Stop Those Divorces! NOW!

Why do we want to stop divorces? isn't it a good thing that our laws make divorce so easy? Don't you think that "No fault Divorce" is a boon to society, especially women? As one of my favorite teachers said so often:

"In America divorce is easy. The trouble is, separation is impossible."

No matter how long a couple has been divorced, separating from those past memories is almost impossible to leave behind. I recently spoke with a person who became upset because her current husband and her ex had a pleasant conversation together. Why was she upset? Separation of feelings, memories and bitterness is almost impossible.

For some reason, God hates divorce. Do you suppose He has a good reason or is it because he is irrational and a kill joy. God loves people but hates divorce. Maybe he hates divorce because it is harmful to the couple, their children and their family members. Our research on parents who have a disabled child indicates that some 85% of the couples who giver birth to a seriously disabled child get a divorce.

Can you imagine how difficult it is to rear a child alone without a partner? It is difficult. Very difficult. I have met many such persons, usually women, and they all say how difficult it is for them to manage the kids, the money, the responsibilities and the work they must also carry out. It is disastrously difficult.

Now add a serious disability to the mix and see what you get. It is an impossible task. Parents with a disabled kid find the stresses and strains so overwhelmingly difficult that they too often get a divorce. How hard would that be on the child and the mother? Unbelievable!

This is why we at Sweeten Life Systems work so hard to PREVENT divorces by teaching people how to live together in harmony. "I want to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony..." We can reduce the divorce rate. Believe me it is possible if churches would study the research on what causes and what cures toxic conflict. Not all conflict just the toxic kind. It can be done.

Sweeten Life Heals Relationships

Over the past forty years or so of my professional ministry of offering Christian care and counsel I have directly helped hundreds of marriages and families stay connected and married to each other. That is very rewarding, but it is not enough for me. That is why I did post doctoral work in marriage and family counseling and also studied other ways to impact entire churches and groups of men and women in positive ways so they could live more abundant lives and enjoy A Lifetime of Great Relationships.

If you are following this series of posts about what works in a marriage to promote Great Relationships, consider attending a class on listening, couple communication and marital enrichment. I wish every church had a dozen people who could do what I have done for so long. Just think, thousands of marriages and five times that number of kids would be positively affected.

Great Relationships?

What makes a great marriage relationship?

Absence of anger?
No arguments?
Lots of sex?
Lots of money?
Both working?
Only one working?
Kids?
No kids?
Great mother in law?
No mother in law?
Women submit to husbands?
Men an women are equal?
Both are Christians?
Commitment to stay together?
Prayers?
Church attendance?

What think ye? Well, IMO, some of these things do actually tend to facilitate a good to great marriage relationship, but only if they actually bring love to one or both members of the marriage. Yes, it is love applied in the nine aspects listed in Galatians 5:22 ff that really make a difference and keep the couple and the family functional.

It needs to be known, however, that love and anger; love and conflict; love and differences are not mutually exclusive. Almost every couple has conflict. Almost every couple has angry exchanges. Almost every couple has communication breakdowns, problem solving difficulties and failure to and manage conflict .

It isn't their perfection that keeps a couple together in a great marriage, it is what that couple does when imperfection, conflict and anger occur. In other words, "How do they deal with differences, disagreements and emotional explosions.

You may ask, "What are the options? I can only think of one option. Scream at him while he runs and cusses at me. Are there other options?"

Yes, there are but they may need to be learned as married adults.

The Word from an Expert

From whom did you think you were going to hear about the causes of divorce? Did you think I would quote Dr. Phil? he certainly impressed Oprah. Maybe he would impress me as well. Nope, Dr. Phil is not very impressive to me. He certainly is not as impressive as the expert I am quoting.

My expert is the person who is remembered for saying things like, "The truth shall set you free" and "You shall know them by their fruit." Any guesses? OK, OK! You guessed it is Jesus.

