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Latest Posts

When Grief and Love Collide

By Nikole / March 1, 2017 /

Whiplash and grief. These two words were given to me by my therapist on my visit to her office last Spring after I shared with her all that went down in my life the previous two years. These two words accurately described those tumultuous years. When I first arrived at my therapist’s office, I felt…

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Being a bartender made me a better Christian

By Nikole / February 14, 2017 /

The first time I encountered alcohol in my life was in third grade. My friend invited me over to her house to play after school one day, and when I walked in, I saw her dad in a recliner holding a bottle of beer and watching tv. I froze and…

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A Poem on Belonging

By Nikole / December 9, 2016 /

For those who know me well know that my passion is bringing people together. Finding common ground amidst our differences. Creating community out of unlikely places with all sorts of people. Connecting people with one another, for both pragmatic and relational reasons. But all with the goal of fostering community.…

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Breathe

By Nikole / November 9, 2016 /

I have a dear friend whom I knew for years before I ever learned she was a secret poet. We’ve laughed together, cried together, raised our kids together. We’ve had deep conversations, hard conversations, and life-giving discussions. And yet this poetic side of her was always kept in the dark. I don’t…

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Living Shame-Free

By Nikole / September 26, 2016 /

(13 minute read – Sermon from 9/22/2016) (In the first few seconds of my audio recording I’m choking back tears but I sound normal after that:) I love Brene Brown’s definition of shame. She describes it as the intensely painful feeling that we are unworthy of love and belonging.  In other…

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Divorcing Mamas: You Are Not Alone

By Nikole / September 19, 2016 /

You guys… my friends are being abused; their children are being abused. This is not a joke. This is their reality and they’re opening up to me about it. And the hesitancy and the fear these women have had in telling me and their loved ones about the abuse is…

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My Unexpected Healer

By Nikole / September 14, 2016 /

As you all know, it’s been a couple crazy years for us. We’ve experienced job insecurity, financial loss, broken relationships, adoption delay, and an unexpected third child – and that’s just in our personal lives. Add to this the ongoing injustices done to black, brown, queer, and/or female bodies in…

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Adoption Update

By Nikole / August 30, 2016 /

Whether I’m ready or not, our baby is turning one next month – one! And I am so in love with him. It’s been a bumpy ride in the Mitchell household the past couple years, my last pregnancy notwithstanding. Judah went from being an unwanted baby* to a baby who…

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Pain and Loss and My First Tattoo

By Nikole / July 17, 2016 /

Friends tease me about the fact that I find papercuts painful and that I hyperventilate whenever I get poked with a needle. (thanks to having donated my plasma one too many times in college). But giving birth without meds? No problem. It hurts, but pushing a baby out seems natural to me; stabbing…

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When Parenthood Sucks

By Nikole / June 21, 2016 /

It’s been one of those days… one of those really bad days as a parent. Where you no longer think happy thoughts but only angry thoughts that are fueled by sleep-deprivation and toddler temper tantrums of epic proportions. Where all joy and happiness that exists in this world are suddenly…

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