Sunday is the day we honor those nobel men who love and sacrifice for their families, communities, and country. The dads and grands.

One of those granddads is Max Garwood, father of Marquis, grandfather of Evan, and author of The Patent. To celebrate Father’s Day, Max is offering his page-turning novel – written with men in mind – at a Father’s Day gift rate.

Do your shopping in minutes. Even at the last minute. Download an ebook of The Patent for $2.99. Give one as a gift and get a copy for yourself. Then you can talk about the book with your dad or grand.

Click on the link below and it will take you directly to the Amazon order page. What could be easier!

The Patent: Max Garwood, Joseph Chamberlain Henry: 9781477502969: Amazon.com: Books

A gentle answer turns away wrath, says Proverbs 15:1.

In a family we don’t all agree. We don’t have to. In fact if everyone perpetually agreed, there would be need for concern. Healthy relationships are able to have differing opinions and continue to honor and respect each other.

* As Covey says, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Most emotional issues dissipate once each party feels their heart has been heard.

* Listen to the other person first. Then repeat back what was said. “What I heard you say is …” A tremendous amount of problems are rooted in misunderstanding. If I heard something different from what the speaker was trying to convey, we can begin the process again. It is a continual mystery that we can speak the same language and frequently not fully grasp what another is communicating.

* After you have stated your position, ask, “What did you hear me say?” Many times I have asked that question and one of my children repeats back something completely different from what I said. Or what I thought I said. That’s good to know. It doesn’t matter whether the other person heard incorrectly or if I expressed myself in vague terms. Now I can use another description to better communicate.

* When two children are in opposition, have them work out a solution that is amiable for both.

* If a parent and a child differ, ask “how can we make this work?” However, there will be times when the parent will make the best decision based on family principles and additional factors.

The key is to go through this process as scripture advices, with a soft voice. Respectful and not interrupting, free from assumptions about what the other person meant or thinks. While we don’t agree about everything, we are on the same team and want what is best for each other. We are still a family.

I will say that taking summer jaunts was easier when the children were younger. Once they can drive, we find ourselves juggling vacation with summer jobs, senior 4-H fair, and college prep weeks.

Yet, it is vital to come apart or we can come apart. Just as God instructed us to set aside one day each week for rest and reflection, our families and spirits thrive when we supply periods to rejuvenate.

* One mom loaded her plastic dishes into the laundry basket to serve as beach toys and took her children to a nearby beach for the day.

* My mentor gave each of her children $2 to buy their own toys at the dollar store. Then they played at the park.

* Friends take yearly trips to a beach in another state. They purchase water toys at the dollar store and leave them for other vacationers to use.

* Set aside every extra bit of money you can throughout the year and you will be surprised at how it adds up to be enough for a memorable getaway.

* Make it a two-fer. Expand your horizons and your knowledge by visiting interactive historic sites including Williamsburg, Virginia; Washington D.C.; Ellis Island, New York; Niagara Falls; the Grand Canyon; Mount Rushmore; Yellowstone Park; or Deerfield Village in Michigan.

* Consider a camp. We’ve attended fiddle camp, horse camp, and music performance camp, sports camp, and church camps.  

What are your plans for this summer?

 Summer officially begins this week. According to my calendar, June 1 through the end of August is summer. Like the Christmas season, summer can be a tad daunting as moms plan to pack the season full of traditions and great memories. If we are not careful, we can rush the refreshment right out of the languid days of no school.

* Ask your children what is important to them this summer. Typically, their list is shorter than mom’s. Focus on the desires of their hearts for a simpler summer.

* Easy summer flavors include ice cream and plenty of it. In a cone. Watermelon. With seeds for spitting. Corn on the cob. Feed the cobs and husks to the horse.

* Take photos. Lots of photos.

What are single parents doing right?

That’s the topic for tomorrow’s Mid-morning radio show at 9:00 a.m. EST on WBCL. We’ve planned lots of give-aways. Whether you are raising your family solo, or know someone who is, this show has something for you. Call in and tell us what you admire about that single parent in your life! 

On the list of what single parents are doing right is taking their families on vacation. Create memories and relationship glue this summer with affordable adventures.

* Search out free concerts in your area.
* Most museums are interactive. Visit on free days.
* Go fish. Children under 18 can fish without a license. Use chunks of cheese for those of us who don’t do worms.
* One year we held a garage sale and from our earnings, purchased camping equipment that we used for many summers.
* Do a household project during the day, and reward your creative work with a crock pot dinner, popcorn, and a great movie like the Narnia series. Trade with friends to help them with a project, and they will help you with yours. Make this a party.
* Serve others. Participate in a missions trip.
* Let each family member choose a day’s activity.
* Garden, learn a new hobby, do those activities that you wished you could do in the midst of the year’s regular schedule.
* Visit friends near and far.
* Take a reading vacation. Call in to WBCL during the program for the chance to win books for every age in your family. 260-745-9090. A reading vacation can collect prizes when combined with the local library summer reading program.
* Call in to WBCL during the program for the chance to win family passes to the Ft. Wayne Zoo – rated top in the nation. 260-745-9090

http://www.wbcl.org/

The purpose of our vacation is to share rich memories, time together, laughter, and refreshment. That can look like a trip to DisneyWorld, a hike through a park, or watercolor and chalk on the driveway. Carve out time to just breathe. Take photos.

