Family Life
At our sons' coming-of-age ceremonies, we aim to gather the wisdom of significant men in the young man's life and offer encouragement, welcome, and exhortation in a public, family-oriented setting. But it's not all teaching and ritual. Another thing we do is invite our guests to rejoice in this time of growth. Our family's birthday celebrations…
We have a tradition of a formal coming-of-age ceremony we call a “Bar Chanon.” This can take all kinds of forms but centers on a serious call to embrace the next stage of life for the young man. We think it's only natural for the young man to be welcomed into the community by the voices…
A few months ago, our friend Shirley Solis gave us a copy of her new book, Not Just Tacos: A Journey into the World of Authentic Latin American Cuisine. I have pretty high standards for cookbooks. We have many of them, but just a few that we go to again and again: The Joy of…
Our book on marriage, My Beloved and My Friend: How To Be Married To Your Best Friend Without Changing Spouses, is in the running for the Christian Small Publishers "Book of the Year" Award. This award is based on votes from publishers, booksellers, readers - anyone interested in promoting books from independent Christian publishers - and…
People often ask if we'd describe what we do for a coming-of-age ceremony with our boys. Surely with six boys we've done something of the sort … and the answer would be, “Yes, indeed!” You've probably heard of the Jewish “Bar Mitzvah” tradition – where a Jewish boy is officially welcomed to adult status in…
We travel a lot. No, really, a LOT. As authors and speakers, we're on the road more months than we're home now. We used to picture speakers as those glamorous people who flew in to the conference, stayed in the nicest rooms, and had everything taken care of. Then we became speakers. We didn't want to…
When we were teenagers, we couldn't wait to get our driver's license. It was a step toward adulthood, and we were eager to have the independence that driving represented. All our friends felt the same way, and our parents encouraged it. Recently, though, we've been hearing something which frankly surprised us. We were listening to…
The changeover to Obamacare was a tough one for us. Insurance through our small business became impossibly expensive – three times the cost of our mortgage! We checked into alternatives at the Marketplace, but we fell in the gap and healthcare there was impossibly expensive, too. With trepidation, we decided to try one of the Christian healthcare…
This year's flu season is a doozy! Most of the families we know have had it and the rest are scared to death they are going to get it. We've found that times of sickness can bring out the worst in everyone -- OR they can be workshops of grace! How can you make it…
Christmas is a big deal at our house. We grew up in Christian homes, where Christmas was celebrated in a family-oriented, Christ-honoring way. We love the holidays. I try to shop all year, watching out for deals on the things I knew our children would love. Even the times I was on pregnancy bedrest, I…
On Christmas Break, but
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