Illuminate

If you have gotten to know me for very long you know that I absolutely love the fall. I love everything about it. I love the cooler weather, the color changing of the leaves, football games, the food (I am a foodie at heart after all), and throw in my birthday for extra measure. Today, I was sharing my love of fall with my wife and she asked if there was anything I didn't like about fall. At first I thought no but then I remembered I really do not like all the scary stuff with Halloween so I guess even fall is not perfect. We all have our favorite season. It may be because of the change of weather, the memories that have been formed, or the memories that we are looking forward to creating in the new season. I love that I have lived in the midwest for most of my life because if you're sick of one season, there is a new one coming. Each one has it's blessings and downsides. Come on, even winter has beauty in the morning after snow has covered the ground. You and ...

For the last two weeks, my daughter, Eden, has been learning how to swim. Her first week she jumped right in and did really well. At one point they had the kids laying face down and encouraged them to blow bubbles into the water. She did it once and then went for a second and started to get scared. She started to cry but finished her first lesson. I was so proud of her and told her how great of a job she had done. Flash forward to her second lesson. She seemed fine leading up to the lesson and even told me she was excited to go back to the pool. As soon as she placed her little feet in the water she started to cry. Nothing had changed. It was the same pool, the same people, but this time she was allowing the past experience to dictate her current experience. She was unable to get in the water and enjoy another lesson because she had one moment a fear that was now telling her she could not do it. Fear is a very real emotion we all feel all the time that the enemy uses t...