Run The Race

"Mom, we don't need to say that prayer today," Reese, my 7 year old son, said after I asked if he was ready to say the Serenity Prayer.  My heart paused - not really sure whether to rejoice or have some hesitancy.  Each day, as we walk over a mile to school we say the Serenity Prayer; both walking and saying the prayer were a rituals we began almost 2 years ago as we searched for ways to help Reese with his anxiety regarding school. I'm excited at his statement because I can see how much he's grown in the last year.  It is a praise to our Heavenly Father that the same fears no longer overcome him leading into his day. The hesitancy is because when most people become "self-sufficient" or "spiritually proud" they also have a tendency to drift from a reliance on God.  For example, if the check engine light comes on in the car, who is more likely to say a prayer first - the person that has $2,000 in savings or the person that already had to mak...

It is such a beautiful time of year.  The weather just beckons our outdoor play!  There is a smell and an ambiance that simply doesn't exist any other time of year but fall. So what is looming over my head? As I walk outside, I feel as if I should run and play because of the beauty that exists, yet there is some sort of fog in my mind.  It's a strange feeling that is hard to describe. I know what it is.  It is a lingering of the feelings I had during this season in years past.  The air simply reminds me of the months leading up to Elliot's birth as well as the months following my Mother's death.  The months leading to Elliot's birth were expectant and fun but also fat and exhausted.  I remember running in the "Race for the Cure" with my big belly; I could see people pick up the pace as I passed them, thinking to themselves "there's no way I can get beat by a pregnant woman"! I have historically loved dressing up and making costumes a...