Midwest Mimi

  • The Privilege of Forgetting What Hunger Feels Like

    When SNAP benefits are delayed, millions of families face hunger again. We wonā€™t go hungry, my family has helped when we needed it most, but so many people donā€™t have anyone to fall back on. This isnā€™t about soda or candy. Itā€™s about dignity, belonging, and love that keeps showing up even when the world…

  • How Almost Dying Taught Me Lifeā€™s Too Short to Be Unhappy

    After surviving respiratory failure, I woke up to more than a second chance at lifeā€”I woke up to clarity. I stopped waiting for perfect moments, learned to protect my peace, and began truly living again. This is the story of how almost dying taught me what it means to be alive.

  • Lessons from Wonderland: What Alice Still Teaches Me About Life, Parenting, and Growing Up

    Lessons from Wonderland: What Alice Still Teaches Me About Life, Parenting, and Growing Up

    During a fall evening photo shoot turned Wonderland adventure, I realized how much Alice still has to teach us. Through curiosity, slowing down, difference, imagination, and growth, I found reflections of motherhood, healing, and becoming ā€” lessons tucked inside the golden light of an ordinary day.

  • šŸŒæ The Lives That Built Me ā€“ Grace in the Grit

    I rebuilt from rock bottom, not because life got easier, but because I learned to make peace with the life I can live. Thatā€™s grace in the grit: surviving, rebuilding, and loving every version of me that made it here.

  • šŸŒæ Life Is About Experiencing Moments

    šŸŒæ Life Is About Experiencing Moments

    There was a time I thought life was measured in milestones like graduations, promotions, birthdays, and the next big thing on the calendar. Then one day I woke up sick and never got well. Chronic illness has a way of stripping life down to its bones. It slows everything until you canā€™t help but notice…

  • Alzheimerā€™s Caregiver Grief: How Families Experience Love and Loss Before Goodbye

    I lost my mother to Alzheimerā€™s disease in the summer of 2020 after an eight-year journey into loss. Her death brought acute sadness but also relief, not just for our family, but for my mom, who hadnā€™t been fully herself in quite some time. Because of our familyā€™s faith, we had the comfort of knowing…

  • When I Became Her Mother

    In that first moment of motherhood, something in me shifted. Every scar I carried started to look like a map I didnā€™t want her to follow. As she grew, I saw pieces of myself in her, and glimpses of who she might become, all at once. Motherhood slowly, sometimes painfully, made me relearn softness. She…

  • 10 Chronic Illness Hacks That Truly Make Life Easier

    Living with chronic illness means that everyday life takes more energy, planning, and creativity than most people realize. Over the last ten years, Iā€™ve had to learn how to adapt and find little ways to make things easier, not just for me, but for my whole family. These arenā€™t ā€œperfect life hacksā€ from the internet.…

  • The Legacy of Reading: How Books Build Connection and Resilience for Kids and Adults

    I grew up surrounded by books. Both of my parents were avid readers, and the legacy of their love of reading shaped who I am and how I see the world to this day. My mom, Elaine, was both our homeschool teacher and our churchā€™s librarian. She chose a literature-based curriculum that placed stories at…

  • The Real Heart of Midwest Mimi

    This blog started as a place for accessible nature reviews and homeschooling resources. But itā€™s become something bigger: a story about resilience, family, and belonging, with nature, books, and art still at the heart. From Accessible Nature and Homeschooling to Something Bigger When I first started Midwest Mimi, my focus was clear. I wanted to…

  • How a Four-Day School Week Makes Homeschooling with Chronic Illness Possible

    Some days, parenting while living with chronic illness feels like climbing uphill with no end in sight. The body aches, the migraine fog, the nausea all show up uninvited, but parenting does not stop when my energy does. And because I homeschool my kids, teaching does not stop either. But over the last two years,…

  • 6 Ways Nature Works as a Reset Button for Sibling Rivalry (and One Way it Benefits Parents, Too)

    “Mimi,” Channingā€™s complaining tone rang out, “Raeleigh yelled at me.” “I only yelled because he was being annoying!” Raeleigh chimed in from the other room. It wasnā€™t even 10 a.m., and weā€™d already had multiple variations of this same argument at least three times. Clearly, it was time for a reset. Sibling squabbles like this…

  • Supporting Your Childā€™s Creativity Means Letting Them Dress Themselves

    When Raeleigh was little, I thought I was the one choosing her clothes. Picking out tops and bottoms that matched, adding bows, and making sure everything looked ā€œput together.ā€ But even then, she had opinions. Sheā€™d reach for patterns that clashed in my eyes but sparkled in hers. She wanted the necklace, the sunglasses, AND…

  • Homeschooling in Natureā€™s Classroom

    Introduction: Learning Beyond the Books When people picture homeschooling, they often imagine stacks of workbooks and long kitchen tables covered in flashcards. In our house, the classroom looks a little different: itā€™s the trail where my son pauses to listen for bird calls, the lake where my daughter learns patience with a fishing pole, and…

  • The Difference Between Canceling and Choosing Rest

    When you live with chronic illness, disability, or even just the daily realities of parenting, plans donā€™t always unfold the way you imagine. Sometimes, life forces you to cancel. Other times, you make the choice to rest. On the surface they can look the same: youā€™re not showing up. But the meaning and the weight…