Double Portion Inspiration

Let's go Heat! Congratulations to the 2012 NBA Championship Team-The Miami Heat! The city of Miami is electric and pulsating after the big win last Thursday night.  Players and fans partied until the wee hours of the morning to celebrate the illustrious victory.  Fans are waiting in lines for hours at sporting good stores trying to get their hands on Heat gear.  Championship teams aren't made overnight and the Heat organization learned that the hard way. After the big announcement last year that the most polarizing figure in basketball, Lebron James, would join the Heat all eyes looked for the Heat to be national champions in 2011.  That dream never became a reality.  The Heat lost in the 2011 NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks.  Lebron James felt humiliated that he couldn't make good  on his promise to the Miami fans.  He spent weeks, after the 2011 NBA Finals, in his room, not shaving and with no energy to get out of bed.  "I had h...

Every since seeing the movie, "Avengers", my boys have been obsessed with super heroes.  I recently took them to the library to find a few books.  My oldest is in love with the, "NERDS" series by Michael Buckley.  It is about a group of nerds that turn into super spies. The characters are interesting because they deal with everyday problems school age children go through like:  Pufferfish (her allergies detect danger) or Wheezer (she uses her inhalers to blast the enemy).  I am just happy to find a Summer series that holds the interest of my tween. So what about you:   What super hero would you like to become?   My new name is- PenciLady (I use my words to erase all the evil in the world). Be creative, have fun and leave us a comment and let us know.  We would also love to hear about a great book you are reading to pass the time during the lazy days of Summer. (Posted by Roslyn)

Do you spend a huge amount of time worrying?  Life has a way of throwing curve balls at us.  Then we are left to figure out how to "dodge" another bullet.  Will I lose my house?  How will I recover from this financial ruin?  How will I survive during my parent's illness?  Who can I trust in this new city?  What will I do when the entire family comes over for dinner?  Is my husband making the right decision for our family?  Will my manager approve my promotion?  Who is next to be downsized at work?  My teenager is pregnant, how will this go away? First off, we are not alone in this life.  We don't have to figure out life's problems.  Worry can overtake our thoughts and emotions.  It finds a way to paralyze us.  We spend more time worrying over the situation than we do discovering or praying for a solution.  We can't move forward because we are brought to our knees with fear.   The difference bet...

My family loves corn so when a friend recently suggested a different way to cook it, I couldn't wait to try it out.  I was skeptical with the method at first because it seemed way to easy.  Corn doesn't have the best of reputations in today's society even though it is a great source of vitamin C and fiber (white corn has more fiber than yellow corn).  I bet you didn't know that one cup of corn provides 18.4% of the daily recommendation of fiber. Its high fiber content is one of the biggest benefits of corn . Fiber has been shown to help lower cholesterol levels and help reduce the risk of colon cancer. Corn also contains folate, phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, manganese, protein, potassium, fiber, thiamine, and panthotenic acid.  It also has Vitamins A, E and K. Now that's an impressive list of nutrients. Let's face it, is anything more satisfying than a grilled ear of corn with butter at a Summer barbeque? Here's a quick way ...

When I asked God to be closer to Him, I never imagined the journey to get there.  When I surrendered my will to His will, I may not have done it, if I knew the path I would have to take.  How many of us have felt this way?   We want to be closer to God, we've even asked for Him to draw us close, but little did we know, it would be a painful process that we asked for . This question reminds me of our attempts to conceive our first child.  We were ready to have babies but it wasn't happening.  The desire to be a mom is often an innate desire that is hard to shake loose.  Men might not get it, but women who've felt that way truly understand.  It can become all that you think about.  Your mind will circle every action back to your thirsty desire to give birth.  While waiting for the gift of life, I pleaded with God for a child.  In my mind, getting pregnant should have been a quick process.  We were married.  God was...

Who would ever think we could win it all? Let's Go Bengals! I am so proud of my son's  travel baseball  team ( PPO Bengals Orange ).  Our team planned for months to travel to Disney (ESPN Wide World of Sports) for Memorial Day weekend.  We spent days and countless hours fundraising to pay for the hotel accommodations and new uniforms. Watching the action! The boys spent numerous time with practices, trainers and scrimmages.  We finally get to the end of a grueling Spring season. They make it to the playoffs and lose in the 2nd round.  One of our starting pitchers ends up in a cast. Despite all of this, we head off to Disney to compete. Funny enough, our boys had a new energy as they walked into the ESPN sports complex.  Bright eyes shined as the boys realized this was NOT one of their normal tournaments.  Teams from across the country (Canada, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Kentucky, etc.) came to battle and hopefully win. The PPO Bengals O...