Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

Have you ever truly sat down and thought about death? Have you ever simply looked her in the eyes and realized she was not something to fear?  What about the life you lead right here, right now?  When I personally think about life and death together, I realize they go hand in hand just as fear and excitement, joy and loss, the truth is each one is the barer of the other, and they each live within us every day. Maybe there are those days when we manage to toss it in the corner, or hide it away in a drawer, but the truth is death never really escapes us. We go through our lives day to day, living with no fear of what the next turn may bring but then one day we wake up and we know that something is wrong. We can feel it deep within our bones, within our souls and we tremble with the loss our spirit has awakened with. Without notice a letter unexpectedly arrives, the phones rings in the middle of the night and we just know...something is not right, something is wrong, something...

I never thought I would have to sit my children down and tell them, “Mommy has cancer”. It was just not something which ever crossed my mind. I was not at risk; I did not have a target on my breast to ever give having breast cancer a thought. But we all know the story, you have all heard how the cancer came, invaded my body, took my breast and left me with what I refer to affectionately as my “uniboob”. The simple truth is cancer came to play and she lost. Cancer came to my door and she not only knocked on my door but she violently kicked it in. Cancer brought the big guns with her; she thought she could take me and my family into the depths of her agony. Cancer had plans to maim me, to disfigure me and to drag me to Hell. The reality is in many ways she did succeed BUT she did not take my voice away from me. This beast basked in the glory of knowing she took a piece of me here and there but cancer did not take the whole of me. Fighting breast cancer is not an easy battle, the...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk through a wardrobe and come out into a snow filled world? Or have a painting pull you into an ocean on the other side of the frame? What if we could transform from the ordinary to the extraordinary? The words of the new Carrie Underwood song from The Narnia Movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, begin with these words: “There is a place out there for us, where your heart is free and hope comes back to life”. As a little girl my mother read the entire Narnia series to me. I loved every minute of these powerful, books, and the storytelling of C.S. Lewis. I was captivated, and I imagined myself on many adventures in this strange, yet very fascinating world.So last weekend after seeing, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a very moving, emotional and adventure filled movie I did what I never do in public: I broke down in tears for my whole family to witness. I could not even talk for a while. I honestly could not help myself. As I struggled to e...