Featured | The Grit and Grace Project

To the Woman Whose Husband Is Married to His Job

By Meaghan Dawson / Relationships, Featured

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 […]

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Unplanned Pregnancy—the Tale of Two Girls

By Darlene Brock / Life & Culture, Featured

I was a teen in the early years of Roe v. Wade when a significant cultural change began. I don’t think we realized then how much impact a decision made by seven Justices of the Supreme Court would have on our lives. Pregnancy wasn’t ever present in our minds, but it was something we were trying to avoid, often rather ineffectively, given this was also the era of “free love.” In those years, an unplanned pregnancy had even more impact on a female’s life than it does today. Girls were labeled, often looked down upon, which didn’t make a lot of sense since they were not alone in their activity. They merely experienced the possible consequences that many others risked. It was

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Raise Your Boy to Become a Strong Man

By Ashby Duval / Motherhood, Featured

As a mom of four boys, I am thinking of the attack on manhood lately. It seems like I know a lot of great women and not too many great, strong men. I guess it depends on what your deﬁnition of a great man is, but I think most of us can agree on what it is not. And that’s not who you want to raise your boy to be! Unfortunately, due to cultural inﬂuences and the period we live in, I believe there is a rise in the number of passive, lazy, and entitled “boys who can shave.” Men who still live in their parent’s basements play video games for as long as possible, thus putting oﬀ such beautiful privileges such

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This Mom Is Sending out an SOS That Will Make You LOL

By Laila Schell / Motherhood, Featured

In the spirit of keeping it real with you, I thought I’d write today on how much of a hot mess I am. Side note, it’s currently 3:53 pm (I like to call this time the witching hour in our house), and I’m hiding in a dark room listening to my 5-year-old “make juice” for supper. If you already have kids then you know how bad this is and if you don’t, then let me tell you, it’s bad. I just don’t have the energy today to stop him. And I’m in over my head. It probably started last night but it’s all kind of a blur right now. I went to visit a friend’s new place after dropping my teenage daughter off

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Why It’s Important to Share the Woman You Used to Be

By Ashby Duval / Motherhood, Featured

Over the years, I have been a part of several groups of women: organizations, study groups, gatherings of friends, etc. Recently, I was sitting in the audience of one such group when a mom of two stood up to share a bit about herself and her family. She mentioned she used to be a softball catcher and a trombone player and received her master’s at UF. And here she was, a stay-at-home mom with two small children whom she is currently homeschooling. That, plus her quiet disposition and love of motherhood, had pegged her in my mind as someone who must have grown up thinking that’s what she aspired to be. She was the second woman that week who surprised me with her unlikely

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I Started to Cultivate Wonder, and This Is What I Found

By Marlys Johnson Lawry / Life & Culture, Featured

As I leash up John’s dog, he stuffs cookies into his pocket. On nice days, we walk on a nearby trail before getting coffee to go with the cookies. Armed with hot beverages, we drive the back-country roads past gorgeous old barns, clumps of sheep, and painted ponies. John, a retired commercial airline pilot, has early-onset Alzheimer’s. My friend, Cynthia, can’t leave her husband alone, so I hang out with him once a week. Which allows her time to run errands, purchase groceries, and keep appointments. One of the things I enjoy about being in John’s company is his ability to see the world with wonder. “Oh, my gosh! Look at the size of that mountain! So beautiful! Wow!” “Wow, did you

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