Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week I hit record while standing, which feels fitting because this episode has a little extra energy behind it. November was a lot for me — two ER visits for Levi, construction stress, holiday disruption, all the things. I sat down to prepare for work and realized I had been judging myself for everything I didn’t get done. In coaching, we talk about two paths: judgment or self compassion. And while there’s no w...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This episode came from a simple morning walk and one very unexpected moment of wisdom from my teenage niece’s boyfriend. We spent Thanksgiving together and he shared something that stopped me in my tracks. It got me thinking about how the people we spend time with quietly shape our thinking, our habits, our emotional landscape and even our hope. As special needs moms we often forget how much this matters because our...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This Thanksgiving week, I’m keeping it simple and talking about complex gratitude. The kind that feels messy, honest, and actually doable for special needs moms. I share a story from the early days after Levi’s surgery, when gratitude felt impossible and I fully wanted to shove the whole concept off a cliff. What finally clicked for me was realizing I didn’t have to be grateful for everything to be grateful for some...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Today’s episode is a cozy, casual chat. The kind you’d have over coffee with someone who gets it. I almost skipped releasing an episode this week, but connecting with you truly matters to me, even when life feels full. I shared why I’ve stepped back from social media, what prompted it, and how that space has led me to new things like watercolor (and letting go of perfection, one messy brushstroke at a time). I also ...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I’m back with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism for part two of our talk on behaviors that include aggression: physical, verbal, or self-directed. In this episode, we answer the big question: “What now?” We walk through the framework of pre-game, game time, and post-game recovery. We discuss how to prepare, get through, and recover from the hardest moments as special needs parents. We shar...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I sat down with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism to talk about something few of us say out loud, aggression in our homes. Brittney shares what life looks like parenting her non-speaking son with profound autism, while I share parts of our story with Levi, a brain tumor survivor with his own set of challenges. Together we explore what it’s like to navigate these moments, when love an...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I invited my friend and returning guest Carrie M. Holt back to talk about something that every special needs mom wrestles with, the difference between fixing and accepting our children. We unpacked what those energies feel like, how they show up in motherhood, and how they connect to deeper themes of fear, control, grief, and peace. We also talked about how acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. It means seei...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I got to sit down with the wise and feisty Cynthia Schulz, author of Shine On: Raising Our Children with Disabilities to Lead Bright, Happy Lives. Cynthia’s daughter is now 40, and hearing from a mom who’s decades down the road was such a gift. We talked about what it was like when she first received her daughter’s diagnosis, by mail, in the most abrupt and heartbreaking way, and how she decided early on ...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Today’s episode is a little different. I’m pausing our regular programming to share something close to my heart: The Pathway to Peace Coaching Community. This podcast connects us week after week, and still, sometimes we need a space to go deeper to actually live out the things we talk about here. That’s what Pathway to Peace is. It’s part coaching, part community. A place for special needs moms to rediscover themsel...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I talk with Sarah Davis, a wife, homeschooling mom, and former librarian raising her 7-year-old son on the autism spectrum. We first met through The Courage to Raise, a collaborative book where Sarah shares her story of grief, hope, and faith. We talk about caregiver burnout, learning to accept help, and how faith and community make a difference. Sarah opens up about her son’s medical complexities, ...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I’m talking about a pattern I see often in caregiving—the heartbreaking habit of turning on ourselves when life feels too hard. I share how our minds default to “something must be wrong with me,” and why the truth is simpler: hard things feel hard because they are hard. Inside the episode: The self-blame cycle so many of us fall into.Three ways to shift: accepting reality, noticing comparison traps, and r...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I sit down with Nikki McIntosh, founder of Rare Mamas® and host of the Rare Mamas Rising Podcast. Nikki is also the author of Rare Mamas: Empowering Strategies for Navigating Your Child’s Rare Disease, a book born from her family’s journey after her son’s rare diagnosis. We talk about the shock of those early days, the fight for treatment, and what it’s like raising one child with a rare condition a...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week I’m sharing a really personal story—not all the details, but the emotional experience of finding myself in a very sudden, very public, and really scary moment with Levi. It was one of those times where I could’ve spiraled, but something shifted in me. We’re talking about the sneaky nature of self-pity, how it isolates us, and how powerful it can be to not go down that road—even when things are objectively ...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week on the podcast I got to talk with Catherine Marston—a mom, health coach, author, and 14-time Ironman triathlete (yes, you read that right…14!). Catherine’s story is one of grief, resilience, and learning how to take small, consistent steps toward healing and strength. She shares about losing her daughter Helen, how she processed that deep grief, and the ways she found power in self-acceptance and exercise....
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This episode was such a treat. I got to catch up with my longtime friend Kelly Dixon—someone who knew me way back in my landscaping days (pre-leadership Kara 😅). Kelly has a fascinating background managing ultra-wealthy households, and while she’s not a special needs mom—or a mom at all—her systems-thinking brain totally applies to ourworld. We talked about what it looks like to run your home like a well-functioning...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) I didn’t plan to end up emotionally fried by the end of summer... but there I was. I hit my limit. So, I did something radical (for a special needs mom, at least): I took myself to the beach. Alone. No kids. No caregiving. Just me, the ocean, and a much-needed van therapy session overlooking the waves. And wouldn’t you know it—while body surfing, I ran into a fellow special needs mom friend, totally by surprise. The...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This replay from the archives is just as relevant now as it was in 2022. If you’ve ever felt the crushing weight of being the one who holds everything together for your child with disabilities, you’re not alone. In this episode, I share listener reflections on what feels heaviest—like being the only one who knows every detail, the fear of forgetting meds, or never fully relaxing. I also offer a powerful visual: drag...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This one’s light, real, and a little bit ridiculous in the best way. I showed up ready to share a few stories from the trenches—some funny, some a little gross (parenting, right?), and all with the hope that you’d feel just a little less alone in this wild life of ours. We talked about: 🧯 Levi’s new hobby with matches (and yes, I’m taking suggestions).🍋 My sad little lemon tree and how it became a metaphor for this ...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I’m joined by my friend and fellow writer, Brooke Turbyfill. We met as co-authors of The Courage to Raise, a book written by moms navigating the special needs parenting journey—and somewhere between that and a road trip in an electric blue rental car, we became fast friends. Brooke shares what it was like entering the special needs world later in parenting, with both of her teens receiving epilepsy diagno...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This episode lit me up. I had the gift of sitting down with Julie Hornok and Dr. Regina Crone—co-founders of Labeled and Loved. Together, they’ve created something powerful for moms like us navigating disability and special needs: connection, purpose, and spaces where you don’t have to explain yourself. Julie brings over 20 years of experience in the special needs world—as a mom, speaker, behavioral program facilita...