November 2013

Joy Elliott was talking with a reporter at The Giving Heart Community Thanksgiving Feast last year when her eyes locked in on a twenty-something young man across the room. He looked distraught. Elliott bowed out of the interview and barreled through the crowd, heading toward the man. When she asked…

When our family thinks island holiday, we don’t have visions of palm trees or hear sea sirens calling us to distant destinations. The whinnying of ponies and the strident calls of laughing gulls bid us to Virginia’s Chincoteague and Assateague Islands. The ponies are really the wild horses whose origin…

Nearly 81.5 million Americans have thought about adopting a child. If just one in 500 of these adults adopted, every waiting child in foster care would have a permanent family. Shirley Massie has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. For the first time in years, this 12-year-old…

With the holidays coming right up, it’s hard not to have shopping, list-making, and decorating on our minds. But first up is the day we remember the hard-earned harvests of those first community partners (the Pilgrims and Native Americans), we celebrate the fruits of our labors throughout the year, and…

  Every year at this time, I set out to write about Thanksgiving. Truly America’s holiday – unless you’re from Canada, in which case, change that to North America and we’re good to go – the celebration was proclaimed a “national day of giving thanks” by Abraham Lincoln in the…

We used to dread Saturdays. Somehow this day of rest and relaxation had become the most stressful day of the week. When the weekend rolled around my husband and I – both college professors – tried in vain to squeeze in our paper grading, lesson planning, researching, and writing commitments…

You’d think I’d know better than to fall for the same face twice. But here I am again, hooked on those big, brown eyes, that wagging tail, the shiny, tri-color coat. She’s the spitting image of our first beagle, who I’m glad to say lived a long and happy life.…

For Eva, her role as a certified nursing assistant with Family Lifeline’s Home Care program is more than just a job. Eva’s position at Family Lifeline, a personalized support program for children, parents, and seniors, led her to a second family. When she began working at Family Lifeline in 1993,…

Q. I’ve always heard we should strive to keep our kids on a schedule no matter what, waking them up at the same time on weekends. My teens don’t go to bed early on weekends no matter what i say, so i let them sleep in whenever possible. Do you…

According to the CDC, 77 percent of mothers in the United States breastfeed. We breastfeed in hospitals and doctors’ offices, in our homes, at the park, and on outings. While running errands, I often breastfed my daughter in my car because it was the coziest place to nurse during the…

There are endless types of insurance available in the marketplace, so how do you know which you should own? As a general rule, the public should own insurance that protects against catastrophic loss. Life, long-term care, and disability insurance should be high on the list. Disability insurance is designed to…

A lizard living in your home, on purpose, may give some parents pause. However, if your child is a budding herpetologist, a leopard gecko may be the perfect place to begin. There are many fascinating and beautiful species of geckos in the pet world, but the leopard gecko is readily…

With fall comes not only football, but many school and recreational sports that pose injury risks to our kids, not the least of which is the chance for fractures and sprains of the hands, wrists, and forearms. Over the past several years, many changes have been made to improve care…

Fall is here and area stores are stocked with a variety of gorgeous, interesting-looking squashes. So what can we do with them – besides arrange them artfully on our tables, countertops, or front steps, that is? Botanically speaking, a squash is fruit, but that doesn’t mean kids are reaching for…

Make fantastic cards and unique gifts with this creative process that starts with photographic images. What you need: • Plexiglass, acetate sheet, or flat and smooth linoleum square • Photos of yourself, friends, and family • Water-based print-making ink or acrylic paint • Print-making brayer (roller) • Multiple-medium paper •…