Family

I just spent a whirlwind three days on the East coast visiting my blood family. As many of you know, I live in this tiny swath of the Midwest that is also called the Des Moines Metro area of Iowa. I don’t have ANY blood family here. The reason I live here is because many […]

Two steps forward and one step back

Yesterday the other half and I got news that kind of stunned us and changes the course of some of our major plans. Without going into much detail, changes to our lives have been made yet again. But that’s just part of life. Like John Lennon penned, “Life is what happens while you are busy […]

You belong

Today marks a year since my first serial novel, The Magician, debuted in paperback format. But more importantly, today marks a year since the tiny church that my other half and I attend in my little swath of the Midwest voted almost unanimously to become the first open and affirming church in the city. Those […]

If I am too much, go find less

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” ~ Matthew 22:36-39 (NIV) It was all over the news […]

I’m still here

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks in my life, so I haven’t been doing much writing on my socials. But I am still here. I am still writing. In fact, I almost have a short story done and am about to release another novella in my Portals Series. I still hike and geocache as […]

Karmic Justice?

In the movie Ella Enchanted, the title character rescues an elf named Slannen, who eventually takes her back to his home village. Due to cruel laws passed by the King Regent Edgar, the elves can only act as performers and must sing and dance for any human, even if their hearts aren’t into it. Ella […]

Find what fills your cup

This past Sunday, I skipped church. I do that from time to time. Either I wake up feeling icky and don’t want to infect others or had a very late night because of work and just don’t want to get going in the morning. Sometimes I am out of town or have something important that […]

Go Beyond

The other half and I have been geocaching for six years now. But it wasn’t until recently that we found a greater community of geocachers. We had a couple of friends that cached (in fact, one of them GOT us into geocaching). But when it came to actually meeting the people who were hiding the […]

Still Love in Hard Times

There is idea that is attributed to the German bishop Nicholas of Cusa that goes like this: “The first thought that goes through your mind is what you have been conditioned to think. What you think next defines who you are.” It’s also basically the dual process theory of cognition, where we first make quick judgements […]