Hands Full of Blessings! 

I’m a Christmas baby. I have always HATED having my birthday on Christmas. I know all my December birthday peeps are already agreeing with me. Shared birthday/Christmas presents and cold weather… but really that part never bothered me. I actually enjoy the “Happy...

It happened again today. A random stranger asked my kids if they were excited about Santa. The shock that overtakes their faces when my kids tell them they don’t believe in Santa, they celebrate Jesus. Before you roll your eyes and keep scrolling… please hear me out....

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I’ve always heard this phrase and thought, “Well just because it looks boring doesn’t mean it will be.” You know… it implied a negative appearance of the book. Recently for class, I got to look closer at the passage, “But...

"Jesus is the Greatest Gift" wall art. I've been getting a ton of compliments on this project and the idea of it, so I decided to post a blog about it in hopes others will recreate it with their families. First, let me give you some backstory. I love crafting. I have...

Recently my sister sent me some pictures of her little guy. I responded asking how one little boy could look exactly like her and her husband at the same time. She didn’t see it, so I did the only thing a big sister would do- prove her wrong… by sending her pictures...

My kids love to play in the water. Swimming pools, lakes, creeks, small rivers, and especially the ocean. I can remember being a kid and playing in my grandparents’ creek. It was shallow and there were a ton of crawl dads. It was a good time, but really, we just...

 Addicted to SUGAR!!! It happened… again… for like the 7 time in the last 10 years… I had to reset my diet. That scale kept going up giving me results I did not desire despite my efforts to be more active, workout, and run. So once again… I started a clean diet…...

Has anyone ever given your child an awesome gift… but then when you looked at the box you saw, “Batteries not included…” or even worse… “Assembly required”?!? The kids are super excited about their new gift that is not quite ready to be used.  Mom and dad need to...

My name is Renee Joiner. I am a pastor’s wife, homeschooling mom of six, teacher, seminary student, and children’s book author. Most people may know this, I was raised Catholic. Yes, I know, I am clearly no longer a practicing Catholic as one of the first titles...

Yesterday was a workday at the old house in Saint Louis. (For those of you who do not know, my family and I just moved across the river to Belleville, IL.) My husband left about 10 minutes before me. So, when I pulled out of the drive and saw the gas lights, I had to...