Rage Against The Minivan

This post was sponsored by Bad Moms Christmas + Evite It's not that I'm a Bad Mom, per se. It's just that sometimes, I'm a bit of a slacker. I love my kids. I love making things special for them. But sometimes, I'm also just tired. Physically tired, but also tired of trying to keep up with the Pinterest-worthy lifestyle. Take the holidays, for example. It feels like every holiday has to be this over-blown production for the kids. Like St. Patrick’s Day. When I was a kid we . . .

I've been talking a lot about self-care lately but the truth is, it's really hard for me. With the kids back in school now, I have a little time to focus on my own self-care. Today I'm sharing some of my personal best practices for self-care, including my bullet journal, an incredible detox scrub and mask from Teami Blends that are like a reset button for my face, some of my favorite scents, and my favorite relaxation playlist. If you want to try Teami's awesome mask made with a blend . . .

This post is sponsored by OC Bus I’m great about using public transportation when I travel. I’m enthusiastic about to taking the subway when I visit New York. I’ve taken the tube in London and the metro in Paris, and when the kids and I visited Amsterdam last year, we rode the bus everywhere. And yet, in my own city, I must confess that I’ve never even taken the bus. The other day, I found myself with 15 kids at my house. I usually have an extra kid or two at the house on any given . . .

On Thursdays I post from the vault. This post is from June 2014. Next year is the year, people. It's when Karis starts kindergarten. My youngest. My last. I haven't quite figured out how that's supposed to feel. Part of me thinks I might break into song and go skipping jubilantly through my house. Because freedom! I will be able to work without distractions every weekday. I will not have to struggle to maintain a work-life balance because I can just WORK during those precious hours. . . .

When we set out to adopt from Haiti, the ethics of the organization we would work with was a top concern. I believe in family preservation, and I did not want to adopt a child who was removed from living birthparents for monetary reasons. I did a ton of research and kept getting the same answer: Heartline. They had a great reputation in Haiti, and they tried very hard to reunify birth families when they could. The people who work at Heartline will always hold a special place for me, because . . .

Last month I had the chance to visit Iraq and Lebanon with World Vision to see the work they are doing with families living in refugee camps. I’ve seen footage of the violence and destruction that ISIS has wreaked on families in Iraq and Syria and I think that their stories desperately need to be told. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to what is happening to both the Iraqi and Syrian people because it’s happening so far away. It’s also so incredibly painful that I think it’s hard to . . .