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FAMILY
Sometimes life can be really hard on you. Debts mount
up, money runs out, you lose your job, you cannot handle
day to day activities, you start doing drugs or
drinking, there seems to be no way out. No way out
except….suicide. Every 17 minutes, someone, somewhere
commits suicide.
For every completed suicide, there are twenty-five
attempted suicides.
It
appears to them as the only way out. But one thing that
they never think about is the people left behind: their
loved ones, their spouses, children, parents and
friends. They are the ones that have to deal with the
grief, the unanswered questions. Even worse, they deal
with the guilt that they should have noticed this, or
recognized that and could have done something to stop it
from happening. Listen to these stats:
An estimated 750,000 suicide
attempts annually affect the lives of millions of family
members. The number of survivors grows 186,000 each
year. For every suicide, at least six other people's
lives are affected.
The book we will be discussing today is called, “AFTERSHOCK:
Help, Hope and Healing in the Wake of Suicide”. It is a
book that provides knowledge and resources for those
left in the wake of suicide. Our guest today is a
professional writer, member of the American Society of
Journalists and Authors and is on staff with The
Christian Communicator Manuscript Critique Service. You
have heard her name before on our show as she co-wrote
the book, “When Your Aging Parent Needs Care” which we
spoke about with co-author Kim Atchley. The book was
co-written by David Cox. It is our honor to welcome to
our show Candy Arrington.
Dee
Dees
Recently my mom was going through some old
photos she had. She scanned these old black and
white photos and emailed them out to family.
Great pictures but in many cases most of us
wondered who the heck some of the people were in
the photos. Probably most of you can say the
same thing when looking at old photos. Sometimes
you get lucky and the names were written on the
back of the photo. Well that is lucky if the
name has not smudged or worn off. Maybe the
names are under the picture in the photo album.
But who are these people? How were they related?
What is their story all about? Even if you
recognize them, what was going on in that photo
when it was taken? Why is Aunt Sally not
smiling? So here is today’s question, have you
thought about writing your life story? Why you
may ask? Good question. Not to be a guest on our
show, but for future generations of your family.
Listen we all will not be alive forever. With
every person that passes, a number of events and
history of your family passes with them. Think
about that and you will see I am right. Our
guest today says it is not difficult to write
your life story and has broken it down into
easy, manageable steps. She has written two
books, “Life Notes: Recording Your Memories…the
Legacy of a Lifetime” and the book we will be
discussing today called “Write Your Life Story
in 28 Days.” Please welcome to Your Life Matters
author, seminar leader, public speaker and
personal historian Dee Dees.
Today we are going to talk about a subject we probably
all know about but in many places rarely hear anything
about. I am talking about adoption.
On any given day in the U.S., more than 423,000 children
are in the foster care system, and nearly 115,000 of
them are available for adoption, just waiting for the
right family to find them.
More
children become available for adoption each year than
are adopted. In 2009, 69,947 children had parental
rights terminated by the courts, yet only 57,466 were
adopted. Children
often wait three years or more to be adopted, move three
or more times in foster care and often are separated
from siblings. The average age of waiting children is 8
years old.
Last year, 29,471 children turned 18 and left the
foster care system without an adoptive family. Many of
our listeners know of or have watched “Wednesday’s
Child” on the news. The show has won numerous awards and
we believe rightfully so. Today’s book we are going to
discuss is called “FINDING A FOREVER FAMILY:
A News
Anchors Notebook on Adoption Within the Foster Care
System”. Our guest today is the truly amazing Christine
Devine. Listen to this list and you will know why I call
her amazing
14 Emmys, six for best newscast ,
Best Anchor Team by Associated Press,
National Gracie Allen award by AWRT American
Women in Radio and Television,
Anna Quindlen award for philanthropy journalism
by Society of Professional Journalists,
"Angels in Adoption" from the U.S. Congress. She
is known for her Wednesday's Child news segment. She has
been honored by the U.S. Congress and Child Welfare
League of America. Since 1994 Fox 11 News has profiled
hard-to-place children in foster care waiting to be
adopted. The records show more than 400 children have
found forever homes. It is our honor and privilege to
welcome to Your Life Matters anchor, reporter, producer,
speaker, philanthropist and author Christine Devine.
