Yesterday, I stood in daytime dark and saw the light.  Like over two hundred million other people across North America, I had the amazing opportunity to see one of nature’s rarest phenomena—a total solar eclipse. In fact, my home in Arkansas lay squarely in the...

The bluebird box has been there for years, decades even. It’s nothing impressive to look at—just a simple cedar box mounted to a rusty T-post and sheltered under a spray of spirea and a slender pear tree. Like most things that have lived patiently through the swirl of...

Be Thou my vision… The prayer floats skyward, whispering across the short-shaved crop fields—a plea to see. Here, where the land leaps forward, my gaze is stretched for miles. O King of my heart… Here, in the wildness of the high grasslands, the horizon embraces us...

“Thanksgiving should be celebrated in the spring.” Thus declared the famous Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. She further explained her opinion with these words: “I think it would be ever so much better than having it in November when everything is dead or asleep....

It hit me as my family was preparing for a recent trip to Colorado: I don’t know how to pack. Oh, don’t get me wrong—I’m not lacking in the mechanics of packing. In theory, I perfectly understand how to create a thoughtful list, organize it into sections, efficiently...

Friends, the release of my novel, Where the Wings Rise, is less than a month away!  So, to celebrate, I’m doing something a little different:  today’s blog is based not on an encounter I’ve had in nature, but on an event that takes place within the pages of my book! ...

I couldn't be more excited to have my writing friend Hannah Linder on my blog today! Hannah is not only an award-winning author of Christian regency romance but also an incredibly talented international cover designer. (Look at my most recent cover, and realize that...

I’ve watched it all year—the seasonal rhythm of the birds around my house. I saw them arrive in early spring, their triumphant songs spinning into the still-thawing air. I watched them claim their territories and construct their nests, huddling on the treasure of...

I have a special surprise today--an interview with Rachel Leitch, author of the upcoming novella The Odd Duck Society! Rachel and I had a great interview over email about writing, faith, and the importance of friendship, and I can't wait to share it with you all...

Despite my best efforts, I have never been much of a gardener.  This is disappointing to me, because in theory, gardening sounds like the most idyllic of pastimes. In my mind, I can easily insert myself into the backdrop of a Marjolein Bastein painting,...

Looking back now, I can say that it all started when my grandmother received her first iPad.  It wasn’t planned, not at all. In fact, I can’t even remember why she had the iPad at all. Certainly she had no use for it. She continually insisted that she’d...

One night, I stood in the dark and saw the light. It was a crisp, clear evening, and I had been outside finishing some chores while the sunset smudged itself out on the western horizon. By the time I had completed my tasks, the night was fully present, drawing its...

I have a confession to make: the month we are beginning now is one of my least favorite.   Yes, January has an exalted beginning—I’ll grant that. It’s the time of new beginnings. The month when resolutions are written and new chapters begun. The season when...

It was the highest point—in more ways than one.  I was in my early teens, and my family and I were enjoying a hiking trip in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.  We had been exploring dozens of picturesque trails with breathtaking...