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

“Love your family. Spend time, be kind and serve one another. Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised and today is short.” ~ Unknown Family. We're born from and by them. How we came to be part of our families, isn't the question. One way or another we did. Whether through birth or adoption, our lives have been built upon their stories. Their history is our history and ultimately our story as well. For me, home is a place where unconditional love resides...a shelter and refuge full of memories, both and happy sad. I come from a very closely knit family. Not perfect in any way shape or form but close. I’m deeply connected to my roots and family tree. Today I stand in awe of both the lineage and legacy surrounding my life. My family has and will always be my greatest source of strength and joy. We’re a crazy bunch, that's for sure. But what family isn’t? I look at our life together and I’m reminded “we're just the right mix of chaos and love.” What I...

Have you ever seen the movie Up by Disney/Pixar? It’s another one of our favorite movies around here. Of course maybe that's because our family has this sense of adventure deep in our souls. The line, “Adventure is out there” pretty much sums up my childhood. Heck it sums up my parents life together since the beginning. Pretty much as soon as my parents married they were off and running around the world. They have lived, visited, traveled and taken me along to so many amazing and exotic places I can’t keep count. Combined together our family has scene Vietnam, Panama, Germany, England, Scotland, Sweden, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, Korea and most recently Ecuador. Honestly our international itineraries are a lot bigger than just those named above and if you add in most of the continental U.S. you might just begin to get the picture of our lives.  As a child I was blessed to walk through castles, take cruises down famous rivers of the world, cross the English Channel on...

“If you could change you fate, would you?” It’s a fascinating question asked in one of my favorite movies, Brave. I love Merida, she’s a spitfire, strong, sassy, opinionated and of course a redhead too. Merida’s also very determined to write her own story. As the tale of Merida plays out she is given a choice to make, she can change her fate or not.  She is warned by the Wise Woman but she fails to understand, “Fate be changed, look inside. Mend the bond torn by pride.”  In the process by working to “fix” her life, the fate she’s been dealt, everything in Merida’s life falls apart.  The fact is it’s not what she wants that ultimately sets her off course, it’s in the way she attempts to get it. This is the thing we fail to realize many times, “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” C.S. Lewis nailed it right on the head didn’t he?   I have thought about what life would have been like without breast cancer many times. Beli...

Part 1 Have you seen Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out? I know it’s a kids film right? Or is it? Truthfully, it’s actually an incredible film taking it’s viewer through our emotions and how they work. It’s one of my family’s favorite movies. My boys at 19 and 17 will pop the Blue Ray in and ask us to watch it with them on any given weekend.  Maybe that’s because they can relate to the film. Of course the hockey helps but given their experiences the last couple years they’ve had their own emotional journey, there and back again. Joshua and Micah not only understand but feel the truth of Riley’s journey. They’ve felt it all from hurt, sadness, anger and yes happiness and joy. Within the movie Inside Out there are five Islands. These 'Islands of Personality' consist of Family, Friendship, Hockey and Imagination but Goofball Island is probably my favorite. These are honestly the closest to our family’s personal “Islands” of personality as you can get. Just like in the movie, ...