(AP Photo/John Raoux)

Gen. David Petraeus warned that the actions of Pastor Jones could put American troops at risk. Even the Vatican has denounced Pastor Jones’s actions. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken out about this as well, along with many persons of international influence.

If you want to read more on this story, you can click here.

I think that the actions of Pastor Jones reflects poorly on Christians. Burning Korans prove absolutely nothing. There is no good that will come out of this. None. Period.

To even consider holding the event on September 11th is in poor taste. That day should be reserved for remembering those that lost their lives and fought bravely against horrible acts of terrorism in our homeland.

Burning Korans will not stop Islamic extremists or prevent terrorist attacks. However, it could encourage it. I have a lot more that I could say, but I’ll stop here. I think you know where I stand on this.

With all that being said, I think this whole situation is kinda ironic. Last year, I wrote a post called, “Holy Bibles Burned as Trash?” This post exposed the actions of the U.S. government burning Holy Bibles that were sent over to Afghanistan to a military member. The concern was that Muslims would be very upset if the Bibles were given out, so they decided to burn the Bibles in an attempt not to offend Muslims. The issue was quietly swept under the rug with only a few people speaking out against it.

Here are my questions for you:

1. Do you agree with Pastor Jones? Why or why not?

2. Why do you think there was little backlash about the burning of Holy Bibles, but a huge backlash about the potential burning of Korans? Is there a double standard?

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

I say “controlled shopping” because we had a budget. It used to be that we would spend whatever we wanted as long as the money was in the bank. The last time that I went shopping was back in January, right before we started the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Program, so you know I was ready to get my shop on!

I already knew what I wanted to buy. Labor Day sales were all over the place and I couldn’t wait to take advantage of it!

Well, let me tell you…I didn’t buy much of anything. I know…I’m surprised too. After being conservative on spending for 9 months, it kinda changed my thinking on things.

See, I have a weakness for Coach handbags. It’s my guilty pleasure. I have a multitude of them in every color and style, with a few wallets to match. I had so many that I actually gave my mom a few and didn’t even miss them.

pic by hicksleigh

I received a coupon earlier in the week for 20% off already reduced prices at a Coach Factory Store. I walked into the Coach store and the line just about wrapped around the store. Dear Hubby went ahead and got in line with Little Man to hold a place for me in case I decided I wanted to buy something. I looked around and saw a wallet that I 75% liked. I walked around with it for a little while and tried to justify to myself why I should buy it.

After about 20 minutes, Dear Hubby got close to the cash register and sent a sales associate over to let me know. I walked over and told him that I changed my mind. I wasn’t going to buy the wallet. He was shocked and reminded me that we set aside money so that we could do some shopping, so I shouldn’t feel guilty about it.

The issue was that I liked the wallet, but I didn’t REALLY like it. To me, the wallet seemed kinda plain. While in the store, I looked for another wallet with more pizazz, but couldn’t find one in the color I wanted. I refused to buy that wallet just for the sake of buying something. Dear Hubby understood and we left the store to see what else the outlet mall had to offer.

I don’t regret not buying the wallet, but I probably would regret it now if I did buy the wallet. Now don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with having nice things. However, if you are going to pay a lot of money for something, it should be something that you 100% like. Not something that will do.

One thing that Dave Ramsey talks about is being “intentional” with your money. I spent less than $50.00 this weekend and it was on things that I really liked AND needed at a discounted rate. My husband did even better. He bought nothing and he LOVES to spend money.

I think we passed the test this weekend.

Thanks Dave Ramsey for messing up our shopping trip.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

An article I wrote for Wives in Bloom, Military Wives Can Have a Career Too!, is being featured on today. You can view the article here.

In the article, I talk about my journey of trying to achieve career goals while constantly moving and dealing with deployments. Six tips are given on how you can regain control of your career as a military spouse.

Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think about it. You can even share your success story. There are other great articles on the website that I’m sure you will like as well, so check those out too.

Wives in Bloom is the online magazine for Christian Military Wives, an interdenominational, Bible based, ministry of Christian Military Fellowship. The goal of this group is to assist United States military wives and their families by encouragement, aid and education.

