Nicholas was one year old and had been in four foster homes when my husband, Tom, and I adopted him from Guatemala. We realized he might have problems but were eager to love this little boy, along with our four other children. Continue »

Leaving our teenagers at home for a few days without a sitter for the first time was scary. Our decision to travel was made and unmade at least a thousand times (or so it seemed). Continue »

"Record Numbers of Teens Serving Others. Family Upbringing Identified as Cause." Imagine that as a headline in the morning paper. Continue »

“Family” and “prayer” belong together. After all, as the Second Vatican Council taught, our families are the “domestic church.” Continue »

My fingers furiously flipped through a hardcover edition of "Butler’s Lives of the Saints". “Daddy’s original plan” for my kindergartner to be the patron saint of dancers for the All Saints parade had blown up in my face. Continue »

I grew up in a big family, with grandparents and cousins nearby. Life was a round of family visits and gatherings, with twenty people jammed around the table for holidays. Then my husband and I moved away to a big city where I hardly knew a soul. I was terribly homesick and missed my family desperately. But at least, I still had “Days of Our Lives”! Continue »