To Love, Honor and Vacuum

The Sibling Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Every Friday my syndicated column appears in a bunch of papers around Ontario. Here's this week's, on siblings, based on a blog post from earlier! When we point to the factors that have shaped our personalities, we usually focus on our parents. They’re the ones who blessed us, messed us up irretrievably, or gave us our tempers. And yet, as I watch my own girls interact with one another, I wonder how much of the people that we become is...

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Random Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:42:00 +0000

Hi everybody! Thanks for your comments and posts on Wifey Wednesday yesterday. Glad to hear so many of you can't relate to having workaholic husbands! Some of the WW posts, though, explaining how they deal with it, were really beautiful. Saw this article in the British newspaper The Telegraph yesterday. They were trying to do an experiment using men in their 20s who had never used pornography, and couldn't find any. I have to think they didn't...

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Wifey Wednesday: Married to a Career

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:53:00 +0000

It's Wednesday, the day that we talk marriage! I write a marriage post, and then you respond in the comments, or, better still, write your own post at your blog and link here! Today I want to talk to those of who feel like we raise our kids alone, even if we are married. Last night my girls and I watched a really inspirational movie, Gifted Hands. It's the story of Ben Carson, the world's leading pediatric neurosurgeon. He grew up to a...

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Doing It for the Children

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:04:00 +0000

I'm going to get a little political in my post today. That's always a dicey thing to do, but I'm all worked up. You see, I have always felt a call to help those in Africa and Asia, especially orphans. My family has been to the Mulli Children's Home in Kenya twice now, and we're heading back in March. We had a huge craft sale at my home this weekend to benefit them. And right now, in Eastern Kenya, there is a huge drought. Imagine not having...

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Thinking About Siblings

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:21:00 +0000

I'm just recovering from a weekend long craft show at my house. We were raising money for the children's home in Kenya where we're heading in March by selling Kenyan jewelry, coffee and tea, and lots of carvings and soapstone. It went really well and I'm thrilled! A little tired, but I feel like I accomplished something. But now it's Monday and life must begin again. I'm running a little late this morning; I was catching up on email and blogs...

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My Three Gifts of Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Every Friday my syndicated column is printed in a bunch of papers! This one is a special one to me. For the last few years I've mentioned our method of gift giving, and inevitably people come up to me on the street, months later, telling me how much they appreciated it. So I thought I'd better mention it again, albeit in a slightly different way (it's hard to keep coming up with new Christmas columns after 8 years!). Here goes: Apparently I...

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Cool Review of To Love, Honor and Vacuum

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Every now and then I come across another review of one of my books on the web. I know many of my readers have published reviews lately; I'm sorry I haven't linked to them! I've been a little busy, but if I've left you out, please leave another link in the comments and I'll try to post it properly ASAP! But recently I found this review from Aussie Mama for To Love, Honor and Vacuum. Here's what she says: After reading many discouraging...

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How to Make a Turkey Juicy

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

A while back I was cooking a bird, and asked help on Facebook about how to make a juicy turkey. Got back some great replies, which I shall share with you right before your American holiday! Here they are, in no particular order: 1. Put a series of bacon strips across the turkey when you put it in the oven. It moisturized constantly. This has been my family secret for years! 2. Shawn has always told me to cook the meat upside down to get the...

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Wifey Wednesday: What About Christmas?

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:34:00 +0000

It's Wifey Wednesday, when we talk marriage! I introduce a subject, and then you all comment, either by creating your own blog post and linking up, or by leaving a comment here. It would be appropriate to talk about gratitude for one's husband, since Thanksgiving is tomorrow for all you Americans, but I've done that quite a bit lately, so I thought instead I'd bring up something that's on my mind, since this is, after all, my blog! :) So...

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What Do You Do About Santa?

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:33:00 +0000

Last week, when I was shopping with my girls, we stopped by the food court in the mall. And the girls were so excited that some of the "good seats" were still available, so we plopped ourselves down to watch. And what was the object of our attention? Santa. Not because we like Santa (I never believed in him as a child, and in fact told my ENTIRE kindergarten class that he wasn't real, causing my mother to get hate phone calls for months...

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I Feel Like an Egg

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:24:00 +0000

A fried one, that is. Or perhaps it's more like a little scrambled. I'm a little tired this morning. I remember when my children were babies, and one night I left them with Keith so I could walk down to Fabricland--alone--and buy something for a new sewing pattern. I was only gone for about 45 minutes, but it was bliss. I was thinking about something for myself, and I didn't have any babies hanging off of me. It was "me" time, and though I...

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Secrets of Saying "I Do"

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Every Friday my syndicated column appears in a number of papers. Here's this week's, on the latest marriage research: I find it hilarious when magazines feature Julia Roberts on “What I’ve Learned About Love”, or Angelina Jolie with her tips on making love last. Stars who have been married multiple times and cheated on their spouses, or stole other people’s spouses, hardly seem like experts on how to experience a lifetime of love. Instead of...

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Getting Rid of the Things That Plague You

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:49:00 +0000

What holds you back? Do you have things that bug you, but you can't seem to get rid of them? Do you find yourself constantly worrying about the same thing, or feeling guilty about the same thing, but it never seems to get dealt with? You're not alone. Pharaoh suffered from stuff, too, and he wasn't the most effective at dealing with these pesky things in his life. In this week's short, insightful and funny podcast, you'll see what we can...

