Grateful and Intentional: Home for the Holidays
By: Kristen Neighbarger Published on: 27/12/2023It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that this is my last blog post of 2023. Russ and I have spent all of December talking about how quickly this year flew by–I feel like we said that at the beginning of each new month, a collective: where did this month go? We’re gearing up for 2024, and it’s going to be a BIG year around here. I’m working on my manuscript and hope to have it to my publisher in the next month. Then, I have to brace myself for the joy commonly referred to as editing and revising before the excitement of launching my book baby into the world. It’s going to be a wild ride for sure. I’ve never had a “word of the year” before this year, and in true Kristen fashion, I couldn’t land on just one word, so I had two: balance and focus. Those were good for me. When I found myself feeling a little off-kilter or overcommitting, those words would find their way back into my brain, and I would feel myself calming and settling.
Father's Day for the Divorced Mom
By: Kristen Neighbarger Published on: 14/06/2023Last year for Mother’s Day, my daughter, Kate found these adorable and cheeky Avocado-themed dish towels for me and a giant coffee mug declaring I’m the World’s Greatest Mom. This year, she cross-stiched a kitchen towel for me (she’s an old soul in a teenage body) and bought me some Lily’s chocolate bars (because Keto!). These gifts stick in my mind because she picked them out, she bought them, and she was so proud of them. They were special because her biological father and I have not been together for five years, and that meant there was no dad helping her pick out gifts or paying for those gifts for several years. I learned during those first couple of years that Mother’s Day can feel very different when you’re a divorced/single mom. Father’s Day is almost here, and I want to take a few minutes to have a heart-to-heart with my divorced friends with kids. I see you. When you’re divorced with children (of any age), holidays can absolutely bring about scheduling nightmares–even when you have a clearly written parenting agreement, a myriad of emotions, and tremendous unrest. While I wish I could fix all those things for you, I know I can’t. However, after living that life for a few years and attempting to be healthy and healed, I’m going to attempt today to help you approach these holidays differently and maybe give you some peace.
