Author Archives: Ann Kirsten

Last week’s blog laid the vital foundation for raising teenagers.  Now, the fun can begin! Teens can be challenging and emotionally draining.  So, how do you survive the con...

Congratulations, you’ve made it through the sleepless nights of raising babies.  You survived the toddler years and you have successfully navigated your children through grade school. ...

By all accounts, I was a very serious child.  I viewed the world with a glass-half-empty mentality and some of my teachers were even worried because I took things so much to heart that I wasn&rsq...

When my son was eighteen, he worked at a job that required heavy lifting.  He arrived home one night complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath.  His face was ashen and I could tell t...

We Americans are a mixed-up bunch. With heritages too varied to count, often the only thing we have in common is that our ancestors came from somewhere else!   My mom's family settled here when t...

I grew up in a family that didn’t attend church.  My mom had every good excuses as to why we didn’t go.  Scraping to make ends meet, we didn’t have money for Sunday clothes...

Last weekend, my son was the Best Man at a friend’s wedding.  The thing is, my son had never met this “friend” before.  He didn’t even know his name until after he wa...

Do you ever feel that the way media portrays fatherhood is not the most respectful? This needs to stop, for what we see in the media definitely carries over into our lives. The truth is that fatherhoo...

Recently, my daughter and her friend saw one of the latest Hollywood releases. As they walked out of the theater, Bob said, "That made my heart hurt." It wasn't supposed to be a sad movie. It was just...

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 Henry Gurke was, by all accounts and purposes, a normal young man. There were no signs that he would do anyth...