Darlene Brock | The Grit and Grace Project

How to Provide Comfort for Your Children in Uncertain Times

I can’t seem to stop thinking about the school shooting on Valentine’s Day. Several days have passed, yet it still lies in the back of my mind. The discussion will continue, how can we prevent this from ever happening again, how do we protect our schools, so we never lose another child? The conversation needs to take place. We need to protect our children as they head out each morning to be taught, to develop relationships, to gather the tools they will need to gain life’s opportunity. But that is not the immediate conversation most of us will have with our families. Thankfully, most mothers won’t have to experience this heartbreaking loss or the nightmares of the child who personally felt it’s […]

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Managing Your Money So It Doesn’t Manage You

By Darlene Brock / Work & Money, Life & Culture

There are a few things that seem to drive us all crazy, for me some days there may be many. But one that definitely tops the list is the challenge of making ends meet—stretching the budget to pay the bills. It seems like we are always chasing that “I wish I could just get this figured out and keep it that way” illusive dream. So we jump into a new program, a budgeting system, or a great resolution that tomorrow will be different. The problem is we don’t give ourselves a break, instead we look at the challenge and then beat ourselves up when we realize we can’t change it in just a few days. Oftentimes this leads us to get discouraged

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Take It Easy—On Your Man

By Darlene Brock / Relationships

Sometimes we can be a bit hard on the men in our lives, mostly because we don’t understand how they do life. The good news is that our genders are different. Understanding and appreciating those differences will help us relax. Whether it’s a boyfriend, boss, co-worker, son, or spouse, when we remember that they just think differently, it can simplify life and reduce conflict. So here are a few things to never forget when you are dealing with the opposite sex: 1. Men hear what we say, not what we mean. It’s movie night and you say you don’t care what you see, he believes you really don’t care—then immediately purchases tickets for the biggest action movie in the theater. 2. They want to

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What “My Home Is Your Home” Really Means

By Darlene Brock / Life & Culture

With the holidays upon us, we’re bound to have a house guest or two. I have a theme I repeat to my guests that I sincerely mean, “My home is your home.” Since that is true, these are the house rules for all who walk through our door with luggage in hand: 1. If you’re hungry, fix it. The pantry and refrigerator can be found in the kitchen. 2. If you need something, find it. It may require the determination of an archeologist, but it is there for the digging. 3. If you break it, I don’t mind. Unless it’s part of your body…then legal liability protection for my relatives, my bank account, and I step in. 4. Duration of the stay will be determined by how

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5 Tips for Careful Spending This Christmas

By Darlene Brock / Work & Money, Life & Culture

This time of year it’s easy to get caught up in the out-of-control Christmas shopping! Giving is a wonderful way to show your loved ones that you care, but this joyful season can turn into credit card panic when the January statement arrives. Whether you’re prone to purchasing obligatory gifts at your place of work, the “oh they always buy me a gift so I can’t forget them” or the “one more cute thing they would completely love and it’s on sale”—you need to take charge! Do these 5 things to make sure the snowball of spending doesn’t roll out of control: 1. Decide. Determine your budget while in the comfort of your non-pressured, no-great-sales-staring-you-in-the-face living room. Decide how much you can spend on gifts this

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I Survived the Middle School Meltdown, So Can You!

By Darlene Brock / Motherhood

Who is this girl—the one standing a mere 5 feet from my face? She looks like my daughter, she’s dressed like my daughter, and the braces she wears I am quite sure I paid for… But this emotional and illogical mound of humanity blubbering incoherently, I don’t believe I have ever met. On this day, I am looking in the face of my 13-year-old daughter and I quickly realize we have entered a new phase of life—The Middle School Meltdown. I had heard of this malady. I had friends who called in frustration, tears, and incredulity looking for comfort. I thought they might be exaggerating; surely it couldn’t be that bad. I quickly discovered they were not exaggerating. It was the end

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Want to Be a Good Mother? Don’t Smother!

By Darlene Brock / Motherhood

“This is gonna hurt.” Every mom that has nursed a cut, scrape, or banged head has made this proclamation. From applying antiseptic, getting shots from the doctor, and icing bumps to ripping off Band-Aids, we tend to warn our kids of the impending pain. We do this because we’re moms; we do what’s needed to get from damage to restoration. There’s another arena with its own share of pain that humans find themselves living through; it’s called life. When it comes to preparing your child for the pain of life, what’s a mom supposed to do? We want to protect those we love, we want to shield them, and in many ways we should. But if we build a wall around them to keep all

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5 Bailouts When the Fundraiser Kid Hits Your Doorstep

By Darlene Brock / Life & Culture

I am a complete mark when it comes to the miniature fundraiser. You know the moment the doorbell rings… You stop whatever you’re doing to open the door and greet that timid, sweet, short person with a clipboard in hand. My husband reminds me every time I come back into the house to fetch my wallet that I have not met a pint-sized fundraiser I can resist. He’s right. One year I decided to try, so I created my five best bailouts lines. 1. I’m sorry, I have already purchased (fill in the blank). It’s not a lie. I still have the Girl Scout cookies from 2013. 2. I’m sorry, members of my family are diabetic. They may live three states away, but

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Drop All of the Labels to Unlock Our Full Potential

By Darlene Brock / Life & Culture

Whether it’s social media, news outlets, or casual conversation, we find ourselves trapped in names and phrases that are created to depict segments of society. We are divided by age group: Millennials, Gen X, Baby boomers; by the color of our skin: black, white, occasionally brown; and even by political identity, pro-police, anti-police, alt-right, alt-left, populist, nationalist, neo-Nazi, Antifa. Do you ever wonder the “why” of all this division, this need to create categories among the human race? I do realize that we have different life experiences, culturally we are diverse. Our views, attitudes, and opinions are broad, most often based upon our individual life and cultural diversity. Of course, our age dictates much of our perspective simply by volume of experience.