The internet can be a truly amazing place. It is a
product of modern technology. Everyone wants the new
iPhone or the latest computer gadget that connects to
the Internet. You can update and read your Facebook page
from it. You can tweet to all of your followers. Take
and send photos or videos. Stay in constant contact with
your BFFs. OK…so if you are like me, you are saying OK,
I text every once in a while…do not see the big
deal…thought that was what email was for. I want my
phone to CALL someone and SPEAK to them. But Jenn will
tell you I am old. Technology is great but it also
brings major problems and new avenues for problems to
develop. So if you are like me, you have not a clue what
they are doing with today’s technology. Think back, we
had a problem learning where the keys were on a keyboard
to type. Today with their thumbs kids knock out texts
faster than we can think them. But seriously, here are
some of the problems….cyber bullying, sexting, textual
harassment, sextortion just to name a few. Confused? As
a parent you better not be. This is your child you are
speaking about and you better learn and learn quick. The
books we will discuss today are meant to do just that.
The books are “READ BETWEEN THE LINES” and the book “THE
PARENT’S GUIDE TO TEXTING, FACEBOOK AND SOCIAL MEDIA:
UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS AND DANGERS OF PARENTING IN A
DIGITAL WORLD.” Our guest today is Americas leading “Texpert” and cyberbullying prevention
expert. I will let her tell you more about herself, but
please welcome to Your Life Matters SHAWN MARIE EDGINGTON.
Jay Scott
Fitter
We have
all heard people say it was easy making a child,
but there was no instruction manual on how to
raise them. Many times we see parents who really
should not be parents…have no clue on how to
raise a child and the poor child is the one that
is going to be messed up when he or she gets
older. So where do we get the skills and those
great strategies to make raising a child more
effective and successful? Well our guest today
says it does not have to be quite so difficult.
As parents we want our children to be happy and
well adjusted. And the book we will be
discussing today, “Respect Your Children: A
Practical Guide To Effective Parenting.” This
book gives us the tools to make the really
important investment in our children’s lives.
And our guest today is going to answer the
question what does it mean to respect your
children? He is a Licensed Marriage and Family
Therapist. For the past nineteen years, he has
counseled with children, adolescents and parents
alike, helping them to work through their issues
and improve their lives. He has worked in
private practice settings, and foster care, as
well as juvenile detention facilities and as you
can imagine his experience has taught him a lot
about parenting and children. It is our honor to
welcome to Your Life Matters Show Jay Scott
Fitter.
Recently more and more I have heard about people being
transferred over to hospice. Most of us know that
usually means the end to someone’s life is near. It is a
more comforting place for families to go to spend their
final days with their loved ones outside of the strict
medical atmosphere of a hospital. My respect has always
gone out to the men and women who work at these
facilities. They make the families and the person so
much at home. They are a support team, trained and
committed to enhancing the excellent care you are
already receiving. They are going to be the doctors eyes
and ears and your advocate. They will also help support
your family during this trying time. I whole-heartedly
would have to think this has to become difficult on
these great people after some time. Facing the
inevitable end of life followed usually by the grief and
sorrow. Think about if it was YOU that was dying. Could
you still face it without fear and live life to the
fullest right up to the end? You may say yes, but think
about it carefully. Many or most of us would not. But to
some it may sound morbid, but you can prepare for it.
Today we are going to talk about the book “Dying To
Live: Embracing the Journeys” which is a collection of
inspiring true life stories about people living with
terminal illnesses. Plus it has the tools and resources
we need to help ease end of life tribulations. This
great book is written by someone with years of
experiencing working in hospice arena. Please welcome to
Your Life Matters Joanne Harvey.
OK I want to
ask our listeners, have you ever seen someone do something and
think, “I really wanna do that!” For some it is parachuting out
of an airplane, others it is hang gliding, we have had mountain
climbers here on the show, some even consider bungee jumping as
well. But truly, how many of you go back and do it? In 1976 our
next guest told his wife, “Someday, Someday I’ll do that!” Well
guess what? In 2002 he went back with his son and did it! Now
what did he do you ask? Let me say this, what they did
accomplish was something that fewer than 5 people complete every
year! What they did was canoe the Mississippi River…all 2,552
miles of it! They did it in a 20 foot Kevlar canoe, sometimes
facing 6 foot waves. The book we will be discussing today is
called “Mighty Miss”. The book highlights the trip…all of the
trials and tribulations of the Mississippi and the relationship
between a father and son. Our guest today has been guiding canoe
trips for over 45 years. He is a guide, instructor, a director
of organizational operations at schools and religious
institutions, teacher, counselor, minister and author. Please
welcome to Your Life Matters Gary Hoffman.