When He said, "You shall know them by their fruit it was obvious that His focus was on the quality of our relationships. Later, St. Paul heard the Holy Spirit say the same thing and he listed the things he heard and labeled them as the "Fruit of the Spirit." By looking at and these fruit we can see the positive qualities the Spirit develops in the lives of those who know and follow Jesus. The list is found in Galatians 5:22ff and their are nine in all. However, that is not the entire list but it covers about everything we can imagine in developing Great Relationships.

these fruit are the key to child rearing, marital health, business success, neighborly harmony and a great reputation. Their opposite shows up in divorces, disharmony, domestic violence, disrespect among co-workers and neighbors who dislike us. They are the real cause of divorce. If you don't believe me, just try living daily by the rotten fruit of the contemporary spirits!

Divorce is Not so Easy

If none of the things I posted above cause divorce, what does? Too often we in our Western culture look at the symptoms of a problem as the real problem and thereby try to cure the disease by eliminating the symptom.

In 1998 a golfer from Spain named Olazabal was unable to walk well enough to play pro golf. His foot hurt him so badly he limped around the house and needed assistance to do anything. He faced certain retirement unless his doctors discovered the cause. But the doctors were stumped and he looked certain retirement in the face.

then he received a letter from a doctor in Germany who said he thought he knew why Mr. Olazabal was in so much pain. So, the millionaire sportsman flew to Germany for an examination. The German doctor discovered that the root of the problem lay in the golfer's back not his feet where everyone else was looking. They fixed his back and the pain in his feet and legs disappeared.

I was given two free tickets to the Master's Golf Tournament in Georgia for 1999. My wife and I went down to see it as the guests of the parents of Rev. James Brown, a Presbyterian Minister. It was a wonderful time and we had a ball. The Masters was won that year by Mr. Olazabal.

What can be the root of marital misery that causes so much pain that the couple abandons its love and commitment to each other and get divorced? What do you think it is or they are?

The Causes of Divorce

Why are we Americans so slow to develop premarital preparation that prevents divorces? We know the causes of divorce. It is not pornography. It is not adultery. It is not money. It is not work. It is not poverty. It is not too much golf or too many hobbies or drugs, alcohol or rock and roll.

Nor is it the lack of sex.

Nor is it the lack of commitment to marriage. I have never, ever heard anyone on their wedding day, say, "I take thee to be my FIRST wife or my FIRST husband. It is very rare for folks to get married with the expressed desire to get a divorce.

But the myths are listed above and those churches and community groups dedicated to "saving marriages" too often focus on these matters not the root matters.

What causes most divorces? Would you like to know?

Divorce of Parents with Kids who have Special Needs

I mentioned that when a couple discovers their child has a severe disability, the likelihood of divorce is very high. Many writers, researchers and professional service providers use the divorce rate of 85%. That is high. Very high. Why?

Marital harmony is a challenge for any couple. Disagreements, conflicts and learning to live together requires a lot of hard work, patience and an ability to overlook the idiosyncrasies of a mate. After the sexual drive, the honeymoon and the stage of fascination is over the real work begins. then a child arrives and the fun begins.

It is rare for any two people to agree on the discipline, feeding, sleeping, and educating of a child. Cracks appear in the unity of the couple and the child, whose psychological insights about the rearing of parents far exceeds the wisdom of parents about child rearing,intuitively decides she likes the parents better when they are divided, pushes them farther and farther apart.

When a child comes along who has a severe disability, the false guilt, shame and disappointment of one or both parents is intense. Mom usually has more of this volatile mix of nasty self loathing and begins to over function as a care giver toward the child. Now let it be said immediately that female over functioning toward a child in our culture is the norm. But hell hath no fury like a mother with a sick child.

