Disclosure:  I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for MedImmune. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. When I was pregnant with my twin sons I remember being bombarded with so much information.  It was my first successful pregnancy and with each passing week, I was one day closer to my goal of a full term birth.  My family knows all too well the complications of premature births and with so much stacked against me I prayed my pregnancy would beat the odds.  I was fortunate and birthed healthy twin boys full term.  I know each day several babies enter the world prematurely.  Preemies face a lot of challenges including increased risk for breathing and respiratory related conditions like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).  RSV is a cold-like virus which affects most children by the age of 2 but preemies are twice as likely to develop the...

Disclosure: I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf of Influence-Central for Virgin Mobile. I received a sample device to facilitate my review and a thank you item for participating. We are a cell phone only household. We ditched the house phone about four years ago and haven't looked back.  Now that our kids are older, each of them has a cell phone and  as a mom who never thought my kids needed a cell phone,  middle school and high school are teaching me  some valuable lessons about kids and cell phones. Three boys, a little old lady, a husband, moi and all these phones.   #VirginMobileMom #MC According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center 1 ,  78% of th e teens surveyed have a cell phone and almost 1/2 of those kids have a smart phone.  Now before you g ift your child with the latest and greatest cell phone there are few things to consider .  Take for insta nce, do they really need a pho...

Express your concerns, frustrations, and heartaches to God with 365 Pocket Prayers for Mothers "Daily life brings worries—challenges with your children, tasks undone, health problems, financial difficulties, and other things that keep you from enjoying your children and your life. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what to pray for or even how to talk with God about these life issues. 

Last week the most amazing thing happened.  I met someone with my name.  I know it may not sound like anything all that special to you BUT when your name is Tomika, spelled T-o-m-i-k-a, it's pretty special.  Yep, that's my name.  Tomika.   Feeling a little Rumplestiltskin-ish huh?  Been wondering what "Tomi" was short for all these years.   With a name like "Tomika" you won't find many personalized items but times have changed.  Thank goodness for the internet now I can practically have anything personalized with MY name on it including *drum roll* including recipe labels. Now that the weather is cooler and the holiday baking season is near, I am looking forward to sharing homemade goodies with my beloved family and friends.  I like to prepare foods for some of the elderly members of my church from time to time and this year I am sharing some fab soups. There's nothing like bowl of hot soup to warm you up on a chilly Fall day a...

A few years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the ministry of Joyce Meyer.  In addition to standing room only venues throughout the world, Meyer's ministry includes an arsenal of TV shows, radio broadcasts, internet presence, daily devotionals, CDs, books and more.  In fact Joyce's show Enjoying Everyday Life  airs every single day and in some areas the show airs 2-3 times a day.   Meyer is a powerhouse of practical wisdom and scriptural reference.  I guess that combination of practicality and scripture references is one of the reasons I enjoy her ministry and reading her books.  Check out my review of her latest book Living Courageously . Her latest book, Living Courageously , was a welcome read.  I often say "Fear is not of God", yet there are times when my fear of taking a chance overwhelms me and complicates my decision-making.  It's a feeling echoed by some of my friends who stay in a comfortable position of compl...

Remember the first time your little one gave you a flower?  When Los Tres Amigos were little they would burst out the church doors on Sunday mornings, snatch up dandelions from the ground and run up to me saying "Mommy, I got this flower for you."  Oh, I miss those days. Nowadays I only get flowers for special occasions like my birthday or anniversary and  honestly I almost forgot how much joy there was in receiving flowers just because.  

The eagerly anticipated CHRISTOPHER’S DIARY: SECRETS OF FOXWORTH (Pocket Books; October 28, 2014; $7.99) by V.C. Andrews® will be the perfect respite for those counting the days until Lifetime’s 2015 movie releases. An ideal addition to “Dollanganger family reading”, CHRISTOPHER’S DIARY broadens the perspective of story in Flowers in the Attic…and reveals the answer to one of the major mysteries surrounding that seminal work.