What Makes a House a Home?

Merriam-Webster assigns this definition to the word ‘word’: “A speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning.” As a communicator and a lover of linguistics, that fascinates me. It is intriguing how a “speech sound” can be powerful enough to evoke in us emotion, move us to action, and prompt us to reminisce or even ponder future possibilities. It is equally intriguing how words are defined one way in a particular area, culture, or generation and can completely change in another. Some words even have essentially the same meaning, according to the dictionary, but a completely different essence in society.

New Year, New Me: See Myself the Way Christ Sees Me

The new year brings with it that tradition of making resolutions. These goals seem to regularly focus on changing what we don’t like about ourselves, often such lofty changes that are so far beyond our reach that we abandon them by the 5th week of the year. I love this time of year, and have learned through experience that it’s best to use resolutions as a way of making goals that I know I can achieve.

I haven’t quite made an official list of specific goals for the year, but the thought of how I can become better has been on my mind. I have come up with a theme for my year, and that is to not be so hard on myself and others.

How An Olympian Learned To Trust In The Lord

The LDS youth in College Station, Texas had a recent fireside where the speakers weren’t members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but were Christian athletes from Texas A&M University. This is part one of three in a series highlighting the events and stories told from that evening.

Stephanie Malherbe is an accounting major at Texas A&M University and a midfielder on the Aggie women’s soccer team. Never before did she imagine the title of “Olympic athlete” would follow her name.

“The Olympics were never in my plans,” Malherbe said. “I was very content playing soccer at A&M and enjoying my time. It wasn't something I had aspirations to do, and it wasn't something that I really thought about.”