Thrive As You

Since the dawn of time, nothing has inspired more writing than a good breakup.   Romeo and Juliet was kind of a doozy (talk about a break up gone wrong).  Don't even get me started with music.  I mean, would country music even exist without breakups?  Would Taylor Swift's musical career?  I digress. My point is, I've been doing a lot of writing and it's been coming from a place of great hurt and devastation. This morning at church my good friend Scott prayed over me and he took my hands and he looked me square in the eyes and said, "You don't have time for this distraction.  And that's all it is.  A distraction. Let it go."  Then I came home and  called my dad.  But first I cried and snotted all over Scott.  I think after all these weeks I need to buy him a new shirt.   Oh this topic could be a blog in and of itself.  You see Bernie (yup, real name) knew about David all along.  He saw it within the first fi...

Just yesterday I was talking to a very dear friend of mine and I asked him what his word was.  He answered "Believe."  Which is, of course, as mentioned here,  my original word.  I let him have it, both because he played the "I'm older than you," card and because, I'm starting to learn that our words can change, and for that matter should change, just as the seasons of our life. Doorway will of course always be my "thing."  And I love the word " doorwa y" and all it represents, but but it never quite sat with me that my word...... was a noun.   You would think after getting the word "Enough" tattooed on my wrist that, in fact, would be my word for this season of my life, but it's not.  "Enough" is the word I need to read every day, several hundred times a day as a reminder.  But it's not, "My word." My word, is fearless.  It seems virtually impossible, doesn't it?  To live without fear...

Do you ever say a word over and over and over again until it starts to sound kind of weird? My dear readers we are about to take this blog on a journey to that place. For quite sometime, I've been wanting to get a new tattoo.  It's an odd thing, the call to get inked.  I'm not one of those people that has a ton of things tattoos on her body, nor to I have the desire to have a ton of things tattooed on my body.  But nonetheless, I heard the call to get inked.   I knew this tattoo would be a word.  I knew it would be on my wrist and I knew what I needed  was a reminder. I struggled for the better part of two years with what my word should be.  This is kind of an odd phenomenon since as those of you who read my blog know, I already have a word.  My word, is doorway .  But doorway is not the word that was calling to be permanently inked on my body. So I started going through a list. Surrender  was very high on my list.  Afte...

You would actually be amazed at how much I think  about writing.  Much, MUCH more than I actually  write.  What can I say?  I'm a single working mom, volunteer, chauffeur, maid, nurse, laundry bitch, personal assistant, and oh so much more.  Hence why I'm writing at 3:30am.  It's truly the only time I could squeeze in to do it. For the last 3 years probably the biggest area of my life that I've been struggling with is, "What am I supposed to do with my life?"  Maybe the real question I have been asking myself is, "What is my calling?"  I know without question that my life is dedicated to being a mom.  That will always be my first priority and my most true "calling" if you will.  I take being a mom very seriously.  It's not just something you do  it's something you are.   But I'll save that for my Mother's Day post. Ever heard the phrase, "Never try, never fail?"  I'm starting to admit that's why I don...

I know, I know, I know. The topic this month is, "believe." I get it. I've been talking about "believing in yourself," but yanno what? Sometimes it's kinda hard. I get that. On a night like tonight, I get that more than anyone. Here's the thing. It's sort of a dirty little secret. But I'm about to let the cat out of the bag. A year ago, I wrote a book. Yep, I, me, April Schmidt wrote a book. Guess what it's about? Come on, guess........ it's going to be shocking. A little boy with autism. It's a children's book. A picture book, in fact. And here's the story of how it came to be. About a year ago, Luke and I were having a really bad day. Sometimes we have those. Luke is REALLY into books and as we were laying in bed trying to wind down this bad day and put it behind us, I was really wishing I had a book. This book. A book that he could "read" and relate to. A book that he could look at the pictures and say, "Hey...

Today I begin what will be a month long topic. Now, I know what most of you are thinking, "That's great, but you only blog about once a month." I'm really going to try to blog two times a week. Yes, you heard it here first ~ two times a week. They aren't always going to be profound, earth shattering, life changing blogs (ha ha!) but I will try to put words out more regularly. Believe. It is my FAVORITE word. I have it all over the place. Plaques, signs, jewelry, ornaments, you name it. I surround myself with the word " Believe ." Now, I have to lay down some foundational groundwork here that is somewhat of a touchy subject. It's about God. I " believe " in God, but I don't " believe " in religion. Hm. That is to say that religion is not for me. If it's for you, I am really happy for you. It's just not for me. Don't want to get too deep into this topic. I hope that's enough. The reason I explain that, is because...