Kyria

Safe at Home for Christmas

It may not be conventional, but my holiday decorating includes a treasured picture of home plate over my fireplace. Perhaps you don't think of baseball after the World Series, and certainly not at Christmas, but for me it's a year-round source of inspiration.

The large black and white photograph is a reminder of what's important during the holidays. For me, it symbolizes a beautiful revelation that ...

Related Topics: Christmas, In-laws, priorities

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Landing the Helicopter

Remember the end of My Big Fat Greek Wedding? You see the happy young couple emerging from their new home (purchased for them as a wedding gift by her doting dad). They set off down the street, waving at their next-door neighbor, out mowing his lawn. Her dad waves back.

It's easy to laugh at this stereotype of ethnic families–large, loving, and meddlesome. On the other hand, the contemporary model–newlywed ...

A Family of Two

Rich and I don't have children. If you parents of large families think you get some weird questions, try being 42—clearly the raised-eyebrow age for childlessness—and having none.

For example, one time I was at a barbecue and an acquaintance said knowingly, "I'm glad you guys realized having children is highly overrated."

Fortunately I was the only one who heard her assumption. "Actually, ...

Related Topics: Acceptance, Infertility

To Follow Him Home

Three months after our wedding, a chain of unfortunate circumstances left my husband, Darren, and I packing our things. We'd been in the midst of raising financial support to join an east coast mission organization, but finances hadn't come in and the logistics weren't coming together. After a final meeting with the director, the opportunity fell through.

Darren had been working a few hours a week ...

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The Words that Changed My Life

Elisabeth![*] John needs to be changed again." My mother-in-law's voice filtered through my fog of exhausted sleep.

For the fourth time that night, Agnes and I tackled the foul mess in my father-in-law's bed. John was a large man and cleaning him, changing his diaper and bedding, was difficult. It took all my strength to roll him from side to side, holding him in position with one hand while washing ...

In Love with My In-Laws

I have a confession to make— I like my in-laws. Since that disqualifies me from ever starring in a television sitcom based on my marriage, I'll make another startling revelation: my husband likes his in-laws too. Call us weird, but Mark and I don't suffer from the Dueling Mother-in-Law Syndrome that has fueled decades of prime-time comedies. In fact, the relationship we share with our in-laws ...

Boundaries for In-laws

Parents can be a blessing to a married couple by offering love, wisdom, and encouragement. The Bible makes note of several supportive in-law relationships, namely Ruth and Naomi, Peter and his mother-in-law, and Jethro, who guided Moses. Yet the abundance of in-law jokes and stories testifies to the fact that parents can also be a heavy burden for a couple to bear. The Bible also has an example of ...

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Kissing Your Family Goodbye

I can still see the look on Marian's face. Her husband, Dan, had recently left her for another woman, and she was trying to understand what had happened and what to do next. As Marian's counselor, I asked about her husband's family history. Dan's father had left for another woman when Dan was 13, and Dan hadn't spoken to his dad since.

"That's interesting," I said. "His father left when Dan, the oldest ...

Sandwich Generation

A good friend, Serena,* called me in tears.

"Sam just doesn't understand," she said, "and it's so difficult on our marriage."

Serena, a stay-at-home mother, and Sam, an attorney, live in Milwaukee, a two-hour drive from her parents' farm. When it became evident that her mother's breast cancer was terminal, Serena began to spend several days a week at her parents' home.

She put nine thousand miles on ...

In-Law Overload

Carol's side: I need more space!

On December 23 Kevin and I arrived at his parents' house to celebrate our first holiday as a married couple. After a five-hour drive, a late arrival, and a hearty welcome, I was eager to catch more than a few winks, rejoicing in the fact that no alarm clock would jolt us out of bed the next morning.

I was in for quite a shock.

We were awakened at the crack of dawn by ...