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Introduction
Travel with me, Catholic Pilgrims, for one year as we read through St. Faustina’s Diary. Every day, I will do a short reading from the diary that brought us a deeper understanding of Christ’s Divine Mercy. Afterwards, I’ll give a short reflection on what we’ve read. If you’ve ever wanted to read St. Faustina’s Diary…
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Why I Love Being Catholic: Chloe from Old Fashioned Girl
This year I’m featuring Catholics and asking them why they love being Catholic. The first gal up this year is Chloe. Chloe and I became connected when she interviewed me about miscarriage on her podcast “Letters to Women.” I found out she lives in Kansas, my home state. Her husband went to Kansas State University, which…
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Advent Prepares Us For The Joy Of Christmas
When I was young, my grandmother would always invite two of my cousins and me to her house right after Thanksgiving to help her decorate for Christmas. We’d go for the whole weekend and we would be busy little elves the entire time making the house beautiful. The first chore was always to dust and…
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The Seven Deadly Sins–Part 5: Lust-A Strong Desire
LUST I currently live in Vegas where lustful thinking isn’t just encouraged, it’s expected. Everywhere you look, there is a picture of some scantily clad woman luring you to some “gentleman’s club.” Years ago when we were stationed in California, my husband had to go TDY to Vegas. TDY just means business trip in military…
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Dear Non-Believer: Prayer Does Not Mean What You Think It Means
I love the movie the Princess Bride and I tend to quote it often. Lately, amidst the tragedies that have befallen on our nation, I’ve seen a slew of atheists take to the internet highway attempting to brow-beat believers into realizing that prayer is nonsense. “It’s useless.” “Wishful thinking that does no good.” “Pointless talk…
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Why I’ve Struggled to Call Myself a Feminist
It wasn’t until I entered college that I really heard the term feminism. My degree is in criminology which is within the sociology department. I had a few classes that were downright hostile to anyone who was more conservative in thought. Since I have always been one to speak my mind, it brought me into…
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The Seven Deadly Sins–Part 4: Greed (Don’t Be a Scrooge)
GREED When I was working at the Salvation Army Domestic Violence Program in Florida, we would often get people stopping by to give donations in the form of money, clothes, toiletries, and other useful items. They were always welcomed, because, often times, we had women leaving their abusive homes and trying to start new lives…
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My List of Things That Teens Need to Read and See
This is gonna be a fun blog, because I get to talk about movies, books, and forms of entertainment. I’m a very emotional person, so movies, books, and music really speak to my soul. I love a good story. My husband and I have three kiddos. Years ago, we turned off the TV and walked…
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The Seven Deadly Sins–Part 3: All the Rage
ANGER I was musing over which of the seven deadly sins I was going to write about this week for my series, when the answer came to me in the form of a car accident. My husband and I were driving our oldest to gymnastics with our two other kids in the car. Ahead, we…
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The Day I Met My Guardian Angel
We all have people that come into our lives who bring meaning and memories. There are some, though, whose presence is so impactful that it cannot be denied that your meeting was no happenstance. I have one such person. Of all the hours in my life, the one hour I spent with her was one…
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The Seven Deadly Sins–Part 2: Gluttony (Don’t Eat Like a Pig!)
