When you face ongoing challenges, it can be hard to imagine life being any different. If that was ever true, it feels even more so now in the midst of a global pandemic. Here in my part of the United States, we are two weeks into shutdowns of schools and non-essential businesses, with people shifting…
family
Road Trip Planning Help
Planning to head out on a road trip with your family soon? If you’re like me, the days leading up to your departure will be filled with trying to remember everything that needs to be done – stop the mail and newspaper, arrange for pet sitters or house sitters, double-check hotel reservations, check that the…
Bucket List Bonds: Another Reason the Cubs Win Was Such a Big Deal
I have talked often about the way going after life goals brings connection (it’s the theme of my video course, Build Stronger Bonds Writing Bucket Lists). And usually I’m talking about connection in the present tense, with those in your life today. But this past weekend in Chicagoland I witnessed how powerful that bond can be…
Bucket List Life Dare: Make Spring Break Memorable
How many spring breaks do you have left with your children? What will you do to make this spring break memorable? Bethany, my eldest, received a packet in the mail this week notifying her that she has a summer job as a lifeguard at a camp in Wisconsin, 100 miles from our home. It wasn’t a complete…
Ever Felt Overwhelmed By Life? Me Too!
Yesterday I expected to have time to run out for groceries after I arrived home from work (I work several days each week in a church office). Except that there was the dentist appointment an hour later that I had forgotten about. Dinner ended up being “”baked potatoes & toppings bar” since I was relying…
Family Bucket List Wall
Over the past year I’ve been working on my family’s bucket list wall – a pictorial commemoration of the goals we’ve reached and the fun we’ve had living out our bucket list dreams. Here’s the result: I collected these collage frames over time. I knew I wanted to be able to highlight the different types…
Life Dreams, Work & Discovering Your Calling: An Interview with Jeff Goins
Last week I had the privilege of interviewing Jeff Goins, author of the new book The Art of Work, about work, calling and bucket lists. I have followed Jeff since his first e-book The Writer’s Manifesto in which he sets forth the mindset for embracing the calling of being a writer. His other (awesome) books…
Adventurers in Training
Living out a bucket list is not as much about the items on the list as it as about being open to – and inviting – adventure. It is about being transformed into an adventurer. Our family suffered two losses this past week. On Wednesday, my husband’s grandmother died. A spunky Brit with a quick tongue, she lived…
A Crisis Self-Care Plan For Moms
During a recent months-long crisis in our household, I surprised myself with how much strength I had as a mom. I gave myself to caring for my family like never before. But I also stretched myself thin, emotionally and mentally. I went to bed drained more nights than not. When others reached out with offers…
Help for Spring Break, Spring Cleaning & More: March/April Articles
The kids are bickering, the house is a mess, and you’re just wishing you could get away from it all. Does that sound like your family’s spring break? No? Maybe yours goes more like this: the kids are bickering, your car/hotel room/suitcase is a mess, and you’re just wishing you could get away from it…