Nish Weiseth's Blog

It's only recently have I been okay with declaring to myself and to other people, "Yeah, this is harder than regular parenting."

Raising a kid with Autism, that is.

In the past, I've sorta brushed it aside, written it off. "Oh, it's not that big of a deal. It's just different," I would say nonchalantly, while inside, I tried to take another deep breath and not think about the latest round of challenges we had faced that week.

Or, I'd say things like, "Some parents take their kids to soccer and d...

Once every couple of months, I have the distinct honor of writing and delivering the Call to Worship at my local church on Sunday morning. Everyone does it differently - some read sections of books or novels, some rewrite sections of Scripture, some read Psalms with call-and-response. As for me and my contribution, I write original pieces, crafted alongside my pastors who write and prepare the sermon. I love writing books and blogs and articles, but far-and-away my absolute favorite writing &...

I recently looked up the definition of “expect.” It means, according to the dictionary, “To look forward to.”

Thinking that this sounded familiar, I also looked up the definition of “hope.” Hope, according to the dictionary, means, “To look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.”

I found it interesting that even in the dictionary, the meanings of expect and hope are so closely and clearly intertwined.

I think these two words – hope and expectation - words that are often wrapped in...

“Atticus–” said Jem bleakly.

He turned in the doorway. “What, son?”

“How could they do it, how could they?”

“I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it — seems that only children weep.”

- To Kill a Mockingbird

No matter where we go, my husband packs the GoPro. I like to give him a hard time about it sometimes.

Little did I know, Erik has been capturing some of the most extraordinary, most mundane, most beautiful moments of our life over the last year with the little camera that could. He mostly uses it for footage on all of his skiing, biking and boating excursions, and you'll see a ton of that. It's gone everywhere from the mountains of Utah, the rivers of Oregon, Idaho and Nepal, the streets and r...

Just over a week ago, I had the great pleasure of welcoming Travis Reed into Utah. He's the visionary and genius behind the website, The Work of the People, which provides beautiful, powerful videos to the body of Christ.

Over the course of a few hours at Liberty Park here in SLC, he interviewed me on camera about a whole list of things - the goodness of the Gospel, mental illness, the power of personal story, the here/not yet tension of the Kingdom of God, the power dynamics of the western Ch...

Last Saturday morning, Erik walked into the house after a morning of intense mountain biking. He put his muddy gear away, poured a glass of water, changed his clothes and sat down on the couch, where Rowan and Scout promptly sat on and around him. He looked at me with a smile and asked, "What do you want to do today?"

I had the itch to get outside and move. "Let's go on a hike. I want to see that lake you hiked to with the kids a few weeks ago, when I was out of town. The one up Brighton."

"S...

Content warning: Suicide

My particular method was going to be a deadly concoction of narcotic pain pills. I had about 50 or so of them, all different types, all different shapes, all bright white. Some of them piled up and over each other, some of them stuck to the sweaty skin of my hand, some nestled into the crevices of my cupped palm. But they were all there. I didn't count how many were in my hand, but it was enough.

I had my back against the side of the bathtub, I could feel the cold tile...

Whether it was in Phoenix, Austin or Raleigh, I spent my years growing up in safe neighborhoods. The sidewalks were wide and well-lit, little kids were always outside in the front yard. Moms were, too. My mom would sit on the edge of the brick planters in our front yard with the other moms on the block - all of them pregnant at the same time, all of us older kids taking our skateboards and bikes down the hill into the cul-de-sac and back up.

When summer rolled around as we got a bit older, we'...

Erik left yesterday for another two weeks in Oregon. My house is sparkly-clean. These two things are not mutually exclusive.

It's not just because he's a messy individual (he is, bless it). When I feel like things are out of my control - situations, deadlines, emotions, crises - I take care of the one thing I know I have control over.

I clean my house.

photo credit

When someone else is having a crisis, some people bring food, some people sit and cry. I clean. I'll do your laundry, fold it and...