Gluttony What is gluttony? In a word…piggishness. “Don’t stuff your face!” “Don’t eat like a pig!” “Man, I ate so much. I feel all fat and sassy.” These are just a few ways we express the sin of gluttony. Now, there are probably some of you out there who are wondering if this is really…
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The Seven Deadly Sins–Part 1: Green With Envy
For the next seven weeks, I’m going to be running a series on the seven capital sins or, more popularly known as the seven deadly sins. I listen to a podcast called “Pints with Aquinas” by Matt Fradd and, last week, he ran a two-part series where he went over the seven capital sins. He used…
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Your Marriage Isn’t a Business Contract, It’s A Sacred Covenant
My husband and I started dating the 2nd semester of our junior year of college. We were first friends and I’d been to his house before, but I’d never seen his bedroom. He lived in a house with one other guy and it was a typical college bachelor pad. The first time I went into…
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It’s Hard When People Fade From Your Life
I was watching Moana for the first time the other night with my kids. Towards the end of the movie, a particularly touching scene occurs where the deceased grandmother returns in spirit form to encourage Moana on her mission. When Moana sees her she runs into her arms and is able to hug her grandmother. Moana…
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The Fear of Being Replaced in Your Spouse’s Heart
When I was a teenager, I watched Braveheart for the first time. In the beginning, William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson) falls in love with a beautiful peasant girl, Murron. Early on, the two lovers are sitting on a hill and the way that William talks to her and looks at her sure makes…
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Behind Every Good Marriage Is A Lot of Effort
My husband and I celebrate our 16th anniversary this week and every year I’m amazed at how I grow in love for him. I would humbly say that Dustin and I have a wonderful marriage. It’s not perfect and we’ve had our share of trials, but we are still best friends, still committed to each…
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Q & A: How Do I Navigate a Relationship With Someone That Is Different Than Me?
I wrote last week about how I learned to love and forgive a family member that was completely different than me. Here’s that blog if you’d like to read it. From that blog, a question was posed to me. I’d like to take this blog to answer it. Question: How do you navigate a relationship with someone…
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The Struggle To Love Someone Different Than Me
When I was a little girl, my cousin and I were as thick as thieves. She’s two years older than me, but when we got together to play at my grandparent’s house we had such a wonderful time. As children, we played at the pool, walked down to the old movie theater, played dress-up with…
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A Christian’s Life Should Look Different Than a Non-Believer’s
When I was in college, I became acquainted with this one particular girl. If you directly asked her, she’d tell you she was Christian, but I noticed some questionable things about her. She was nice, energetic, a decent person. She could make anyone laugh and always had a story to tell. Though she would have…
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The Hope I Find in Millennials
I’m one of those people that fit into a nondescript generation. You have the Baby Boomers, the Greatest Generation, the Millennials, but, for me, I’m just one of those non-labelled folks. I’m told that I am a Gen-Xer, but, as of yet, nobody has been able to tell me what that means. In a way,…
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We Must Smother Evil With Beauty
As a criminologist, I’ve dealt with my fair share of horrific things. I’ve been plunged deep into the evils of this world and I’ve seen evil stare me straight in the face. No, literally, I’ve interviewed a serial killer. For my Master’s work I chose to specialize in sexual violence crimes, so you can imagine…
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The Road that Led Me to Become Politically Independent
For most of my life, I identified as a Republican, that is, until several years ago. Did I switch to the other side and become a Democrat? No, not by a long shot, but I have been on an interesting, eye-opening journey. Up until a few years back, if my husband and I were in…
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The Joy in Putting Down the Electronics
I grew up in the 80’s, back in the days when MTV was good and big hair ruled supreme. I’m the first born and quite a bit older than my siblings, so there was a good deal of time in my early days where it was just me. My parents didn’t have much money when…
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How Each Military Location Shaped Me
A few weeks ago, my dad sent a picture to me of his front lawn in all its glorious greenness. My family is stationed in Vegas right now, so we don’t see too much green. I saw the picture and my heart literally ached. We texted back and forth and then we had this exchange.…
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Sharing the Truth of Chastity with Your Teen
When I was maybe 12-years old, my grandmother gave me the birds and bees talk in the car while driving me back to my parent’s house. There I was trapped with no where to run and all I really remember about the “talk” was my desire to melt away into the seat. Hearing my grandmother…
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When I Put God First In My Marriage, Nobody Competes For My Love
Many years ago, my husband was trying to explain to someone how your relationship with your spouse, if you have one, is more important than any other earthly relationship. The other person quickly said, “No, it’s with your kids.” To which my husband said, “It doesn’t mean that you love your kids less, it’s just…
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Are Pets Kids, Too? Our Culture Says Yes.