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Does Finding Your Purpose Really Matter?

By Darlene Brock / Purpose

If you’ve been at all tuned in to book trends in the last 15 years, you have heard of (if not read) The Purpose Driven Life. Having sold more than 60 million copies, it landed on nightstands, tabletops, and in the hands of a greatly diverse population throughout the world. The success of this publication was completely unpredicted by the reviewers, booksellers, and industry at large. What they didn’t understand is that there is within every one of us a desire to find our purpose. The Innate Desire to Have a Purpose Who really wants to live this life simply performing the tasks before us? Each day feeling like the last, with the alarm ringing to interrupt the only peaceful time in

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The Truth in the Gender Pay Gap

By Darlene Brock / Work & Money

I’m not sure about you, but I’m getting fairly weary of the angry women. The ones who seem to have a multi-tiered platform they are fighting for. Amidst the placard-carrying, strident-marching, hat-wearing, mic-grabbing females is a long list of items that they deem need to be changed. It makes me want to walk the other way or turn the channel. But just because they are capable of becoming tiresome (at least to me), it’s not to say they have nothing to be frustrated about. (Click here to read about what I think a strong woman really looks and sounds like.) I think there is one item in particular that is deserving of a little more inspection: equal pay for equal work. A

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Don’t Judge Me—Freedom from Guilt in Motherhood

Stop Judging Me—Freedom From Guilt in Motherhood

By Darlene Brock / Motherhood

I was an insane mother. I worked full-time building our businesses, which required quite a bit of travel, while raising two daughters. So, overcompensation for this personality type was a must! If my girls were going to be subjected to seasons of a busy, pop-in, pop-out mother, then I determined that when I was home I would be over the top. I sewed their Halloween costumes (yeah don’t follow my lead, store-bought is great), baked and decorated their birthday cakes, and spent hours with them handcrafting Christmas ornaments on two hours of sleep. I’m not recommending this; I’m just sharing the details of my guilt-ridden, crazy mothering and overcompensating life. The year I made a portable doll bed (large enough for a small

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5 Tips on Dealing With Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

By Darlene Brock / Work & Money

In my various careers, spanning more years than I will share, I have worked with men. In fact, I have worked with far more men than women and, for the most part, have thoroughly enjoyed it. The majority of these guys have been great men who have treated me with the utmost respect, as I have them. Of course, there have been the others. As a fresh out of school 19-year-old I obtained the position of receptionist at a very influential law firm in the city I lived. Every attorney in that firm was a male, and they demonstrated every male attitude available. Some of the men treated me as their daughter or granddaughter, kindly, even excusing some of the rather creative

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Building Faith: Growing in Your Relationship with God

By Darlene Brock / Faith

You have begun this journey, one of faith in Christ … a relationship that will not only last a lifetime but through all of eternity. Is that the end of the story? Do you just settle in—contentedly relaxing in the knowledge that your eternal destiny is secure? Or is there more? Well of course there is more, a lot more! Every relationship you have ever begun has potential, but it needs a personal investment to experience its genuine richness and depth. This is equally true of your relationship with your Heavenly Father—you need to work on building faith in Him. The reality that He desires, as well as offers, a rich and rewarding relationship with you is nearly beyond comprehension. The first

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woman holding several shopping bags who needs to learn how to stop mindless purchasing

Confessions of an Endcap Queen: How to Stop Mindless Purchasing

By Darlene Brock / Work & Money

For years I was the “endcap” queen of America. An endcap, for those of you who don’t know, is the shelf space at the end of each aisle in almost every store in our nation. It’s the “this is an unbelievable deal” vortex that sucks busy women in when they are shopping in a hurry. It’s the place where retailers place the coolest stuff at the best prices. Really, can these buys be resisted? Not by me, at least for a time in my life. I didn’t know how to stop mindless purchasing. I mean, can we live without a portable chopper that works off batteries, cutting everything instantly into the appropriate-sized pieces? Only to get it home and find out what

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Free to Fake it ‘Til You Make it

By Darlene Brock / Health & Beauty

I’ve spent a good bit of my life heading into things I have never done before, things I have never been taught how to do. Oftentimes, I have no clue of what I’m getting myself into. For some crazy reason that has never stopped me; I just go full speed ahead. Whether it was zip lining with my 13-year-old, producing my first music video, writing my first book or paragliding off the Bavarian Alps, I jumped in even though I was completely and utterly terrified. And I do mean terrified―night sweats often entered my world when I ventured into something new that I knew I was completely unqualified for (and they were not created by menopause). I find I am not alone. I loved this quote

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Battered Faith: Holding On to Hope Even When You Struggle

By Darlene Brock / Faith

I was 13 years old when I was diagnosed with a muscular disease called Myasthenia Gravis. I had a year of repeated testing before the final diagnosis was made. Yet even with the naming of my illness, I was fortunate. The level of disability that came with my current symptoms was minor: limitations of physical exertion, muscle weakness, and frequent fatigue. I was a young teen and rather headstrong (little has changed in that regard), so I took the medication prescribed and determined to live my life to the fullest … rebellion and all. Seasons of Battered Faith Several years later, I was working a full-time job that I loved, living the single life in an apartment located in the art district,

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