We have 5 daughters. I think that if we manage to get them all raised still having our faculties in tact we may be in line for the Nobel Peace Price as the flow of hormones in our house with our 16,14 and 12 year old girls seems (at times) to be akin to WWII! (no disrespect meant to veterans)

This week was really hard with our 14 year old. She struggles with anger and depression as she was severely neglected in her early years in her family of origin (not us) and puberty has heightened h...

It's hard to be the mother of a young but growing teen,
Not a child, not an adult, but out swirling in between,
Where the limits aren't a license, just temptation of their fate,
and cliffs of consequences are ridiculously great.

It's hard to be a mom when all the friends are calling loud,
and it seems the greatest need she has is fitting in the crowd,
when you know she never will because you've been there and you've tried,
and you wish that you could save her tears for everyone you've c...

I have just been catapulted from the delight of delusion to the ruins of reality. The fog lifted like a two by four on the side of my incredibly thick skull and I find myself in the midst of a self forged disaster. No one to blame this time, it was totally my fault. Faced with the unenviable responsibility of informing my loved ones and colleges of my indiscretion, I pick up the phone and begin making the necessary calls. Of course, I expect the worse. “YOU WHAT???? ARE YOU SOME KIND OF I...

It has actually been 15 years or more since I cleaned an oven. We have always had the self cleaning type, a house keeper or perhaps scrubbing bubbles that came while I was sleeping. Which ever, I, the Woman of the House have somehow been spared……..until now.
We have lived here, I am embarrassed to say how many years and though the oven has been wiped out from time to time, I don’t think it has EVER been cleaned. It really has not bothered me until now. I’ve actually been successful in closi...

what a magical morning-

i woke to a summons from Tinisha,

"nicholas is crying"

i went in and there was a bright eyed baby with the question just bursting from him "will you feed me?"

i picked him up and took him to make his bottle, changed his diaper, snuggled him up in a blanket, as i snuggled into the rocker with him and fed him. Away in the Manger was playing on the radio in the dimly lit room and i marveled, once again, at the irony of God coming as a child such as the one i ...

Through a number of difficult situations over the last several years, I have had an epiphany: Love really IS the answer.

Twenty two years ago, I became a Christian. My life had been very difficult and I found myself with no where to look but UP—that was a turning point in my life. Then, I was indoctrinated, and never having had a “normal” experience of relationships in life, I soaked it up like a sponge, like my young children do life.
Then came trying to put everything in to practice and...

I am at the ripe young age of 44 and the most unbelievable thing has happened: My oldest daughter has had a son. Now you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what this means for me—that’s right, GRANNNNNNDMA! Holy Cow! Not only am I going through a private mid-life-holy-heck but it seems like everyone I know is getting a real charge out of my new station in life.
How is this occurring? Well, let me tell you. Just about every one I see since the baby’s been born gets that snee...

I was asked to talk about worship at our Youth Goup next week. It made me think about when I was that age (13-18) and what my thoughts were about God, religion and worship. Frankly, though I think I might have said I believed there was a God, I didn't really have a clue. Thoughts about God and "worhsip" were far from my mind, I was too busy thinking about partying.

I suppose I was asked to do this because I am a Worship Leader and I am mentoring a young group of God conscious people but th...

Like many little girls, I loved horses. I read horse books, watched horse movies and dreamed wild horse dreams. My favorites were the Black Stallion and Black Beauty, tales of kindness and courage, of heartbreak, defeat and triumph.
I’ll never forget when my neighbor, Renee Croog, got big Red. Red was a big gentle quarter horse gelding that turned the head of every girl in the neighborhood. I begged my mom to let me take riding lessons from Renee. My mom, being of a different innate fabric...

Kerry clearly won the first debate. One down, two to go. If he wins all three, he is certainly the better choice for president. Being president has at it’s core a need to communicate well and think on your feet-–or does it?

As a psychologist, I am pained to realize how much this debate exercise plays into the decisions of voters, when it bears little resemblance to what a president really does in office. In my opinion, a president needs to do very little thinking on his feet. He should ...

I think it is time to formally admit that I am no longer a Joeuser. This is a sad occasion. I enjoyed immensely the time I spent at JU, but I havn't visited for several weeks now, and when I thought about checking in tonight, realized that I’d rather be doing other things. When the realization hit me that it could be a good long time before I visited, and certainly before I contributed, it seemed only right to say adios, and it has been a fine 2 weeks of summer camp (so to speak).

As slow ...

I read this a few weeks ago, but still chuckle at times when I think of it, so I thought I'd share it.

Tractorman


Subject: In Remembrance...

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the
moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very
important person which almost went unnoticed last week.

Larry La Prise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey," died
peacefully at age 93.

The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the
coffin.

They put ...

About a year ago my wife was reading a Novel based on the Life of Hosea out of the Bible book by the same name, I think the name of the book is “redeeming love”. It is one of those novels that puts a historical story into a more contemporary context. It was thought provoking and engaging for her, and she wanted me to read it after she had, but there was a problem. The problem was that the cover had a picture of a very beautiful feminine lady with a long flowing pinkish dress, running across a...

I have been distressed during some blog comment interchanges the last couple of weeks. I finally decided to let it go, as people are entitled to their own view of things, but today the truth of my view hit me smack in the face again, and I feel I need to take one last stab at making my case.

Nineteen years ago I married a beautiful girl with a year and a half old child. We were very different, and she had never had a relationship with a guy she could trust, including her dad. That was tran...

A friend of mine died today unexpectedly–a single car roll-over crash. How do you prepare for something like this? Here and healthy and active, then gone, and leaving a gapping hole.

How could his wife or 6 children have prepared for this? Life insurance companies would suggest that their product prepares you. I don’t think so.

Death is so strange. To me it seems like an aberration, like something that should not happen. The truth is that it happens to every living thing that grows o...