I’ll always remember when I picked out my first pet. Her name was Puffy and she was a black and white cat; one of the toughest, hardcore cats I’ve ever known. She took absolutely no bull from anyone or anything. She’d get in fights with anything that moved onto her territory and she’d leave us…
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Having A Baby Young and What It Has Meant For My Life
I had a hunch that I was pregnant, but seeing that I was a young, unwed college student, I just wanted to live in a state of denial. Once the morning sickness really hit hard, there was no denying it anymore and I took a pregnancy test. Sure enough, it was positive. I was beyond…
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How Am I #Rocking Motherhood? The Challenge To See How I’m Doing Motherhood Right.
Recently, I was challenged by Sara over at To Jesus, Sincerely, to talk about how I’m “rocking motherhood.” At first, I felt all squeamish inside, because I was being asked to “brag” on myself. I know that quite often I have mom fails and blunders. I do, though, think it is good to humbly…
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Q & A: Help! What Are Some Practical Ways To Live a More Christian Life?
Question: I feel like things are unraveling in our culture and I just don’t know how to live a Christian life well. I feel like there are outside influences everywhere and I’m not sure how to combat this. I can’t seclude my family and live like monks, so what are some practical things I can do?…
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Don’t Hold Your Husband Back From Challenging Himself or Your Children
A few weeks back, the window on my husband’s car wouldn’t roll back up. It made this awful grinding noise and I feared the repair bill that would follow. My husband has had the car for a long time and it’s starting to wear down. But, instead of taking the car to the shop, my…
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Q&A: Aren’t Christians Hypocrites Because They Eat Shrimp and Pork?
Question: How can Christians pretend to tell people that they have to follow the teachings of the Bible when I see Christians eating pork and shrimp? The Bible says those things are wrong, so why not follow ALL the rules of the Bible? Seems to me you are picking and choosing. I hear this…
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My Spouse Doesn’t Care If I Look At Other People! I Promise You They Do.
Recently, I heard a story about a guy who went on an anniversary vacation with his wife. They went to a beach location and the guy said, “I’m not gonna lie, I was looking. I was at a beach and my wife knows that guys look. She’s cool with it.” To which my husband responded,…
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Is Married Life More Valuable Than the Single Life?
Recently, I had a single woman comment on one of my blogs about marriage. I honestly don’t know her story, but it was very clear that 1. She was single involuntarily. Â 2. She did not enjoy being single. 3. She felt as if married life is held up and celebrated, leaving her feeling “subhuman”…
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March’s Atheist Conversion Story: When Imagination Connects With Reason
God works in mysterious ways and He always finds ways to reach us in areas that speak to our hearts. Dr. Holly Ordway found God through her love of literature: C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, and others. I heard her speak on the radio awhile back and was instantly intrigued by our related love of Tolkien and…
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Q & A: How Can One Believe in Satan and Not God?
I was asked an interesting question the other day. It was interesting enough that I thought it would be good to cover on my Friday short-question blog. Saint Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and…
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Conversations With Your Teens About Dating
My oldest will turn 16 in a few short months. She’ll be of dating age soon and while it does give me heart palpitations, I must trust in the fact that through the years I have prepared her to discern decent men. More often than not, when we send our teens–mostly our girls–out into the…
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Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas for Men Based Off Of The Five Love Languages
What do you get a man for Valentine’s Day? There aren’t too many men I know of that like stuffed animals, bouquets of flowers or fancy jewelry. Quite honestly, Valentine’s Day seems more for the ladies. I pity the man who has a birthday on Valentine’s Day. Actually, I have an uncle whose birthday is…
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February’s Atheist Conversion Story: “Praying to a God I Didn’t Even Believe In”
This month, I’m featuring Devin Rose’s story of conversion from atheism to Catholicism. I learned about Devin Rose by reading his apologetics books. He is the author to several books and I’ve listened to him speak on the radio several times. My husband loves his style of writing because, like my husband, Devin is also an engineer;…
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January’s Atheist Conversion to Catholicism: Given a Second Chance at Life
This year, I’m focusing on stories of former atheists that converted to Catholicism. How each person comes to Christ is unique and special, but especially interesting are those that go from no belief in God, to becoming members of the Catholic Church. For January, I interviewed Barry whom I recently met on social media. Originally…
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Q & A: Say What? Why Isn’t the Catholic Bible the Same as a Protestant Bible?
