My Top 5 Travel Gadgets

So, since we’ve been talking a lot about our Fresh Grounded Faith cruise and all our travel tips, here is a list of my favorite gadgets to add to your travel bag! These are the must-haves that make traveling easier. You never want to bring so many gadgets that you need another carry on, but you want to choose wisely the few that will improve your travel experience. So, here are my top five:

1. Water bottle humidifier
Okay, now this one you can’t just pick up at your local hardware store! But, you can get it online or at a specialty travel store. It’s a humidifier that is smaller than most of my purses! Since I usually have trouble with sinus dryness when I stay in hotel rooms, this little gadget humidifies the air I am breathing! You simply screw a water bottle onto it, plug it in, sit it right by your bed and then all night you will breathe in moist air! And, I often drip some lavender in my water bottle so it freshens the fragrance of the room and makes me feel like I’m sleeping in a spa!

Tips for Your Man

Oscar Wilde once wisely asked, “How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being?”

Can I get a witness from my sisters reading this? The man got it right!

husband-and-wife1 edit again

Actually, long before him, the Apostle Peter observed something similar. Well, sorta. He told husbands to “live with their wives in an understanding way” (1 Peter 3: 7). Peter knew it then and we know it now; sometimes we are difficult to understand!

So, I thought it would be fun to help us sisters by providing a few tips to help our men understand us. Feel free to print this, post this or pass it on to your husband. In fact, I bet it would look really good on his bathroom mirror or better yet, why don’t you just tape it to your TV screen? I bet he’ll notice it!

I Want To Be Like My Son When I Grow Up

Clayton is an intelligent, thoughtful, contemplative young man. He’s always been a thinker.

When he was born, friends told me that even his little baby face looked “so serious.” Clayton is a smart guy. Chances are, whatever the topic of discussion, Clayton knows something about it … something useful, interesting.

The day I held my son in my arms for the very first time. There aren't words to describe the moment.

The day I held my son child in my arms for the very first times. There aren’t words to describe the moment.

When we traveled on a family cruise this past summer, we didn’t even miss having the use of our phones for the internet because we had Clayton with us. As we said, “Who needs Google when you’ve got Clayton!”

When an opinionated person chooses to restrain thoughts, it shows a ton of self-control and thoughtfulness toward others.
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I’ve learned from him. One thing he’s taught me is even though I may know more, I don’t have to share it. Clayton’s opinions are usually very thought-out, but he isn’t quick to begin lectures on the subject. As he’s matured, he shows other-centered restraint when it comes to dispensing his opinion. What a great example that is to me.

Clayton 4

What You Need to Know About Men

Me and my Dr. Phil, with Caroline and her Clayton. One of the happiest days of my life!

Me and my Dr. Phil, with Caroline and her Clayton. One of the happiest days of my life!

If there is one phrase I have heard from my Dr. Phil over and over in the last 27 years, it’s this: “I’m a simple man.”

It took me two decades to finally get it. Over the years, I assumed he was more complicated than he actually was. I assumed he meant something he didn’t, either with his silence or his words. Basically, I just didn’t really get it. I didn’t understand how simple men can be.

Girls, men are just wired a little differently than we are.

5 Tips on How to Live a Miserable Life

I’ve noticed there are just some people who have mastered the skill of being totally miserable no matter what. It’s funny, in my observations I’ve realized that it takes serious effort to really obtain a high level of consistent misery. So, for those of you who want to live a miserable life, here’s a few tips on how to do so.  But, if you don’t want to live that way, that’s okay too. Perhaps you will choose not to apply any of my suggestions. Go ahead, be happy if you want … it’s your call!