“Honor thy father and thy mother.” This is the fourth commandment from the ten God gave us through Moses in the Bible. This fourth follows the initial three signifying our duties to the Supreme Being. After God, our next obligation is to our parents. This shows the importance of parents. Notice the word is “honor.” It does not say “obey”; but “honor” certainly includes “obedience.” Furthermore, this commandment does not end when we each reach maturity. The commandment of honor signifies we must respect our parents all their lives. Our mother was Norah Attracta Cusack. Our father was Joseph Charles Meissner. By the usual social standards, they were very ordinary people on this planet. However, they possessed their own wonderful beauty and intelligence. They were most extraordinary parents who welcomed us to life, took care of our needs, ensured we received great educations, and devoted their lives unselfishly to us for decades. But they gave us much more than our mere bodies. They gave us faith, hope, and love during their long lives. They showed us how to live as God urges us to live. They continuously nourished us spiritually from our mother’s nightly “demands” to kneel in the living room praying the rosary to our Blessed Virgin to our father who drove us even in the blinding snow, freezing cold, and storms to church every week, ensuring we arrived on time. Here are words from my brother Robert for our parents: “As for our son, Scott, [who suffering from severe PTSD, ended his life], I agree he is somewhere around and still present in the universe. So are our mom and dad. I think after we die, we will learn how all this is done—you know Mom and Dad are the greatest proof of God, religion, and an afterlife. They were so good and worked tirelessly for our family. If you asked them about religion, the church, and faith, they might say it really doesn’t matter, except you treat your fellow human beings with dignity and acknowledge God as Father. The rest of the argument really doesn’t mean that much.” So to Mom and Dad, we celebrate your lives and say an enormous thank-you.

If you are thinking of becoming a gay dad ─ or if you are already a gay dad ─ this book is for you! Are you ready to have kids? More and more gay men are turning to adoption and surrogacy to start their own families. An estimated two million American LBGTQ people would like to adopt and an estimated 65,000 adopted children are living with a gay parent. In 2016, The Chicago Tribune reported that 10 to 20 percent of donor eggs went to gay men expanding their families via surrogacy, and in many places the numbers were up 50 percent from the previous five years. Gay parenting: Having a kid is like coming out all over again, on a daily basis, especial if you have an infant. Was coming out stressful for you? It’s about to get more intense and you will have a child watching your every move and listening to your every word. If you stutter or pause, they may pick up on your discomfort and could start to feel like something is wrong about their family unit. The Ultimate Guide For Gay Dads is jam packed with parenting tips and advice to help you build confidence and become the awesome gay dad you were meant to be! How Is This Parenting Guide Different From Others? Unlike other parenting books that have whole chapters focusing on things specifically related to mothers (such as how to get the perfect latch when breastfeeding), this parenting book replaces those sections with things relevant to gay dads. It covers topics like how to find LGBT friendly pediatricians, how to find LGBT friendly schools, how to childproof your home with style, how to answer awkward and prying questions about your family from strangers, examples for what two-dad families can do on Mother’s Day, and much more. The book also includes parenting tips and advice from pediatricians, school educators, lawyers, and other same-sex parents. Top LGBT parenting expert: Bestselling author Eric Rosswood covers every aspect of fatherhood for gay men in this essential guide to growing your family in the post-DOMA era. He is a major influencer on social media with over 100,000 followers on Twitter alone, as well as thousands on other platforms. Exploring LGBTQ issues: Rosswood is an in-demand authority and commentator on LGBTQ issues, including civil rights, parenting, marriage and politics. The author has been featured in major media including The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, CBS News, The Huffington Post, Elite Daily, Yahoo! News, AOL News, NY Daily News, IB Times, and regional LGBTQ press.

In understanding who I am and the journey it took to get me from one point in my life to another, I have written this book of poetry as the link to a creative process of true and honest emotions. I am the force behind my own energy and fate. Through purpose and passion it is with joy and happiness I share my unshakeable truths. My world revolves around interpretations of rhythm and rhyme. While some may view these poems as thought-provoking, they are merely words of beauty and power that surround me in my space and time. The passion and light reflected in this book are responses to inspirations, tragedies, love, and faith, a way that helps me to connect with the modern reader. They are words that I have spoken and thought of in my mind and heart. Poetry is love in any language and because I am in love with life, I have written these love songs to those that have achieved something greater than the power of words. Poetry is wisdom and the humility that comes from wisdom. All the knowledge that I have gained from wisdom comes from heaven. I am but a lonely dreamer.