I got another question in regards to the differences between a Catholic Bible and a Protestant Bible. Â I know that when I was a Protestant I had no clue that there was even a difference, but there is–seven books to be exact. Question: Â Is there a difference between a Catholic Bible and a Protestant Bible?…
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Q & A on Baptism: A Protestant’s Question on the Validity of Baptism
Question and Answer I recently received a question from a fellow Protestant with regards to Catholic Baptism. Â I thought it was a good question and thought I’d answer here in case anyone else was wondering. Question: Â Is there a reason why Catholic Baptism is not submersion? Â If you had a submersion Baptism, is that not…
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Finding Your Path Out Of Victimhood
We are all a victim of something. Every single one of us has had something bad happen to us. There is not one single person on earth that can claim to have walked through life unscathed. It’s the nature of a fallen world. Whether we’ve been the victim of abuse, divorce, injury, illness, oppression, poverty,…
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How To Help Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick
New Year’s Resolutions. For the most part, they seem like an obligatory tradition attempted because…well, everyone else is doing it. It also seems that by the start of spring, nobody is dedicated to their resolutions anymore. I mean, does anyone talk about resolutions past February? We really don’t, do we? But, why not? I think…
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Our Words Have Power: Are We Using Them to Speak Love and Life?
I was in the parking lot of the BX (Base Exchange) the other day with my kids. Â As I was placing my goods in the car and getting my son buckled in, I heard loud shouting and cussing coming from somewhere in the parking lot. Â I couldn’t really hear what the person was so upset…
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When God Came To Rest in the Arms of a Mother
I think every mother remembers that exact moment when the doctor placed their newborn baby on their chest. My firstborn looked me right in the eyes and there was no doubt that my life would never be the same. There was nothing more perfect than her in the whole world. My second child, I couldn’t…
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The Beautiful Journey of Growing Older With Your Spouse
I’ve been my husband’s personal barber now for 17 years. We started dating in Air Force ROTC in college and to save a little bit of money, we thought it would be a good idea for me to start cutting his hair. I’d never donned clippers before, but it seemed like a great idea. That…
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End of the Year Round-Up of Featured Married Couples
Here we are at the end of 2016. Â What a year it is has been! Â I thought for this last month, I’d do sort of a round-up of all my featured married couples throughout the year. Â I went through each of their answers and picked out my favorite quotes from both the wife and husband.…
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Our Blessings Are Meant To Bless Others
“You are being enriched in every way for all generosity, which through us produced thanksgiving to God” 2 Corinthians 11:22 In this life, there will be those that are blessed with much and those that will have little. Â We must never make the mistake of thinking that because we have been given much in the…
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The Beauty in Sacrificing Our Bodies for Love of Another
I love beautiful things.  Mostly I love finding beauty in human stories; those stories that bring tears to our eyes, because they are so good, so true….so beautiful.  I love listening to my grandmother read a poem or a card received from a loved one.  If it moves her, tears well in her eyes and…
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Exploring The Atheist’s Claim That Christians Are Uneducated
Ah, yes, the uneducated Christian. Â A simple-minded fool lacking a progressive mind with a ridiculous belief in imaginary things. I used to be an uneducated Christian. Â Quite frankly, it’s embarrassing to me to think back even to just a few years ago to how uneducated I was on my faith. Â I, by no means, have…
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November’s Featured Married Couple: Javier and Yvette “Love Unconditionally”
November’s Featured Married Couple is Javier and Yvette.  My family first met them when Javier and my husband, Dustin, worked together at Edwards AFB.  I am so grateful that our paths crossed, because both of them are true and genuine friends.  They are a beautiful couple inside and out and you can’t help but want to…
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When the Military Plants You Somewhere and It’s Hard to Bloom
Through my family’s time in the Air Force, we’ve loved every place we’ve lived…until now. Moving to Vegas and leaving behind our beloved Virginia has been one heck of a difficult thing to overcome and deal with for my whole family. It’s been almost a year now since leaving Virginia and I still feel like…
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If You Are Pro-Life Do You Have To Agree with Universal Health Care?
