By Coleen York Through most of high school and part of college I was actually pretty bad at relationships. And by that I mean I thought I was really good at them. If relationships were Pokémon cards, it may have seemed I was trying to collect (…or date) them all. In hindsight it might appear
By Ashley McIlwain If you are like me, you’ve been following the summer Olympics in London. The Olympics always amaze me because those athletes train most of their lives just to have a shot at being the best. They commit so much time, energy, effort, emotion, and everything they have to try and bring home
By Ashley McIlwain I was running to grab a black almond milk tea at my favorite tea spot, and on the way something caught my eye. There was an elderly couple with their walkers at the frozen yogurt place next door. At first I simply smiled at their cuteness as I continued on my mission
By Ricinda Perry I just returned from a number of trips to see my family. We started off for California, then to Minnesota, and finally ended our travels in Pennsylvania. On these trips I learned a number of things. I’d like to share two of them with you. Lesson one. Look around you. Listen to
By Ashley McIlwain As I made the bed up with the fresh sheets I had just washed, I found frustration bubbling up inside of me. After all, I do all of the cleaning including washing the sheets and making the bed by myself all of the time. Why is that the one time I’m actually
By Ashley McIlwain Recently I got to go home to Pennsylvania to spend some much needed time with my parents. On Sunday we were sitting in the church I spent many Sundays growing up in, and the pastor, Rev. James Stork, was speaking on “Humanity in Community.” He discussed how God intended the church to
By Loryn Purvis I just love my in-laws. Every year I look forward to the month of July because I know I will get to spend some really great quality time with them when they come to visit Southern California. My in-laws are the best! They are encouraging, supportive, and all around fun to be
By Steve McIlwain Hubs here. Depending on your style of thinking, your brain has between 12,000 - 50,000 thoughts per day. That’s 8-34 per minute; more than one different thought every two seconds!! Men have different ways of expressing these thoughts. Some are loud and outspoken. Some are quiet and muted. Some are entirely unfiltered.
By Ashley McIlwain Here I was watching this man struggle to pull in whatever it was he had snagged on the end of his fishing line. Back and forth. Tugs and pulls. Focused and poised. It was shocking how much effort went into reeling in this watery creature. I mean, there wasn’t even any guarantee
By Ashley McIlwain I was watching my niece fight her nap. Her eyelids looked like they were packing luggage for a family of five, and yet, she would rather tote around that heavy load than to just close her eyes and let it slip away. She wanted to stay awake even though she desperately needed
