Frankly, I was completely in shock. Not that we didn’t expect it – we’ve been expecting it for some time. And, it wasn’t that we weren’t happy about it, either, because we were and still are. No, I was in shock because this would make me the…you know…the… mother-in-law. I’ve heard about those creatures, the […]
It’s December already, and that means the dreaded J-word is just around the corner: January. For those who are new to homeschooling, January is the Month of Homeschooling Doom. A month or two of holiday craziness, followed by cold, dark, bleak weather, and a curriculum that had all the new and shiny worn off by […]
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,” drawls Stella in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” And it’s particularly true if you have a large family. Strangers as well as friends often provide our large family with their extras – a wonderful, win-win redistribution which helps level our budget shortfalls. But true giving […]
This week, M expressed a very clear desire to commit suicide, including the method of ending life. Racked with pain, deteriorating health, loneliness and a lack of familial, spiritual and friendly support, M has had enough of living. Statistics in Canada estimate that the number of depressed, suicidal elderly people is 14%. (Canadian Mental Health […]
This week Tripp Curtis, the recently bereaved husband of “Mommy Life” blogger and author Barbara Curtis, posted a short article about his wife that read in part: Barbara told how “seeing my children experience a happy childhood was the next best thing to having one myself.” She wished to “receive that kind of love.… Is […]
Before my feet touched the floor on January 1st, 2012, I offered a simple prayer: Please Lord, before the year is over, find me where you want me to be. Up to that point, I had been suffering from a decades-long chronic condition and although I imagined health in my future, that morning I offered every […]
The weather was still chilly on the May morning when I found myself pacing in a northern-Wisconsin parking lot, trying to find a sweet spot in the gray sky overhead where my cell phone would work. My mother and I were traveling together, taking a break from visiting my grandmother in her Green Bay nursing […]
Gay “marriage” hijacks the definition of mother and father and turns these words into the gender neutral “parent” in family law. You may recall that in 2011 the Department of State tried to change children’s passport applications from “mother” and “father” to “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” in a bow to LGBT pressure. Thankfully, conservative outcry was able […]
Parents are Not to Know (But They are Expected to Pay) The day before Thanksgiving, I got a call from a harried reporter. “The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a statement on “Emergency Contraception,” he said. “I’d like to get your take on it.” The 10-page document turns out to be a full-throated endorsement […]
Yes, the secularism, the retail racquet, the commercialism has taken over our American culture and it is never more apparent than in this final month before Christmas. “Good grief!” you may despair. But do not fear. The true meaning of Christmas is still strong with people of Good Will. The best way to effect change […]
He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in […]
From the time they were very young, my kids have been drawn to soft fabrics. Christopher wears his footie pajamas on the hottest summer nights. Sarah’s retinue of stuffed animals requires so much space I often find her hanging off the bed at night. (Getting her to sleep under the covers is a chore because, […]
Lack of communication is one of the leading causes of marital breakdown. For the NFP-using couple, communication is essential. Procrastination isn’t an option. The NFP couple discusses whether or not they will be avoiding or planning pregnancy. In order to be successful at this, it’s necessary to discuss the woman’s signs of fertility and infertility. […]
He’s a business owner, a basketball player, a biography reader, and a nap lover. He grew up playing on his grandparents’ farm and climbing fences in the backyards of Bexley, Ohio. As a young man, he worked his way through Harvard, eating 11-cent boxes of macaroni and cheese and mooching off tea sandwiches at business […]
When you were a teen, did your dad ever talk to you about what it is to be a man? Probably not. And if he did, did you listen? Probably not. When I was growing up I found that my dad was hardly ever there for me. He was a ‘good father’ by being at […]
Determined to have a real Thanksgiving this year (the thought of cooking a full turkey dinner for three people depressed me), I invited a couple of families to join us. Eagerly I began planning the menu and polishing the silver, and began looking around the home with a critical eye, making mental note of all […]
No family really lives a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving. Life is easier once you accept that. Then the unbearable happens. We lose someone in our family’s holiday portrait. The first year is the hardest. The bigger the presence, the bigger the gap. Sometimes at that first holiday we feel as though we will never laugh again. Joy […]
Dr. Mark Hickman would try to talk any man out of having a vasectomy any day. He would begin by telling them all the horror stories that he has heard from the many men who have undergone the invasive procedure that unnaturally blocks tubes that are designed to carry sperm out of a man’s body. […]
“As for me and my household, we shall serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 “What does it mean to be a holy family?” I asked my second grade First Communion class. Most of the eager young hands in the room went up. “Be nice.” “Obey your parents.” “Do the 10 Commandments.” “Pray.” “Good answers,” I encouraged […]
Tune in for the latest episode of As the Military World Turns… In a scandalous story with more twists and turns than the road to Hana, we see a married CIA director who resigned after an affair with his Harvard-educated biographer, discovered because of her harassing emails targeting a doctor’s wife who was the CIA […]
There is something about teaching one’s children about the facts of life that inspires fear in the hearts of parents everywhere. When that day came for my boys and me, I nervously searched my local library for an appropriate book (many I found were clearly not appropriate from a moral standpoint), sat down on the […]
Shopping for dresses for my seven-year-old daughter is as epically frustrating as trying to find cell phone service in an elevator. Everything is too short, too skimpy, too adult, too sexy, too much! The fashion industry apparently thinks seven-year-olds should start dressing like Victoria’s Secret catalogue model-wannabes. Like me at 20 years old! Yes, (*strike […]
I need to get this off my chest: my husband is not my best friend. He’s never been my best friend and never will be. I experience some envy of the young brides and long-married wives who contentedly call their spouse “my best friend.” Facebook has a site called “My Husband Is My Best Friend” […]
Dear Anthony, I have gotten very serious recently with a man I met on Ave Maria Singles. My only reservation so far is that I have never heard him say he is sorry for anything. I seem to be the only one who has to be sorry for things. If I try to tell him […]
