Marriage Advice for Couples

At the end of our SYMBIS (Save Your Marriage Before It Starts) coaching, the couple asked, “what is your best advice for married couples”? After a short hestitation, my answer was two-fold: honor each other’s differences and make your foundation on God’s truth.It is good advice, but I keep pondering the question as my mind searches and finds other’s words of marriage wisdom.   Is spring the season of love? According to neuroscientist Helen Fischer, maybe so.  May kicks off wedding season, from now through fall, with the majority of weddings taking place in September – November. Whether anticipating marriage […]

Showing Love and Appreciation for Valentine’s Day

February. The month we celebrate Valentine’s Day and the month we get to celcbrate love and show appreciation for the people in our lives. Admittedly, this is my favorite holiday. For me, it isn’t an overly assumptive romantic holiday, but a holiday to celebrate others by showing love and appreciation. Here are my top ideas for budget-friendly Valentine’s celebration: For your spouse or special friend: Cook their favorite dinner at home. Light some candles. Play favorite memory tunes. Write a love letter. Spray perfume on the envelope. Write a message on the mirror (use lipstick or dry-erase markers) Using kid-friendly […]

The Beauty of Rhythm and Routine

  What if the rhythm of our life and routines created were all we needed to move forward towards our desired outcomes? Honestly, in my past, this would have been a boring proposition. After all, doesn’t a meaningful life include taking risks and being adventurous? Yet, life has taught me that my desired outcomes for this week, next month or in 2023 and beyond must be pursued with intentionality; and that intentionality includes my daily, weekly and monthly routines and/or habits which reflect the natural rhythms of life. Our world has natural rhythms: sunlight turns to dark which leads to […]

My Quick, Easy, Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Breakfast is important. It is important for overall health, brain power and focus. Beyond nourishing, including breakfast in your family’s morning routine offers many secondary benefits including: Beginning your day together as family Conversing with your family We do life together, encouraging each other for our day’s activities Study after study reveals the benefits of breakfast. Make breakfast work for you and your family. If you have a picture of an ideal setting – erase it. It may be messy, it may be somewhat chaotic, yet the benefits can and will outweigh your less than perfect.  In our family, we […]

9 School Success Tips

It’s the second New Year of 2022; the beginning of the 2022-23 School Year. These tips will help you get off to a great start: Create a routine. After the a summer of less than routine days,  set up a new routine. Routines offer children security and expectations for their day, week and month. With your children, decide the following: what needs to be accomplished every morning before school? and after school? what does that look like? and how will make sure it gets done? Set expectations. If you have an expectation, state it. What is expected for grades? for […]