20 More Breathtaking Photos of Carmel Valley and Monterey, California

California, funny stories, photography, pictures, vacation

Right now Daniel is washing his hands after his hour-long worm hunt. All he found was a slug, which he tried to bring into my house. Joshua put a hard stop to that. What would I do without Joshua? JD is upstairs NOT napping. Caleb and Joshua are outside playing with a friend. I’m chugging coffee in a last ditch effort to hold on to wakefulness. A friend of mine is out walking, trying to coax her labor pains into a […]

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Why Cope When You Can Conquer?

Bible, Bible verses, books

I’ve been reading this book. It looks like this: Why Cope When You Can Conquer?  It’s an encouraging book. It asks an annoyingly high volume of questions. I never did enjoy answering questions. See, it’s a Bible study guide, but it’s not one of these where you have to watch a video or attend a class to go with it. You can totally just read the guide on your own. (But I did warn you about the questions.) Don’t worry. […]

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Field Trip Week: Rose Gardens and Santa Lucia Preserve

4 kids, Classical Conversations, home school, homeschool, vacation

We declared last week “Field Trip Week”, and had ourselves a grand ol’ time. We visited the aquarium, a beautiful rose garden, a robotics show, and Santa Lucia Nature Preserve. The big boys practiced their lines for their upcoming end-of-year parent night, we squeezed in a few math lessons, read a few books, and welcomed Nonna and Aunt Janet to town. *************** Now for stop two on our Week of Adventures: Santa Lucia Preserve This place, located in Carmel Valley, […]

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4 Ways to Encourage a Love for Sports in Your Children

baseball, parenting

Alan and I are such a funny pair.  People are always calling us “laid back” and fun, and sometimes, when they say that, I wonder, “Wow. Who else do they know because I think we are crazy high stress.” And that’s just it. It depends on who you’re comparing us to. When we first started out as sports parents, we were just plain dumb about it. We’d over-coach our boys, worry about it when they didn’t want to play, and […]

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My New Year’s Resolution (Yes, I know what month it is.)

Bible verses, faith, goals, God

Did you make goals for 2016? Or “New Year’s Resolutions?” We’re over 3 months in now. How are you coming on those? I remember vividly saying something like, “I’d like to get rid of my hip pain. That’s my goal.” That was it. Even when I said it, I had mixed feelings about having such a simple, dull, and yet seemingly unachievable little goal. So I went to doctor appointment after doctor appointment. I surely took every blood test ever […]

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What to Expect at a Heart MRI

heart disease, ventricular tachycardia
What to Expect at a Heart MRI

Yesterday was my heart MRI. It wasn’t bad, but we didn’t get to do it exactly as planned. I had no idea what to expect, so I thought I’d write this for newbies like me who’d like a heads up, complete with my humorous commentary, of course. I’d had MRIs before, but a heart MRI is performed much differently than a musculoskeletal one, as I’ve had in the past. I was a little nervous to begin with about the IV and […]

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Beauty is no less of a gift than any other.

blessings, Classical Conversations, home school, John David, photography, pictures, preschool, toddlers

Spring is one of those things you can’t help but notice. That’s the way it is with beauty. It is inspirational. When beauty surrounds you, you can’t help but feel better. It’s funny how on my sick days I often feel too miserable to want to do chores, but I’m rarely feeling bad enough to not want to go out for a walk in the sunshine. It’s positively healing, isn’t it? I think that when you are surrounded by small, […]

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My Embarrassing Heart Patient Stories and the Giveaway Winner

funny stories, giveaways, heart disease, ventricular tachycardia
What to Expect at a Heart MRI

Many people develop heart problems while they are still young, but trust me, I’ve sat in the cardiology waiting room enough to know that I am nowhere near the average age. Most people in there have a walker and an accompanying nurse. In fact, the receptionists sometimes assume that I’m there with an elderly patient that I walked in after. “Wait. Are you with Mrs. Hammerstein?” “No, no, I have a 3:00 appointment.” Wednesday is my heart MRI. I’ve had […]

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JD Presents the New VeggieTales DVD Giveaway!

giveaways, movies, parenting

I have a treat for you all today! A Very Veggie Giveaway! I have always liked Veggie Tales, even before I had children. The silly songs are a delight, and each and every episode shares a moral or Biblical principle. There is usually even a Bible verse to go along with the lesson. Love! But they do all this without losing the fun, and that’s what makes VeggieTales so unique. JD loves Veggie Tales so much that he often walks […]

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What are God’s promises in the hard times or even the hectic times?

Bible, faith, God, God provides

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”  Ephesians 6:16 You know that feeling when you wish you could get a do-over? Dear 2016, here’s my white flag. I would like to go back and try again, sort of like the chute right smack in the middle of Chutes and Ladders that takes you right back to start. I have learned an abundance of […]

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