This website is really more about you than me. You’re the reason I’m here!

But some of you want to know who I am, how I got here—so we can connect. I’d love to know more about you, too.

Why “Sweet in the Middle?”

At the age of three I found a way to reach the cookie jar. I opened it, pulled out every sandwich cookie, and twisted each one apart. I ate only the sweet middles, put the cookies back together and into the jar. Yes, naughty. Yes, naïve to think Mom wouldn’t notice.

I was disciplined for it, but it didn’t put me off a determination to find the sweet middle in life. There is one to be found in every circumstance. Or there’s one to be made. Sometimes all it takes is a tweak in perspective. A bit of resourcefulness. A prayer. An idea to lift you over the rough patch. A friend who will come alongside and rejoice with you, or cry with you when you fail, but not leave you there.

Just a little twist of that cookie, and there it is—a sweet, creamy middle!

I’d love to help you find yours. Today, tomorrow, next week… (subscribing will give you easy access! )

Family

I learned to make music at my mother’s knee (or some other joint, ha!). I come from a family of professional musicians, and growing up, we’d have all-night jam sessions with family and friends. We told stories. My folks encouraged my sister and I to use our imaginations. To make lemonade out of life’s lemons. To live in the moment. I learned that a well-placed injection of humor can defuse tension. That music is good for what ails you, and it’s good for happy times, too. That family should be counted on to be there for you. That gratitude makes life sweeter.

I write to encourage people of all ages, to build them up. To help them see their possibilities. I want kids and their adults—parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and teachers—to find ways to recognize the Sweet in the Middle of their lives. And that they can be the Sweet in the Middle for each other! I’ve learned that God is the source of practical wisdom, understanding, and the heart of love and joy. And that He wants to lavish it on us.

So Robin has it all together, then, right?

Nah.

I have always been in some sort of “awkward, in-between stage.” But I accept it and am still learning to find the—you guessed it—sweet middle of it!

• I love my family. I love horses, dogs, feeding birds, growing flowers, seeing my music students have lightbulb moments, and I have occasional bouts of craft-ness. I dislike cleaning up after my bouts of craft-ness.
• I’m learning to tolerate vegetables other than carrots and potatoes by hiding them in other foods.
• I love to read and tell stories—and truth is important to me. Stories may be fiction, but the best ones speak truth.
• My husband and I enjoy (clean) British comedy and mysteries. I would dearly love to visit England. Preferably for a month. Several times.
• If given a choice between searching for just the right song for a student or writing one, it’s way easier to write one!
• I love how voices of all ranges and qualities come together to create a new sound. A distinctive sound. And I love that the same sort of thing happens when you bring folks of all ages together in a family or a classroom or any group that meets regularly. When the best is called out from each one, and each one is encouraged to blossom—then something like a musical harmonic happens, in which the sum of the parts is greater than the parts themselves.

There’s room here for you.

Pull up your laptop or phone or whatever device you’re comfy with. Let’s encourage each other!