Tag: children

Raising Kids and Radically Following Jesus. Possible?

Jon Huckins writes:

Before we had kids, we loved to travel, had worldview stretching experiences and were all together creative in how we lived the lives we had been given. For us, having the right kind of experiences meant far more than have the right kind of house, car or other possession that could be associated with “success.” As we reflect on our development individually and as a couple in the context of marriage, it is clear that these experiences (and resulting relationships) have shaped us more significantly than any classroom or lecture series. It has been the classroom of real life relationships that have formed us into global citizens who follow a Jesus with a global reign.

And then we had kids…

Read more.

James Christopher IV

All grown up

Today is Five-Minute Friday, in which The Gypsy Mama gives a writing prompt and bloggers write for the love of writing for five minutes. Then hit publish. Just write. Today’s prompt is “roar.”

I kinda cheated… I ended up getting going and wrote for closer to 10 minutes.

There once was a young lion cub, whose name was James Christopher IV.

He was a brave and curious lion cub.
Continue reading James Christopher IV

Remembering 4 years ago

It was 4 years and one week ago (Oct. 28, 2006) that I proposed to my wonderful bride Laurie.

Who knew what the next 4 years would entail.

We went back and visited that same spot yesterday…

We never would have planned things the way they’ve happened — but I don’t think we’d change a thing.

I love you Laurie! I’m so proud of you and can’t wait to live the rest of my life with you and our two boys.

Watch my version of the story…

Watch our original engagement video…

Texas child deaths increased sharply in 2009

280 Texas children died as the result of child abuse and neglect in 2009 — up more than 30% from 2008.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is still trying to figure out why.

According to one think tank, the reason is likely due to increased teen pregnancies and increased poverty — which seems very probable. But Texas DFPS isn’t convinced.

Another possible cause is case workers being overworked (the average caseworker in the North Texas region is 20 investigations per day) and a turnover rate of nearly 24%.

Just my uneducated assumption is that Texas DFPS is removing far less number of children from their homes over the past five years — it would seem that if you’re removing less children, either parents are doing a better job — or you’re going to end up with more fatalities.

In 2005, DFPS removed 17,428 children from their homes.

In 2009, they removed 12,107 children from their homes.

There may be other factors to this — but that would be the first place I would look.

Austin’s KUT has a report on the issue.

You can also read the full DFPS study online — or I’ll post some highlights tomorrow.

HT Funky Shapes for the photo