January always feels like a blank canvas or a pristine field of snow. It’s clean, free of regrets, and full of possibilities…

What’s something you’ve trusted in that ultimately let you down? Maybe it was a chair that collapsed beneath you, or a car that was supposed to be…

Have you ever been in the middle of circumstances and all of a sudden you ask, “What in the world is God doing?” We really want to trust….

Pam and I have recorded many podcasts together, but there’s one I will always remember. It’s not so much the content of the podcast that will set up…

“I just don’t know what to do,” my friend said through tears as she showed me her text messages. She had messaged her ex-husband to tell him…

In my last blog, we processed the power of one safe adult. Now let’s look at a powerful statement that might change the way you parent.  Have you…

Single motherhood is one of the most exhausting yet most rewarding jobs a woman can take on. But while trying to balance a full-time job, school…

Do you remember being in elementary school and dreaming up make-believe fairy tales to your own story? Who you would marry, what you would name your kids, even…

This week I was sitting in a room of 7th and 8th grade girls when one of them said, “We impress people with our strengths, but we connect with people over our weaknesses.”

I am a Sound of Music nerd. I admit I might have a problem because I love the movie so much. Ever since the age of seven when I was introduced to Maria and the Von Trapp children, I’ve dreamed of traveling to Salzburg, Austria. I’m not sure if it was the scenery, the emotions evoked by the film, or that I wanted to dance around the city singing “Do Re Mi,” “My Favorite Things,” or “I Have Confidence.”

I recently heard a speaker at a safety event we hosted say one phrase that really stuck with me: Keep. Your. Eyes. Up.

Have you ever thought about the blessing it is that God gives us new mornings? Now, I am really not a morning person. I like to stay up late, so when my alarm goes off it’s usually greeted with grunting and a very angry hitting of my snooze button. But think about it. God could have created us to just be awake all the time, but instead, we go to sleep at night and wake up to tackle a new day. Why would I call this a blessing?

I feel like the hollow echo when entering a courtroom is unlike any other experience. Just getting there is crazy enough: you dress up, your heart is pounding, you frantically try to find the courthouse and find parking. Then your ears ring with the loud creak of the door as you open it and your heart races as you search the room to figure out what you are supposed to do.

One of the toughest seasons of my life was the spring of 2019. My 16-year-old daughter had run away from home multiple times. I could see from her Instagram check-ins that she had been in Texas, Colorado, and just hours away from our home near Tulsa much of the three weeks she was gone. 

I love when people ask me what my favorite chapter is in the Bible. Mainly because I love talking about it, but I also get great enjoyment out of watching people’s faces when they read the first sentence:

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”

The air is humid. The sun warms the sand as the water ebbs and flows. Movement begins slowly. Sand divots appear across the landscape. Then teeny tiny sea turtles desperately chip away at their shells, struggle out of their nests, and embark on the most important journey of their life.

My name is Kelly and I suffer from “always-need-to-be-on-the-move”- itis. In laymen’s terms… I don’t sit well. I never really have. 

I WILL:
1. I will ask Santa for a vacation to the Bahamas…ALONE… and a nanny back home to take care of the kids and laundry.

This has been a special year for Arise Single Moms as we’ve celebrated our 20 anniversary. We’ve highlighted this momentous marker by writing various blogs called “20 Things.” This month’s is one of my favorites. 

An upcoming wedding anniversary is another one of those pesky things in the life of a single mom that makes its way around whether we want it to or not. A date that just sort of causes a stir in your spirit.