Have a blessed day!

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

pic by sydney1613

I believe that it is very important to pray over our children as they start their new school year.  There are so many negative influences out there and we have to remain prayerful and active in our children’s lives. Below is a prayer for our children as they head back to school.

A Back to School Prayer

Lord, I pray that you be with every child that is returning back to school this year.  Protect them as they wait at the bus stop, ride the bus, travel by car, or walk to school.  Keep them safe from dangers seen and unseen. Help our school crossing guards and bus drivers to remain attentive on their jobs.

Give our children favor with their teachers and help them to pay attention in class. Let this be their best year yet for academics, sports, and fine arts.

Be with our children’s teachers this year.  Help them to teach in ways that each student can understand.  Let them have reasonable expectations of our children and give them patience whenever their patience meter is running low.  Bless the teachers with administrative support whenever needed.

Help our children to stand against peer pressure.  Empower them to make decisions that will be pleasing in your sight.  Surround them with good friends that are positive influences.  Keep drugs and alcohol out of their reach.  Help our children to keep their hormones in check, avoiding sex before marriage. Protect our children from bullies and those that mean them harm. Help them to work out their problems instead of fighting with each other.

And finally Lord, help us as parents to be even more supportive of our children this year.  Strengthen our discernment.  Let us know when something is going on with our children.  Help us to keep them on track with their homework and study time. Help us to remember all of the subjects that we took many years ago so that we can be effective in helping our children complete their homework. Provide for us financially so that we can allow our children to go on field trips, buy school yearbooks and pictures, have appropriate clothing for the seasons, school supplies, or whatever else our children need to enhance their educational experience.  Give us favor on our jobs so that we may be able to attend activities that our children may have during the work day. Remind us of the need to pray daily for our children.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

Here are some of my favorite inspirational bloggers:

1. Dianna Hobbs at Your Daily Cup of Inspiration. Dianna takes every day events and turns them into wonderful life lessons. Every Thursday, she posts prayer requests from her blog followers so that everyone can join together with her in prayer for them.  Not only does she blog 5 days a week, but she also has an online magazine called, EEW Magazine.com, The ESSENCE of the Black Christian Woman.  With over 250,000 subscribers, Dianna and her editorial team seek to empower everyday women.  Dianna is also working on a music CD!  So far, she has released two songs off the CD that are entitled “Do What He Said” and “Purpose.”




2. Alisa Hope Wagner at Faith Imagined.  Alisa writes from the heart and is so inspirational.  She often uses scripture in her posts to illustrate her points. She is the Chief Editor of Granola Bar Devotional Writing Ministry and is a contributing writer to many online websites. She and her sister started a quarterly publication called Sanctified Together. Alisa just had an article entitled, “In Defense of Self Help Books,” that was published on Michael Hyatt‘s blog.  Michael Hyatt is a very popular blogger and the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, which is the largest Christian publishing company in the world.




3. Kennisha Hill at the Ready Writer.  Kennisha has written and self published three books.  Amazingly, most of the work was done while she was pregnant. This busy mom was one of the first people I met on my blogging journey.  Her blog posts are always encouraging and thoughtful.  Kennisha felt a need to encourage young married couples and launched Marital Bliss Online Magazine in 2009. Right now, she’s busy promoting her new christian fiction novel, Awakened.




4. LaVender Williams at Mom’s Peace Bites.  Lavender blogs about her teenage sons and husband. I like her blog because it gives me a heads up on things my little man might face later in life and how to respond to it. LaVender is passionate about encouraging and empowering mothers, which is evidenced by her website MOMSWEB. LaVender published a book earlier this year called, We Snap in Silence.




5. Joceyln Green at Faith Deployed.  Jocelyn is a fellow military spouse that has a book, “Faith Deployed,” and blog dedicated to encouraging military wives while their husbands are deployed.  She also co-authored another book entitled, Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan. Jocelyn’s blog has been such a blessing to me since my husband started deployment rotations.  I was able to talk with her a few weeks ago for the first time on the phone and it was like talking to an old friend.  Jocelyn is also the Editor of Christian Military Wives.