If you are pro-life why are you against universal health care? Anyone else seen this meme floating around the internet lately? I have. It’s catchy and it seems to hit hard to the pro-lifers out there, but does it really? Â Is it a sound argument? When I first saw this meme, I asked myself if…
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I Beg You, Please Stop Defending Your Candidate’s Bad Behavior
I beg all people of this country, to please, please, please, be consistent with your beliefs, your words, and your actions. I beg. Â I know I’m not always perfect at this, but if I’m not, I promise now, I will humbly admit I was wrong and work to correct it. When we are inconsistent with…
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October’s Featured Married Couple: Lindsay and Vinnie “Marry Your Best Friend”
If October’s Featured Married Couple doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, well, you may need to see a doctor.  Lindsay and Vinnie just celebrated their one year anniversary on September 5th, but their marriage has the wisdom and beauty of a veteran couple.  Reading through their answers gave me a renewed hope in the future of marriage–there…
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Our Country Is Growing Sicker With Hefty Doses Of Racial Tension
If you are going to read this, you must promise to read it with an open mind and heart. Â If you are looking for a conservative agenda or a liberal one, shut off the blog and walk away. Â If you desire to fight and lash out, move on. Â If you want to offer solutions or…
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A Protestant’s Plea: Will You Catholics Please Just Stop Praying To Saints Already?!
“Catholics pray to the dead and that’s a grave sin.” “Catholics pray to saints because they are worshipping them. Worship is for God alone.” “Catholics practice the grave sin of necromancy when they pray to dead saints, which is strictly forbidden in the Old Testament.” (Sigh) You know, I used to believe these things, too,…
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What Do You Mean There’s No Marriage In Heaven?!
There are many things in the Bible that cause a lot of emotions in me. Sadness, gratitude, awe, devotion, immense love, confusion, and, sometimes, anger are all emotions I have felt when reading different passages. There is one thing in the Bible, however, that almost always gives me heart palpitations when I read it. I get a…
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Facing A Spiritual Mirror Is Tough, But The Pain Is Worth It
Ahhhh, yeah. Â This is gonna be a tough one to write. Â God has recently held up a mirror in front of me. Â Not a mirror to check and see if my hair looks good, but a mirror to see something way more important. Â But first, let me set the stage. Have you ever seen the…
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September’s Featured Married Couple: Michael and Sterling–Marriage Echoes the Love of God"
September’s Featured Married Couple is Michael and Sterling from Idaho. Â Sterling is a fellow blogger and that is how I became acquainted with this lovely couple. Â Like me, Sterling is a convert to the Catholic Faith, so I feel a connection with her. Â This couple is very much on fire to bring the Gospel to…
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A Story of a Drifting Life, Hard Truths, and a Friend Who Cared Enough to Ask, "What Are You Doing With Your Life?"