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Wifey Wednesday: Work to Your Strengths

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:03:00 +0000

It's Wifey Wednesday, when we talk marriage! I introduce a topic, and you comment, or, better still, write a post on your own blog and link back here! First, I was blown away by the comments from yesterday's post. I was talking about whether early marriages are good, and asked people how old they were when they were married. I don't know if it's selection bias as to who commented or not, but it seems like 95% of you were under 25. Perhaps...

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When Should People Marry?

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:27:00 +0000

I wrote my column yesterday on marriage research that we're not commonly aware of. You'll be able to read it on Friday, but I thought I'd talk about some of it today. (You can look at my Delicious bookmarks on marriage research here). One of the interesting tidbits I ran across lately is a researcher in Texas called Norval Glenn has found that the ideal age of first marriage is in the early twenties. You're less likely to get divorced if you...

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How to Start the Week

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:41:00 +0000

Last week I started my week thinking about busy-ness. I was too busy. But I concluded that the "busy" feeling was largely one of my own making. It wasn't only that I had too much on my plate--though I did have a lot--it was also that I was letting the computer steal a bunch of my time. So what's the alternative? Right now, I'm sitting at my kitchen table with five days in front of me. And the question is, how am I going to make those five days...

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Tyranny of the Screen

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:20:00 +0000

Every Friday my syndicated column appears in a variety of newspapers across Canada, and this week's builds on a blog post I had earlier this week complaining about my busy-ness. See if you can relate: I’ve been a little panicky lately with all the stuff on my plate, and as Christmas approaches it’s only going to get worse. As I’ve been weighing the option of having a full-fledged panic attack to extricate myself from some commitments, I started...

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Do You Struggle with Believing God Loves You?

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:15:00 +0000

Jesus loves you. We hear it in Sunday School. We sing it. But do we believe it? We may, but when bad things happen, we soon find out whether that belief is just a few inches deep or whether it reaches down to our hearts. Today's podcast gets to the heart of the matter. On this blog, I've shared some of my personal history with my son who passed away. I speak about this quite often, and this podcast is a clip of a talk I gave where I discuss...

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Wifey Wednesday: Learning How Not to Sweat the Small Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

It's Wifey Wednesday, the time when we talk marriage, and you all write your own blog posts and then link them back here! I so love reading what you all write. Today I'm going to turn Wifey Wednesday over to my wonderful friend Terry, whom I wish I knew in real life. She has written a beautiful post on why we let the little things in life get to us. She was recounting a time a few weeks ago when she was driving to church and her husband was...

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The Fall of the Berlin Wall and Me

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:55:00 +0000

With the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall yesterday, it got my mind thinking back twenty years ago. I was actually in Berlin in August of 1989. We went through Checkpoint Charlie and took some great pictures in East Germany. My main impressions: nobody smiled. Nobody talked outdoors. The cars were tiny. The buildings were ugly. And there was nothing to buy. Someone was shot trying to flee into West Germany that month. They would be...

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Little House on the Freeway

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:11:00 +0000

I read Little House on the Freeway while I was away at the marriage conference this weekend. In it, author Tim Kimmell lists the seven reasons that we may feel too harried, ranging from "can't stand silence" to a "screen addiction" to an addiction to helping others. As I read the seven reasons (I can't remember all of them now) I felt immeasurably better because I realized that I really only suffered from 1 or 2, and not all 7. So that's got...

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Marriage Conference Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:57:00 +0000

My husband and I are teaching at a marriage conference this weekend in Barrie, Ontario. We love these weekends. It's one of the few times we get away together as a couple, even if we do have to "work", but we also get to think about and talk about our relationship all weekend, which makes us feel closer. There are usually about 100 couples at such conferences, and they range from those who are blissfully happy to those who just need a tune-up...

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Owning Our Problems

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:51:00 +0000

Every Friday my syndicated column appears in a variety of newspapers. Here's this week's. Read the update below the column; I regret some of it now. But it's a little late to have second thoughts! Sorry, too, that I'm late posting this. I had to leave home early this morning to drive to Barrie, Ontario, where my husband and I are speaking at a marriage conference this weekend. We're now happily at home in our room, and I thought I'd take a...

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How to Make Money as a SAHM

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:15:00 +0000

A while back we had a long conversation on this blog about the cost of working. If you've got little kids, we asked, and you have to pay for childcare, then does working outside the home even contribute to your income in a substantial way? For instance, one of the things that stay at home moms can do is to figure out how to live on less. We do have more time to do things like cook from scratch, make our own gifts, spend more time shopping for...

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Wifey Wednesday: Where Do You Go?

noreply@blogger.com (Sheila) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:12:00 +0000

It's Wednesday, which means it's time to talk marriage! I introduce a topic, and then you all comment, or, if you have a blog, you write your own Wifey Wednesday post and come back here and enter the link in the Linky thing below. So today I want to talk problems. Where do you go when you have problems? Last Friday I was talking to a good friend of mine whose marriage has broken up. Her husband was involved in a lot of bad things, and finally...

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