Core Truths

Of all the stories I have ever shared through blogging, there is one story I have not yet told—the story of how the blog came to be in the first place. Brandon and I have been sharing our stories of faith, family, and values through Unbinded Life, but before that, was Core Truths. I started the Core Truths blog in 2018 as a way for me to connect and share stories with other women and moms. But the dream to share through blogging began years earlier. In fact, I still remember exactly when and where I was when I said out loud for the first time, “I want to start a blog.” The year was 2016, and I was a full-time stay-at-home mom. The kids ranged in ages from 2 to 15 years old. I had resigned from teaching one year earlier, and I had a peace within me that I would not return to the classroom, but I had not yet landed on what I was going to do next. I was happy staying home with the kids, and I had realized that’s what I had always yearned to be able to do. But even with the satisfaction of...

Recently, Brandon and I decided to take a last-minute trip—just the two of us. Seriously, it was on a Wednesday he told me he would really like for us to go out of town sometime soon. We looked at each other, looked at our calendars, and said, “How about we leave on Friday?” While the trip was totally spontaneous, it was also very intentional. Let me explain. When Brandon and I first got married, we set a goal that every year we would take a trip, just the two of us, each year for our anniversary. Taking those trips in the early years showed us how important time alone and away can be for our marriage. On those trips, we had the time to visit, to laugh, to reconnect, and to dream. We looked forward to choosing new destinations and seeing new places. I would like to tell you that we continued to take an anniversary trip every year since we first got married, but we haven’t. By the time we had three kids and were knee-deep in careers and calendars, we skipped a year. And then another yea...

Growing up in Southwest Louisiana, Opal and I were immersed in a culture of not only amazing food and music but also an abundance of festivals. Attending local fairs, festivals, and parades was just a way of life. It’s among the most special memories I have as a kid and something that I have carried with me my entire life, sort of like it was just a part of the fiber of my being. Our careers in public education took us to some great places, and we were able to meet some of the most amazing people along the way. But there were some things written on our hearts—things we imagined in a place we’d call home—that we longed to find. Things like having the financial and time freedom to travel often, owning “a historic home on a street with a sidewalk,” and calling a place home that was reminiscent of our childhoods—a place whose local culture is the heartbeat of the community. Two years ago, when we got crystal clear on our values, rediscovered our dreams that had been tucked away for a coupl...

  This week we are in Colorado for spring break. We have declared it, Vacation Unbinded. What makes this vacation different from the others? We have slowed down and have let go. Let me explain. Brandon and I both are very, very good at planning trips. We really enjoy choosing where we will go and then scouring the area for everything we should do while we are there. We ask our friends, we read travel blogs, we look for every article of “Things You Should Do In…” Once we gather all of our research, we plan our itineraries. When we travel, we usually know where we will go, what we will do, and where we will eat on every given day of our trip. For the most part, this has served us well. But we realized, this abundance of planning came from a mindset of scarcity of time. We realized we were trying to squeeze in every possible thing we could in one week because it would be another 51 weeks before we would have the opportunity to travel again. With an entire year at stake, we felt every ...

We wanted to create a life we didn’t need a vacation from. Why? Because we really liked who we were on vacation. When we were on vacation, we were adventurous. We were focused on each other. We made sure everyone was doing things that made them happy. We stayed up late. We played games. We played loud music in the car. When we were on vacation, our main focus was to watch the kids, listen to the kids, play with the kids. Our evenings were relaxed and peaceful. Our mornings, even when rushed, were energetic and exciting. When we were on vacation, there were no meetings, no evening commitments, no swapping off of kids and handing-off of duties. We never dreaded a day, not even a Monday, when we were on vacation. 
We wanted that life—a life we could live like we were on vacation. We decided to take what we loved most about that time, about who we were, and to design a life as close to that as we possibly could. We realized, it’s not doing the dishes or paying bills or answering calls or c...

It’s no secret that our family is made up of a bunch of National Park Geeks, and it was on our first visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a couple years ago that our lives were changed forever. It was Summer 2018, and we completely fell in love with those peaceful smoky mountains and their stunning blue ridges. We knew it was love at first sight when we first entered the National Park, but it was one afternoon driving the Blue Ridge Parkway through the majestic mountains of western North Carolina that Opal and I looked at one another at a scenic overlook and said we have to live here. We must live here. We will live here someday. The rest of that week, my and Opal’s conversations centered much around real estate in the area, the job market, and, probably most importantly, how could we possibly do this before retirement someday. Of course, our three older kids wanted no part of any relocation conversation at that time, but Lucia and Maximilian were 100% on board! Lucia was a...

  There was a time I avoided talking with my husband. Like seriously avoided. Let me explain. For several years, I did everything I could to not be caught off guard with the opportunity to talk deeply and uninterrupted with Brandon. Not about the day-to-day stuff, that was fine. It was the quiet talk of sharing from our hearts that I tried desperately to avoid. Now, you have to know, I love Brandon, with all my heart, but I did not want to talk with him. See, I knew we were both unhappy and I knew if we were given the chance to talk, he was going to tell me exactly what he wanted. And I was fearful that what he wanted just wasn’t possible—I believed the future he dreamed of us living didn’t even exist. This was at a time it seemed we had achieved everything we could in life. He had a good job, I was a stay-at-home mom, all of the kids were in school and involved in things, and the youngest was still home with me. We had a few cars, we were putting in a pool, we took summer vacation...

  For years, we dreamed we could one day live in an area with four distinct seasons. We always dreamed of owning a historic home and spending time on the expansive front porch. We aspired to simplify our life and embrace the beauty that making memories at a slower pace would bring. This evening, we sat in the front porch rockers with friends watching the snow fall as the sun set behind the mountains. The kids played with neighbors in the snow, sledding and building snowmen. To us, today was picture perfect and everything we had imagined life could be. Today, we count our blessings that we decided to put a stake in the ground, give ourselves permission to seek a life of freedom, and relentlessly pursue all we had ever dreamed of. Tonight, we are grateful for this Unbinded Life.