Graduations are as plentiful this season as purple iris. Hannah receives her diploma, my sixth high school graduate. A grand cause for celebration. A party!

And I am giving gifts for friends who are graduating. Here is a list of gifts for grads:

* A new Bible
* Gas cards
* Anything car related from prepaid oil changes, to a dozen car washes
* Cash
* Clothing gift cards
* Subscription to a magazine in their field of interest
* A savings bond
* Real jewelry
* Gift cards to restaurants near the college the graduate will attend
* Amazon gift cards are hugely popular, allowing grads to do their own choosing, including buying college text books

It is easy to assemble a memory book through photo services like Vista Print. Create a keepsake filled with photos of your graduate. Write a note, sharing the strengths you see in your graduate as well as the bright future that lays ahead. Include favorite scripture such as Ephesians 3:14 – 21:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

“You know that you are back home when the microwave goes ding because the chocolate sauce is done.”

Recently Marty was in town and got together with our family. Marty is family though he wasn’t born with the same last name. A brother from another mother, my son used to say. Someone said friends are the relatives we choose for ourselves and our family is richer because my son’s battle buddy chose us as much as we chose him.

As a teen, Marty began hanging around our house. “Do you have chocolate every day?”

“Don’t you?” I handed him a warm brownie fresh from the oven. “Chocolate is not just for breakfast.”

Here is the recipe for the chocolate sauce recipe Marty referred to. Great over ice cream, or pour over fruit. Or both. For the richest treat, drizzle over brownies.

Chocolate Sauce
1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate chipe
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
Microwave two minutes. Stir and serve.

Best Brownies from Joy of Cooking
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
Optional: add nuts, marshmallows, and/or a handful of chocolate chips
Mix by hand, pour into greased pan and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

What are parents – single and married – doing right? 

That is the question I’ve been asking since writing What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Say To Your Own Family, and Rediscovering Your Happily Ever After.

My friend Carolyn was a single mom for a time and speaks from experience when she says, ”Maybe through their own vulnerability and sense of inadequacy, single parents have a great awareness of their complete dependence on the Lord and can pass that legacy onto their children. When losing one parent, children seem to fear also losing the other. Single parents have the opportunity to point their children to God as the One who never changes, never leaves them, and always loves them.”

Kristi echoed, “A person who “parents” is doing the most “right” thing possible…..single or otherwise.”

Our hearts go out to the three women who were freed in Cleveland, Ohio after being abducted a decade ago.

The tragic fact is that human trafficking occurs in our world, even in the United States – the land of the free. What does trafficking look like in our neighborhoods? And how can we protect our communities and our loved ones?

Co-authored with Theresa Flores, The Slave Across the Street is the true story of an upscale Detroit teen caught in sex trafficking. This riveting story is the rare view from the inside of this horrific crime. Chapters include tips to recognize trafficking locally. Molesters, traffickers, and evil people are astute at what they do. They prey upon a person’s weaknesses. They get into people’s minds. Void of a moral or ethical compass, they bully, threaten, manipulate, and hurt their victims.

While trafficking victims are most often women, boys are targeted, too. The following are clues that a person might be a victim of human trafficking:
* abrasions around the wrists, ankles, or neck
*  inability to go to another place without someone’s permission
*  fear
*  new set of friends, particularly older ones who are unfriendly and distant to adults
*  frequent, unexplained absences from school
*  is inappropriately dressed based on the weather conditions or surroundings
*  shows signs of drug addiction

These signs of sexual exploitation are not easy to see. This allows human trafficking to
occur in our own neighborhoods. Be willing to care. You may save a life.

Get your copy of The Slave Across the Street at Amazon.com http://amzn.to/XCKk5C

Happy Mother’s Day! How will you celebrate?

For single parent families, celebrating holidays is a tradition that serves as relationship glue. Parents and children find security in knowing special days are important and will be a touch point. Keep it simple, light, and fun.

For Mothers Day, my children and I have had a picnic, cooked my favorite salmon and Caesar salad, watched a movie, taken a walk, shared sushi, made dream boards, and had tea parties. Lots of tea parties.

Celebrate what is right about your family. Nurture each other with consistent caring acts. Recognizing holidays is a habit to be counted on through the ups and downs of life. Sometimes these habits, cementing family bonds, avoid a crisis entirely. Other times, they provide a way to survive a crisis with established opportunities for staying connected, communicating, and working through problems.

For years, my girlfriend served pumpkin soup on Halloween evening. Her son grew up and left home and his parents hadn’t seen him for months when they answered a knock at the door on Halloween night and there stood their son. “I’ve come to eat pumpkin soup with my family,” he said. He returned on Christmas Eve to share their traditional clam chowder. What seemed frivolous traditions were lifelines, opportunities to reconnect.

This Mothers Day, make happy family memories. Celebrate your relationships.