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When I was younger, I loved being part of reading programs. I would stay up all night under the covers with a flashlight, reading some of my favorite books until my parents would come in and tell me to go to bed. Once I started growing up, my love of reading books for pleasure was replaced with the necessity of reading books for my education. But a love for reading should be in every child’s—and every adult’s—heart. Why not pledge to read more this year with the CPH Reads program? In fact, I have five great reasons why you and your family should join this new reading adventure.

My parents are two of the most supportive people in my life. When I told them I was moving to St. Louis for a job, they immediately helped me find a relative to live with temporarily, packed up my car, and gave me some gas money to drive all the way down. They check in on me weekly (if not daily) and have been incredibly supportive of my personal and professional endeavors.

My name is Brenda, and I am the author of God’s Gift of Family. But I’m also a mother of five, a wife, and the founder of Run Hard. Rest Well., a nonprofit that seeks to restore the biblical rhythm of balance between work and rest.

Teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 
(Deuteronomy 11:19, emphasis added)

It’s almost Christmas, and most of us are preparing to travel over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house for the holidays. Check out these FAQs so your family can do your Christmas road trip better this year.

Moment of truth: I asked my teenage son to help me write this. He’s an almost-sixteen-year-old, who is willing to give me input about initiating the "sex talk." I kind-of-most-definitely want to hear what he has to say. I wanted to know what he feels we've succeeded in and inevitably, what he feels we've failed at over the years. I asked him because, truth be told, it's hard for me to pinpoint exactly how to initiate this conversation with kids.

I tend toward using my phone to check out. I’m just going to say that out loud and let it be a thing.

As Christians, we don’t talk about a lot of topics—even ones we should.

As a child, family devotions were a highlight of each day. We gathered after dinner for this short yet amazing family time together. Sometimes us kids even got to lead them. One night, it was my little brother’s turn. He was only three. Watching the rest of us as examples to follow with object lesson ideas, he wanted to do something too. We all watched as he brought out crayons and other interesting supplies. After handing everything out to us while we tried to hide our giggles, he finally sat down and folded his hands. Out of his mouth came three little but very powerful words: “God is love.” That was it. That was the whole devotion. Best devotion we ever had. That little brother is now in his fifties. We still remember his message from God to our family even to this day.

We inherited great-grandma Gigi’s giant dining room table. It came complete with four leaves, six chairs, and a tiny dot-to-dot print of a house from my mother-in-law’s craft project gone awry. Our table is a huge blessing to me, not because of the weight of the cherry wood or the pretty carving on each chair. It is a blessing because it allows me to gather my family all in one place, even for just a moment, safe and secure.