Family by God&#039;s Design

A Place at the Table

My father passed away this week. He passed away like his father before him and his father’s father before him. One day I will also pass away, I suppose. It happens to all of us…if we live long enough (lol). That doesn’t make it any less heart wrenching when you lose a loved one. We...

Honor

family loss

July 12, 2025

This Is Your Brain on Parenthood

If you’re a parent, congratulations. You have the delight of bringing new life into the world with all the accompanying hopes and dreams, joys and struggles. It is an experience of flourishing in the fullness of life. Research coming out of Rutgers Health and Yale University suggests it is also a “brain-changing” experience. Although your...

brain development children parent parenting

July 1, 2025

We Need a Recess!!

If you’re old enough, you might remember having recess at school. It was a break from the classroom as well as a chance to run around, socialize, and engage in unstructured play. After WWII, 60-90 minute of recess became the norm for elementary school students. And research supported it, suggesting that children benefit academically, socially,...

Celebration Family Shepherds

family relationships fun rest restoration

June 21, 2025

To Teach or Nurture Kindness

I love children. They fascinate me with their innate intelligence, their rapid and changing development, their capacity for learning, their openness…. Truly, they amaze me. This study, exploring the helping behavior of a diverse group of 11- to 20-month-old babies (over half were Black and low-income), contributes to my amazement. To begin the study, researchers...

kindness nurture parenting

June 16, 2025

In Your Marriage, Don’t Say This…Say That

If you’ve married for any length of time, you have probably discovered that some statements hurt your marital relationships while others strengthen your marital relationship. Some are subtle, even somewhat surprising. Some are quite obvious. But learning the difference between statements that hurt your marriage and statements that damage your marriage will make the difference...

Honor

intimacy marital satisfaction marriage power of words

June 16, 2025

Just Something to Consider

A study involving close to 2,000 children offers an interesting finding. The researchers examined children’s exposure to violent television content at the ages of 3.5 and 4.5 years. Screen violence included physical aggression, verbal aggression, and relational aggression intended or attempting to cause harm to others. When the same children were 15-years-old, the researchers interviewed...

adolescence parenting screen time violence

May 26, 2025

The Pervasive Impact of Neglect

Everyone recognizes that abuse has many negative impacts on a child. But do you realize that abuse comes in different forms? There is physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Neglect occurs when a parent does not provide for a child’s basic necessities, their daily needs for such things as food, shelter, clothing, or...

child development discipline healthy development parenting safety

May 24, 2025

*To Calm A Quarrel

“A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.” (Proverbs 15:18, NIV) In our culture the demand to be heard is strong, even overpowering at times. Perhaps this demand to be heard has grown in response to a lack of listening that manifests itself in rejection, oppression, disregarding of...

Grace Honor

husband marriage parent child relationship patience wife

May 19, 2025

*A Fellow-Heir

Women have always had a special standing in the heart of God. Men may have, at times, attempted to make them second-class citizens, but God has always held women in high esteem. He created women with a special purpose, a purpose that has often been misconstrued. Specifically, He created women as a “suitable helper” (Genesis...