I have had the worst year ever. I don’t mean compared to other peoples’ years. I’m not so ignorant as to think that I have a particularly hard life when compared to so many others. However. In my world, 2016 has been one heck-of-a roller coaster. But not like a smooth,…
It’s mid-December. The temperatures have dropped, only half of the presents are bought, and none of them are wrapped. The stockings are not hung by the chimney with care, but instead are spilling out of the box sitting in the middle of the living room, half-unpacked. And the tree…well, it’s happily sitting in the…
*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on PsychCentral. New research finds that the way your teen perceives your parenting tactics, makes a big difference in whether they will comply or rebel with your admonitions. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), found that when teens viewed their parents’ parenting tactics…
Because we live in the most affluent nation on earth, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that accumulation of stuff is the pathway to fulfillment and redemption. Sadly, what most people never discover is that what we thought would bring satisfaction doesn’t. Instead we’re left only wanting more. I think about this…
Right before Thanksgiving, I sat down with my granddaughters, ages six and three, with a Christmas toy catalog. As we turned the pages the oldest circled and put our initials by the toys we each said we’d like for Christmas. The girls picked out dolls and princess dresses, while Papa chose trains and race…
*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on USA Today. American teenagers are the best behaved they’ve ever been — drinking and smoking less and doing fewer drugs than their predecessors in more than 40 years of tracking. Even use of marijuana is down among 8th- and 10th-graders, though it’s flat among high school seniors,…
Christmas is about 7 minutes long when you have kids. One minute it’s Thanksgiving and the next you’re putting away your ornaments. Nothing moves as fast as the holidays and it’s no wonder that so many people find this time of year stressful. How do you make sure you make the most of your Christmas?…
Splink 1: Bombarded Give each family member a piece of paper and have them write a thought/lie on it that they’ve heard or something that comes into their minds about sin. (It’s okay to sin; Sin is not that bad. Stealing a pack of gum is a little thing. Telling a little white lie…
Note: We’re doing a 4-week Advent (challenge) to center on Jesus. Learn more and join us here. Saying that we want to focus on Jesus during Christmas and actually doing it are two separate things. The doing is the hard part—there are a lot of things filling up our minds, and many of…
Trending Today on Twitter – 12/9/16 1. #Monumental 2. #RIPJohannah 3. #MajorApplewhite 4. #fridayreads 5. #ChristmasAPopSong 6. The Fate of the Furious 7. Kirk Douglas 8. War for the Planet of the Apes 9. Lincoln Memorial 10. #GiftIdeasForCelebs Source: Twitter Trending Today on Google – 12/9/16 1. Kirk Douglas 2. Maisie Williams 3. Louis Tomlinson…