By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills ‘Tis the Christmas season, and with all the hustle and bustle, we sometimes lose our Christmas spirit. When moments of irritation and frustration threaten your joy, look at these ten ways to bring hope back into your Christmas. Change your music selections to Christmas carols. As you sing along to the familiar classics, think about the …
Thanksgiving Quotes
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills This week reminds us of our many blessings, gratitude, and the love of family and friends. Below are twenty quotes and Scripture that help me value Thanksgiving. “Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” – Lionell Hampton “Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your …
Ten Ways to Listen Better
DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills We are approaching Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and all the parties and get-togethers in between. One thing we can count on (besides lots of food and drink): is conversation. To participate in a meaningful conversation, we must first develop the art of listening. Introverts tend to do a better job of listening because their personality will do …
Ready for an Enchanting Christmas Novella?
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills It’s never too early to get in the Christmas spirit. DREAMS AND SECRETS is an Enchanting Christmas Novella that will transport you back near Philadelphia in the 1850s. Great early gift for readers who love a historical Christmas-time clean romance. DREAMS AND SECRETS by DiAnn Mills tells of the tender romance between Emma Leigh Carter and …
Soul Care When You’re Grieving
DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Guest Blogger: Edie Melson Grief is a difficult thing. We all experience it—and we all experience it differently. There is no right or wrong way to face loss, yet many of us feel like we’re doing it wrong. When I lost my father to Alzheimer’s several years ago, I had a well-meaning friend accuse me of, “Doing …
The Meaning of Family
DiAnn Mills @ DiAnnMills Guest Blogger: Deborah Sprinkler @DebbieSprinkle About two months ago, I asked a simple question: How do you define family? The answers proved to be complicated. One reply summed up the difficulty in finding a definition. She wrote, “We have the family we are born into, the family we chose, and the family we join.” Is one …
5 Keys to Navigating a Life Pause
DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Guest post: Candy Arrington @CandyArrington In this age of high-speed Internet, search engines, and cell phones, we have access to instant information at our fingertips, or by asking a voice-activated assistant like Alexa or Siri. Because we are so conditioned to immediacy, waiting has a negative connotation. From traffic snarls to drive-thru lines, we chafe at delays. …
What Does Comfort Mean to You?
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills The meaning of comfort intrigues me, especially with the stress so many people face each day. No point going into the many stressors bombarding us, or this post would be 6,000 words long. If you’re like me, we want to help others in a way that’s healthy and beneficial to them. Other times we want to …
Appealing To Your Autumn Appetite
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Autumn always appeals to my appetite. I want to cook and bake—everything from healthy to savory to satisfying my sweet tooth. Bring on autumn squash soup, hot bread, apples anything, root vegetables, pumpkin everything, and don’t forget cinnamon and butter. The lure is the calendar because here in Houston, the high temps have dropped from 100 …
Are Fairy Tales Important or Outdated?
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Guest Post: Valerie Fentress @FentressValerie We all know the stories. Fairy tales and Folk Tales have been the bread and butter of children’s literature for ages. Stories such as Cinderella, Thumbelina, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Red Riding Hood, and Beauty and the Beast have been told and retold repeatedly often with outstanding success. But why do …