joyce

Over the past decade, we’ve had a similar set of circumstances. When either my son or younger daughter can’t keep down food because of a cold or stomach bug, we rush them to the emergency room. There, they start receiving fluids with the goal of rehydrating them immediately. When that is done and they are finally

Yesterday I was blessed to receive bright pink roses. They were beautiful and breathtaking. However, I had not gone home immediately after receiving them. In fact, the flowers had to sit in my warm car for a few hours until the celebrations of the day finally drew to a close. By the time we arrived

Throughout the years, I admired both my mom and my husband’s mom as I watched them do it all.  From cooking fresh meals daily (yes, you read correctly!) and raising a family to working as a full-time nurse, they both fit the description of SuperMom. But of all those things, what has left the deepest impression

Recently something a friend shared led me on a stroll down memory lane.  There I was … in my car … crying. “Lord, I can’t take any more bad news.” Every difficult situation I had encountered up until that day was dealt with the same way: going from a state of shock and disbelief to

I don’t know about you, but my Friday evenings are typically relaxing. However, that was NOT the case this past Friday. After snapping photos throughout the school year, I finally compiled them into a slide show for our community’s end of the year celebration. But there I was, minutes before leaving for the celebration, prompted to watch

“How could this happen to me?” “I’m so angry!” “I just want to be left alone.” Have you or someone you know ever endured a difficult circumstance, such as losing a loved one or walking through life altering news? It’s hard to just smile and nod, acting as if everything is “going to be okay”. Well, that’s how

Friends. Those are the folks we enjoy hanging out with. They add color to our lives in different ways through their personalities, interests, and our commonalities. “Friends make the world beautiful.” Then, there are those who we refer to as close friends. Most of us have at least one. You know, that person who we

Interesting. Intriguing. Inspiring. I always enjoy a great story. Between the characters, the challenges they face, and how they resolve the problem, I am literally all ears. Sometimes, we think that stories are limited to those which become famous such as the Helen Keller story, a blind and deaf woman who became a leading humanitarian in the 20th

  I have a confession to make (and what better place to share it than on social media, right?) Several weeks ago, I shared how I was asked to consider a position. Part one of my confession is that I quickly declined without even thinking or praying about it. The next day, when a friend

Dirty diapers. Frequent feedings. Sleepless nights. When preparing for parenthood, does anyone mention how exhausting it is? I honestly felt as if I was a walking zombie during those times while lugging around half of my house in a diaper bag to appointments and shopping. When covered in spit up and listening to incessant crying, my weariness