In my line of work, teaching and coaching families and teens, not a week goes by that I don’t hear a parent say that their teen is struggling with confidence. On the one hand, gaining confidence in oneself in the world is a developmental task of a teen. On the other hand, among kids where one wou...

I was an amazing parent…until I actually had kids. When I was in college, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with a variety of families as a nanny. I spent so much time with these families that it was like I was part of the family. I got an up-close look at the daily life of a young family, ...

“Mommy, what happened in Las Vegas?” It seems to me, that I am answering this question way too frequently these days. It has not been so long since I heard, “Mommy, what happened in Charlottesville?” or even “Mommy, what happened in Paris?” Las Vegas. Houston. Charlottesville. Paris… I could thin...

When I was three years old, I came across my mother’s lipstick. It was a shiny tube of fancy lipstick that was clearly enticing for a young child. Dark shades of brown were all the rage back in the 70’s apparently. I watched my mother put on that lipstick every morning. It was such a simple ritua...

Do you ever wish that your kids had come with a manual? You know, one that would give you guidance and concrete answers on how to do this or that in every single scenario so that you could raise the perfect child? I don’t know about you, but I so desperately want to get this parenting thing right...

Thank you for helping us fill the wishes of Dallas County abused and neglected children this year! HPUMC is our largest filler of wishes (at 600 wishes) and we are truly grateful to all of your members for stepping up to make dreams into reality for our kids. As you may imagine, many of these ch...

I love to pray. Prayer is my way to talk to Jesus, and I can feel an obvious difference in a day where I devote time to prayer, compared to a day when I don’t. Prayer is also a really big part of my relationship with my two young daughters. Even before my three-year-old could talk, I would pray w...

When we talk about leadership, we often think of leaders as those with a title within an organization, but what about those of us who serve at home? Whether you’re a working parent or a stay at home parent, by nature of our role, we are leaders. Whether we claim the position or not, it is our hig...

In Sunday school each week, our little ones are learning The Lord's Prayer, even at the early age of three. We have a neat little trick that we can show you called the Five Fingers of Prayer. Thumb: I love you God.Index finger: I'm sorry God.Middle finger: Thank you God.Ring finger: God bless my...