Lifestyle

24 Days of December with the Gospel of Luke

December 1, 2023 By Joceline Raad

Hello December! It’s the most wonderful time of the year and why not make it a transformative one by remembering the reason for the Christmas season. Gather with your loved ones and friends to study the life or Jesus through the gospel of Luke. How? By reading 1 chapter a day (of the book of Luke) starting today! You will be done on Christmas Eve. What a beautiful holiday tradition to incorporate in your household. Save the image below to follow along as we kick off today with Luke 1 today – the story of John the Baptist’s birth and Mary’s divine conception.

4 Free Apps to Start Your Morning Right

January 9, 2023 By Joceline Raad

*Start your morning right with these free apps*

The best time to rise is before (or with) the sun (studies show). You may think you are not a morning person but that is NOT true. Take it from someone who slept in throughout my 20s. Boy do I wish I would have developed the habit of “rising before the sun” early on in life.

I stopped saying, “I’m not a morning person” and started believing that I am and can wake up early.

I stopped saying, “I’m not a morning person” and started believing that I am and CAN wake up early – I mean if other people can, then so can I! However, it becomes difficult to wake up early if you go to bed late, so strive to have an early bedtime. Now, my body naturally rises early. As a busy wife and mama of little ones, routine is key for peace and sanity. I’ve come across useful apps that help in learning, growing, and developing good habits in different areas.

Here are 4 free apps to start your morning right:

1. Simple

Simple is an app for healthy living. If you are interested in starting intermittent fasting (IF), it is the best in-class IF app for weight loss and healthy living. You can also use it to track your daily water in-take as well as activity. It helps in becoming more health conscious along with providing insightful articles regarding nutrition and overall health. I use Simple from the moment I chug my first glass of water.

2. YouVersion Bible

This Bible app offers the bible in so many versions and languages, not to mention some versions include the audio option. I use the audio version often, especially to kick off my mornings. There are free bible reading plans as an added bonus plus so much more.

3. MapMyRun

MayMyRun is a fitness app by Under Armour for physical activity such as running. I’ve been using it for over a year for my morning jogs and I love that it tracks my miles, calories burned, pace and more. It also uses Apple Maps to “Map My Run”, however, my settings are set to private for security purposes. Watching my average pace improve and the calorie tracker, definitely motivate me to keep running!

4. Podcasts (any Podcast Player)

I love listening to music throughout the day, however, when jogging, I listen to a podcast. It feels like killing two birds with one stone – while I’m physically exercising my body, I’m mentally exercising my mind when I listen to an edifying podcast . My all-time favorite podcast station is the Derek Prince Legacy Radio podcast that now offers 15 min. episodes as opposed to 30 min. episodes as they initially did. I learn something new everyday!

These apps are a surefire way to kick off your morning with a high and help you better manage your day.

The Best is Now

March 7, 2022 By Joceline Raad

“The best is yet to come!” is a popular phrase commonly used by most people – myself included! However, a few years ago, I had an epiphany that revolutionized my outlook toward the present season in my life. There is no wrong or right with this phrase, but personally I realized that I was actually living “the best” NOW.

“The best is yet to come!” ultimately deprives us from fully embracing our present moment

Saying “the best is yet to come!” takes us to believe that today can be better, hence takes us to want more, and in a way, ultimately, deprives us from fully embracing our present moment. Ecclesiastes 6:9 speaks about enjoying what we have now – it does not mean we should not have dreams and aspirations – instead, it means God is in control so embrace today. I started believing and claiming that “the best is NOW”, lo and behold, my days and weeks changed drastically to the positive. Eccl. 3 shows the different seasons in life; I was determined to either enjoy and/or embrace different seasons because every season is temporary.

Whether you are currently single, dating, married, with little child(ren), with teenager(s), with adult child(ren), ENJOY THE NOW. Find beauty in the season of waiting for your future spouse and allow yourself to fall in love with God. Embrace the dating season with your boyfriend where everything is sensationally new and there is never a need to rush. Enjoy the married season without babies by taking advantage of each other’s company to the fullest. Be grateful for the season of having little ones where you learn to be selfless and uncover inner strengths. Open up your eyes and realize that the best is NOW. When you do this, your days will be seen through a different lens – a lens of gratitude and appreciation for everything and everyone you have now.

