For my daughter Audrey's first birthday, my wife and I planned to have a small celebration with a few friends and family members at home; instead we ended up with a cupcake-themed extravaganza at the restaurant her grandparents manage. Admittedly, it was probably more for everyone else’s benefit. Audrey spent…
A parent’s paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker. If I live for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children learn of cleanliness,…
It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach…
He lay covered in white hospital sheets, hooked up to a tangle of tubes and wires. As I approached, I barely recognized him—the pasty skin, the sunken cheeks—but when he opened his eyes and smiled at me, it was all I could do to keep from jumping into his arms…
There are going to be times in the day-to-day routine of parenting when you feel overwhelmed by situations and circumstances. You’ve had an especially trying day at work, your eight-year-old won’t do her homework, your teenager’s stereo is shaking the house, your toddler didn’t make it to the potty in…