What bloggers inspire you?

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

I walked through the house, talking animatedly while taking off my jewelry.  I was rooting for Duke, of course, and telling her why North Carolina basketball teams are the best.

When I started taking off my earrings, I noticed that I only had on one earring.  I was so distracted by the game and my intense debate that I didn’t think too much about it that night.

I spent the next day looking all over the house for it.  I looked EVERYWHERE…on the kitchen table where I was working, on the couches, in the bedroom, in my jewelry box…you name it, I looked there.

After a while, I started to get sad because I wore these earrings often.  My husband gave them to me on a special occasion and I really liked them.  They were white gold hoop earrings with little diamonds in the hoop part.

At the end of April, I had a lot of family come in town for my husband’s promotion.  I moved furniture and cleaned like crazy.  We also had a lot of get togethers at our house with our friends in May.  I never found the earring.

For Mother’s Day, I asked my husband to buy me some earrings to replace the ones I lost.  He let Little Man pick some out for me and I had to smile when I saw them.  They looked just like the earrings I had, except they were sterling silver and cubic zirconia.  Little Man really liked those earrings for me.  When I opened the earring box, he got excited because he knew he chose them.  I wore them with pride because my baby picked them out just for me.

Time starts passing.

June comes and goes.

July comes and goes.

I vacuumed, dusted, moved furniture, and washed clothes about 100 times since April.  

At least weekly, I asked God to reveal to me the location of my earring.

Fast forward to late Monday night:

I was up pretty late.  Everyone had gone to bed and I was FINALLY settling down for some “me time”.  I had a rough day and was feeling kinda down.  I walked out of the kitchen into the living room, getting ready to grab a pillow to lay on the couch and read when I saw something glitter out of the corner of my eye.  I looked down and guess what I saw?

You guessed it, my earring!!

Now let me tell you.  My earring, which had been lost for over 4 months, was lying in the middle of the living room floor.  It wasn’t under a coffee table or under the couch.  It was in the middle of the floor!  

There is no way that I could have missed this earring for 4 months if it had always been in this location.

I was so surprised and happy that I started laughing.

I went to the bedroom to check and make sure that my other earring was still there and it was.  I held the matching earrings in my hands with a heart full of joy.

I have no idea how my earring got to the middle of my living room floor and stayed somewhere in that area for over 4 months without getting vacuumed or moved to Little Man’s toy box.  You know how Little Man likes to do magic tricks.

Thank you Lord for brightening a challenging day and answering my prayer.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

A lot of people deal with this inner struggle.  It often occurs when we intentionally do something that we know is wrong.  It can also sneak up on you when you did something that you thought was right at the time, but later found out that it wasn’t the best option.

Guilt can eat away at you like a cancer, taking away every ounce of joy you have left.

Please let me encourage you on today.  You don’t have to live with the guilt of your past.  God is bigger and greater than anything that you did 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 30 days ago, yesterday, or even 5 seconds ago.  He is willing AND able to forgive you of anything you have done.

That’s right.  I said anything!

You can be forgiven for cheating on your spouse.  You can be forgiven for committing a crime.

God wants nothing more than for you to have peace in your heart and be reconciled with Him. He loves us and doesn’t want us bogged down, looking back at things we did in the past with regret in our hearts.

Besides, if we are always looking behind us to the past, how can we ever move forward into our God given purpose?

Please know that I’m not saying that you can keep doing the same thing over and over again and ask for forgiveness each time.  That’s not true repentance.  Repentance means that you turn completely away from sin and go in the opposite direction toward righteousness.  God knows if you really mean it in your heart.  We shouldn’t take advantage of God’s grace and mercy.

If you are really tired of dealing with guilt and desire forgiveness from God, check out the below scripture.

1 John 1: 9 NIV – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

It’s just that simple.  Confess whatever it is that is causing you feelings of guilt, ask God for forgiveness, and move forward.

