Celebrating the Holidays with Adult Kids and Less Stress

I hate to sound cliché but the holidays are upon us. Yes, we are only in the first few days of October, but you know I’m right. Christmas decorations have taken over Hobby Lobby; even Target has started a small section for Christmas lights. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here […]

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What Comes Next: When Your Kids Make Decisions You Don’t Agree With

I wrote Love No Matter What: When Your Kids Make Decisions You Don’t Agree With after our oldest daughter launched. Katie was in her early twenties and both of us had been in process to grow our relationship and make better choices. Lots of life has happened since the book […]

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Why I Do What I Do

Running. I do it but I am not good at it. I struggle. This morning a woman younger than me ran past me as we ran in our little neighborhood. She ran as effortlessly, as if she were walking fast. Even though I struggled to run up the hill she […]

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We’re Not Perfect, but We Love Each Other

“When I See Your Family I See the Perfect Family.” Recently someone said this to me. I didn’t know whether to first laugh or apologize for giving such an impression. I do not intend to give the impression that we are the perfect family. In fact, in two of my […]

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How I am Building a Lifelong Relationship with My Kids

“Without relationship you have nothing.”* This quote is from my book, Love No Matter What: When Your Kids Make Decisions You Don’t Agree With. The older I grow the more I realize its truth. Without relationship we have nothing. Relationships are the core of life. The first and most important […]

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Just In Time for the Holidays–Another Way to be a Soft Place to Land

Last week I talked about being a soft place for my kids to land by being an encourager instead of a fixer. Over the weekend another aspect of being a soft place to land came to my mind. With the holidays fast approaching, our college and adult kids will be […]

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Am I a Soft Place to Land?

The other day I found myself saying to one of our girls, “I want to be a soft place for you kids to land.” My words have haunted me since. What did I mean by “a soft place to land”? Was I a soft place to land? I wanted to […]

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When Less Really Is More

Recently I saw famous restauranteur, Danny Meyer, on CBS’s 60 Minutes. I was intrigued by his attention to hospitality in his restaurants. He said, “If the food tastes great, that alone does not assure that you will come back here. So what hospitality does is adds the way we made […]

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If You’re About to Send a Kid to College. . .

I chatted with a mom today who will be taking her youngest to college in about a week. The daughter is a junior so this mom knows all too well how quiet the house will be in a couple of weeks. She already anticipates her empty bedroom and one less […]

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Amazing Grace for Me Today

We bought this train set for The Grand last Christmas. It has about a million pieces so throughout the year we have brought out a few pieces as he is ready for more. This afternoon I thought, Why not empty the box?! While Gene was in the shower I brought […]

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