Recently, during our family Bible study, we were working through a Matthew Kelly workbook from Dynamic Catholic. Â We were watching a video and Matthew Kelly was talking about the impact it can have when someone says to you, “What are you doing?” Â Those times in our life when we are doing something bad for us…
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When You Don’t Forgive A Friend, Pride Takes Their Place
In middle school and part of high school, I had my best buddy. Â We pretty much did everything together. Â Even cooler was that we had names that rhymed. (Dork alert!) Â We swapped sleeping over at each other’s house, shared clothes, watched movies together while eating ice cream, cruised around in our cars once we got…
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It Is Up To Us Where We Spend Eternity
When I first moved to Dayton, Ohio back in 2002, I was fresh out of college and eager to get into the workforce. Â I ended up working for some defense attorneys doing a job that was humbling, to say the least. Â I thought I was going to train to be a type of paralegal; I…
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August’s Featured Married Couple: Mike and Kim "Learning to Love Well"
The Featured Married Couple for August is my brother, Mike, and his wife, Kim. Â It’s their anniversary month, so it seemed a perfect time to feature them. Â As the big sister, I always wanted, of course, the best woman for my brother. Â I honestly could not have picked someone better than my sister-in-law, Kim. Â To…
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When the Major Political Parties Have Become Unacceptable
About four years ago, my family stopped watching television. Â The main reason we stopped is because we were paying a lot of money for something we never got to use. Â My children are gymnasts and we spend a lot of time away from home, so it didn’t make sense to keep paying for something…
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The Five Things I Teach My Kids When It Comes To Truth
“Truth?! Hello?! Truth?! Where are you?” Apparently, in our day and age, it’s nowhere to be found. We’ve taken truth, smooshed it into a box, buried it somewhere where no one can find it, dusted off our hands, and marched off to immerse ourselves in our world of believing only what we want to believe.…
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Through My Brokenness, God Made Good Out of Bad. He Can For You, Too.
He swept into my life completely unexpected. I knew of him in high school, but we were about as different as you could get and barely acknowledged each other. He was bad and that’s about the best description I know how to give. Â Just bad. And not in that rough exterior, good interior kinda way.…
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July’s Featured Married Couple: Ernest and Sarah "Love is a Choice"
July’s Featured Married Couple is Ernest and Sarah.  I met them while we were stationed together at Edwards AFB and now we are stationed together again.  Small world…even smaller Air Force.  They are a beautiful couple that have been married for 13 years.  They met at the Air Force Academy and married three days after graduating…
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Military Life Is Not A “His/Her Turn,” Situation–It’s An Our Turn
“So, when your husband retires from the Air Force, it will be your turn then, right?” I hear this a lot as a military spouse. Â We are still several years away from my husband retiring, but we are on the tail end of this wonderful, crazy life. Â I knew when marrying my husband that the…
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Featured Married Couple of the Month: Erin and Michael “Cooperating with God’s Grace”
June’s Featured Married Couple of the Month is Erin and Michael from Louisiana. Â Like last month’s couple, I have never met them, but I follow Erin’s blog and have truly enjoyed reading her thoughts. Â I first came across a blog of hers written on miscarriage and I could relate on so many levels. Â Erin blogs…
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Question and Answer: How Can You Overlook The Church’s Sex Scandal?
Question time. I’m tackling a difficult subject today and I hope you’ll stick with me through to the end to get my thoughts on the matter. Question: Â How you can overlook the long, long history of Church authority figures (sexually) abusing children? Â How do Catholics move past this horrific thing? Right off the bat, let’s…
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Teaching Teens About Authentic Love
“You don’t know what real love is!” How many teenagers have heard this statement from their parents? Â I know I did. Â While parents may be right in this statement, it is unfair to treat teenagers as if they don’t know, especially when parents haven’t taught their kids what real love is. I was a late…
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Pornography Never Equals Freedom: It’s Slavery For All
Usually, when people find out what my degrees are in, they wince. Why would anyone choose to specialize in sex crimes, they wonder? Well, when it hits home, it hits home. God often uses your tragedy as your story and then your vocation. When I first started out working in this field, I could not…
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Monogamy–That "Out-Dated, Old-Fashioned" Call To Love
 A few weeks back I wrote about monogamy and touched on the very basic claims against monogamy.  You can read that here.  I didn’t want to go too deep philosophically or morally, because this is a complex topic and trying to cover too many things at once gets overwhelming. One of the claims against…
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Abstinence: Not Just For Religious People
This is a guest blog by a woman I deeply respect and love. Â I first met Shawn when I was working at the Salvation Army Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Center in Panama City, Fl. Â Shawn just has a way about her–she is funny, intelligent, honest, a self-proclaimed diva, a wonderful friend, one of…
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Featured Married Couple of the Month: John-Paul and Annie "Learning to Put the Other First"
This month’s featured married couple is John-Paul and Annie from Ohio. Â You know the funny thing about life now is that you can know people without having ever really met them. Â I discovered Annie on Facebook through reading some of her Catholic blogs and I really connected to her freshness, positive attitude, and her devotion…
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Abraham and His Wives: Does This Mean Polygamy Is Permissable?
