(Editor's Note: This post is a day late, which when you have finished reading, will make all the sense in the world! Sarah is the principal author on this post, and J will add his thoughts in italics.) I've been thinking about grace a lot lately. When I look at the giant pile of laundry or the suitcase that I still haven't put away from vacation...in August. When it's lunch time (or dinner time)…
Early in my education as a counselor I was taught about family patterns – the notion that we can (at minimum) gain some insight into what may be happening in our lives by looking at our family history. Disease, mental health, addiction – we all know that these things have genetic links that tie us to our parents, grandparents, and even further. However, we often overlook the fact that family pat…
Just the other day I was in a conversation with some moms whose kids (like mine) are nearly grown. Someone asked, “what three things do you wish you had known when your kids were little?” After thinking about the experiences we’ve had with raising kids over the past 20 years or so, here are my thoughts: Experts don’t know everything. You’ll read the books and articles, meet with the pediatric…
The scene of this blog posts opens with me, standing outside on our front porch, in the rain, trying my best to catch my breath. Inside, two boys were in their cribs, where they would be unable to find trouble, screaming at the top of their tiny lungs. While these lungs were tiny, they were quite capable of filling the house with sound. Unpleasant sound. Screaming for relief for some ailment that…
I’ve worked with students, mostly teenagers, for more than a decade now, and I still remember an experience of one of my very first weeks on the job. I was a first time counselor at Pine Springs Camp in the Laurel Highlands, and I was working with a cabin of young campers – most of them something like 6 years old. One morning as we were getting ready for the day’s events, one of our campers ran full …