Below is a video of a song called “I am Forgiven” by Ricardo Sanchez and Free Chapel.  I pray that it blesses you like it blesses me!

Click here to view the embedded video.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

I was trying to get myself organized to deploy, but I just couldn’t. One of my previous pastors came to see me to check up on me to see if I was alright. I remember trying to get out the door to leave for duty, but so many things stopped me.

I finally got out the door and ran to where we were supposed to be meeting to leave.  I got there late and realized that I had not taken as much time as I should have to rest. I was very sleepy and there was no way that I could help drive feeling as tired as I was. The dream ended with me trying to figure out what was the lesser of two evils: driving first, or driving last.

I woke up confused. That was the first time I ever dreamed that I was deploying. The thing that bothered me about the dream was that I was unprepared for what was coming.

Dear Hubby is deploying again later this year. I’ve known that it was coming, but I’ve been putting it out of my mind. I don’t really want to think about it too much. Besides, he hasn’t been back a year yet. But that’s how rotations go. And they aren’t fun.

During his last deployment, I took some time to travel and visit family to help pass the time away. I’m not sure if I’ll be as flexible this time, as Little Man has speech therapy sessions several times a week. He’s doing so well with that and I don’t want to interrupt his progress.

This dream has prompted me to face the music. I have to face the reality that I will soon be a single parent again for several months. I’ll be without my best friend and husband.

I can make it through another deployment, but only with God’s help.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

Late Saturday night, I was reading a book and he was on his computer. All of a sudden, he got really excited. One of his old friends from Germany found him on Facebook. Dear Hubby was an Army Brat and lost touch with a lot of his friends from his teenage years. He often talked about how he wish he could reconnect with some of them, but he couldn’t remember some of their last names. Plus, there was no telling where they were. He couldn’t even begin to think where to start looking.

The friend that found him from Germany was also Facebook friends with about 20 other classmates of Dear Hubby. He got so excited that he interrupted my reading at least ten times (no kidding) to tell me stories about each person he reconnected with on Facebook. It was a wonderful night for him and he stayed up well after I fell asleep, catching up with old friends that now resided all over the United States.

As a matter of fact, as I’m typing this post, he’s catching up with a few more of them.

But nothing could have prepared him for the news he received a few days later.

One of my husband’s friends from the military that was stationed with him at two bases died in a motorcycle accident over the weekend. Guess how I found out? You guessed it…Facebook. Another military spouse that we know from a previous base posted about it on her status and I was floored when I read it. I knew that Dear Hubby didn’t know because he was in training all day. I was sick to my stomach.

I quickly tried to figure out what to do. I decided that I would see if he could meet me for lunch, but I was unsuccessful in reaching him. He finally called me back an hour later and I told him that I wanted to come and see him for a little while. I got Little Man ready and we headed off to the base to tell Dear Hubby the bad news.

After what seemed like forever, I met up with Dear Hubby. But he already knew. One of his friends sent him a text about it. He was pretty down, but he didn’t want to focus on it then. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. My husband thought highly of his friend and they had communicated by email recently. My husband and his military friend had so many stories together. I’m smiling right now thinking about them.

Dear Hubby still hasn’t talked much about the death of his friend. He’s putting it on a shelf way in the back of his mind. Eventually, he’ll have to talk about it. I know what it’s like to lose a dear friend. He’ll need me to lean on and I’ll be there, just like he has been for me.

Isn’t it funny how Facebook can bring out the highs and lows of friendship?

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

As for the other 10%?

Well, 5% of the time he waits until he can’t hold it another minute. He starts crying and jumping up and down like he has ants in his pants. It took about two of these episodes for me to realize that this signal requires me to stop EVERYTHING and run with him at cheetah speed to the bathroom. Most of the time when he does this, he’s already started peeing but managed to stop to give me the signal.

The other 5% of the time accounts for when he is too occupied with having fun to go to the bathroom.

Sadly, I can’t report any real success with #2. We are UNSUCCESSFUL 90% of the time. Pray for us.

Occasionally, Dear Hubby and I will get brave and take Little Man out in public with big boy underwear. No pull-ups. Just Toy Story underwear.