So earlier this week, I wrote an initial blog discussing monogamy. Â I answered some very basic claims and you can read that here. Here was the claim: Claim: Â Monogamy is unrealistic and unnatural. Â Monogamy is a religious ideal pressed upon humans. Â We find in the animal kingdom monogamy, polygamy, and same-sex activities and humans are…
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Monogamy: Unrealistic? Unnatural?
I research a lot around the internet and since I blog and write about marriage, dating, and relationships, I often run into secular or atheistic beliefs with regards to these topics. Â I also run into a lot of “Christian” websites that miss the mark on Christ’s messages by leaps and bounds. Â I’ve seen a lot…
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Featured Married Couple for March: Shawn and Dawn “Marriage is a continual ‘Yes’”
In our world, especially our culture, we are bombarded with negativity surrounding marriage. Â We hear over-and-over of divorce, 5-minute marriages, and even disdain for the sacrament of marriage. Â I want us to celebrate marriage and show couples that are bringing to life what marriage truly is–a beautiful, messy, difficult, totally-worth-it blessing. Â I’m going to feature…
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Question and Answer: What’s Up With Catholics and Birth Control?
Question:  Does the Catholic faith view birth control as optional or completely discourage it?  Are condoms, pills, IUD’s, permanent (tying of tubes, vasectomy) procedures all shunned?  If so, why?  Does it have to do with Catholicism believing Christians need to populate the Earth?  Why aren’t there huge Catholic families anymore if birth control is forbidden? Answer:…
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Give Yourself Away This Lent
Lent. Eh? Unless you are Catholic or Orthodox, chances are, the arrival of Lent on Wednesday didn’t even hit your radar. I know that some Protestants do recognize it (as the church of my youth did), but for the most part Lent is regarded by many as primarily a Catholic tradition. Hold on. Come on…
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How Marilyn Monroe Taught Me Beauty Isn’t Everything
I’ve always thought Marilyn Monroe was probably one of the most beautiful women…ever. It’s a personal opinion, I know, but most people don’t deny that there’s just something about her. A few years back, I watched the movie Some Like It Hot starring Ms. Monroe and I loved it. I highly recommend watching it. I wanted…
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I Won’t Change For You, but I Will Grow For You.
The other night, our family sat down to watch “Runaway Bride.” Â My husband and I had seen it before, but it was the first time for my two girls. I’m pretty sure everyone’s seen it, but here’s a quick re-cap. Â Maggie, played by Julie Roberts, is a woman afraid of saying, “I do.” Â She has…
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When It’s Hard to Leave a Home
I’m a sentimental fool. Â I blame my dad, because I get it from him. Â I really should blame my grandma, because it’s really her fault. Â She started it all. Â I say that lovingly, though, because I like our sentimental hearts. I’m getting ready to move across the country…again. Â I came to Virginia from California and…
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An Advent Tradition: Presents for Christ
So last year for Advent, I read about a neat idea to help the family focus more on Jesus during the Christmas season. Â Each person in your family gets a strip of paper and each day you write down a good deed you did for your fellow man. Â At the end of the day, the…
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How The Military Life Can Strengthen Your Marriage
Since Veteran’s Day is celebrated this week, I thought I’d merge marriage and the military life into a blog. Â I’ve been a military spouse long enough now that I can look at how the military life has positively affected my marriage and many others I’ve had the privilege of meeting. Â This blog is in no…
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Hey, Married Couples, Submit Already! (Oh no, she did not just say that!)
