When the Small Things are the Big Things

Banned books + a school board smackdown

Most of you know that last fall, I moved. The past nine months or so have been hard on me and my family for a variety of complicated reasons I don’t feel called to go into on a public platform but just hear me when I say it’s been a time of my faith being “like gold that has been tested in a fire” (1 Peter 1:7). I’ve limped along with the help of everyone from a spiritual director to a therapist to my best friend to my mom, who I call no less than three times a day. And above all, of course: Jesus, even in moments where prayer is mostly me glaring at him.

But the move was an absolute gift, and I do see that clearly. We moved from a cute brick house down the street from a mall to a much larger home build, on a spacious lot built on an old farm. We live near multiple dear friends, our kids can run across the street to the homes of neighbors, and we drive past horses every day. We live only a few minutes from a really beautiful basilica that we get to pray and receive the sacraments at regularly. I have to drive 20 minutes to Target but only 4 to the library, so, you know. Priorities.

And we were told—over and over again—about the really great schools.