This weekend, we had to go to the car dealership to get some work done on one of our vehicles. We were told that it wouldn’t take long, maybe 30-45 minutes. We had a few other errands to run and decided to combine them all into one trip since our stops were close in proximity to each other.

When we left the house, Dear Hubby and I reminded ourselves that Little Man had on big boy underwear and we had to stay on top of it.

After about an hour of being out and about, we picked up some food at Chick-Fil-A, which was a couple of doors down from the dealership. We arrived at the dealership for our 2:30PM appointment and went to the waiting room with our food. I hadn’t ate all morning, so I was more than ready to devour my chicken sandwich and yogurt parfait, while washing it down with a fresh lemonade. I took one bite out of my hot and fresh chicken sandwich when all of a sudden, I see Little Man doing impressive vertical jumps over and over again.

“POTTY!!! POTTY,” screamed my Little Man.

I put my sandwich down at lightning speed, grabbed Little Man and RAN in the direction of the bathroom, which was nowhere near the waiting room.

Car Salesmen and potential buyers watched our track and field performance with a half smile, knowing that I was trying to save them from a river on their showroom floor.

Little Man was excited about our PT run, singing a potty song that he and his Dada made up, as if he was running in cadence:

“PEE PEE PEE PEE POTTY!! PEE PEE PEE PEE POTTY!!” (It’s supposed to be “Pee Pee in the Potty” but oh well)

We burst through the door of the bathroom and sprinted for a stall. I chose the last one so that we would have more room. I pushed Little Man in and closed the door behind us. I had to lift him up so he could “Pee Pee in the Potty” and that’s when I saw it.

A massive black cricket was within two steps of me. It moved its antennae in our direction.

Now here’s a sidenote: I HATE BUGS! They give me the creepy crawlies, but I had a decision to make: Freak out while Little Man is in midstream or calm down and pray that the cricket on steroids doesn’t move.

Thankfully, the mutated cricket didn’t move. After Little Man was done, I grabbed him and quickly exited the stall to wash our hands and head back to the waiting room, walking this time.

When we got back, Dear Hubby had a question:

Dear Hubby: “Did you make it?”

Me: “Yes, we made it. Barely though. Did we have extra clothes for him?”

Dear Hubby: “No, we didn’t.”

Whew! That was closer than I thought! Note to self: Always have an extra change of clothes for Little Man.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

An article that I wrote is being featured at Faith Deployed.  It’s called, “Keeping the Spice in Your Marriage During a Deployment.”

Pic by militaryhealth

You’ll definitely want to check this one out!  It’s already getting a lot of good feedback on the Faith Deployed website and Facebook page.

The article contains a list of six different things you can do to help your spouse remember what he’s coming home to.

Even if you aren’t a military couple, you can modify these tips to suit your own relationship.

Be sure to leave a comment and let me know some of your tips to keep the fire burning with your spouse while the two of you are apart.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

Pic by Frankv74

Four Airmen were killed in a c-17 crash at Elmendorf AFB on July 28, 2010. Three of the men were part of the Alaska Air National Guard and one of the men was active duty stationed at Elmendorf AFB.

If you would like to read more about this accident, click here to read the story from Air Force Times.

My heart is so heavy thinking about this situation. My husband is in the Air Force and flies on a regular basis. Whenever I hear of a plane crash, it reminds me of the need to be constantly prayerful for my husband and his fellow airmen. It also reminds me of how dangerous my husband’s job can be, something which I prefer to block out of my mind.

Please pray for the Elmendorf community and the families of these Airmen that will be dealing with the tremendous loss of their husbands, fathers, uncles, brothers, and friends.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

We had a few unexpected things to come up this summer that required us to modify our debt elimination plan.  Right now, we are about 2 months behind on our debt free goal.  I’m hoping that we can pick back up and regain gazelle intensity in the fall.  The honest truth is that I’m not good with being frugal during the summer time.  I like to live a little and do some traveling.  And you already know about my love for all things technology and office supply related.

I do have a few good things to report.