Where does this leave dad? On the outside looking longingly at his former loving wife whose entire life is now spent in prayer and fasting for her wounded offspring. If this continues, as often is the case, and dad works hard but is, in his opinion, snubbed, under appreciated and left without sex or nurture, he can easily become a WWB. (Wounded Water Buffalo) He is filled with self pity, anger, sexual frustration and jealousy, none of which can he admit even to himself because it seems so childish, selfish and narcissistic.

So, mom is obsessed with the child or children and dad is obsessed with work, performance and things outside the home. This leads mom to further distance herself from dad and anxiously focus on the children. This is a disaster in the heart and mind of the couple. They are ready to pop.

Who is to blame? What would we say about whose fault the divorce is when another woman comes along who listens to his tale of woe and comforts him? What would you suggest to such a man and such a woman?

Why Do Churches Neglect the Poor?

In my last post I asked why there are so many divorces among couples who have a child with a serious disability. Now I am following up with a story about research on single mothers who are not welcomed at their churches or any church. The research from ARDA shows that, despite a newly intense interest in prayer, God and church attendance, many poor, single mothers feel unwanted by God and church leaders.

You can read part of the article here but I suggest that you go to the link and see the additional resources, statistics and maps.

Latoya and Shantelle, two poor single mothers, stay away from church due to guilt and a sense of “being a sinner.” Adrienne will not attend after a pastor refused to baptize her baby.

Yet what these three women have in common with many new mothers is a strong interest in instilling faith in their children, reports sociologist Susan Crawford Sullivan of College of the Holy Cross.

Her research and other studies on the religious practices of low-income mothers reveal a renewed commitment to faith with parenthood. Acting on that faith can provide a number of benefits from better behavioral outcomes for children to reduced parental stress for struggling moms, the studies suggest.

But the data also raise questions:

Why don’t more poor mothers take advantage of these critical resources?
What can churches do to close the gap?

Congregations appear to be sending real or perceived signals that it’s OK for the poor to be always with them — as long as it is not in the next pew. Some young, single mothers, unable to keep up with church fashion or put much in the collection plate, stay away on Sundays even as they make sure their children attend.

Even for the child who’s got his own, the lack of parental involvement makes it that much harder to keep the faith.

This is real data on why so many parents refuse to attend church despite wanting to be worshiping, learning and praying with other Christians. Do churches really want to grow when the neglect people such as this? Do we not realize that one of the reasons the Early Church in the Roman Empire grew rapidly because they openly accepted the wives and concubines of wealthy Romans and reared them as Christians?

Do the parents of kids with chronic illnesses and problems also feel rejected and unwelcome in many of our churches? We do know that upon learning of the chronic condition of their child the desire for spiritual support and understanding goes way up but the availability of such support goes way down!

Would any of your like to minister to the low hanging fruit of hurting moms and dads by showing love, understanding and practical helps to the one with ongoing challenges? Come on November 6 to our Gathering at Christ's Church at Mason and learn how. See our web link at sweetenlife.com

Why so many Divorces?

Why so many Divorces?

The divorce rate of parents who have a child with a serious, chronic special need is thought to be about 85%. The divorce rate of all couples is way too high but still much lower than the 85% mentioned for parents with a sick child. What are we to think when we see these stats?

Write and tell me what you think about this data.

Why do so many parents with sick kids get divorced?

What would you suggest we do to reduce this terrible pattern?

Sex Without Marriage, A Real Problem

A Pyramid of Childhood Loss

When Children Lose a Parent, Chronic Illnesses Increase

Is promiscuity the biggest problem facing us in the beginning of the 21st Century? I think it is very close to being the #1. social, ethical and financial problem happening in our lifetime. It has even brought notoriety to the trapped miners in Chili. Here is part of the story in The U.K. Telegraph.

Trouble Above as well as Below Ground

Several men have been revealed to have children by different women, and competing claims for their affections. And amid talk of lucrative compensation claims, film and book deals and media buy-ups, love and money are destined for an awkward clash.

