Sundrenched Summer Photos By Steve McIlwain Hubs here. Summer days are drawing to a close. In just a couple short weeks (shorter for some) school starts back up again and another crazy school year begins. For others summer breaks are a distant memory and June through August are merely hotter months. Regardless, the thought of
Fit for Love Part 2: Why Fitness Matters By Ashley McIlwain According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, thirty four percent of all adults over the age of twenty in America are obese with another thirty four percent being reportedly overweight. There is an obvious problem with the overall health situation of Americans.
Fit For Love Part 1: The Need By Ashley McIlwain Over the last several months I have rediscovered my drive for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Growing up I was always very active and involved in physical activities and sports. That carried through to college, but then after college, my schedule and life got a whole
Knowing When You’ve Found The One By Ashley McIlwain It’s a question that I get asked a lot … how do I know that the person I am with is “the one?” I wish there were an easy, fail-proof checklist I could give people who ask me this question; it would make both of
There is at least one moment each day when I notice someone doing something extraordinary. By this I mean, I notice a person because they are consistently working with tenacity and positivity, which brings inspiration and should be a trait to aspire to possess. These people can be a family member, co-worker, friend, or stranger. Whether
Last week I celebrated my birthday. As I mentioned in A Celebration of Life, birthdays are kind of a big deal in my family. That’s because they aren’t just some annual ritual that happens to include cake and presents. No, birthdays are an opportunity to count your blessings, which is exactly what I did this
There are few people in this world that mean as much to me as my mom. There are also few people that are as incredible. I may have a slight bias, but there aren’t many people that have met her that would disagree. My mom is one of the most inspirational people I have ever
In his book, Building Faith at Home, Mark Holmen shares a touching story about his nightly prayer of blessing over his daughter. After years of sending her off to sleep with a special prayer of blessing, his daughter woke up one morning at 4 a.m. and prayed that exact blessing over him before he went
Hubs here. Recently Ashley and I had two fantastic weekends with our parents: one weekend with my parents, one weekend with her parents. For our weekend with my parents, we were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. We met them in the central California coast area and spent the weekend sightseeing, wine tasting, and eating some
My husband looked at me concerned. “Are you okay?” he asked. My reply was, “I’m just having a bad day.” To be honest, I couldn’t really put a finger on why I felt the way I did, but I just felt discouraged and “down in the dumps.” It was going to be one of those