Whenever I get change back from purchases (less than $1.00), I put it in a piggy bank.  I do the same thing for my husband’s loose change that he leaves lying around.  One day, I noticed that there wasn’t enough room for me to put more change in the piggy bank.  I took my good ole piggy bank to cash in our coins and guess how much money we had?

pic by wkforce

310 quarters
228 dimes
129 nickels
594 pennies

That came to a grand total of $112.69!!!  We had no idea that there was that much money stuffed in that little piggy bank.  Every little bit counts!

We have eliminated 64% of our debt since January 1st.  We just have to stay on track and push through to the finish line.

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

**Taking a deep breath**

I’m a computer and technology geek.

Are you surprised?

I love computers, phones, cameras, video cameras, and any other thing that is electronic. I see it as a personal challenge whenever I can’t figure out how to work a gadget or computer program.

I’m also a fan of Apple products. I never thought that would happen because I was seriously all about PCs. My husband was the one that changed my mind. He bought me an iPhone to replace the Palm Treo that I had. At first, I was a little disappointed because I really liked my Palm Treo and the compatibility it had with Windows. However, it didn’t take me long to adjust to my new phone.

My husband and I recently upgraded our iPhones. It was needed because I had a few broken parts on my phone and my husband’s phone hardly ever rang (he still had the 1st Generation iPhone). When the iPhone 4.0 was announced, we made sure that we were able to get ours on the launch date. I stood in line 3.5 hours to get my husband’s phone (he was working) and waited one hour to get my phone.

Picture by kt1k

Don’t judge me.

But anyway, we are enjoying our new phones. We have yet to experience any issues, despite all of the drama reported about signal problems.

One thing that I really like about iPhones is the variety of apps available.  Here are some wonderful FREE apps I found that are great for Christians.

1. Bible by LifeChurch.tv.  You’ll have 41 translations of the Bible in 22 languages right at your fingertips. It’s one of my favorites. You can search throughout the bible, choose reading plans, and bookmark scripture.  Found a scripture that you really like?  Share it with your friends on Twitter and Facebook easily through this app.
2. Concordance by Matthew S.  This app is a bible concordance.  In the search area, type in what you would like to research and several options are listed for that search topic.  For example, if I want to do a search on Abraham, I would type in “Abraham” and several options will show up with the scripture references.
3. Pocket Prayer Pro (Lite) by Roland Yau. Track the progress of your prayer requests.  You can list 10 prayer requests in this version. If you want to add more prayer requests to track, you can upgrade to the full version for $1.99.  Sample prayers are offered and you can even send them to your friends. This app comes with a passcode lock so that you can keep your prayer requests private.
4. K-LOVE Positive and Encouraging by Jacobs Media. Listen to commercial free contemporary Christian music. You can send in prayer requests to the Pastors on staff and they will pray for you.  Another cool feature is that this app contains an alarm clock option in which you can wake up to streaming contemporary Christian music.
5. 365 Devotions by Standard Publising.  Read a daily devotion with ease.  If the devotion was a blessing to you, email it to a friend or bookmark it easily with this app.
6. KJV Bible Audiobook by iTourSoftware.com.  This app contains an audio version of the entire King James Version Bible.  Let me give you a heads up. This is a huge app, taking almost 10 minutes to completely load, but it’s totally worth it. It also contains maps and geography, other bible translations, and the history of the King James Bible.   Options are available for bookmarks, notes, daily reading, and searching.
7. Bible Memory Verses by Woody Hays.  Bible topics such as forgiveness, prayer, and sin are available with memory verses.  You can record yourself saying the memory verse and play it back.  A flashcard option is also available in which you can view the scripture (for example John 3:16), practice the verse, and press a button to see if you recited it correctly.

Do you have any apps to add to this list?

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

I was interviewed by Jocelyn Green, author of the Faith Deployed, for her Military Wife Life Series!

This series showcases military wives on her blog, Faith Deployed, which is a spin off from her successful book. Click here to read the review I wrote about Faith Deployed a few months ago.

My interview with Jocelyn is in-depth and details my experience with deployments and how my christian faith helped me through.

