Category: Family

Family life is daily. There is no vacation from being in family, yet is a daily practice session for application of how we are to live with others. Enjoy every practice session as you grow together and learn about and grow in God’s incredible grace.

Family, For the Love of Family

Valentine’s Day is Next Week!

Valentine’s Day is possibly my favorite holiday. Not in the romantic way, but only in the childhood precious memories way: decorating shoe boxes, making and exchanging valentines or more (relatively) recently our family’s annual tea party with homemade sugar and chocolate cookies. For whatever reason, I have always loved Valentine’s Day. The holiday gives reason to celebrate love between friends and family. Wanting to make Valentine’s Day special for our boys and Gary, it was necessary to plan. Time, money and energy resources were sometimes limited. To instill a fond Valentine’s memory in our children, management of all resources was imperative. In […]

Family, For the Love of Family

A Resolution I didn’t make

It was crowded after our delayed three hour turbulent ride from Denver to Chicago. Passengers were inevitably going to miss connecting flights and emotion was running high,  yet most of us patiently waited our turn to exit the plane. A two minute dialogue between a young mom and two irate passengers created an unexpected personal resolution. I didn’t resolve at that very moment – it just happened.  A sad, painful ‘discussion’ caused me to unconsciously resolve to add a bit of kindness to life’s daily interactions. The mom, concerned for her young child, asked politely “would you please watch your […]

Family, For the Love of Family

Mary Did You Know?

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Mary Did You Know? (lyrics by Mark Lowry; music by Buddy Greene). By asking the question, Mary did you know?, the song prompts us to consider the possibility of Mary not knowing. Most likely she didn’t know what Jesus life would entail for him to be the Savior of the world. As a young girl and planning to be married soon, she was confused and disturbed (Luke 1:29). She tried to understand as she was told, “The baby will be holy, and he will be called the son of God.” I believe Mary […]

Family, Food, For the Love of Family

Making Breakfast Work for YOUR Family

In my  recent post 5  Intentional Practices for a Great School Year, the first practice listed was breakfast. We know that it is the ‘most important meal of the day’ but how  At Family and Home Works, our goal is to give easy-to-implement suggestions to make family and home work for YOUR family.  Below I have outlined a a few suggestions for the most common barriers. “I’m Not Hungry”.  Humans can’t go a long time without their body needing some kind of sustenance. Hunger may not reveal itself immediately upon waking, but it will come. Our goal is to avoid hunger while […]

Family, For the Love of Family

Just ask!

You don’t have, because you don’t ask. James 4:3 He frowned and muttered under his breath.  At 6:30 a.m. and a junior in high school, who wouldn’t be a bit unhappy? But being mom, I felt there was something more than the usual morning grumpiness of a teenage boy. “When are we going to do something about my wrist? I am tired of the pain.” My heart broke because I wasn’t sure if we could do anything. Our business was struggling. We had lost our health insurance. Collin had a pre-existing condition. He needed a bone-graft surgery on his wrist. The […]

Family, For the Love of Family, Raw Footage

Life Changing Tragedies, by Collin Tucker, 2010

The following is Collin’s complete essay written after corrective surgery with Shriners Hospitals for Children®. Visit Just Ask blog for more of the story. Tragedies are mostly viewed to have a horrendous affect on one’s life. They can sometimes cause serious health issues,which in turn cause financial difficulty for the family trying to pay for treatment, and many times families can be split over the stress of it all. Can any good come from such harsh tragedies such as lifelong disease and cancers? At first glance upon such a situation, no good can be seen. But in my recent experience, […]