Outlasting Your Life

Posted on December 1, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

Max Lucado is one of my favorite authors. He has the ability to take a topic that I might overthink and explain it in a way that is easy to understand. He simplifies real life experiences to help you see...Read More

Thankful

Posted on November 21, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

As we approach Thanksgiving week, it’s only natural to reflect on the many things I am grateful for over this past year. However, because I did not post a blog last week for Veterans Day, I have to start with...Read More

He’s Just a Wreath Maker from Maine

Posted on November 1, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

My son is laid to rest in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery. He requested this in his living will and I honored those wishes. When Ben died in 2009, a friend who lived in Washington DC, invited me to...Read More

How Did That Stuff Get Here?

Posted on October 18, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

I was asked to be the keynote speaker at the annual Truckload Carriers Association fundraising gala for Wreaths Across America. I didn’t hesitate to say yes and was honored to do so a couple weeks ago in Washington, DC. I...Read More

On Being Consistent

Posted on October 11, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

My mother recently sent me some letters and pictures she retrieved from my grandmother’s belongings after she died at (a beautifully lived) 95 years, three years ago. There were printed emails I had sent as updates when my son Ben...Read More

These Feet Were Made For Walking

Posted on October 4, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

You’re a camel. What? This is a card I drew for fun from a deck of “What animal are you?” cards with a group of girlfriends one night. Why couldn’t I have drawn something more stoic or stealth like an...Read More

What Are You Willing to Lose?

Posted on September 20, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

At this time last year I was living in Florida and had evacuated to escape Hurricane Irma. I was house sitting for a friend whose home was directly on Tampa Bay. The sea wall that separated the backyard from the...Read More

I Will Never Forget

Posted on September 14, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

Today is September 11th. Today it has been seventeen years since the lives of tens of thousands of Americans changed forever. Nearly 3000 families lost a loved one on that fateful day in 2001. More than twice that number have...Read More

There Will Be An Answer

Posted on September 6, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

“When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be.” Did you read or sing that line? Most will recognize this as the lyrics to one of the Beatles and...Read More

D-O-G Spells Unconditional

Posted on August 30, 2018February 21, 2019 by Jill Stephenson

The day I met him, he had waited an entire year for someone to take him home. He had been saved in the eleventh hour from being euthanized and tossed aside as a guy nobody wanted. He had some rehab...Read More