For Yonni Barrios, the conflict is perhaps most striking. Beneath ground, he has played one of the starring roles in the remarkable story as "Dr House", as his fellow miners call him in honour of their favourite US television medical show. Several years ago, he completed a short medical training course to care for his ill grandmother. And so, via video conference and written instructions from medics at the surface, he has taken blood samples and administered drugs and creams for high blood pressure, diabetes, fibrosis, skin infections and mouth sores.

But even as the 50-year-old was centre-stage 2,300 feet underground, his tangled domestic arrangements provided an extra spectacle above ground. For his wife and a woman who claimed to be the lover he has promised to marry only discovered that each other existed when both turned up at the vigil site with pictures of the trapped man. Since dramatically coming to blows in a cat-fight in a canteen at the site, both women have disappeared from public view. But Mr Barrios is clearly going to have to placate at least one of them when he rejoins the world this week.

As a kid I often heard an old Southern Gospel song that had the words, "There's an all seeing eye watching you!" prominently sung over and over. These men in Chili evidently thought no one was watching them but now they know differently. As St. Paul said, "Be sure because your sin will find you out."

Here is what sin is doing to us now in the USA. Some 40% of all births are coming from single mothers. This throws over 90% of the mothers into immediate and long term crisis of poverty, stress, mental and emotional fragility with depression and anxiety as almost certain passengers.

With this many mothers and babies going on Medicaid for life, the very safety and security of that entire threatened. There is not enough money in Fort Knox to take care of that level of dependency. The babies born to single mothers very often fail to thrive educationally, physically, mentally and emotionally. Nothing threatens the economic, spiritual and educational welfare of America like promiscuity, yet many politicians and educators continue to promote this destructive lifestyle.

Until the pendulum swings back to a solid Judeo-Christian morality and marriage is seen as between one man and one woman for a lifetime the crisis will not pass.

Don't Sue but Be Healed!

I have often said that should a member of my family be a victim of abuse I would refuse to recommend that they sue the person or organization that accosted them. All the million dollar suits that are getting headlines would disappear and the lawyers who are living large would have to make an honest living.

Why do I say that? I am concerned that going to court and winning the suit and getting a lot of money from a sympathetic jury requires the victim to act in a certain way. What would you guess would be necessary to get the abusers' insurance company to pay out a bunch of money? If you went to court and looked the jury in the eye, what kind of story would you tell?

Would you says, "Oh, that guy attacked me and raped me. It was awful at the time but I am fine now. I have received a lot of love, prayers from my Pastor and as a matter of fact I have grown as a person and as a Christian as a result. I would never recommend it as a way to grow spiritually and emotionally but it did add to my character in a big way."

What effect would that kind of Victorious Testimony have on a jury? Would they all be in tears and say, "This guy deserves a couple of million dollars from the group that hired the brute who did that to him. Sock it to them!"

I doubt it, yet that would be a true testimony for many if not most victims of abuse. But that is not what the victims often say in court and in the press. They and their Lawyers and hired Psychologists claim that this poor victim will suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTST) for the rest of his/her life. It not is not true for the overwhelming majority of victims. In fact, less than 50% of such victims ever experience any PTSD at all after an abuse.


One study done with adult women survivors of incest and/or sexual abuse had no PTSD symptoms when they were in a safe, stable relationship with an adult. Additionally, they needed a rational belief system that appropriately placed responsibility with the abuser and did not carry false guilt. It was also important that the victim had hope for change and healing.

Now let's revisit NOT suing the abuser or his organization. Such behavior mitigates against getting better because it will inevitably diminish the victim's hope and cause her/him to experience both true guilt and false guilt.

As a Therapist I would be ashamed to testify that a victim of abuse was hopeless and helpless to live a normal, PTSD free life. That would be admitting that good Counseling is impossible to help a hurting victim and that is not so. Good Counselors are very effective at fostering health, freedom and joy so falsely testifying that change is impossible damages the Clients.

