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

We can’t always predict which turn’s life will take. Many times the journey life carry’s us on require detours down dark, sometimes even tragic, disastrous, calamitous, and yes catastrophic roads. Our paths may be obstructed; the roads uneven and gloomy. Finding joy in the midst of our fears can almost be overwhelming if we're really being honest. Life, on any given day can be overtaken by ominous dark clouds but that doesn’t mean our joy is gone. There are days when the happiness we expected to experience has gone MIA. For one reason or other happiness can be lost, misplaced, or simply buried under a mound of difficulties. The thing about joy is it’s never really lost. Sure we may think joy has disappeared but the truth is joy is always inside us, we just have to choose to unwrap it. The quality joy offers us is deeper than anything happiness can ever offer. The reality is happiness is an automatic emotion to something we think is good for us. The hard part about our emotions i...

I've truly been blessed by the grace of a  beautiful extended family here in Texas and abroad. Family, not by blood, but by bonds of deliberate choosing.  I love my spiritual and emotional family with all my heart and would sacrifice anything for them. My little band is a small, yet fierce group of women who aren't just friends on occasion but forever.  Over the years these women  have become sisters of the heart. Unfortunately only a small few are pictured above, but pictures or not, on any given day,  I know who my friends are. Without a doubt I know who I can always trust and   who I can  count on..Sometimes they come running over, we grab a coffee and other times I find a Facebook tag making me laugh or many times they call and other times an encouraging text message.These women are my best friends, part of our family. I’ve known some of my sisters for close to 2 decades or more, others over 10 years and a few for just under 3 years. ...

I can’t tell you how many times Johnny and I have been asked how we've raised such chill kids. To be honest, I’m never quite sure how to answer this question. Our boys are good kids, with big hearts and a view on life which many times are very different from their peers. Growing up in the shadow of cancer’s grip has a way of keeping life in perspective. Our family story is not unique; it’s just full of random chapters, out of order, which have ultimately shaped our views and perspectives. Johnny and I were both raised in small, close families. I was brought up as an only child, yet our home was full of people on any given day. My parents were in ministry so I learned early how to share, love unconditionally and to roll with the ups and downs. Johnny is simply a very easy going man with a big heart. From the time we were married we made the decision to bring our kids up in a way they would never fear us or doubt our love for them. To this day our dinner table is a place of la...