We all read the Bible a little differently. Â The Bible is so rich and deep that even the same verse can speak in different ways on different days. Â At different times in our life, different passages will speak more to us than others. Â Overall, though, when reading the Bible, there are four ways to read…
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Why Do Girls Love Bad Boys?
Bad boys.  They appeal to women, don’t they?  Women don’t like the “bad” part of the boy so much, but their confidence draws us in.  Bad boys generally exude an air of confidence, though most of the time they are covering for their lack of self-esteem.  They’ve learned how to play the game and they realize that…
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4 Dating Tips: How to Prepare Your Teen
High school is quite the time in life, isn’t it? Â I don’t know anyone who went through high school and came out on the other side without a few battle wounds. Â It’s a raw time of life: Â Your body is flooded with hormones, your parents seem completely unreasonable on all issues, and your relationships with…
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We Have to Start Talking About Dating with Our Kids
Life is not fair. Â Love is not fair. Â It sucks, but them’s the breaks. Â It’s a cynical way of looking at the world, but if we are going to approach dating, or marriage for that matter, with a Disney princess view of it all, we are in for a shock. I was a late bloomer.…
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I’m Sick of Living in the “World of Can’t”!
I can’t. When I hear these words come out of my kids’ mouths, I jump all over them. I harp on them about quitting, and not believing in themselves, and having a negative attitude, and this, and that. It’s a rousing speech; one that should go down in the books. But, I realized something the…
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Learning to Let Go of the Reins: Letting My Daughter Forge Her Path
When I had my first child, I would hold her in my arms and dream of her one day attending my alma mater, Kansas State University. Â (Cue the sound of a scratching record) It was a lovely dream. Â But, now I’m here with my 14-year old and she’s got other plans. Â I’m grieving something serious…
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Chastity: Seeing Sex as More Than a Test-Drive
You wanna hear the most romantic relationship line in the universe? You’re gonna love this. No, no, it’s not from Romeo and Juliet. Ready for it? Here it is: Â Hey, baby, before I commit to you on the marriage level, I’m gonna need to test drive you first. Translation: We need to have sex before…
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The SCOTUS Ruling Is My Fault
I have a confession to make: It is my fault that “same-sex marriage” passed a couple weeks ago. I share this blame with millions and millions of other Christians who failed to hold the same stringent convictions about marriage with themselves as they do with homosexuals. We can sit here and bemoan the decision of the…
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“Question Everything”: Atheist Mantra Meant to Evangelize
Do you question everything? Â No? Â Well, you should. Â At least, that is what atheists are telling us to do. Â The mantra, “Question Everything” (with some variations) has become extremely popular these days. There are T-Shirts: There are buttons, cups, bumper stickers, memes, and billboards. As you can see, this is the way atheists have attempted…
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Don’t Judge Me Judging You: Our Country’s Present Day Logic
I dislike inconsistency with thoughts. I dislike it because it isn’t particularly logical and it’s always emotional. This makes for bad conversations. In fact, it makes for no conversation at all. To be sure, I’ve had my fair share of inconsistent thought processes in my life. I’m sure I will till the end. Why? Well,…
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The Day My Little Brother Changed Me For the Better
When I was about 17-years old, I was driving my brother and sister home from school one day. Â My brother, who was around 12 at the time, was seated in the passenger seat and my sister was in the back. Â As we were heading towards home, an elderly woman pulled out in front of me…
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To Work or Stay Home: The Military Spouse’s Dilemma
When I was fresh out of college with my degree in Criminology, I was ready to take on the world. I was eager to get out into the work world and wrangle in some criminals. Little did I know that marrying a military man would make having a career very challenging. As we moved to…
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My Ten Children I’ve Never Met
Ten miscarriages. Sometimes that number overwhelms me. I have laid awake many a night dreaming of who they would be. I have daydreams about who they would become, what their voices would sound like when they called me, “Mom,” and what special traits they would add to our family. For five years, our family suffered…