One of my current writing projects is putting together a book of devotionals with another busy mom like me. In fact, the book is full of devotionals for women like us, who are juggling families, friends, careers, friends, charitable activities, and more. Our biggest challenge is to write a story for every day of the year! Therefore, my coauthor ...

I often hesitate to tell people that I have “gifted” children because it sounds like I’m one of those competitive moms I hate. I’ve never liked being involved in the “mommy competition,” in which mothers try to one-up each other with stories about how talented or smart or beautiful their kids are. So, at the risk of stimulating a few eye rolls, ...

When I went through a divorce more than 14 years ago, my two children were a baby and a preschooler, and thus weren’t old enough to be given too many details. I have often wondered, though, how different it would have been if they had been older. How would I have told them that their father and I were divorcing, and we’d be moving to another home? ...

I always thought that by the time my twins reached age 4 I’d be getting endless hours of sleep at night, but as most parents find, the sleep issues don’t go away with our children’s infancy. Austen’s been making a habit of waking me around 4 AM. My husband sometimes heads in his room, but Austen wants no one but me. It’s nice to be wanted, but ...

Did you know that today is Twins Day? Okay, it’s not really, officially a day for twins (and I’m not talking about the Minnesota Twins here, either). But I have a lot of news about all the exciting things that are going on for families with twins, triplets and more. If you are the parent of multiples, a twin yourself, close to twins or just ...

I’m a bit of a history buff and love to read about life in the “olden days.” I’m always fascinated by how people lived without TVs, telephones or cars. So, I was delighted when I stumbled across a little book at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida. The Flagler Museum is actually a 55-room, 60,000-square-foot Gilded Age mansion called ...

Why won’t anyone sit with me at lunch? Why aren’t I in the popular crowd? These are the types of questions that cause tremendous angst for middle-school girls. When I was in junior high (our term for “middle school” back in the Stone Age), there weren’t many places to go for answers to the questions I had during those years. My parents had very ...

I’m sure you’ve seen those “pregnancy bellies” that are supposed to give men a taste of what it’s really like to be pregnant. Chances are, however, that your husband wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one! So, if you still think your husband needs to get a clue about what you’re going through, and could use a few gentle nudges about how to pamper ...

You’d have to live under a rock not to know of the Berenstain Bears books and TV shows. I’ve loved the Berenstain Bears ever since my teenagers were babies. I like the classic Bears (where Papa Bear is always a bumbling idiot) and the later Bears (where Brother and Sister always learn an important lesson). However, I recently learned that Stan and ...

As a child, I lacked self-confidence, and even though I think I turned out fairly well as an adult and am happy with my life, I often wonder how different my life would have been if I had been a little more confident and courageous. For instance, I graduated as valedictorian from my high school with a straight-A average, and yet I was only brave ...