Have you wondered why some kids are better behaved than others? Have you been amazed by what young children can do these days? Have you ever thought of your father? This book describes the journey of a father in the first three years of his sons' lives. These are thoughts on parenthood from a first time father.This book is about the stories of a First Time Father. We are a family of four: Isaiah and Immanuel are boys aged two-and-a-half years and one year, respectively. Germaine is my better half and wife of five years. My life has changed fundamentally, and I cannot tell you how contented I am because of these children that I have been gifted with. This book also shares some of my thoughts about fatherhood, and the wisdom I have gained from just being a papa.

Born in the 1960s, the middle-class Biracial Americans of this study are part of a transitional cohort between the hidden biracial generations of the past and the visible blended generations of the future. As individuals, they have variously dealt with their ambiguous status in American society; as a generation, they share common existential realities in relation to White culture. During the last decade of the 20th century public awareness of mixed race Americans increased significantly, in no small part because there has been a substantial increase in interracial marriages and offspring since 1960. This study, based on ethnographic interviews, provides an historical overview of the study of Biracial Americans in the social sciences, a sociological profile of project participants, sociocultural discussions of family and race as well as racial identity choices, and examinations of racial realities in adult lives and of recurrent systemic and personal life themes. The textual part of the book demonstrates the diversity of perception and experience regarding race and identity of these biracial young adults. The Epilogue not only reviews major findings pertaining to this transitional generation of Biracial Americans but discusses biraciality and the deconstruction of race in contemporary American society. An extensive bibliography of popular and scholarly sources concludes the book.

Life's Like That was born when I was having trouble getting clients at the Family Counseling Center. That is a fancy name that came from my family counseling career. I thought I needed to get some ads in the local newspaper. That led to my meeting Mr Rowe Ray, the managing editor of the San Marcos Daily Record. I simply wanted to explore possibilities but ended with an invitation to write a weekly column for the newspaper. I can honestly say I never broke my word on confidentiality; i.e., everything we talked about stayed in the Center, everything that is except the funny things. I was counseling with a game warden that told me about a lady who was losing a sheep a night to one old hungry coyote. Whenever the warden came out, she would start feeling sorry for the coyote and asked the warden not to shoot it. Finally she had five sheep left. She called the warden and once again told him she wasn't ready to have him hunt down the coyote. The warden looked at the little flock of sheep and said, "Mrs. Jones, whatever you say, but we've only got five more days anyway." As you read this book there will be tears and sunshine. The good news is you don't have to sit down and read it all at once. Life Really Is Like That.

Will their faith prove to be stronger than their fear? Sensible and independent, Cassie Barton never anticipated being on her own at thirty-two. But after the death of her father and the marriage of her sister, she's found joy in her work as a seamstress. When a minor accident leaves her unable to sew, she decides to use her time to compile a book of stories about the men working on the Santa Fe Railroad. But worry begins to grow in San Marcial as Mexican revolutionaries set out to destroy the railroad--and put many lives in danger. With Europe at war and his longtime friend Cassie injured, railroad worker Brandon DuBarko is burdened by his troubles. He promised Cassie's father he would watch over her, but as their comfortable friendship slowly transforms into something deeper, he feels trapped by a secret from his youth. When a vengeful man reappears in Brandon's life, intent on causing conflict, Brandon must face his past before he can move forward. As the danger intensifies, Cassie and Brandon must rely on God to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of a brighter future. "The poignant rendering of transformation through faith will resonate with inspirational readers."--Publishers Weekly on Beyond the Desert Sands

Prominent Presbyterian pastors and leaders address each of the Great Ends of the Church in sermons that both challenge and uplift readers. For decades the Great Ends of the Church, a historic listing of ways Presbyterians have understood the role of the church, has helped to establish church directions in mission and ministry. The Great Ends of the Church are (1) the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; (2) the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; (3) the maintenance of divine worship; (4) the preservation of the truth; (5) the promotion of social righteousness; and (6) the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. These sermons focus the church's understandings of its purpose and inspire us to dedicate ourselves to the church's work in the world. This is a book that every Presbyterian should know and is ideal for study by church groups and sessions.