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
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
I remember lining up in the kitchen with my two sisters at my mom’s command. Someone had done something they weren’t supposed to, and it was time to find out the crime and culprit. So, as the three of us stood there wide-eyed looking at my mom, she would simply say, “Who did it?” We
For better or worse. I clearly remember standing before God, family, friends, our pastor, and my handsome groom vowing to love him for better or worse, among other things. It’s funny though how in the moment you can easily imagine and commit to the “for better” part, but you selectively disregard the “or worse” portion.
“What are you most dissatisfied with about our marriage?” she asked. It was a simple question, albeit somewhat out of the blue. Ashley and I were driving home after spending a day at a museum. I sat there partly terrified, thoughts racing through my mind for the right answer. Difficult conversations are not exactly my
I flipped down the passenger side visor to glance at myself in the mirror. Ugh. How could I forget to put on a stitch of make-up? I looked over at my husband and apologized for my ragged appearance. He just laughed and reassured me saying, “You know I think you are most beautiful when you
