Is your house big enough? Do you need more room? Will your family be happier in a bigger home?

I think my perspective on this issue was shaped a bit last week by a conversation I had with a few members of an American family that has lived and worked most of the time over the last nine years in the foothills of the Himalayas. Read the rest of this entry »

Our youngest son called me Tuesday evening to ask if I’d like to join him as he drives home from college in a week and a half. It means I have to buy a one-way plane ticket and take a couple of days out of my schedule. As long as the airfare wasn’t too high (what’s too high?), I decided, absolutely.

Sure enough, Southwest had a great fare. So we’re scheduled to go.

I’m excited.

Is it because sitting in a Toyota Corolla for 24 hours of driving over two days sounds like a lot of fun?

No. Rather, it’s because I expect our experience will be along the lines of something Kevin Swanson, executive director of Christian Home Educators of Colorado, said a couple of months ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Following my invitation, I sent three more emails to our family members in anticipation of the family meetings I hoped to hold during our Family Fun Week.

The first was simplest: I simply forwarded an email I had requested from our CPA in anticipation of year-end financial planning to maximize our giving. Read the rest of this entry »

As I’ve noted before, our legacies are far more than financial. How we raise our kids provides a significant inheritance. With that in mind, then, I ran across a couple of posts on the Sonlighters Club forums that struck me as extremely wise. I asked the posts’ author, Drusha E A Mussmann, if I could reprint them. She gave me permission. So with thanks to Drusha, I am pleased to present the following.

A mom of a 14-year-old son wrote, “He is just so disrespectful I am boiling raging inside . . . or crying. . . . Talk me down. Pray for me. [Do something.]”

what did he do TODAY? Read the rest of this entry »

As you may know, I am a co-owner of Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd., and Sonlight has a very active online forum community.

One of the moms, “Brenda in GA,” wrote a story about doing a road trip with her almost-14-year-old daughter. I asked her for permission to reprint it here — permission which she gave willingly.

Why would I want to reprint her story? Because, as one of the other forum participants commented in response to Brenda’s post, “I love road trips . . . [because, as you said, t]hey are quite a bonding experience.”

Brenda’s story, and the follow-up comment inspired me to urge you: Long before you seek to establish your own family government, you’ll want to do everything in your power to establish good relationships with your children, grandchildren, or others among your progeny.

More about that “message” in a moment. But first . . . Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a book for mentoring kids about money that will “blow you away.” Highly readable, complete, practical, actionable. For “kids” from 5 to 18 . . . and beyond.

How do I like this book? Let me count the ways. Read the rest of this entry »

Prior to speaking at our church on the 20th, the McWilliamses showed a slightly shortened version of a “Family Story” video you can see at Gail’s website.

I’d say Lydia, their next-to-youngest, was probably about 11 or 12 when she was interviewed for the video. And what she said shook me up.

“I can’t imagine what the world would be without me,” she begins. “The world would probably be missing my . . . ” Read the rest of this entry »

Tony and Gail McWilliams spoke at our church a couple of weeks ago. This is their story.

When she was still a teenager, Gail was told that, as a result of an illness she suffered when she was nine, she would never be able to bear children.

But she and Tony got married and eventually–wonder of wonders–she became pregnant. There were complications that threatened their baby’s life. It’s a story worth telling. But I want to concentrate on another theme.

While she was pregnant, Gail’s eyes began to hemorrhage and she lost some of her eyesight.

A few years later, when she became pregnant again, Gail’s eyes hemorrhaged even more. And so, at three and a half months into her pregnancy, she found herself confronted by a doctor.

“Gail,” he said, “you have to choose today between your baby and your eyes. Which will you keep?”

Read the rest of this entry »