Yesterday, the word of the day was “mother.”  And rightfully so, as the one day each year dedicated to loving on, and sharing appreciation for mom, mother, ma, momma, big mama grandma, and so on, was celebrated.

A quick scan of my Facebook news feed was filled with Mother’s Day love and messages.  It probably trended on Twitter, dominated pins on Pinterest, and was captured on Instagram.  Now it is the day after.  Will all that love end?  It shouldn’t, and I have a call to dads to keep it going.

Loving on Mom 364 days plus Mother’s Day

Today I share a post Mother’s Day message for dads to continue to actively love on and appreciate the mom’s of our children.

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Making Mother’s Day everyday is the greatest thing you can do for your kids

If you have young children like me, then you probably played a big role in making Mother’s Day special for your kids’ mom.  As a matter of fact your role as dad is just big on Mother’s Day, but equally huge the other 364 days each year.  The role you play as dad and relate to your kids’ mom, has the greatest impact on your children’s lives.  Mom is the beneficiary.

The title of the post is “The Single Greatest Thing a Dad Can Do for His Children.” [Tweet this]

Below is an excerpt of the post.

Once you have children, your life changes.  You begin to do things differently in an effort to care for, provide, and guide your children.  Of all those things, there is one thing that a father can do that will provide the greatest impact on his children’s lives.

The “Single Greatest Thing A Dad Can Do For His Children” is to love their mother.  Plain and simple!  No matter your relationship “status“, loving your child’s mom is the greatest thing you can do for them!

Click here to read the entire post.

Question:  Post Mother’s Day, what is one way you can continue to love the mother of your kids?  Moms, you can answer this question to.  Please share in the comment section below.

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Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s reading this!  As I considered what I would post to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day, I received a message from one mom who has always shown “a mother’s love” to me.  My mom.

She shared a quote which shows her thoughts, love, and appreciation for her own mother.  I don’t need to add anything else to it…

“A Mothers’ love is…the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.” – my mother (Donna Mae Bledsoe)

Happy Mother’s Day!  If you get to spend time with your mother today, or any other day, make sure you cherish each moment and let her know how much you appreciate your mother’s love.

Question: What is “A Mother’s Love” to you?  Please share in the comment section below.

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I am on the cusp of a life changing decision.  No matter my decision, or the outcome, I know it will make my “top life changing events” list.  I’m excited,  nervous, and not really sure what is going to happen.

What I do know is my decision, and the outcome, will be an opportunity for me to grow.  An opportunity to lead my family through it in a way which will make us closer, stronger, and better from it.  Can you relate?  Are there some potential life changing events looming?  Have you experienced unexpected life changing events?

The way you handle life changing events, not the actual events, is most important. [Tweet this]

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Our life changing events work to shape us and our path

The title for this post, from my series of most popular post, is “7 Life Changing Events.”  In the post I share the life changing events which drastically altered or shaped my life the most.

Through them all, I can truly attest the following is true, “all things work together for good to those who love God…”  [Tweet this]

Below is an excerpt from the post:

Sometimes in life we can look back and pinpoint specific events or moments in which we knew life would never be the same. Other times we don’t realize the significance of an event until years later, and we can reflect on where we went from there.  I always say I was a little naive and didn’t recognize when significant things were happening.  As I’ve gotten wiser (older) I now try to be more aware of things as they happen. Some call that being in the moment or enjoying the moment. I call it paying attention! 

Click here to read the full post, and join the conversation.

Question:  If you could, would you change any of your major life changing events?  Please share in the comment section below.

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Mother’s Day weekend is here this weekend.  Although we should always be encouraging our mother’s and our wives, this weekend is a wonderful time.  A time to encourage her and make her feel really special.

The book, “The Five Love Languages”, Gary Chapman list five key ways that most people express and want to be shown love in a relationship.  He calls each way a love language, and encourages you to know the love language your spouse wants you to speak.

I believe I have identified one of my wife’s, which is “words of affirmation.”

