by Shannon Popkin | Apr 8, 2013 | Differences, Family, Humility
I don’t vacation well. It’s taken me many vacations to figure this out, but it’s true. If I were graded on my vacation behavior, I would have a pretty low grade point. Hopefully my husband won’t force me to drop out!I always begin losing points when the packing...
by Shannon Popkin | Jan 28, 2013 | Communication, Differences, Marriage, Roles, Women
We Control Girls have this tactic called persistence. The more we bring something up, the closer we get to the tipping point–where our husbands abdicate their preferences to keep their sanity. I used this tactic on Ken by initiating regular...
by Shannon Popkin | Jan 4, 2013 | Compassion, Differences, Marriage, Roles
About six months into marriage, on a cold January day, we locked ourselves out of our second story apartment. My husband decided to use a big tank next to the house–a two story, which had been divided into apartments–to hoist himself up to a balcony on the...
by Shannon Popkin | Nov 16, 2012 | Anxiety, Differences, Disagreement, Family, Holidays, Problems, Roles, Women
I’d like to call for a huddle before we kick off the holiday seasons. Calling all the women in the family, please. Can we huddle up for a moment?Now, please don’t call me coach. I’m really not in a position to be coaching anyone on these matters. So...
by Shannon Popkin | Jul 12, 2012 | Christian Growth, Differences, Food, Kids' Perspective, Mistakes, Parenting, Sin
Here are the blueberries we picked yesterday. And this is only the half that my mom didn’t take home! Over 85 pounds in two hours–definitely a record for us!Our success was due, in part, to one particular picker. In years past, he filled his tummy more...
by Shannon Popkin | May 29, 2012 | Anxiety, Compassion, Differences, Hardship, Kids' Perspective, Mistakes, Rescue
Last week I asked my son who is favorite elementary school teacher was. He named several, but our conversation gravitated toward Mrs. DeKam–an exceptionally special teacher, when we especially needed one.The year before had been so difficult. My son had entered...