughter’s medical history or current care readily available for inquiring professionals. This created significant hiccups at times. I already had to wait months to see certain specialists, and my face-to-face time with […]

A few years ago I drove upstate to visit my best friend from college because she just had her first baby. At the time, I couldn’t help but ponder the milestones we’ve shared: graduations, weddings, fur-babies, careers, buying and selling homes, and now…motherhood! Our friendship has felt pretty special from the start, so it got me thinking about what it is that makes our relationship so life-giving… 9 Qualities That Make a Good Friend: 1. Someone who helps carry your load, but doesn’t make you feel like a burden. 2. Someone who knows your worst, but only sees your best. 3. Someone who never makes you feel small, no matter how big they are. 4. Someone who doesn’t flaunt, especially when they […]

So your man is a pretty wonderful guy. Things are going so well. You might have even married him. What in the world could mess this up? Oh, the mother of his kids! Baby mama drama began with the start of civilization—think Abraham from the Bible. Sparks were going off between Sarah (his wife) and Hagar (baby mama). Abraham couldn’t deal with the drama and finally shipped Hagar off with their child—never to be seen again. Even if that is your fantasy, it isn’t going to happen—nor should it. The modern reality is that almost half (46%) of marriages involve a step-parent situation.1 When your relationship first started, dreams of the Brady Bunch may have been circling in your head. But reality […]

It’s a great time to begin mending fences. Not the ones in the back 40 of the ranch where very few of us currently live; I’m talking about the fences that require repair between us. We all experience damaged or broken relationships. Admittedly, some relationships are beyond repair, but most of the time, that’s not the case. So ask yourself, do you really want to be 90 years old, comfortable in your lift chair, and remember a relationship you once had? Pondering the friend you lost because of anger over something you can no longer recall? The sibling rivalry you never outgrew? Or the parent you walked away from? Probably not. So, how do you manage this repair process before the knees give […]

I see you over there, sitting in the audience filled with families—moms and dads, grandparents and children. I see you juggling your toddler, holding your baby, and trying with all of your might to get a good video of your kindergartener on stage in his first-ever school play. I see you there. Alone. I see you at t-ball games and ballet drop-off, every time, just you. I see you making dinner in shifts, keeping a plate warm with tin foil as you eat with the kids, because you know he’ll be hungry when he comes home. I see you doing bath time, story time, breakfast, and middle of the night feedings by yourself. All alone. I see you feeling so lonely you […]

Whenever people asked me what was new in my life, it was easier to answer with what was new with my kids than myself. They were constantly changing: outgrowing their clothes, joining a soccer team, balancing equations, learning to read or playing the drums. We lived in the same home from the time I brought them bundled from the hospital until my son turned 11 and my daughter, 8. Every few months I’d take a Sharpie and make them stand flat on their feet and mark their height next to their initials. For 11 years, these black and red marks inched their way up the doorframe. Growing Pains My next-door neighbor and I shared a pediatrician. I was surprised one day when […]

It’s that time of year! We start out with such energy and excitement for the holidays! We change our radio stations to hear some Christmas tunes, we decorate our house and fill up our calendars with fun parties to attend, but by the time it’s all over, we are usually exhausted, often broke, and almost always a few pounds heavier. I’ve found that anytime I’m in a funk, there are always a few things I can do to help myself come out of it more quickly. I’ve also found there are some things that can keep me there longer as well (#netflixandbrownies)! In order to proactively avoid the post-holiday blues, I want to share with you the ones that help instead of […]

Gripping many of the cities across our great country right now are the cold temperatures associated with winter. Though I may not feel it currently in my new home of Bonita Beach, Florida—where the average daily temperature for the past few months have fallen sublimely in the mid-80s—I am reminded of the 5 years I spent in Charlotte, North Carolina during my post-graduate life, starting out in the working world as a young professional. One of my favorite hobbies and ways to exercise was running. I had always been a sprinter when running before, so I challenged myself over the course of several years to build up some stamina, so that I could cover more distance and discover the city this way. […]

A recent facts and statistics sheet from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America from August 2017 states that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. affecting 40 million adults, which is a little over 18% of the population. They went on to state that with more specific disorders such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Panic Disorder (PD) women are twice as likely to be affected as men.1 I wasn’t exactly surprised to read that, but it was definitely a sobering reality to face. I’ve not ever been diagnosed officially, but I’ve struggled with anxiety a lot over the years. I’m a pretty anxious person, and I have been ever since I was a little girl. I can […]