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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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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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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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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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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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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…
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When Hope Wins Out: What I Learned Through My Miscarriages
Things do not always go the way we plan them.  Events happen in our lives that can knock us to the ground so hard it is difficult to rise again.  I’ve been knocked down a few times.  Losing nine children to miscarriage definitely knocked me flat on my face.  During times of immense pain and grief…
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Oh The Places You’ll Go: A Military Spouse’s Perspective On Moving Around
I spent the first 23 years of my life living in the same state. Then I married a military man and my time in the great state of Kansas came to an end. Those first few years in the Air Force were extremely hard on me. I felt like a great oak tree that had…
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67 Shades of Love
Romance and love are a beautiful thing, aren’t they?  Here we are, a few days removed from a holiday all about love and romance.  But, how do we know when someone really loves us?  What is true romance?  Is it chocolate, flowers, date nights, and love notes?  Yes, in some ways it can be that.  But,…
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Giving a Voice to the Unborn: My Issue With a Recent Pro-Choice Argument
My husband and I frequently listen to a radio show called “Catholic Answers.” It’s apologetics for the Catholic faith and we find it extremely interesting to hear all the questions and disagreements. Often times, they only allow people who disagree with them to call in. The other day the topic centered around abortion. Only people…
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Why I Love Being Married
Dustin and I will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary this coming Monday. Â Each year of our marriage has brought new joys, new challenges, new growth for both of us, and, yes, sometimes sadness. Â Through these years, I have only grown in my wonder for the beautiful sacrament of marriage and I feel blessed to walk…
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Clinging To The Past: My Sentimental Connection To Music
Many times in my life, I’ve been told that I’m an old soul. I like things of yesteryear. I seek out old soda fountains, my favorite movie is black and white, I enjoy going into antique stores, and I never tire of hearing tales of times past. And I love record albums. “Wait a minute, Amy.  You DO…
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Capturing My Life
I often wonder, “What did we do before all these electronics came into our lives?” Â And then I remind myself, that I did live in the pre-historic time period before the IPad, cellphone, and laptop. Â What did we do? Â Well, we spent a heck of lot more time outside, I do know that. Â I realize…
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Spontaneity: It Does a Soul Good
Spontaneity is NOT my middle name. Â It might be my husband’s, though. Â My husband is very spontaneous and when we were first together, believe it or not, it was a source of contention for us. Â He would spring on me a last minute trip and I would freak. Â What about a plan? Â I didn’t have…
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Getting Back to Simple
The other day I was at the Christian book store looking for a gift.  I walked past the clearance books and I saw one titled, “Hands Free Mama.”  I was drawn to it, so I picked it up, didn’t even read the back, and decided I wanted to read it.  I had an idea of what…
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Steps of Motherhood: How Your Children Help You Climb to Sainthood
“The laborious steps to the Kingdom of Motherhood are not always so beautiful, but today they are for you!” A dear friend of mine sent me these words along with a gorgeous picture on Mother’s Day one year. I’ve pondered upon the words my friend wrote and I realize that her words are full of…
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Saved Through Tough Love
I was a hard-core criminal when I was six-years old. Â Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. Â I was on my way to a life of thievery. “Oh, come on, Amy. Â What did you steal? Â A lollipop at the grocery store?” No, ladies purses were more my thing. Â Initially, I got caught a couple…
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Is Chastity Too Extreme?
I’ve really struggled with this blog.  Not because I feel wishy-washy about the topic, but because, to me, it’s so important that I’m not sure I can give it due justice.  I’ve recently heard a lot talk regarding this issue and it’s left me…well, disheartened.  Fear crept in over the negative attention I know it will…
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For Father’s Day: Shield of Male Defenders
When I was 16, I worked at a mall. One particular evening, I headed from the entrance of our store to the food court for my dinner break. As I walked out, a middle-aged man approached me. He had been standing off to the side, obviously waiting for me. Closing in on my personal space,…
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My New Career Choice: Lighthouse
So, I know what I wanna be when I grow up. Â I wanna be a lighthouse. Â It’s taken me a long time to come to this conclusion. Â First, I wanted to be a veterinarian, but me and needles don’t really see eye-to-eye. Â Then, I wanted to be an FBI agent, but marrying a military man…
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My Hero Watching Heroes
When I was little, I didn’t know my paternal grandfather well. He would always hug and kiss me on the cheek when I would come bounding through his door, but he was quiet and reserved. He never told me much about himself or where life had taken him, but a lack of curiosity has never…
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The Broken Baby Birds in our Lives
The first time I met her, I felt like a broken, baby bird had been placed into my lap. Â I had never, ever met another human being so fragile and broken. Â She was broken physically, emotionally, spiritually. Â Kelly (I’ve changed her name) came to my office on a referral from the police department. Â As she…
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Touch of the Holy Spirit
I’m the oldest of three kids. I’m a stereotypical oldest sibling–protective, lecturer, Mother Hen, organized, and a fixer. These traits can be a good thing, but then at times, they can be a burden on myself and others. I’m sure my siblings can attest to that. As kids, oldest children feel compelled to be the…