Tag Archives: friendship

Appreciating Your Spouse’s Friendships

Last night as we sat down to dinner, the phone rang. We had a long day out wrapping up the Christmas shopping and doing a huge bulk session of grocery shopping to fill our freezer and be prepared for the coming winter months when getting out of the driveway is sometimes impossible. Needless to say, the kids were tired, hungry and cranky, and I had just dropped a box of organize shelf-stable chocolate milk on my toes, trying to get it down the basement stairs. So, my first instinct was to ignore the phone, but my husband got to it … Continue reading →

What Makes a Good Friend?

How special it is to have good friends. Last night, we’d come home from a great night, having dinner at our friends’ house, chatting, laughing and playing a game of Word Rummikub. The evening was basically just enjoying each other’s company. Oh, I forgot singing. My friend and I have the knack of being able to find a song that fits any conversation or situation. That produces its own hilarity. I’d always thought before it was a peculiar trait of our family.I love this quote on Nicole’s blog ‘A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and … Continue reading →

5 Tips for Combating Loneliness

If you’re struggling with loneliness what can you do about it? Here are 5 tips for combating loneliness. Join a church if you don’t already belong to one. If you do and you’re not making good friends there, then maybe you ought to start looking for another spiritual home where people are actively trying to live out the Christian life and that means connecting with others and putting ourselves out for others. Don’t just go along to church on Sundays but become involved – join a bible study group? There you will get to know people in a more relaxed … Continue reading →

A Disease of Epidemic Proportions

There is an epidemic in our society. A severe disease threatens our society. You might think cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and yes, they all exist, but none of them are the disease I’m talking about. It’s one that affects people of all ages. This disease is probably one you or I have experienced at some point in our lives. Maybe even at the present time. The disease which has reached epidemic proportions is loneliness. I’ve been reading Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll recently. He says ‘many people are lonely and lack the community gathering points in which they can make … Continue reading →

7 Tips for a Good Marriage

When I told my husband I didn’t know what I was going to write for today’s blog, he suggested. ‘Five tips for a good marriage.’ ‘Okay, tell me what they are,’ I replied. ‘Pick a good wife,’ Mick said with a smile. ‘That’s only one,’ I objected. ‘Where are the rest?’ ‘There’s always the two key words,’ he said, trying to keep a straight face. I knew without him saying it what the two words were. It’s a standing joke in our house. The words? ‘Yes dear.’ Can you tell sometimes he finds it hard to be serious! So of … Continue reading →

Almost Sisters – Anderson, Littke, and Morris

A while back I had the privilege of interviewing LDS authors Nancy Anderson, Lael Littke, and Carroll Morris, but it was not until this last week that I read the first book in their series, “The Company of Good Women.” This premiere installment is called “Almost Sisters,” and I enjoyed it so much, I can’t figure out for the life of me what took me so long to get my hands on a copy. Our story is centered around three women who come to Education Week at Brigham Young University and end up rooming together in the home of a … Continue reading →

Showing Love

Some people are affectionate by nature. They readily kiss and hug. Others, more reserved, don’t appreciate open displays of affection, but will show their love in other practical ways. Love can be expressed and shown in different ways. Last Sunday my husband volunteered to come with me to a concert at which our choir was singing. He has been to several others where the choir sung and not had a problem. But this day when we walked he found at least a couple of hundred women milling around. My husband is not normally uncomfortable around women. But this time he … Continue reading →

Teaching Your Child What Makes a Good Friend

The fact is, we don’t always like our children’s friends. There, I’ve said it. Before I was a parent, I swore I was going to be nonjudgmental and hands-off when it came to letting my children choose their own friends and playmates. I have remained “almost” true to my pre-parenting promise, but I did learn that children don’t always naturally know how to be and choose good friends and that friendship is something we parents have a role in teaching too. There is a great deal of trial and error in the socialization of a child. Our kids probably learn … Continue reading →

Can Married People Have Single Friends?

Of course! But it’s not always easy. By nature, single people and married people lead different lifestyles. Case in Point The other day I wrote about my single fantasy and how I’m sort of living it at present due to the fact Wayne took a new job out of state and we’re currently separated until the house sells and I can rejoin him. Well, in some respects Wayne’s living his own single fantasy. He’s bachin’ it up eating out every night, doing whatever he wants after work, and hanging out with friends as much as possible. We have a lot … Continue reading →

Being Your Child’s Social Engineer

Children with special needs could almost always use a little help in the friendship department. They might have difficulty with communication or conversation, feel afraid of how other children will accept them, or just plain don’t know how to relate. As a parent, you can greatly enhance your child’s life by offering a bit of social engineering. “I like ants. Do you?” Children on the autism spectrum, especially those with Aspergers Syndrome, often have particularly narrow interests which are hard to draw other children into. I recently read about a child with Aspergers who had a fascination with ants. He … Continue reading →