Do you need a few words of encouragement for your  wife?

A few months ago, I shared some words she loves to hear me say in a blog post.  In just a few months this post has now become my top post.  It is the only post in my top posts which was written and published this year.

All the other posts have had several months of exposure.  I believe it has done so well because many wives desire encouraging words from their husbands.  And many husbands are seeking the right words to say.

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A strong relationship will get stronger with words of encouragement

The title for this post, from my series of most popular post is “25 Things Your Wife Will Love to Hear You Say.”  This Mother’s Day weekend I encourage you to truthfully say each one of them to your wife.

Affirm her, encourage her, and make here feel truly special this weekend. [Tweet this]

Below is an excerpt from the post:

If you marriage is like mine, sometimes your wife could use some encouragement.  If you are like me, it is not always easy for your wife to be married to you.  I admit, I can be tough to deal with sometimes.  You can probably say the same.  But sometimes we do get it right, and sometimes we say exactly what our wives need to hear from us at that time.

Click here to read the full post, and join the conversation.

Question:  What other ways can you encourage your wife or your mother this Mother’s Day weekend?  Please share in the comment section below.

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One of my favorite bible verses says “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV).  What that verse says is without being able to see where you are going, you will have no life.  Your life and family goals are the vision for your life and family.  Families who set life goals will be full of life, those who don’t will not.

Blogging for me has been a huge growth tool.  I have never been a big talker, and have always been pretty private.  My wife, before marriage, used to call me “Mr. Mysterious” because it was very difficult for me to share.

No more Mr. Mysterious

Well, as you see, blogging has brought out a brand new side of me!   Even to the point where I’ve shared some of my most personal thoughts, including my life and family goals.

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Writing down your life goals will encourage you and motivate you

The title for this post, from my series of most popular post is “80 Goals That Provide Motivation for Me…My Life Goals”

The post breaks my goals down into the vital areas and roles in my life, and even includes some fun, “bucket list” type of goals.  You can use this format when you begin to write your life goals.

Below is an excerpt of the post:

My hope for you in sharing my goals is that you will be inspired to dream bigger than ever, that you will be bold enough to pursue your goals, and if you have never set life goals, after you finish reading this post you will sit down and start the process of writing your life goals.  As you read my goals you will get a deeper look at me and discover what drives me, what scares me, and what challenges me.  Hopefully this doesn’t scare you off!  Ha!  ;)

What I have learned from reviewing my goals is many of my goals are not possible for me to reach–as the person I am today.  The only way I will be able to reach these goals is to continue to grow and to continue to become better.  One of the best parts of writing my goals down and pursuing them is the person that I will become through this process.  I may reach all of my goals, or I may not.  By pursuing them I know I will get closer and closer to reaching my full potential and becoming everything God created me to be.  That is a tremendous benefit!

Click here to read the full post, and join the conversation.

Question:  How do you think having written life goals will help in living life to the fullest?  Please share in the comment section below.

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If your family is like my family then you probably collect paper like LeBron James collects MVP trophies.  Except your paper collection is not something to brag about.  Your family probably has many keepsakes, medical records, lists, goals, and things you want to purchase as well.  All of that can be overwhelming!

What is the best way to organize your family and your stuff without the need of an extra room, or garage bay?

You may not be to the level which makes you the perfect candidate for an episode of “Hoarders.”  But the average family has a lot of info and stuff to organize.  After trying a lot of different things, I have found the best way to organize my family, and I’m sure it’ll help you organize your family too.

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Evernote the tool a family can’t live without

The title for this post, from my series of most popular post is “Why Your Family Should Be Using Evernote Plus 5 Practical Uses” [Tweet this]

The post includes 5 everyday uses that can be put into practice.  See how they work for you.  Below is an excerpt of the post:

Why I use Evernote

When I first used Evernote I used it primarily as a note taking tool.  Then I learned many more practical uses.  Some of my top uses are tracking ideas for my blog posts, gift ideas for my wife and kids, goals and projects I am am working on, web content I want to access later, health and medical records, bible notes and studies, inspiring quotes, and any thought or note that I think I want to access later.