Here’s the link to the interview: My Military Wife Life: Tonya Nash.

Feel free to go by, check it out, and let me know what you think.  What has been your tips for coping with deployment?

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

It’s sad that almost 50% of marriages end up in divorce.  Married couples have to spend time investing into their marriage to make it work.  It takes more than love and good looks.  It requires commitment.  It’s a little more challenging for military families, but it’s certainly possible to have a happy and healthy marriage while serving your country.

Below are 8 tips to keep your marriage happy and healthy.

1. Find good marriage role models.  Listen to them share their stories and wisdom. It can be the couple at your church that has been married for 25 years or your next door neighbors that have been married for 5 years.  Make sure that it is someone you respect and can take advice from.
2. Set aside a dedicated time for each other.  In the hustle and bustle of life, we can get so busy that the only time we see our spouses is when it is time to go to bed.  Make a point to eat dinner together most days of the week.  Schedule a date night on a regular basis.
3. Make each other a priority.  Never let your spouse feel like they come second place to your career or any other thing.  Your spouse has to feel like they matter to you.  Use random acts of kindness and romance to show your spouse how much they mean to you.
4. Make plans for the future together.  Talk about your dreams and aspirations. Be supportive of each other and dream big together!
5. Pray and attend church together.  The family that prays together stays together!
6. Speak well of your spouse. Don’t be so quick to tell other people about your spouse’s shortcomings.  It can come back and bite you later.
7. Maintain a united front.  My husband and I have a motto: “Me and you against the world.” That is our pact and we’re sticking with it.  Being a united front is especially important once you have children.  Don’t let your children divide and conquer.  Talk about discipline for your children in advance.
8. Keep the spice going!  Don’t get so complacent that you don’t spend time doing some of the things that you did to get them in the first place.  Ladies – take those rollers out of your hair and dress nice for your man!  Men – be spontaneous and take your wife out on a hot date every once in a while.  Keeping the spice in your relationship definitely has its benefits!

What are your tips for keeping a happy and healthy marriage?

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

I decided to take the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge hosted by the SITS girls and Problogger.  This fun challenge will include 31 different tasks for me to implement on my blog to make it better.

This couldn’t have come at a better time for me.  Y’all know that I’m still transitioning my blog from Blogger to WordPress. That is a work in progress.

I heard about this challenge before, but kept putting it off.  Now, there is a great support network of bloggers that will complete it with me.  I’m excited about it, in case you can’t tell.

Today’s task includes developing an elevator pitch for my blog.  An elevator pitch is a short summary about the purpose of my blog.  It can include a tagline or it could be a short paragraph.

Recently, I started using the tagline: Faith, Military Life, Mommyhood.  I feel like these topics pretty much sum up 95% of my posts.   If I had to give a longer version, it would be this:

“Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer is a personal blog that focuses on christian faith, military life, and mommyhood with the purpose of bringing inspiration to readers and an occasional dose of humor.”

Questions:

What do you think about my tagline and short statement?

Do you think this is an accurate depiction of my blog?

What would you add or omit?

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

Today I’m participating in a fun link up called MilSpouse Friday Fill-In. This linky is hosted by Wife of a Sailor.

The goal behind this link up is to help military spouses get to know each other by answering a set of questions each Friday and posting it on their blog.  I figured this would be fun for you as my regular readers too because it will give you a chance to get to know me a little better.  Here we go!

