I love the idea of Mother’s Day: families taking time to honor those special women who have given so much of themselves. My own mother did so much for my siblings and I, that celebrating her generous love for only one day seems inadequate. For many people, mother’s day can serve as a painful reminder […]

The post The Gift You Might Need This Mother’s Day: Permission to Grieve appeared first on Half Kindled.

I have a custom of writing letters to my children when they are young.  In general, these letters are very personal and a gift that is only shared with the recipient.  Due to the alarming popularity of the “50 Shades of Grey” book and upcoming movie, I decided to make an exception in the case […]

The post Dear Anastasia: A Letter to My Daughter on 50 Shades of Grey appeared first on Half Kindled.

Like most people, I have to fight the urge to complain.  When things get more and more difficult, I just want to vent about all of the things that make me feel like I am going to lose it big time.   Lately I have noticed something: venting doesn’t help all that much. Now don’t get […]

The post 7 Things That Are Saving My Sanity Right Now appeared first on Half Kindled.

That was the question that my almost three year old son asked me over breakfast this morning.  I paused for a moment, taken aback. “What makes you ask that, honey?” I said. “Am I going to die?” He responded, more insistently. “Yes, you are Sammy.  So am I. Every one dies at some point in […]

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February was a hard month.  In addition to the bleak skies and restlessness that generally accompany the winter season, this year brought struggles of a decidedly more permanent nature. Towards the beginning of the month, a friend from college died suddenly.  When you are only in your mid-twenties, it is quite a shock when someone […]

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. . . or in my case, the husband’s late work nights.  Nathan expects to have put in sixteen hours at work today. Sammy decided to celebrate this by making it his mission to dump out anything he could get his hands on in the kitchen while he was “helping” me make dinner.  Among other […]

The post “Stayin Alive” A Soundtrack for the Late Work Nights appeared first on Half Kindled.

First off I want to apologize for how quiet things have been around here.  We have had colds, allergies and general feelings of “blahs” going around.  Also I have been hard at work on a special project that I look forward to sharing with you (not the laundry room remodel, progress has temporarily stalled on […]

The post Our Two Year “Housiversary”: Lessons Learned appeared first on Half Kindled.

I have a custom of writing letters to my children when they are young.  This letter is one such example.  In general, these letters are very personal and a gift that is only shared with the recipient.  Due to the alarming popularity of the “50 Shades of Grey” book and upcoming movie, I decided to […]

The post Dear Anastasia: A Letter to My Daughter on 50 Shades of Grey appeared first on Half Kindled.

The other day I thought it might be fun to do posts on breastfeeding as part of breastfeeding awareness week, so I turned to Google to find out just when it was.  In a serendipitous turn of events, I discovered it is this week.  This post is the first of two posts on my experiences with breastfeeding my […]

The post My Breastfeeding Journey Part I: Lactation Failure appeared first on Half Kindled.

In January, frustrated with the chaos I was encountering, I decided to seek to thrive in all that I did.  I set goals for various aspects of my life: relationships, health, prayer, etc. (I hope to share them with you sometime soon, to help keep me accountable to them.)   While I have been progressing […]

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