We all know that building strong relationships takes ongoing work. We start by prioritizing our relationship(s) and finding time for those who are important to us.  If we neglect to do that life moves along and we can lose touch.   A close relationship is like a dance.  When one person moves, the other one responds.  The dance can go... >Read More

Tags: better parenting, challenges & conflicts, communication, emotions, family issues, family values, feelings, friendship, healthy marriage, improving your marriage, intimacy, marriage, priorities, protecting your marriage, relationships, resolving conflict, Romance & Sex, sex and love, sexual intimacy

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Grieving is a unique experience. It’s a process that is as individual as the people it affects. Oh yes, there are predictable stages … but the experience of loosing someone  dear to you is truly a very personal journey. Recently I said goodbye to my dear Dad. It’s hard to believe it was only a couple of months ago. I’ve processed... >Read More

Tags: challenges & conflicts, Culture, death, faith, Family, family issues, Father, gail rodgers, grief, hardship & suffering, healthy marriage, LIFE, loss, parent, priorities, spirituality

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Messages in bottles have been the stuff of folklore for centuries. Dying, desperate sailors have hurled them. Curious children have launched them. Nicholas Sparks wrote a novel based on them, but don’t read it—or watch the movie—unless you already have a prescription for antidepressants. The story I find most interesting about such bottles,...... >Read More

Tags: commitment, communication, family issues, family values, healthy marriage, improving your marriage, intimacy

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Messages in bottles have been the stuff of folklore for centuries. Dying, desperate sailors have hurled them. Curious children have launched them. Nicholas Sparks wrote a novel based on them, but don’t read it—or watch the movie—unless you already have a prescription for antidepressants. The story I find most interesting about such bottles,...... >Read More

Tags: commitment, communication, family issues, family values, healthy marriage, improving your marriage, intimacy

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Crushes…they seem so innocent… “aw, a little crush”. Crushes are innocent, but only if you’re not committed to anyone else. If you are, and especially if you’re married, that “little crush” is dangerous. Not the “Ooo, I like dangerous” variety, but “warning bells, amber flashing lights and florescent pylons around an abyss...... >Read More

Tags: affair-proof, Andrea Shair, attractive, crush, family issues, family values, healthy marriage, like, marriage, Men, priorities, protecting your marriage, relationships. spouse, sex and love, Women

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There was a video on CNN yesterday that stopped me in my tracks. It wasn’t footage from Thailand, or election coverage.  It is a video of a little 5 year old girl  sitting in front of an image of 5 cartoon children. The children are all wearing the same dress and the same expression, only the color of their skin... >Read More

Tags: beauty, better parenting, character development, Family, family issues, family values, in the news, parenting, parenting essentials, racism, Self, social issues, World

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Growing up my Dad always made a point of telling us that none of us are adopted. When it comes to me and my Mom, he really could have saved his breath.  I look just like her.  We are very similar in other ways too. I know that I get my love of words and my passion for word-play from... >Read More

Tags: aging parents, better parenting, Claire Colvin, communication, conversations, Family, family issues, forgiveness, leaving a legacy, lessons from Mom, Mother's Day, Self

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