1. What food reminds you of your spouse? Hmmmm….I would have to say that Hershey’s Milk Chocolate candy bars remind me of my husband.  His smooth dark complexion is so appealing to me, just like a good chocolate candy bar!
2. Who would you rather sit next to in a cross-country plane ride: an irritating non-stop talker, or a quiet starer? Give me the irritating non-stop talker.  Starers give me the creeps.  At least I can tune the talker out if it gets too bad.
3. What are your best tips on how to save money? Oooooohhh.  I have plenty of tips. But for the sake of space, I’ll just give a few.  One would be to use coupons for things that you buy on a regular basis and match those coupons with sales at local stores.  Another tip would be to compare prices. See what the price difference will be for a big screen TV purchased at the BX (PX) vs. Best Buy vs. WalMart vs. Target. Sometimes stores will price match, so always ask. Utilize discounts whenever you can.  Some places have discounts for military families, firefighters, nurses, teachers, etc. but do not advertise it. Discounts can range from 10% to 20% so always ask for a discount.  The last one I’ll share is to use cash instead of a debit card. That way, you can see how much money you are spending.  I have more tips on my Couponing page.
4. What is your favorite summer memory? Do I have to pick just one? Well, let’s see…my wedding anniversary is in June, so I would have to say our yearly anniversary trips.  Those are the best.  My favorite childhood summer memories?  Going to the beach, picking strawberries with my Grandmother, brother, and cousins, Marching Band practice, and trips to visit family members.
5. Do you believe in ghosts? Um…no.  I don’t.  Not in the traditional thought of what ghosts are. However, I do believe in Angels and demons.

That was pretty fun!  So how would YOU answer these questions?  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.  Have a wonderful weekend!

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.

Her story took me back to the days of my first car.  I learned how to drive with my mom’s blue 1989 Nissan Stanza.  Nissan doesn’t even make Stanzas anymore, but I enjoyed driving it.

Not the actual vehicle

When I graduated from high school, I went to a local college.  My dad knew that I needed transportation of my own to get to and from school.  He has this hobby of dragging up old vehicles, fixing them, and driving them like new.  Well, one of his projects was a blue 1985 Chevy Camaro.  Before you get all excited, let me inform you that it was 1998 when he dragged that car into the backyard on a trailer.  It wasn’t even working.  I had no idea that he bought that hooptie with me in mind!

Not my actual car. It didn't look this good!

After he got it working, he gave me the keys and told me that it was mine to drive.  As much as I hate to admit it, I kinda liked driving it at first.  It had a low profile and it was sporty. Plus, it was mine and who can’t appreciate a vehicle that is your very own?  I mean, who cared that the car was almost as old as me?

After about a good month of regular driving, “The Maro” decided that it wanted to show its true colors.  Some days it would crank up, some days it wouldn’t.  This started to become a pain and I really became cautious as to where I would drive it out of fear of being stranded.

One day after class, I decided to stop at Wendy’s to get some lunch.  I placed my order at the drive-thru and pulled up to the window to pay.  I got to the window, pulled out my money, handed it to the cashier, and all of a sudden “The Maro” cut off.

I tried to crank it back up, thinking to myself, “Please, Please, PUHLEEZE CRANK UP! NOT HERE!!!” Click, Click, Click was all I heard from the ignition.  ”The Maro” had put its foot down and decided that it wasn’t going anywhere.  I shamefully looked at the cashier and told her that I couldn’t get my car started.  Cars started lining up behind me in the drive-thru.  She peeked out of the window, seeing the growing line, and said, “Oh no.  We can’t have your car blocking the drive-thru because it will affect our business.”

So guess what happened?

About five guys in their Wendy’s uniforms came outside and pushed “The Maro” out of the drive-thru while I steered it into an open parking spot.  I was sooo embarrassed!  I ended up going inside to eat my food.  I called my dad at work, letting him know that his hooptie had put me down in the Wendy’s drive-thru.

Dear Daddy got off work and came straight to Wendy’s to pick me up.  Before leaving, he decided to try and crank “The Maro” up and see what the problem was. How about that traitor of a car CRANKED RIGHT UP!!  I was livid!!!!  I kept thinking to myself, “No I didn’t go through that embarrassment for nothing!” The Maro and I had a huge falling out.

Soon afterwards, my dad broke down and got me a real car that was reliable and kept him from having to retrieve from random locations.  I was so happy when he bought home my 1997 Toyota Corolla!  He didn’t even have to pull it on a trailer.  It drove perfectly by itself and was great for me as a college student.

Actual vehicle

Questions:

What was your first car?  Was it a hooptie?  Or did you luck out and get a brand new car?

©2010 Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer. All Rights Reserved.