Seven Habits of Highly Effective Moms

It’s hard to be a wife and Mom these days.  Our culture is so full of confusing messages trying to define for us what a woman should be that trying to navigate through them all feels like living in a minefield! There are lots of people holding themselves up as models for us to follow. For instance, there are the Real Housewives whose drama lets us into their private financial issues, plastic surgeries and rocky relationships. Then there’s the woman CEO who writes a book telling us how to make it in a man’s world; and there’s the Media Maven Continue Reading

Who’s Holding Your Trampoline?

I have been a fan of Dr. Donald Joy for several years, and had the privilege of meeting him at a conference where my he and my husband were speaking. I had read his book on bonding and relationships, and the first chapter, “Who Is Holding Your Trampoline?” grabbed me and never let me go.  The concept helped me understand and visualize what healthy relationships look like and how important accountability and support are, especially if a person has been in a crisis situation. Let me explain my take on the trampoline concept: Dr. Joy, a Continue Reading

Breaking Down the Walls

In August 1961 construction East Germany began construction on the Berlin Wall  in order to completely cut itself off from West Germany.   East Germany was firmly entrenched in becoming a socialist/fascist state, and threatened by the freedom offered on the other side. The barrier they built included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, and it included anti-vehicle trenches and defenses meant to keep people from defecting from the communist side to the democratic side.  In the post-World War II period from 1961 to 1990, over 5,000 Continue Reading

“Looking Good is the Best Revenge” and Other Worldly Myths

Last month the famous editor of Cosmopolitan, Helen Gurley Brown, passed away.  She was a pioneer of sorts in the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s.  During that time, I was an impressionable young preteen with a fascination for fashion magazines, intent on studying my budding womanhood and looking for role models anywhere I could find them. Don’t get me wrong here – my mother was a wonderful role model for me, and the older I get the more I’m grateful for her and appreciate who she was and what she gave me. She not only was a Continue Reading

Compromise: The “Slow Fade” to Gray

Joe did a radio interview the other day and they introduced him with this song, Slow Fade,  from Casting Crowns.  We were both blow away by it because it so eloquently describes what we see daily--sexual compromise and the heartache it inflicts on families.  Take a minute to watch this. No commentary needed as this speaks for itself. -R Continue Reading