One reason it is so valuable to me is not only can I capture and remember anything that is important or relevant to me, but I can quickly and easily retrieve that info when I need it.  Evernote has a powerful search engine and tagging system.  Each note I create is placed in a notebook, which is inside a relevant stack, and I tag that note.  The combination of tags and Evernote search give me the ability to find the info I am looking for in a matter of seconds.

Why your family should use Evernote

As mentioned with Evernote you can capture any and everything that is important or relevant to the things in your life, and you can easily locate them later when needed.  You can also share it with your family. The share feature just takes Evernote to the next level.  It allows both spouses, and the kids if necessary, to have access to important information at all time, anywhere.

Click here to read the full post, and join the conversation.

Question:  Would a book that provides a list of uses, and” how to” instruction to  specifically use Evernote for your family be useful to you?

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Spending your life in marriage with someone you love is one of life’s great joys.  Yes, married life can also be one of life’s greatest challenges.  If you polled 12 couples about married life, you’d probably received 12, or even 24, different views.

With nearly 12 years of marriage life, I have a real appreciation of marriage.  Although, before marrying my wife, I never dreamed I would get married.  I am happy to be living this married life and enjoying all of it’s benefits.

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Married life just may be the very best life

The title to today’s my popular post is “11 Reasons Why Married Life is the Best Life.”  [Tweet this]

The post features a picture of my beautiful bride on our wedding day.  Below is an excerpt of the post:

Today I have been married to my beautiful wife for 11 years.  It amazes me to think that 11 years ago on this day, we made a lifelong commitment to one another and to God.  What also amazes me is that we have know each other more than half our lives, we met over 19 years ago, and she still decided to marry me! 

The Best Life

Over there years we have experienced many things.  We have experienced highs and lows, we have experienced fun times, and not so fun times.  We have accomplished some goals, yet have still many more to accomplish.  Through it all, I would not trade married life for any other life.  I truly believe Married Life is the Best Life.  Below are 11 Reasons why I believe so.

Click here to read the full post, and join the conversation.

Question: What is married life like for you?  Please share in the comment section below.

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You spend more time with your spouse than anybody else.  So you should know him/her inside and out.  If you were on the newlywed game you would win, every time!

After playing and witnessing my share of at-home newlywed games, I know it is not that easy.  The newlywed game brings plenty of fun and laughter.  But it is a humbling reality check of how well you know your spouse.

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How can you get to REALLY know your spouse?

The title to this post is “10 Ways to Really Know Spouse…and Then Some!”

This post is another from my marriage series posts.  I partnered with another blogger, who wrote from the female perspective, while I wrote from the male perspective.  Below is an excerpt:

A stranger in my house?

My wife is not a complete stranger, but sometimes I realize how little I know about her (the more you learn the more you realize how much you didn’t know huh?).  I would love to be able to complete her sentences (although she may not like it…wait, she probably says I already do!).  I would love to be able to know really what she wants and expects of me, and not be dumbfounded.  Is that even possible husbands? 

What can I do?

This led me to think of ways to get to really know my wife.  What could I do, what can you do that will help us to really know our spouses?

Click here to read the full post, and join the conversation.

Question:  What have you learned about your spouse lately?  Please share in the comment section below.

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When I launched my blog in February 2012, I had very few visitors on my site.  Since then I have begun to write for a few other websites too.  I have published  269 blog posts, 225 on this site alone, since that first blog post.  I have been doing a lot of writing!

In case you missed it

I am encouraged to know my writing is encouraging you, and providing value.  I am sure you have not read every single post I have published.  Which means you may have missed some of my best posts.  So the next 5-10 days I will republish the posts which have received the most page views and/or comments.  Five will be chosen from my site, and five from the other sites I write for.

