I spent a good half hour late last night texting a friend. I sound like a teenager, don’t I? We were going back and forth, sharing our “teen” stories and encouraging each other. What I especially love about this friend is that she is one who can truly relate. We both have sons who are seniors. We both have daughters that are just one year apart and our youngest sons are both in 7th grade. In fact, all of our kids are very good friends, having grown up in the church together. One of the topics of our texting was … Continue reading →

My family and friends have been entering a new season. We now have teens that are of driving age, which opens up more opportunities for them to experience freedom. It is kind of a scary time. My 16-year-old son still has two more behind-the-wheel lessons and then he is scheduled to take his driving test at the end of January. He already has a car waiting for him, only because we got a great deal from a good friend. While at first I was looking at it as something that will be a convenience, lately I have been struggling to … Continue reading →

It is one of my most favorite times of the year, New Year’s Eve. My family has always had a tradition of spending it together. We splurge on food items like lobster, shrimp or steak. I stock up on plenty of Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice. And I always buy a new game for us to play. Most years we also watch a “Three Stooges” marathon. Some years we toast the New Year in while sitting in our hot tub. Other years my eyes are barely open as the clock strikes midnight. But the point is that we are always together. … Continue reading →

My 17-year-old son spent a week in Haiti, on a construction project. I knew going into this that he would come back changed…I just wasn’t sure how. Thanks to technology, I was able to keep in contact with him almost every day. The house he stayed in had WiFi so he was able to text me from a program he downloaded on his iPod. The biggest struggle he had was working in the sweltering heat. He was doing real labor, bricklaying and using a sledge hammer to take down walls. The temperatures were in the 100’s. He battled headaches each … Continue reading →

Well I just returned from a three day weekend trip to North Carolina. I attended a Christian writer’s conference and for the first time in my life, flew to another state without my husband and children. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as far as my children being without me for three days. Since they are pretty self-sufficient and independent, I didn’t anticipate it being a big deal. The few days leading up to my trip, my oldest two did express that they would miss me. It was my youngest son, my 12-year-old that seemed more than happy that I … Continue reading →