By Ashley McIlwain Foreword: A Letter to Newlyweds was inspired by my sister’s recent marriage. As I began thinking about the things I wanted to say to her and her husband about marriage, I found myself frantically writing. Nowadays marriage seems to be entered into lightly, ignorantly, and with little preparation, and as a result,
By Ashley McIlwain It’s that time of year again where the stores are filled with candy, costumes, and goblins. While Halloween is certainly far from my favorite holiday, it got me to thinking. There is a famous tagline that comes with Halloween that we all know – trick or treat? Mostly children stroll around from
By Steve McIlwain Hubs here. I have a co-worker that has developed his own credo; a set of values that he strives to achieve at work. He designed them from a deep desire to be the best he can be and consistently endeavor to improve. One of the principles in his credo is “shock and
By Ashley McIlwain Call me sentimental, but my Dad is having a landmark birthday, and it got me to thinking about a lot of stuff. When you’re a kid, you think time is standing still. It’s as if everything will always be as it is in those moments as a child. The next thing you
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
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
The “S” Word: Submit by Lauren Nelson One evening while my husband and I were on our honeymoon, I was particularly slow in getting ready for dinner. I was taking my time getting primped and prepped as he sat waiting with his stomach growling. He was prodding me along to get ready quicker, but I
Have you ever heard of someone going on a huge trip somewhere new, exotic, and exciting? Perhaps you have done that yourself. Let’s say though that the person headed out on their big adventure goes without a map, directions, plans, or any idea of the language, currency, weather, etc. of their destination. What if that
