Tag: Family & Relationships

When a marriage ends, the pain is palpable. It feels as though someone has died. Every first feels like a last: The first time we slept apart. The first time it hit me that we’ll never have children together. The first time we talked on the phone without saying I love you.

I finally learned about forgiveness at age 36, when my husband, the father of our then 4-year-old son, and our daughter on the way, left me for a young student of his. In the process he said and did many hurtful things. And over the years, he continued to do and say hurtful things. At first, I simply lived in pain — deep, emotional and spiritual pain.

Summer wedding season is in full swing – but how many of those wedding ceremonies have faith at the forefront?

For some, a wedding day still means "goin' to the chapel, and we're gonna get married." The website Beliefnet has a beautiful album of religious wedding traditions.

The brick building that was once the Caterina Winery at 905 N. Washington St, has been transformed into a nest.

Instead of wine racks there are now shelves of LolliDoo and Fuzzibunz brand cloth diapers. Instead of a tasting room, there is now the Nurturing Room where new mothers get massages. Instead of a seating area where wine drinkers could watch live bands, there is now a play area for children and toddlers that features a slide.

Earlier this week, I came across a post on The Christian Left’s Facebook page that raised the issue of ‘easy divorce.’ I was pleasantly surprised, as this is a topic that liberal/progressive Christians tend to avoid. It was not surprising that within less than two hours The Christian Left had apparently received so much push-back (in nearly 400 comments) that they posted a new status with some backpedaling.

There are situations in which a child becomes so out of control and dangerous to self or others that parents need to bring in some sort of help — even to the point of legal structures such as filing a Youth at Risk Petition.

That said, I have trouble with our Western notions of owning children in the first place.