This will give those of you who are new to my blog, and my writing, a chance to see some of the posts which have provided a lot of value to other readers.  For those who may have previously read some of these top posts, it will give you a chance to see something you may have missed the first time, and just maybe it will be an encouragement to you all over again.

More ways you can G.E.T. it!

During this time I will be working on some projects I have not been able to work on as much as I’d like to.  First, and foremost, I will release my first Marriage eBook, “Marriage is for Lovers and Fighters, How to Love and Fight Your Way to a Better Marriage.”

A few other projects I will begin, and work on are:

• GET Active 30-Day challenge (during May).  I will determine if the challenge will run on my blog, or if it will just run exclusively on the GET Active 30-Day Challenge Facebook group.
• First Kindle book.  I’ll start writing my very first book to be available in the Kindle format.  Available later this year.
• Tips and resources email newsletter.  I’ll be creating a weekly newsletter filled with tips, and other valuable resources, to help you in marriage, parenting, and family.

All of these projects are my way to Give, Encourage, and Teach you the ideas I have about leading a family.  My hope is my blog will be the platform for Growing Family Leaders who G.E.T. it!

What to do when you G.E.T. it

While I hustle on these projects, please enjoy some of my best writing to date.  And I would really appreciate it if you will share these posts with your family and friends.  Facebook share them, Tweet them, Pin the images, and send them to your circles on Google+.

Your feedback is very important to me.  When you share my posts it tells me what I wrote was helpful to you, and you would like to see more content like it.  Thank you for encouraging me to write, and helping build an online community of people passionate about being better husbands, wives, parents, and family leaders!

Question:  If my blog has been been helpful in some way, encouraging, or you have learned something to help you, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Love can make you do things you never thought you would do.  It can drive you to accomplish things you never thought possible. It can also convince you to do some really dumb stuff.  Some say, “Love makes the world go round.”

Nike has created a fun video showing what one particular couple would do for love.  Since it is Nike, it involves physical activity.  It is funny, but shows a huge difference in someone who appears to get active on a regular basis, and someone who does not.  Which group do you fit in?

The health and fitness numbers don’t lie

Although we all know physical fitness is very important, very few do anything about it.  Below are some fitness and health statistics showing this (info taken from here):

• Only one in three children are physically active every day
  
• Less than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day
• More than 80% of adults do not meet the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities
• More than 80% of adolescents do not do enough aerobic physical activity to meet the guidelines for youth
• Children now spend more than seven and a half hours a day in front of a screen
• By 2030, half of all adults (115 million adults) in the United States will be obese
• Over 78 million U.S. adults and about 12.5 million (16.9%) children and adolescents are obese
• Obesity-related medical conditions account for 16 to 18 percent of our total healthcare costs
• The annual cost of being overweight is $524 for women and $432 for men; annual costs for being obese are even higher: $4,879 for women and $2,646 for men
• Those who are obese have medical costs that are $1,429 more than those of normal weight on average (roughly 42% higher)

National Fitness Month

The month of May is National Physical Fitness and Sport Month (National Fitness Month for short).  Last May I ran a fitness challenge on my blog, called the GET Active 30 Day Challenge.  Participants of the challenge were asked to complete at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day for the month of May.

Are you up for a fitness challenge?

As May is approaching I’m considering running the challenge again.  I’m about 80/20 right now.  I want to make sure it is something valuable to you, my readers.  I know physical fitness is valuable to everyone.  However, you come to my blog to read a certain kind of content.  If this type of content is not providing that value, then it is not something I want on my blog.

If the GET Active 30-day Challenge is offered this year, would you like to join us.  If so, which format would you prefer?

1. Individual – you complete a daily challenge of 30 minutes of physical activity
2. Relationship/Partner – you complete the daily challenge with your spouse, significant other, or just a workout buddy
3. Family – you complete the daily challenge with your family, kids and all.

Please share your preference in the comment section below.

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