More and more we seem to live very
busy lives. We are running here, bringing the kids to
practice, picking them up, doing the laundry, going to
work and of course, try to sleep. Seems that is all there is
time for these days, maybe even removing parts of sleep
from the day as well. But as a parent, we know we have
to
truly want to spend quality time with our children or
grandchildren. You would love to be able to do something
fun with them and without them even knowing it, teach
them language, math, sequential thinking, basically
boosting their developmental skills. Ok, so now you are
thinking, yeah Steve I am sure this is going to be real
fun for everyone! Well, our next guest will make a
believer out of you.
Her name is Gabrielle
Kaplan-Mayer. She is the author of the book, “The
Kitchen Classroom – 32 Visual Gluten Free and Casein
Free Recipes to Boost Development Skills.” If you are a
regular listener to our show you know what Gluten Free
Foods are. If not, I am sure our guest today will
explain. But Casein Free Foods we have never discussed
and will explain today as well. So now you are thinking
fun, educational AND healthy? The book even comes with a
CD of recipes and pictures. Our guest today is a writer,
educator, and cooking instructor. She teaches a cooking
class for teenagers who then prepare meals for
home-bound seniors. She is also the mother of 2 young
children, including one with autism. It is our pleasure
to welcome to Your Life Matters Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer.
It is our next author’s desire to share her genealogical
accomplishments with anyone who feels the deep passion
which comes from asking the questions, "who are my
ancestors and where is my extended family?" She hopes to
lead readers down my path of exploration, where she
found family members who were 'always out there, but
never known to me'. It is her wish that her discoveries,
methods, stories and historical accounts will INSPIRE
anyone who wishes to begin the wondrous adventure of
bringing his Family Tree and its 'roots' to life. Well
our guest today is author Elizabeth Ruderman Miller and
we will be speaking about her book, “How Will I Know
Where I’m Going If I Don’t Know Where I’ve Been?”. So here is
today’s question: How do you improve your family’s health,
improve their relationships, save money, raise happier kids who
get better grades and are less likely to do drugs? Two simple
words…Family Dinner! Now I hear the groaning…yeah, try to get MY
kids to sit down at a dinner table…or with soccer practice,
ballet lessons, piano lessons, work, cleaning the house, who has
the time to prepare a meal that we can all sit around the table
and eat together? Well our guest today has a sign on her fridge
that says: “I serve 3 meals: Microwave, Frozen and Take-Out.”
She asked herself that same question, even before she got her
coat off from work. The reality is dinner is a constant
challenge. The book we will talk about today addresses that
challenge head on. I want to read a line or two directly from
the book…”This book is not about making you feel guilty. It’s
not about complicated recipes meant to turn you into Martha
Stewart. Nor is it meant to berate you if you serve pizza,
chicken nuggets, or Chinese take-out on occasion. Rather, it’s
meant to help you get your family to the table, turn off the TV,
spark conversation, and spend quality time together.” Our guest
today has more than 20+ years
publishing experience as both an editor and a writer. She
started her career at Seventeen Magazine, then moved into travel
and parenting. Most recently, she was a Senior Editor at the
InTown Magazine network, the magazine division of the
Westchester-based Journal News where she covered all kinds of
lifestyle issues: food, parenting, fashion. She is the mother of
teenagers, so she knows a lot of this first hand. Please welcome
to Your Life Matters Jeanne Muchnick.
Here is today
question, “What would you do if your husband was sterile and
infertile and you could not conceive a baby? Would you adopt?
Would you just go without a child? Would you consider artificial
insemination? Now before you start answering, I want you to go
back 20 years. Today we test donors extensively, get a medical
history and try to ensure the donor is safe. This was not the
way it was 20 years ago. You knew nothing except what the doctor
tells you. What if you had questions? There were no real
answers. Our guest today experienced this first hand. The book
we will be discussing is called “Dear Donor”. And it is our
pleasure to have as our guest today author Elsa Prado.
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