Christmas is drawing to a close and with it the months-long holiday season. I admit that though I miss Thanksgiving, the joyful anticipation of Advent and the blessed Christmas season, my childlike giddiness lingers into January because it brings my birthday – and I absolutely love my birthday. Balloons, my …

I traveled to Iceland in August. After years of wishing, planning and saving, I was at last on board a 757 headed east to Reykjavik, to start a six-day solo trip across the Icelandic south coast. During my years of preparation, the trip became a beacon of hope. When overwhelmed …

Five years ago my husband, and I began to make concerted efforts toward celebrating Advent and waiting for the liturgical Christmas season to deck the halls and hang stockings with care. Truly waiting cultivated my sense of liturgical seasons, and on a superficial level, I found I wasn’t done by …

We go around the table every year: “I’m grateful for my family and friends,” somebody says. “I’m grateful for pie,” one child pipes up. Thinking ahead to my turn, I want to voice something that’s heartfelt and unique, but, most years, I realize that I’ve done little reflection on the …

I remember seeing the small plus sign on my pregnancy test, and a smile spread across my face. Stepping out into the buzzing activity of our home, I held up the test for Andrew to see. He was late on his way out the door to an evening meeting and …

The alarm I rarely hear went off. My husband Andrew and I agreed to rise early to “parallel pray” before the day got going. I felt his nudge, “Time to wake up.” In mornings prior, I intended to wake up early to pray, but ultimately discerned that Jesus must want …

“So what do you think you can do before our next session that would help your relationship?” I stared blankly at our therapist. My husband and I had just spent the last hour revealing pains and sores in our marriage. She had already asked Andrew this question and now turned …

Leave the care of your affairs to Me and everything will be peaceful. In my 13 years as a wife and 12 as a mother, there have been plenty of times when I’ve simply run out of answers. Every family carries unique burdens that can overwhelm and exhaust us emotionally, …

Happy Bicentennial! We’re right in the middle of an historical event, marking 200 years of life, work and prayer at home in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. If we open our eyes to it, we can realize in a more concrete way that, as individual Catholics, we’re part of something and …

Many parents these days are taking the “wait and see” approach with religion, not having their children baptized and letting them decide when they’re older.