Heart to Heart 9.29.2026

Two weekends ago I went to a hotel to work without interruption. I worked for 17 hours straight. It felt so good to get some of the ideas I’ve had brewing in my mind drawn and sent for product samples. That Sunday, my husband and kids joined me at the hotel pool to swim and I was going into the week feeling like I wasn’t drowning in my ever growing to do list after weeks of short work weeks. And then! That night, my daughter caught a fever. The next day, I got a call from my son’s toddler school telling me that there was a hand, foot, and mouth outbreak and they checked his mouth and he had it. I was in the middle of a zoom call and I was in shock! The last time we had this one was in 2022 and I decided it should be called the devil’s disease because it was so horrible.

Suddenly I had two out of three of the kids home. I internally panicked. All the progress I made over the weekend was slipping through my fingers. But these children of mine are my calling. I drop everything for them, my greatest delight.

It dawned on me that I’ve been exhausting myself trying to doggy paddle to stay afloat. I get tired of the constant kicking under water to keep up. Why don’t you just float, Erica? I said to myself. I know how to float, to let the moving water below me support me.

That made me think of the meditation that my spiritual director taught me many years ago of St. Jane Frances de Chantal (who I named Frances after). She would take her daily worries like buoys and imagine herself floating in the water and letting the buoys go. She let herself be held. The next day, they’d have returned again and she’d release them once again.

So in this season, when the water is raging, I am committing to the practice of floating and letting go. I will do what I can, I will expect the unexpected, and I will let God support me.

In fact, I just realized that my birthday is this weekend and I am going to make my 38th year the year of floating. I’ll see you in the water!

Erica

PS: our 2026 Christmas pajamas arrived! I am so excited about the new style inspired my own children’s pajama preferences! And yesterday our 2027 Liturgical Calendar arrived!! I can’t wait for you to see!

Here are this week's recommendations:

1. My friend, Kayla Craig, has a new devotional that is being released next week called Our Daily Breath. It includes 365 prayers that whisper peace in a shouting world. You can get it here.
   
   
2. Sunday is the feast of St. Francis! Pope Leo has made this year the year of Saint Francis so even though it falls on a Sunday and technically gets bumped from the liturgical calendar, it's still a fun one to celebrate. It's also my birthday so I am very partial. You can find nine ways to celebrate on our blog and in our book, Living the Seasons!
   
   
3. The Ember Collective has a beautiful quarterly journal full of beautiful photography, articles, and recipes about faith, slow living, and wellness. You can read more (and order it!) here!