Have you seen Disney’s new movie, “Encanto''? I’ve seen it about five times so far. I love it! It has a message that we don’t talk about openly - toxic families and the black sheep in each family. 

Really, this movie has many people talking and I’ve seen many reels and videos regarding Bruno. 

Yes, Bruno. 

You see, we all have Bruno in our families. If you think about it, Bruno is anyone who has spoken up or called someone out for something they shouldn’t be doing. 

Bruno is anyone who calls out an issue or gives a warning about something they foresee coming. Bruno is the person who tells their boss to do something about a toxic work environment. He is the family member who tells everyone they should do something about the uncle or cousin who keeps putting themselves in situations that hurt the entire family. 

When Bruno speaks up it’s because he sees everything going on with a clear vision. He doesn’t allow...

One of the most stressful parts of gift-giving holidays for me has always been shopping. I’m unsure if the reason behind my stress is because I think very practically about spending money or because I don’t like shopping. The act of shopping has always given me anxiety. 

Too many things and too many choices seem like a heavy burden for me. It truly kills the joy out of trying to gift someone something special. As I said, it might just be me, but I feel like the push for me to spend money is so prevalent and strong that I’m turned off to gifting. 

Can you relate? I’m sure I can’t be the only one to feel this way.

One of my main goals is for my children to not grow up to expect gifts for holidays or special days or to think that those events are all about gifts. 

It’s important for me that my children understand that the material things aren’t the main focus of any celebration and when I’ve tried to do a non-gift event,...

As the year comes to a close, a lot of people start creating their list of new year goals (download our free worksheet- Reflecting + Goals 2017). But instead of making ONLY your new year goals, consider making a list of all the things you appreciated this year no matter how many bad things happened to you in 2016.

Focusing on this will help you realize how many blessings you’ve had and that in the midst of not such good times, very good things DO happen. We must start appreciating what we’ve got before we start expecting more blessings.

This year, I got to travel back to Nicaragua, the country I was born in. It was a very expensive trip for my family because it was several of us. However, my husband insisted on going because I’d always say we’d go and the total trip expenses always seemed so high.

I’d always say we’d go next year and I have many excuses. Excuses like….next year because our savings would be larger and I’d feel...