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..USA Today - New daditude: Today's fathers are hands-on, pressure off..Connecticut Department of Children & Families - Resources for Dads
Since losing our health insurance two months ago, I have been particularly stressed over the well-being of my family. Although we rushed to make sure we were all tuned up and ready to go, it is still quite scary to be living in an age of high healthcare costs, but no way to pay the bills. Listening to people denigrate the proposed healthcare reforms has made me particularly angry too.
“This is good news.” Our DHS caseworker said. “Well, bad for you, but good too.” Apparently we were so broke that we qualify for the full Oregon Health Plan Plus program – 100% expenses paid. That is good news – except for the part where we are that broke! read more…
My Dad is an incredible man – you’ve heard me talk about him before. Born in a log cabin that was built in the late 1800s, no running water, and he not only had to walk to school, but the trip required a row boat and a horse too!
In the last 60 years, he has owned three businesses, raised a family, owned a vacation home, an RV, and has always driven sporty cars. He pioneered some “green” practices within the municipal water distribution systems around Portland. (To be truthful, he wasn’t trying to be green ~ that word didn’t exist in the 1980s ~ he was just being frugal and practical) read more…
Photo by Ucumari
One thing My daughter and I have always enjoyed doing is wrestling. Well, it really isn’t as much wrestling as it is tickling, crawling, laughing, and cuddling – but she calls it wrestling. It’s always been one of our special times. Just recently my Smiling Son has figured out how fun this is too!
He and I go through phases in our relationship. Several months ago, it was like a switch was flipped and he became infatuated by me. It was awesome! If this is what it’s like to be worshiped, then bring it on – ‘cuz my son was worshiping me. Then a a couple of months later, The Wife attended an event and took Darling Daughter. My son looked at me with distrust a bit of fear. It was as if he was saying, “Do you have what it takes to meet my needs?” read more…
Lately we haven’t been able to get out much. We are saving every penny for the approaching storm – in a very real fight to keep our home. So today, when I was going to Home Depot, I asked Darling Daughter if she wanted to go with me – she did! Then Mommy suggested that we all go – it was time for Smiling Son’s nap, and he falls asleep best while driving. So we loaded up the truck and headed out!
On the way there, Darling Daughter wanted to know why her cut finger was healing, even though there was no medicine in the Band-aid®. It was a good question – insightful really. Mommy gave her a medical answer about cleanliness, bacteria, and the work of the band-aid. But as they spoke, a thought came to my head. I realized that we are created to heal. People have been healing for centuries without the aid of triple antibiotic ointments. It’s in our DNA. read more…
My college roommate and I were in our room one warm Spring day listening to the scanner and shooting the breeze. Neither of us really had our head in the whole education game. As volunteer firefighters and EMTs in College Place, Washington, that’s where our focus was.
The locals were trying to make a living and the interruptions of ambulance calls were inconvenient to them. They were more than happy to let these 19 year old punks carry the pagers. Unfortunately, running ambulance calls and studying were not a good mix for us (and likely not for anyone else either). There was some chatter about a fire down in Oregon and we turned our attention to the scanner.