Summer Cleaning with the Rug Doctor Pro Pressure Washer

August 20, 2020 By Joceline Raad

Summertime is one of my favorites! Something about this season re-energizes us and makes us want to start anew, get organized, and clean, clean, clean. Perhaps we can blame vitamin C from these hot summer days! Now that we have more time staying at home as a family, we have been cleaning and organizing our home from inside and out. We started cleaning outside with the rentable Rug Doctor Pro Pressure Washer which can be used to pressure wash much-needed outdoor surfaces. It was our first time using it and we were pleased with the results.

We wanted to clean our driveway and sidewalk that had a few stains. It took us about 5 minutes to read the instructions and another 5 minutes to setup the machine with the water hose and voila! It was quite simple to connect and plug and the power cord was conveniently long enough to reach our sidewalk. It can be used with the outdoor ground washer or without it according to your preference.

Once it is all set up, it’s ready to use. I loved that it was user-friendly – both my husband and I took turns testing it out and cleaning the sidewalk. Depending on the stains and size of the surface, it only took us about 20 minutes to clean and see a noticeable change.

We were not only happy with the results but found the convenience of renting it and the ease of using it, a huge plus! Which is why we are so excited to announce that we have partnered with the Rug Doctor in the #ShowUsYourMess contest.

Check out the details:

1 lucky winner will receive a $250 Visa® gift card for (1) prize winner to complete their home project; (2) live (10) minute video chat via Instagram between winner and Sponsor’s selected influencer to share cleaning tips; and a Rug Doctor® Pro pressure washer and related equipment and products, including (1) Rug Doctor Pro Outdoor Cleaner concentrate (1gal), (1) Rug Doctor Pro Outdoor Cleaner Ready to Use Spray (24 oz.) and (1) Rug Doctor Pro Glass Cleaner Concentrate (1gal) for winner and up to (3) friends selected by winner. ARV: up to a total maximum amount of $1,102. Prize to be shipped to winner’s home.

How to Enter:

Make sure your Instagram privacy settings are set to Public
Follow Rug Doctor on Instagram
Post one (1) original photograph or :15 sec video that shows us your outside mess that sorely needs the help of a Rug Doctor® Pro pressure washer and provide a short comment
Make sure you use #ShowUsYourMess #contest and @RugDoctor with your submission

Good luck!

Click HERE for more details regarding this contest. Contest ends on Sunday. Winner will be announced via Rug Doctor’s page.

Disclosure: This is a paid partnership post with The Rug Doctor. Although this is a partnership, all opinions in this blog remain my own and I was in no way influenced by the company.

Publix Stocking Spree 365 is back! What You Need to Know to Save BIG

August 6, 2020 By Joceline Raad

As many of you know, Publix is one of my favorite grocery supermarkets because shopping truly is such a pleasure. I love the ease, cleanliness, friendliness, and deals at Publix. Earlier this year, I discovered Publix Stocking Spree 365. What is Publix Stocking Spree 365? It is a program where you save by purchasing from brands (Kraft®, Nabisco ®, PepsiCo®, and P&G®) that offer exclusive savings 365 days of the year only at Publix®. Once you shop, save your receipt, log onto StockingSpree.com and log your receipt(s). You receive a $10 Publix gift card every time* you purchase $50 of participating Stocking Spree products (*up to 12 gift cards per household, per year).

Save even more with these brand deals on 8/6/20 – 8/12/20

Now that it’s back to school season, whether your kids will return to school or be homeschooled, it’s the perfect time to buy more and save more. Personally, we took advantage of these Publix deals when we hosted a small BBQ with my sister and her kids. Between both families, we have a total of 6 kids which means a lot of mouths that are constantly snacking. We bought Frito-Lays Variety Pack , CapriSun Roarin’ Waters drinks, Family Size RITZ Cracker , and Oreo Cookies. The kids had a great day playing and snacking with their cousins.

Click HERE for a full list of participating products

In order to log your receipts, you must create an account HERE. It literally takes a minute and once you create your account, you can log your receipts and start earning with qualifying purchases all year long.

You receive a $10 Publix gift card every time* you purchase $50 of participating Stocking Spree products (Up to 12 gift cards per household, per year) – Dates: 8/6 – 8/12 (Some markets 8/5 – 8/11) – Visit Stockingspree.com for more information and to upload receipts

Stocking Spree is active at all Publix Locations in:

Alabama
Florida
Georgia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee

Head to StockingSpree.com to sign up or login and start uploading receipts!

Disclosure: This is a paid partnership post with PepsiCo. Although this is a partnership, all opinions in this blog remain my own and I was in no way influenced by the institution.