Tears in a Bottle  is filled with short, easy to read articles that address every day life from the perspective of my personal walk with God. Some articles in  Tears in a Bottle  were previously published  by Regular Baptist Press, either in their Sunday School adult papers or their magazine,  The Baptist Bulletin . Today's feature article, About Angels , was originally titled Angels in their Midst and was a follow-up article to Letting Go, yesterday's feature article. About Angels tells how God's angels protected my son and his platoon during the heavy fighting in the Battle of Fallujah. Angels are real. This is not a feel-good fantasy. Click here for your copy, either Kindle or paperback, today. ~Tricia

Tears in a Bottle  is filled with short, easy to read articles that address every day life from the perspective of my personal walk with God. Some articles in  Tears in a Bottle  were previously published  by Regular Baptist Press, either in their Sunday School adult papers or their magazine,  The Baptist Bulletin . About Letting Go , the second article in Tears in a Bottle , is the very personal story of when one of our sons decided to join the Marine Corps Infantry after 9/11. Just 17-years-old, he saw Ground Zero and felt the Holy Spirit was telling him to do his part to fight terrorism. My struggle with his decision is laid bare in this transparent article. After publication through Regular Baptist Press, this article went on to become a go-to resource for Military Chaplains. A hard article to write, but an even harder reality to live, find out how God protected my boy while keeping my heart together at the same time. Get your copy of Tears in a Bottl...

My book,  Tears in a Bottle , is filled with short, easy to read articles that address everyday life from the perspective of my personal walk with God. Some articles in Tears in a Bottle were previously published  by Regular Baptist Press, either in their Sunday School adult papers or their magazine, The Baptist Bulletin . Article one, About Tears , explores what God has to say about tears in His Word. Our tears are so important to God that He puts them in a bottle and writes them in His book. Imagine! Learn more about what God has to say about your tears by clicking here . This article has been the most-searched of all my articles on e-zine and highly requested since it's original publication in The Baptist Bulletin . ~Tricia

For the past 10 days, I've posted the 10 rules for preventing child abuse in this blog, one rule per day. Today, I'm summarizing and listing all the rules so they are all in one place for you to see. There are a lot of books on helping children and adults overcome the effects of abuse, but I don't see a lot of books focused on how to prevent abuse in the first place. Prevention is better than recovery. These 10 rules go far in preventing child abuse. While they are not a guarantee, implementing them can make a difference in any child's life because they empower children against abuse. Click here for your copy of Preventing Abused Children. Rule # 1 - Not every grown up is your boss. Rule # 2 - Mom is the boss of everybody. Rule # 3 - It does not take a village, it takes committed parent(s). Rule # 4 - Women, stop submitting to men who are not your husband. Rule # 5 - Keep no secrets. Rule # 6 - Give your kids rules for abductors. Rule # 7 - Trust your intu...

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #10 - Apologize to no one. Women often apologize as a default, as though our very presence requires an apology. This has to stop. If we are the boss of everybody, there is nothing to apologize for. It's so important to  not apologize about how you’re raising your kids. Let them see you be decisive, sure-footed and determined to do what’s best for them no matter what. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #9 - You are the boss of your own body. Abusers often try to entice children by garnering sympathy for themselves, saying they need a hug or some other affection. Children are generally very compliant with this because they are generous. But, you can teach your child that they don't owe an adult a hug or any other affection that makes them feel funny. Tell them adults can hug trees if they really need a hug. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #8 - No means no. This seems so obvious to me, but I've learned that people think no means maybe, or no means talk me into it or no means I want to say no 5 times. In our house, no means no and that's the end of it. No means no. No is a complete sentence. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #7 - Trust your intuition. Intuition is a God-given gift. Trust it. Use it. Don't second guess yourself. Trust your intuition with confidence. If you feel like something is wrong, it probably is. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #6 - Give your kids rules for abductors. This may sound ludicrous until you realize that a kid with a plan is a powerful thing. Abusers depend on the submission of their victims as well as the power to carry out their plan. They don't usually prepare for someone having a plan of their own. They can sense it like a dog smelling out prey. Equip your kid with rules for abductors and they will be less likely to fall prey,. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #5 - Keep no secrets. When an adult tried to have one of my kids keep a secret from me about something they talked about, it quickly came to an end because my child came right to me and I dealt with that adult in a hurry. No secrets. No exceptions. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #4 - Women, stop submitting to men who are not your husband. When kids see their mom being submissive to all men, this sends a strong message that men have some sort of God-given authority over all other people. Ridiculous. Women, stop it. We have the power to stop submitting to men and it's time we took action on it. Remember, Mom, you are the boss of everybody....including men. Don't fall prey to patriarchal teaching in your church, either. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #3 - It does not take a village, it takes committed parent(s) To have a child think that everyone in their village, town or community has parental influence is to widen the opportunity for all abusers to victimize more kids. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children  is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #2 - Mom is the boss of everybody. How empowering for a kid to realize that their mom is the boss of everybody. From the playground supervisor to the crossing guard, from the Drill Instructor to the President, Mom is everybody's boss when it comes to her kids. Moms, teach your kids that you are the boss of everybody. Click here to read more. ~Tricia

Preventing Abused Children is my newest e-book and it consists of 10 rules that can help prevent children from being victims of abuse. Rule #1 - Not every grown up is your boss This is vitally important for children to realize. If they think every grown up in the world is their boss simply because they are a grown up, it opens the doors to abuse very widely. Teach your kids that not every grown up is their boss. Teach them the difference between respect and authority. To read more, click here .  ~Tricia

I am launching my newest e-book this week with a 3-day free offer! You can pick up your copy of Preventing Abused Children  free for the next three days. I wrote this e-book because I believe children with a plan for abusers have a much better chance of avoiding abuse. This book gives them a plan through a list of 10 rules that can help prevent abuse. Abuse happens everywhere. It happens in your church. It happens in your school. It happens in your family. It happens in your neighborhood. Arm your kids with these rules and they will be less likely to fall victim. Click here for your free copy. ~Tricia

I really have been writing all this time.....just not on this blog. I should have been writing here, but let me tell you, cancer changes things. It changes our time availability, our priorities, our focus and our energy. If you don't know, my husband has been battling B-Cell Lymphoma for the past few months. His treatment involved aggressive chemotherapy, twice-daily abdominal shots, weekly visits to The Johns Hopkins Hospital for lab work and complete exhaustion most days after work. Cancer changes every aspect of your life and your family's life. This has been the summer of cancer. I had to let a few things go. Even though I've kept writing, it has been highly affected by his cancer battle. Tomorrow is a milestone for his cancer, however, as he has his final PET scan to see if the chemo worked. They have given us every reason to expect a good report. They expect him to be cancer-free. I hope they are right. We are ready to put this behind us. ~Tricia