With several landmark decisions having recently come from the Supreme Court of the United States of America, the word “choice” is pulsating in headlines, social media posts, conversations, commentaries, and people’s hearts and minds. Big Ocean Women had already planned to focus on our tenet, “We are free to choose, and willingly accept responsibility for…
I am training my tree. I have this vision of how it will look many years from now. It will be different from the other trees in my new-construction neighborhood where all of the trees are young and small now. I am winding the small branches that grew at the bottom around the trunk and…
This month we celebrate our freedom to choose. An important facet of this gift is that it opens the door for us to choose to change. I am grateful that I am not the same person I was as a child, as an all-knowing teenager, or a brand-new wife and mother. In each case, this…
Over the past few years, I’ve been coming across more and more information and resources that teach the fact that our thoughts carry power — for good or for bad. As I’ve endured my own hardships, and watched friends and loved ones do the same, I’ve struggled with how to navigate the thoughts that accompany…
What does it mean when we say, “We are free to choose, and willingly accept responsibility for our choices?” Today, I’ll share some of my thoughts on this subject, but I also hope you won’t take my word for it. I invite you to explore this topic on your own and come to your own…
Kaylee grew up in St. George, Utah, USA and is the second oldest of seven children. She lived in a tight-knit community where the children played night games together regularly and families supported each other. Kaylee has also lived elsewhere in Utah, California, Brazil, and North Carolina. In this season of her life, Kaylee is…
The cookbook is old, the spine broken in places, pages faded and stained, dotted with water from being left too close to sinks and glasses, smudged with the remnants of flour and egg and flecks of batter from enthusiastic beaters, corners crinkled and folded to mark recipes that have been made over and over again,…
There certainly are times in my life when I have NOT felt free to choose. At times, when circumstances seemed bigger than me or when I felt like a victim, I have unfortunately reacted instead of choosing. I’m grateful for mentors and resources that have helped me learn and grow in ways that have empowered…
Of the almost innumerable choices we make daily, perhaps the most consequential are the ones that impact those around us. The words we choose to use, our tone of voice, and the intent of our communication frequently have far-reaching and perhaps unintended consequences in our relationships with others. Certainly we should be aware of the…
This month’s tenet focuses on the irreplaceable role of fathers as well as building interdependent relationships with the men in our lives. I am touched not only by the gift of physical life made possible by my biological father, but his hard work to provide a living for our family. He and many others gave…
Big Ocean Women Cottage leader Fatima Njoku in Jos, Nigeria was appalled by the news she was hearing: On 12 May 2022 a Christian college student, Deborah Samuel, had been stoned and burned alive by radical Islamists for “committing blasphemy.” Then, Fatima explained, “they proceeded to start burning, looting, and attacking other Christians in the…
Most of the efforts by Big Ocean Women to help in Ukraine lately has been coordinating the sending of gathered and donated medical supplies, quilts, and bulletproof vests to those in need through the organization, Backroads Foundation. They are able to get these much-needed supplies to the hardest hit areas, including most of the smaller…
There I stood as a young girl at the age of four, sobbing as I watched my father leave again. It always felt like forever until I saw him again, and it often was forever. Most of the time he never looked back to see me, crying behind the glass door of our home. He…
Years ago, I taught a group of 11-year-old boys which included my son. They were energetic; they captured my heart. One lesson in the course focused on teaching these young men the power and value of fathers. Until I started to prepare that lesson, I had not consciously realized that in this class of about…
Over the Easter weekend, the 15th to the 17th of April 2022, the Jos, Nigeria cottage hosted a retreat for youth in their area, including orphans, displaced children, and some from under-privileged homes. They wanted to get teenagers together in an atmosphere where, cottage leader Fatima explained, they would feel free to “express themselves without…
Last month we had a “sick day” at our house, and I snuggled on the couch with my son (and his pile of more than a dozen pillows) to watch the Disney movie Encanto. We had already watched that movie about as many times as there were pillows on the couch, but the great thing…
The power of three is significant.Throughout history its significance led many to believe three was the “magic number.” In ancient Greece, three was the “perfect number,” the “number of harmony, wisdom and understanding” (Opera, W.N.). The last few months, I’ve seen the irreplaceable value of three special men in my life. My husband, my father,…
When I was a little girl, I somehow became aware of memories. I was interested in the idea of memories and how to make them. I read about how characters shared memories and how they made them. I watched movies wherein I saw people making memories. Hallie Parker in The Parent Trap comes to mind,…
When I was born into my family my parents didn’t know they had given birth to a very strong-willed and independent female. Those traits have served me well as I was born right in the middle of four amazing brothers. Being the only girl for a long time in our family, I had to gain…
Imagine a place, high in the mountains of Central Utah, right at the heart of the Fishlake National Forest where there is a glade of quaking aspens ringing the shore of a cold, deep lake with waters the color of steel, of iron, of granite, an odd comparison for water, the contrast immediately apparent, unyielding…
One of my passions is doing genealogy research. I can spend hours going through stacks of old books in libraries or trying to decipher centuries-old and faded handwriting in online images of documents. One of the document types I consult frequently is census records. In the United States, census records began in 1790 but only…
Visit to the Orphanage 12/2021 The South Sudan Juba Orphanage was established in 1960, making it the oldest orphanage in the country. Currently, it is the home of over 60 children. The orphanage is under the Central Equatoria State Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare. The orphanage does not have funders, so support to provide…
The Houston cottage understands and promotes individual worth, especially the worth of girls and women. This past year the cottage, led by Nikki Brown, has served in very sweet and personal ways. Families transitioning out of homelessness have many challenges. Working with a local non-profit organization, the Houston cottage members prepared and delivered meals for…
One of the realities for me of being a writing teacher is that I spend my life reading: reading books, reading craft theory, reading student drafts, reading the work of my writing group. I find myself frequently in a place to discuss with others their ideas and their opinions and their storytelling—whether they are writing…
We begin the new year with this powerful tenet: “We believe in God and are women of faith.” This is a common theme about which we speak and write. But it is more than words and ideas. It is most powerful when modeled by the examples of women who live it. We invited such women…
I met Dr. Ugochi Ohajuruka the first time I went to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in 2017. As I filmed her, I was so taken by her desire to lift women out of poverty and give girls the correct maturation knowledge and tools to build a good foundation for the future.…
Last night I finished reading a memoir that left me reeling. I lay in bed for several hours afterward pondering my place in the world. I evaluated the way I spend my time, my abilities (or my perception of my abilities), my dreams, my circumstances, and I prayed solemn prayers for direction. My mind felt…
