I grew up in a big family. My parents have ten children and nine of the ten are married currently and all ten of the children have children of their own, and some of those children have children of their own. In fact at present my parents have a total of 70 something children and […]
When my two children were young they started calling me “Mama Bear” because they knew their Mama would fight fiercely to protect her two little cubs. That’s because we protect what we value most, and my kids have always been what I value most. Becoming a parent is one of the most surreal experiences in […]
I have been out in Washington DC for the last few days and I was reminded of how beautiful Virginia is. I lived in Vienna, Virginia when I was a teenager in High School and during this visit I was able to drive past the house I used to live in while I was there […]
Early last Friday morning my cell phone rang. It was my son Dalton letting me know that his wife Alexis was in labor and they were heading to the hospital. I jumped out of bed feeling a mixture of joy, excitement, disbelief, and wondering if this was really going to be day we welcomed our […]
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You […]
Nothing is more discouraging then when you are literally working your guts out to make something happen and you suddenly get a wrench thrown in your works. Having something unexpected trip you up can feel in the moment like you’ve hit a dead end. Especially if you are physically worn out and emotionally spent from […]
Money. Some say money makes the world go round. Some feel that the love of money is the root of all evil. And some believe money can actually by happiness…There are all kinds of differing view out there about money, but there are a few things I can tell you for certain: -When you don’t […]
“The essence of America – that which really unites us – is not ethnicity, or nationality, or religion – it is an idea – and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.” – Condoleeza Rice The American Dream Awards is an event put on by the […]
Did you know that being nostalgic can make you a happier person? Well studies show it can! Recalling happy memories from the past can literally make you happier. At the end of an incredibly busy day when I was feeling a bit stressed out and slightly grumpy, I sat down to finish one last to-do […]
Saturday morning I awoke to a phone call alerting me that my son Dalton and his pregnant wife Alexis had been in a car accident on the freeway. Getting that phone call was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I rushed to the Hospital Emergency Room where I spent the rest of […]
Yesterday afternoon someone I love dearly passed away. He was Marion D. Woods to others, but he was Uncle Buzz to me and Buzz Woods to his good friends. He had been fighting cancer but unfortunately his body wasn’t able to fight it any longer and he passed away surrounded by his wife and children. […]
“Whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.” C.S.Lewis I was recently talking with a friend who had a plan they had made for themselves and they had done all in their power to make it happen. But despite their best efforts […]
21 years ago today I gave birth to the most amazing little girl in the world. Ashley made her entrance in the world in the same epic fashion as she has done everything else since she was born – she came out bottom first! That made for an amazingly difficult labor and delivery for me, […]
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” – Pericles What a powerful reminder that quote is! When I read it I thought how it could be referring to trophies and worldly accomplishments we earn in this life like awards and titles […]
Listen to the mustn’ts child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts, Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, CHILD. ANYTHING CAN BE. -Shel Silverstein First I have to say that I LOVE Shel Silverstein’s poetry! He teaches so many incredible lessons through his […]
36 years ago today one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time was released. The movie stars one of my favorite actors of all time – Jimmy Stewart, which alone tells you the movie is amazing. The movie is called Mr. Krueger’s Christmas. For me Christmas isn’t Christmas if I don’t watch this movie […]
The best way I know how to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving is for me to express my thanks to all of you. I am so grateful to all of you make time in your lives for me and the words I share in my blog. And I am grateful for the comments and the […]
I love a great motivational speaker. Zig Ziglar has always been a personal favorite because he is always so amazingly positive, so when I came across this excerpt from the book “Attitude is Everything: 10 Rules For Staying Positive” by author Vicki Hitzges, which shares a story about Zig I had to share it with […]
“The secret to change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates A lot of things are changing in our world right now, and whenever there are times of major change, it often results in feelings of uncertainty, fear, and sometimes even dread. But […]
I love hugs and I have always been a hugger. I hug everyone. It is just something I have always done because it makes me happy! But it doesn’t just make me happier – hugs make everyone happier! Did you know that every time you hug someone or someone hugs you that oxytocin gets released […]
“We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year! …We can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives.” – Russell M. Nelson I love that quote because it reminds me that it is absolutely possible to feel joy whenever we choose to, […]
Here is an interesting story I came across: A letter was found in a baking powder can wired to the handle of an old pump that offered the only hope of drinking water in a very long, seldom-used trail across the Armagosa Desert. The letter read: “This pump was all right as of June 1932. […]
For the last two days I was invited to be part of a special project in which I was introduced to 28 strangers who came from incredibly different backgrounds and who had incredibly different personalities. This particular group of people would likely never have crossed paths with one another in the course of normal life […]
Sunday night I had to fly down to Los Angeles for some business I needed to be here to handle for the first part of the week. When I arrived in LAX it was after 10pm and I was exhausted and all I wanted was to get to the hotel and get to sleep. When […]
If you have done all you can do, giving it your very best effort, and it still doesn’t work out the way you had hoped it would, then you have to trust that it wasn’t in your best interest for it to work out that way. Sometimes when we are excited about something going a […]
“You don’t need money to lead a rich life. Good friends and a loving family are worth their weight in gold.” Last week was a week about friends and family for me and it was definitely a reminder of how our friends and family really are worth their weight in gold. From the start of […]
This week I have been sharing life lessons I learned during my family trip through the Mediterranean on the Disney Magic cruise ship where we visited Spain, Italy, France, and Monaco. To wrap up my posts for this week I will share the biggest life lesson I gleaned from my trip – “Where there is […]
Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was really good and so was the work condition. For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he […]
Gratitude Deficit Disorder is an ailment that far too many people suffer from. I don’t personally think that people intentionally catch this ailment…I think people catch it as a result of getting too busy and letting life drive them instead of them driving their life. It’s an easy trap to fall into, but the good […]
“If you want to appreciate what you have, imagine your life without it.” It’s an unfortunate thing, but it is all too often the case – In life it is so easy to fall into the trap of not appreciating all that we have. Whether it’s a person, or an experience, or a material possession, […]
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