Before I get to the blessing, I’d like to ask a favor. Could you request your local library to purchase Small Steps: Blessings to Lift Your Soul on the Pilgrimage of Life? Just think how many people would be able to read these blessings? Hit reply to this email and let me know you’ve made this request or if you’ve preordered a copy for yourself (or some friends!)
The world is on fire
and so are our lives
from the people across the ocean
to the teachers across the hall
no one is immune.
The words on our lips feel like curses
Nothing left to do
Cancer
Losing your hair
There’s no more money
Bombs
We have to make some cuts
Those are the orders.
It’s too much
our shoulders can’t hold the weight
we’re shaking and aching
we were never meant to hold this much
and in such fast ways
so we rage
and make phone calls
we’re placed on hold
and check our HSA accounts
we tell friends
and let them hold us and our worries
we whisper the unimaginable
and wonder why?
Why? Why? Why?
God, you hold it all
our anger and the uncertainty
we can’t do anything to take the pain away
but we pick up today’s work
and small acts of hope and courage
and trust that You are there.
Oh Lord, hear our prayers.
// You can find this blessing and many others in my newest book Small Steps: Blessings to Lift Your Soul on the Pilgrimage of Life. Small Steps includes blessings and essays all based on the belief that each of us can offer words of goodness and hope to others. Pre-order today to get this book delivered to your doorstep on May 5th, 2026!
These banana chocolate chip cookies are delicious. Come for the muffins and be sure to read the beautiful essay by Reb Smyth, I was Raised in Borrowed Kitchens. Who doesn’t need the comfort of baked goods right now?
I am here for a one dish meal and these sheet pan chicken fajitas were easy and delicious!
I’m also making my way through the recipes in the Coffee + Crumbs book You’re in Good Company. The book feature two of my blessings! You’re in Good Company: The Gift of Friendship, Motherhood, and Showing Up mixes personal stories, reflections, and helpful ideas, all based on the belief that hospitality doesn’t need to be perfect to matter. In this heartfelt collection of essays and recipes, we’re inviting you to rediscover—and even redefine—what hospitality can look like in a busy, lonely world. Hint: it looks less like glamorous dinner parties, and more like ordinary grace around the backyard fire pit. Pre-order today to get this book delivered to your doorstep on March 17, 2026!
The kids and I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and I couldn’t help smile as we opened the book together. We need all the reminders that good will prevail and I’m so delighted that my kids got to meet Harry and his friends and travel to Hogwarts. It was indeed magical.
My book club pick was Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These which got mixed reviews by my local book club. I went in with high expectations but did find myself wanting more. The writing is beautiful and the themes of caring for our neighbors and how power can wielded for keeping secrets are quite pressing.
The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick. So good, and timely again on the power of friendships and claiming our individual stories and power.
I’m currently reading Skylark by Paula McLain and I can already tell this will be a favorite book of the year. Beautiful writing set in two different backdrops that weaves a mesmerizing tale of Paris above and below—where a woman’s quest for artistic freedom in 1664 intertwines with a doctor’s dangerous mission during the German occupation in the 1940s, revealing a story of courage and resistance that transcends time.
How about you? What are you feeding your families these days? And what books should I add to my list?
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