Surround Us During Life's Ups and Downs

Sweeten Life Systems is an organization that I describe as "Asset Based" rather than "Sickness Based". It is too bad that our western world is obsessed by focusing on sickness, illness, pain, trauma and worrying about the things that cause problems. I am not sure way that is true but it is true, especially for people such as I who was trained to be a Therapist.

I was trained in The Sickness Model of Counseling Rather than the "Asset Based Model". Here is my description of the Sickness Model.

It separates the Disease from the Person

The Person from his/her Family

The Family from their Support System

The Support System from the Medical System

What does this mean for me as a Patient or the Parent of a Patient? It means that the Medical, Psychological and Insurance System will ignore you and disrespect you. You will be treated as a non entity who knows nothing and has no influence on the Disease.

Let's think of that definition for a while. You take your troubled child to the Doctor, the Psychologist, the Nurse or the Hospital and the Experts probe him, test him, look him over and try to come up with a Diagnosis. Some sort of diagnosis is settled on and it is sent to your a few weeks later. In the diagnosis you are told to go now to your Family Doctor and get a Prescription to treat your child.

This sounds ludicrous and silly as well as a form of malpractice. It is. But that is the Disease Model of Medicine. Even if the Doctors and their allies want to do differently, and many do, the current payment system mitigates against them being personally involved with you as a Parent. A Doctor is allocated exactly six minutes for each Patient and that is not enough time for a Caring Doctor to listen to a parent.

Thankfully, I have a different philosophy of Counseling and have trained thousands of Peer and Professional Helpers to treat the entire person, the entire family and their entire life choices. At Life Way Counseling Centers and in all our classes and Lay Caring we include every member that is significant to the Seeker.

In our current focus on Parents with kids who have Special Needs we are training Peer and Professional Helpers how to include the whole family in the caring and support process. Attend the November 6 Gathering and learn how to respect people not just their dis-ease.

I Believe in Teachers Praying in School

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:

'Let me see if I've got this right..
'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.

'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.

'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.

'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

'You want me to do all this and then you tell me. . . I CAN'T PRAY?

Parents are key to Children's Health

Why, when we are in the middle of an epidemic of illnesses among children, do we at Sweeten Life Systems so strongly promote the health and welfare of the parents? What would you say is the reason? If you were a member of the SLS Board of Trustees would you agree with our priorities or vote to change them so we work exclusively on healing the kids? write and let me know your thoughts!

Gary Sweeten

Children with Special Needs

If you have been watching, listening and paying attention to what is happening in the world of medicine, health care, education, counseling and modern stress you probably already know what I am about to say. The Western World of Europe and the USA are in the midst of an epidemic. It is not an epidemic like the Black Plague that killed off some 1/3 of Europe or the Spanish Flu Epidemic that killed as many as 20 to 30 million mostly young men and women. No, the casualties are still living and the health care, interpersonal and family life costs are astronomical.

The current epidemic has to do with such things as Autism, Asthma, Anxiety, Depression, Learning Disabilities, Sensory Confusion, and so forth. It is estimated that Autism affected one in one thousand people at the turn of the 20 the century and now touches one in 100 children. This is an astronomical increase and so are so many other problems and sensitivities that children face, and none has a good diagnosis or treatment.

What can we who follow "The Great Physician" do to help these people? We could ignore the problems and when the families facing overwhelming problems stop attending our church move on to new potential members. In the research we recently completed as a result of a grant from The Hatton Foundation found, parents who have a child with special needs experience two things when it comes to spiritual support.

1. Their desire for spiritual support, insights and action go way up! These folks desperately want and need Christians to come to their assistance. They want prayer, teaching on how to pray for their child, someone to listen to them, practical help and so much more.

2. The availability of spiritual support falls dramatically. In fact, several of our parents indicated that they had not received a single Pastoral call since the birth of a child with special needs. Many churches may be interested in outreach, missions, justice and the other types of outreach but almost none do anything to help their own members who are in a crisis. Why reach out to people who are not interested and neglect those desperately wanting your fellowship?


