Tim and Olive's Blog

The theme for the third week of Advent is Joy. One thing that I’ve thought about this year is the relationship between gratitude and joy. I started off thinking that we are grateful as a result of joy. For example, I have a great family that brings me joy, and because of that, I am grateful. Or my boss just praised me for doing a great job on a recent project which brings me joy, and as a result I feel grateful. But it seems I may have been mistaken. Read More

The theme for Advent week 2 is peace. I’ve collected a few quotes about peace to reflect on this coming week.
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The first Sunday of December (which was yesterday) marks the beginning of Advent. Advent is a season observed by many Christians as a time of preparation and expectant waiting for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. The term comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming”.
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[This is a guest post by Dr. Nareeta Stephenson, a Port Coquitlam Chiropractor specializing in family chiropractic, women’s health and sensory processing disorder.]

• Is it a struggle to get socks on your child because the seams bug them or they are “pilly” inside?
• Does your child become upset with loud or unexpected noise? Or notice noises that most of us don’t hear (like fans, fridges, beeps or hums)?
• Does your child have a melt down when you enter the mall or any other busy place?
• Is your child PICKY eater?
• Does your child have a difficult time keeping their hands to themselves?

Maybe your child is suffering from Sensory overload and you don’t even know it.Read More

[This is a guest post by James Radcliff.]

Choosing an education for your child is a critical decision given its impact on the long-term prospects and successes of your child in a personal and professional capacity. There is much debate about the type of education that merits the best results. The reason I think that comparing private to home school is interesting is because they are both options that generally cost money. In fact homeschooling can be more expensive than private school – since it usually requires a parent to give up working.
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Three days ago, Seth Adam Smith published a blog post entitled “Marriage Isn’t For You” that went viral (Seth says it has over 4 million views so far). His cleverly titled post explained that marriage isn’t about your own happiness, but about your spouse’s happiness.
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[This is a guest post by Randy Hamm from The Marriage Mentor. He has been working with premarital and married couples for over 10 years.]

“Um, to be honest, what would we talk to a mentor about for 6 hours?”

I had just explained that I usually recommend a minimum of three, 2-hour sessions (for a total of 6 hours) for premarital mentoring. The bride-to-be (let’s call her Kate) on the other end of the line couldn’t imagine needing to talk for so long about their relationship. I had them complete an online assessment, and once they began to see their assessment results, they decided that it couldn’t hurt. Halfway through the second session they, specifically the guy (let’s call him Will), commented how much they enjoyed the process: exploring their differences, looking at the families they came from and their styles of communication. Now they are eager to get to the next topics of discussion (finances, sexuality, kids, etc).

I’ve seen dozens of couples in the Vancouver area make discoveries like this.
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“Mama, look at this one!” my daughter waved an autumn leaf excitedly. “And this one!” as she bent down to pick up another. Watching her run here and there, one would think there was endless treasure scattered everywhere about her. To her, there was.

As I reached out my hand to receive the gift she was extending to me, I tried to remain positive and supportive. The leaf was withered, speckled and half-decayed.
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I was very excited to receive my copy of “God In My Everything” because the author, Ken Shigematsu, is my mentor and I respect him greatly. This is my review of his book.
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Every worthwhile art project I’ve ever undertaken, I have hated.

Somewhere in the middle of the creating process, I have inevitably hit a point where I felt frustrated, stuck and miserable about whatever I was working on.Read More