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…
December 24th, 1972 – My sister and I are huddled in the back seat of my Dad’s Buick rumbling down interstate 64 from my grandmother’s house in Dunbar, to our home in Hurricane, West Virginia. It was late. What started as an amazing dinner, spun itself into caroling, and storytelling, and presents, and laughter. We…
*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on CNET. Pens and notebooks, you may be on the way out as the main tools of classroom learning. At least according to one study, technology is catching on in a big way. New survey data from online-learning site Quizlet shows that teachers and students…
Why did I care so much about my kids and their driving habits when they first got their licenses? Well. . . simple answer is that I remember many of the risks I took when I was first out on the road by myself (sorry Mom and Dad!). Inexperience, adolescent impulsivity, smartphones, and that “nothing……