Moms and Daughters

My sister-in-law, Kris Grafton, and I worked on a project this past summer that has come to fruition. What started out to be a book on hormones for adolescence through menopause ended up being a book for mothers to help them know how to talk with their teenage daughters.

When we mentioned "the talk" or asked ladies what their mothers told them we were amazed at the lack of talk between mothers and their adolescent daughters. From generation to generation, mothers are failing to talk with their daughters. If we mothers don't talk with our daughters, where are they going to get their information? Their young, inexperienced, misinformed PEERS! That is not God's plan. He wants you to talk with your daughter.

We're excited to present this 200+ page book filled with practical knowledge about hormones, the physical changes that take place during adolescence, etc. But the book is so much more than that. Those "facts" can be found in many books. Talking to Our Daughters is different for several reasons. First, the foundation of all that is taught in the book is based on Scripture. One of the great problems with our society (actually the great problem) is that God is left out. He is our starting point! He is our foundation! Secondly, the book gives very pracitcal guidelines of when and how to talk with your daughter. Thirdly, the book addresses the emotional and spiritual issues that young people face.

One of my favorite chapters is the final chapter, a Bible study on the Naaman's maid who helped find healing from leprosy for her master. She was a teenage girl who possessed the same traits our young people have today. The Bible is such a practical book!

The book is available at http://www.graftonpublications.etsy.com/. I would encourage every mother of daughters who live at home to purchase this book and use it as a very practical guide to help you guide your daughter(s) into womanhood God's way. This is a book your daughter(s) want you to read!

Oh, by the way, we have not forgotten the original book we started. Next year we will publish a book on hormones from young adulthood through menopause!

Teen Entrepeneurs

If you have read my blog for very long, you know that I have a great love for teenagers. They are a group of people filled with passion, energy, ideas, and potential. They are our future and that behooves us to invest in them, support them, guide them, and encourage them.

Today I did a treasury on Etsy and featured all teen sellers. (http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=16813) I've had some conversations with a few of these teens and they have a great spirit. (Pictured is one of the featured items.)

If you don't have some young people in your life I encourage you to look for them, find them, and invest in them. My mentor of 25 years who passed away of ovarian cancer in 2001 said, "Invest in young people; they're where it's at." She was looking at life from the perspective of knowing she would soon be in Heaven. She knew where to invest her time and energy. One of those young people she invested in was my teenage (at the time) daughter. Her investment is paying great dividends...and yours will too!

Women's Health Issues

For several years I suffered a myriad of health issues. I had no idea what was wrong and continued to get more and more frustrated as physicians, even at major medical centers, told me there was nothign wrong with me. It was in my head. I was in pain, experienced horrible fatigue, and sometimes didn't think I could make it up the steps to our bedroom when I got home at the end of a day. I had no idea that my issues were hormone issues.

I began praying and begging God for answers. He heard me and led me to a Christian physician who gave me incredible help. It was then I realized I need to take more responsibility for my health and began to do research. I read dozens of books, listened to tapes and CDs and attended seminars. It has been a slow journey, and I am still not completely back 100%. However, I never dreamed I could lose weight, have energy, and live a normal lifestyle with a full schedule again.

I have written a book entitled, Feeling Great and Looking Good for the Cause of Christ. in which I share the principles that have helped me to regain my health. I have written seven books. By far, I have had more response from this book than any other. At conferences where I speak ladies come to me in tears and tell me they have their life back because they have followed the principles in my book.

If you are suffering with health issues I am sorry for you. I want you to feel good again, have energy, have a clear mind, and be able to function and do the work God has for you on this earth. You can purchase this book at our new Etsy shop, www.graftonpublications.etsy.com. God bless you, dear reader. I trust this book will be a help and a blessing to you.

Enjoying Fall

If you live where there are changing seasons you are, as I am, most fortunate. My husband just said today that we are nearing the peak with the changing trees in our area. It was such a gorgeous cool, crisp, sunny day here in Northwest Indiana.

There are so many great things about fall...the changing leaves, the falling leaves (it's so fun to "shuffle" through the leaves), bountiful harvests of so many kinds of squash, apples, and more. Yards are decorated with colorful mums, pumpkins, cornstalks, bales of straw, and scarecrows. There are bonfires with hot chocolate, hot dogs, and s'mores! There's that first frost and seeing your breath in the morning.

Enjoy these wonderful fall days. Drive where there are lots of trees and enjoy the color. (We live near the Indiana Dunes and always take a drive there in the fall to enjoy the thousands of trees.) Soon it will be winter. I love winter; it has a beauty of it's own. But take the time to enjoy today...the beautiful fall with all of it's color! God made it for us to enjoy so let's do it!