Tag Archives: professional

Could You Use a Business Coach?

In recent years, the industry of “business coaches” has sprung up and is thriving in even small towns and cities. These individuals offer their services to encourage, guide, direct, and motivate business owners and help them organize and grow their businesses. Many business coaches focus on small business owners and some are even experts in working with start-ups and home-based businesses. What should you look for in a business coach and how do you know if you need one? If you are feeling stuck or, after reading all the business books and magazines you can get your hands on, are … Continue reading →

Tabby Time: Adjusting to a New Family Member

Tabby in the red “hut” Three weeks ago today Tabby came into our lives. Nothing’s been the same since. Life with Tabby continues to be a series of adjustments. Mostly in regards to our time. Here’s what I mean: Mealtime The first week I kept Tabby shut away in a spare room. She had her bowl for food and another for water, and I’d make my rounds in the mornings and afternoons to feed her, Murph, and Mr. Meow. But we let her out during week two to roam the house freely. She quickly found Mr. Meow’s bowl. He used … Continue reading →

What’s Your Idea of Professional?

I have learned over the years that my ideas of “professional” and other people’s ideas about what “professional” means are not necessarily the same. It has been an interesting lesson to find that my expectations and classifications regarding what I think is appropriate business behavior doesn’t always mesh with customers, clients, colleagues and coworkers. Now, that I am running my own home business, it seems all the more important that I understand we may have differing ideas of what “professional” means. I think that I am somewhere in the middle to moderate range in terms of my version of professional. … Continue reading →

Who is Watching?

Are you living your life as if someone is watching you? You should be. There are many who are watching how you live. Who is watching how you live your life? Your spouse and children watch how you live. Your friends watch how you live. Your co-workers watch how you live. Strangers watch how you live. Why does it matter who is watching how you live your life as a Christian? There are several reasons it matters who is watching how you live your life. First, your children will be looking to you as a guide for how they should … Continue reading →

Lifestyles: Does Your Home Fit Your Lifestyle?

You may dream about having a living room that looks like a showroom, but is it conducive to everyday living? Not so much, especially if you have a family. On the other hand, if you’re single or if your kids have grown up and moved out, why not? It’s your home; it should be suited to how you live. For families, that often means paring down expensive artwork, furnishings, and accessories, and opting instead for durable pieces that will last. Still, that does not mean your home can’t be beautiful, inviting, and attractive. It simply means you don’t keep priceless … Continue reading →

Teacher Preparation

One would think that in the selection process for teachers, ability to breathe should not be the most difficult criteria on the list. Please do not go berserk and think that I am beginning to bash teachers, because I am not. I am however curious as to why there are not more stringent requirements and testing, such as with doctors and lawyers for teachers? Yes there is the certification process that thanks to the NCLB law is now required for all public school teachers-but still not all teachers. I propose that there should be more required of a person, than … Continue reading →

Life Lessons

During my last parenting class we learned about three sustaining truths that we should teach our children. These truths are foundational to their growth and it seems to me the sooner they learn the better they will be able to effectively deal with life. Honestly, the categories were not at all what I expected, but seem to make a lot of sense. One foundational truth is to teach them to suffer well. Life is hard. Life is unjust. People say and do cruel things sometimes without even intending to bring harm. Other times people purposely bring harm. In our microwave … Continue reading →

Living the Life

I have written on numerous occasions about the fact that the Christian life is different from the worldly life (or at least it should be). The Christian should be set apart from the world in how they speak, react, dress, work, and live in general. In Ephesians 4:20-32 Paul wrote of how a Christian should live. “But that is not the way you learned Christ!– assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt … Continue reading →

He Does Answer Prayers

“About one hour before my wife died, I called my children into her room and told them that their mother was dying and for them to bid her good-bye. One of the little girls, about twelve years of age, said to me: ‘Papa, I do not want my mamma to die. I have been with you in the hospital in San Francisco for six months; time and time again when mamma was in distress you [have] administered to her and she has been relieved of her pain and quietly gone to sleep. I want you to lay hands upon my … Continue reading →

I Had to Go Back

I had to, I went back to www.dumbthings.com. It’s odd, I seem to be drawn back to it like a moth to flame and shake my head in absolute unbelief at the stupendously insane things people do. Last night, I sat with my mother at the computer and read to her some of the little ditties on that site. She was laughing so hard and saying, “Oh no, oh no.” So, let me share some of these that she and I found so hysterical: “A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked … Continue reading →