If you want to understand what parents and their children want and need, go to the web for Sweeten Life and read about our upcoming Fall Family Gathering. Your life can be enriched by getting involved.

A Good Testimony

I love to hear testimonies of real people with real issues and a real God. Here is one I recently read in the online Journal of Philanthropy.

September 19, 2010
A Calif. Tech Entrepreneur and His Family Dig Deep to Live Out Religious Values

By Caroline Preston

Pomona, Calif.

When he got offered a job at the technology company EarthLink, Tom Hsieh hesitated.

Could he start early and leave at 3 p.m.?, he asked his would-be-bosses. They looked at him with bemusement. This was the mid-1990s, when working in high-tech often meant ordering in pizza and sleeping at the office. But Mr. Hsieh, who’d become committed to Christian ideals of serving the poor as a college student, explained that he needed to be home early so he could tutor neighborhood kids in

A Great Testimony

Over the past 40 years of ministry I have heard thousands of testimonies from preachers and writers. However, there is something much more powerful when that testimony comes from a person or family that gives the praise to god but the tanks to one of our ministries.

Such affirmation and thanksgiving is rare in the white conservative Christian community. The African American community is much better at offering thanks and at honoring their Christian leaders than my own tradition. I am not sure why but it may be a fear giving the people a "Big Head". I was once accused by a famous Bishop of "Making my people proud and causing them to sin" because I urged them to "Grow in grace and truth".

Have you ever tried to thank a Minister or Lay Leader and get this response? , "Oh, I did nothing at all. It was all God".This is a double bind for Christians because we are encouraged to give, serve, lead and witness, all of which bring a sense of well being and God's pleasure. Yet, if we enjoy God's pleasure too much we are warned that "Pride goes before a fall so refuse to accept any praise". That is as easy to do as standing on my head and stacking bee bee's. It cannot be done in this life.

So here is my counsel. Thank people for their ministry. Bless them and love them even if they act like they hate it. We really love that sort of thing and need it as well even if we are embarrassed and uncomfortable by hearing it.

Bless You!

A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. She called each student to the front of the class, one at a time. First she told each of them how they had made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters, which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference."
Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week.

One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two extra ribbons and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition, and we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened."

Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said, "Well, sure." The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said, "Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people."

That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine. He thinks I'm a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says 'Who I Am Makes A Difference'" on my jacket above my heart. He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor. As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you. My days are really hectic and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and I love you!"

The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, "Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote a letter to you and Mom explaining why I had killed myself and asking you to forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I just didn’t think that you cared at all. The letter is upstairs. I don't think I need it after all." His father walked upstairs, and found a heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain.
The envelope was addressed, "Mom and Dad".

The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch but made sure to let all his employees know that they made a difference. The junior executive helped several other young people with career planning and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference in his life ... one being the boss's son. And the young boy and his classmates learned a valuable lesson. Who you are DOES make difference.

You are under no obligation to send this on to anyone ... not to one people or to one hundred. As far as I am concerned, you can move on to another page. But if you have anyone who means a lot to you, I encourage you to send him or her this message and let them know that they make a difference in your life. You never know what kind of difference a little encouragement can make to a person.

Spring Conference for Special Education

 

I am very excited to have been asked to present our research at the upcoming conference in March of 2011 for Christian Special Education Professionals. The conference speakers look very professional and highly qualified.

Our research is unique in the world of data, mass surveys and drug money from pharmaceutical companies. We did an in-depth survey plus person interview study in the homes of people with chronic problems. You can learn more about our study at the November 6 Fall Family Gathering at Christ's Church in Mason. Go to the Sweeten Life web for more information.

If you are interested in serving needy people, the ones who are often invisible to us, attend the November 6 Family Fall Gathering and talk with us. We will show you how your church can touch the loves of disabled kids and their families.