Honest and heartfelt stories and lessons about home, family, love, faith, and personal growth.
My boys are crazy – they run, scream, and fight, and their energy never seems to end. They play bad guys and good guys, and are rough to say the least. Now that they have their baby sister, they are…
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Bad guys are a hot topic in our house, usually because our boys love to pretend to be heroes. Rigel is a little different, though. He doesn’t just pretend to be a hero – he really wants to be a…
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For about 11 years I have wanted to name my first baby girl Raina after a beautiful 3-year-old girl I watched at my daycare job. Well, once I found out I was having a girl this pregnancy, I wasn’t so…
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I have spent a lot of time crying this pregnancy. Some of it has been tears of joy as I finally got pregnant after nearly a year of trying, or finding out that I was finally having a little girl…
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There are a lot of things that set my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, apart from other churches. One big one is that our church congregations are run by its members. We do not hire our spiritual…
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I taught a class on building an eternal marriage to the women in my congregation, as well as in a larger event for women in my church. I wanted to make the class interesting, easy to remember, and fun. I…
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This is one of my favorite children’s hymns, and has been since I was a child in Primary at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I can barely sing it without becoming emotional, and I certainly can’t hear…
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I don’t belong here. Have you ever felt that way? I have. It feels terrible. You just want to crawl into a hole to hide from embarrassment, shame, or ostracism. And then after you crawl into…
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Today is my husband’s, Jad Al-Bjaly’s, 34th birthday. He will probably tell you he is only 33 or 32. That is a joke that never gets old in our house, at least to him, haha. Since it is his birthday,…
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As many of you know, I have three sons, ages 11, 5 and 3. Ever since getting pregnant with my fourth child, my friends and family have cheerily and optimistically expressed that they hope I have a girl this time….
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