Family and Home Archives

This Obituary Will Make You Smile

There’s something beautiful about a life well-lived. When someone consistently lives out their values in a million (sometimes quiet) ways, others notice – and are blessed by the legacy.

That’s the case with Mary Agnes Mullaney, a wife, mother and grandmother who recently passed away at age 85. The family she left behind honored her memory with an obituary filled with life lessons that gave colorful and heartwarming glimpses into Mullaney’s person and character.

“Pink,” as she was called, was the type of person who lived for others.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, news September 17, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

VIDEO: The 2 Questions We Should Ask Before War

The situation in Syria is dominating our evening and online news outlets. It can be challenging to think through what type of response, if any, the United States should take in response.

CitizenLink, our sister organization dedicated to issues that impact the family in the public policy world, recently released a video that explores the two questions we should ask before entering any armed conflict. I hope you’ll take a look.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: news, policy, religious liberty September 16, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

VIDEO: “Will You Spin Me, Daddy?”

Like most young ladies anticipating their wedding day, Rachel Wolf had looked forward to her father/daughter dance since she was a little girl. Recently, that long-awaited dream came true for her. And, as you’ll see in the video below, it was a beautiful moment.

But this dance was far different than most of its kind. You see, Rachel wasn’t really getting married. In fact, she wasn’t even engaged. No, this was a unique wedding dance she and her family had planned so Rachel and her father, James, could share that special moment together before he passed away from pancreatic cancer.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment, family, husband, marriage, wife September 13, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Worth a Read: “A Guide to Saving Marriage”

There’s an important article over at National Review Online that I wanted to highlight for you. “A Guide to Saving Marriage” is an interview with Hilary Towers, a developmental psychologist who has some insightful things to say about marriage, the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex unions, and cohabitation.

I’ll leave you with this gem of wisdom gleaned from the interview:

Young people, in particular, deserve to hear the truth about what to expect from a vocation to married life at this time in history.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, marriage, wife September 12, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Hookup Culture Also Hurts Our Boys

When we discuss the growing trends of young people engaging in the “hookup culture” – casual sex and sexual acts outside of marriage – we often speak of the damage it does to girls. There’s good reason for that, obviously – young women often feel great pressure to go along with certain behaviors and later pay a high price for it in terms of sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy and emotional wounds.

But what about the young men?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, kids September 10, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What to Do if You Know a Millennial Apathetic Towards Faith

There’s a lot of discussion online lately about young people and the Church – their role in it, why they are (or aren’t) leaving the faith and what Church and ministry leaders should do about it.

You may have seen the articles – CNN’s “Belief Blog” ran a guest post titled “Why millennials are leaving the church.” The Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog featured rebuttals, including “The new religious fundamentalists? Millennial Christians.”

First, some perspective.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, kids September 9, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Make Someone Smile this Weekend

I wanted to share with you a heartwarming news story this Friday in hopes that it would inspire you to think creatively in how you can bless others.

Just reading the article’s headline, “Superhero Window Washers Assemble at Children’s Hospital” is enough to make you smile. A hospital staffer at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, where the event took place, described the reactions of the young patients to the sight of Superman, Spiderman, Batman and Captain America outside their hospital rooms’ windows: “It was incredible… There were screams of joy and amazement.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids September 6, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

It Starts and Stops with Me

Here in Colorado, we’re looking forward to the promise of fall – yet I’m still thinking back on our family’s vacation this past summer to South Dakota. Our trips to the Black Hills have become an annual tradition.

Just a few miles south of Mount Rushmore is another memorial. It’s not as well-known or as acclaimed as the four presidents carved in stone, but it has a similarly fascinating history.

About 65 years ago, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski accepted Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear’s proposal to build a monument honoring the heritage of Native Americans.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith September 5, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

“We Serve a Remarkable God”

I want to share a personal email I received last week from Tim Goeglein, our vice president of external relations. Tim helps spread the word about what Focus does in and around our nation’s capital. I’ll share some thoughts after the email.

When you were last in Washington, I took you to Anacostia — the most disadvantaged part of our city.

I wanted you to go there because, so often, the image projected to our nation and the world about Washington is the power, glitz, schmooze part of it.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, faith September 3, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What Every Marriage Needs

We’re rolling out a new marriage program here at Focus on the Family designed to help newlyweds as well as couples married for years. It’ll speak to new moms and dads just starting their family, as well as seasoned parents preparing to send their kids off to college. It has the potential to give hope and help to husbands and wives facing bankruptcy, infertility or even adultery.

Does this sound too good to be true? How can one program do so much?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, marriage, wife August 28, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura