Parent Percentages

Fathers play a huge role in the lives of their children. Here’s some interesting facts about fathers who do not participate in their kids’ lives.

• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. (this means 4.6 times more likely to commit suicide)

• 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. (this means 24.3 times more likely to run away)

• 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes. (this means 15.3 times more likely to have behavioral disorders)

• 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. (this means 6.6 times more likely to drop out of school)

• 70% of juveniles in state operated institutions come from fatherless homes

• 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home. (this means 15.3 times more likely to end up in prison while a teenager)

• Nearly 2 of every 5 children in America do not live with their fathers.

• Daughters who perceive that their fathers care a lot about them, who feel connected with their fathers, have significantly fewer suicide attempts and fewer instances of body dissatisfaction, depression, low self-esteem, substance use and unhealthy weight.

• Teenagers living in single-parent households are more likely to abuse alcohol and at an earlier age compared to children reared in two-parent households

• In a study of 146 adolescent friends of 26 adolescent suicide victims, teens living in single-parent families are not only more likely to commit suicide but also more likely to suffer from psychological disorders, when compared to teens living in intact families

• Children reared by a divorced or never-married mother are less cooperative and score lower on tests of intelligence than children reared in intact families. Statistical analysis of the behavior and intelligence of these children revealed “significant detrimental effects” of living in a female-headed household. Growing up in a female-headed household remained a statistical predictor of behavior problems even after adjusting for differences in family income.

• Children with fathers at home tend to do better in school, are less prone to depression and are more successful in relationships. Children from one-parent families achieve less and get into trouble more than children from two parent families.

• Nationally, 15.3 percent of children living with a never-married mother and 10.7 percent of children living with a divorced mother have been expelled or suspended from school, compared to only 4.4 percent of children living with both biological parents.

• Only 13 percent of juvenile delinquents come from families in which the biological mother and father are married to each other. By contract, 33 percent have parents who are either divorced or separated and 44 percent have parents who were never married.

• Seventy percent of juveniles in state reform institutions grew up in single- or no-parent situations.

These are all very sad percentages, and the scary thing is that there’s so many of these that all you have to do is Google “kids without dads statistics” or a sentence with the same meaning, and you get hundreds of results about how young girls are having children way before marriage because of a fatherless life, or thousands of results about young boys running away, or being homeless, or being a criminal–simply because their father had not been there.
So, Dad, this entry is specially in your honor, and also to my Grandpa, David Jester, and to my Granddad, Marvin Mann. Thank you for loving your children, and continuing to treat my parents like the real gems they are, who now in their turn love us (“us” being me and my siblings) like Christ loved us.
This entry is also in my brothers’ honor, so that they will always remember that there’s nothing more important than being a father. God Himself showed us this when He sacrificed His Son, Jesus, to die for us, so that we could become His children and spend eternity with Him in heaven. So this entry is in God’s honor as well, because He is the ultimate Father, the ultimate caretaker, and the sole God who loves us like a Dad. It’s okay to call God “Daddy”, however silly it may feel, because that’s what God is. He is our Daddy, and this is our day to celebrate and honor Him as well as our earthly fathers. A big round of applause to the men of today who know how to treasure their children!
Love,

Parents and Grandparents sure are one of the sweetest things…

It’s actually kind of funny and sweet to us kids how parents are so proud of you when you complete something–or do something like stump the DJ. That DJ–I bet all the callers stumped him. Nice guy, him, and I even sometimes wondered if he googled it to find out the right answer so that he could guess wrong, and so that the kid calling could “stump” him. Despite this suspicion, I still feel proud to have done it, and like I said at the beginning of this post, it’s kind of sweet when your parents are beaming because they heard their daughter was on the radio, and they’re just so proud, and then you have the grandparents! I do not say any of this to brag, but to think about how sweet my parents are, and how they care about me– they care enough to congratulate me on something as little as calling into a radio station. I’m glad I have my parents! Last night, the two little girls and I, and of course Dad (who didn’t want us out all by ourselves) camped out in the backyard. It was fun! We had this candle thingy that kept away mosquitoes. Most of them, anyway–all but the one that got me on my finger. We didn’t have a fire, because by the time we had gotten everything out there (Colette’s own little tent set up, sleeping bags, cards, everyone’s pillow, etc.), it was dark, and it’s kind of hard to light a fire in the dark. Just in my opinion, anyway. And we were tired! Just ready to go to sleep. As I walked out of my own room to go outside, I looked longingly at my own bed. Well, the sleeping bag was sort of uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure where to keep my glasses, or my watch. But it somehow worked out, and Dad and I got a couple pictures. We played a game or two of cards, then realized that as it was around 10:00, it was way past bed time, and we hit the hay. Or our sleeping bags. Whichever. Dad blew out the mosquito candle thingy, and without its rather wimpy light, I took a good look at the stars through my glasses, and I felt a little bit more at peace after taking a look at them; there’s something about stars that either make you gape in awe, or make you smile in wonder. I wish I’d gotten a couple pictures, but I was already half-asleep.

I stumped the DJ!

And my wonderful Daddy made a small movie out of it.

I’m Forswearing Swearing

Today’s language is greatly consumed with disturbing, crude, violent, suggestive, and awful words that God—our Heavenly Father and Creator and ultimate Caretaker– hates swearing. “How do you know?” you may ask, “You just show me one place in the bible–one place–where it says anything about that!”

Okay, I’ll accept that challenge. James 5:12 says,

“Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No,’ no, or you will be condemned.”

Okay, that’s one! Here’s another one: Hosea 4:15b says,

“And do not swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’”

And here’s a real convicting verse; Matthew 5:33-37,

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

God cares enough about what we say, that he doesn’t want us to swear by the hairs of our head! He’s really serious about this swearing thing! Let’s go on and read Leviticus 19:12, “Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.”

“There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.”

You may be convinced by now, or you may say, “Well–God means that for the Jew. I’m a Gentile!” And I have a verse for that, too. Romans 2:11

“There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.”

Isn’t this interesting? God says here that there will be the same punishment for the Jew if they disobey the very verse that you may say is meant for them! The same punishment is for Gentiles– “trouble and distress”, He calls it. And when God calls something “trouble and distress”, He really means “trouble and distress.” Yet, when the Jew chooses to follow God and do good like God commands us to (1 Timothy 6:18 “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”), he will have “glory, honor, and peace.” So will the Gentile–God says that He doesn’t show favoritism!

“How do you know that the Bible doesn’t mean something else? Surely God didn’t really mean that!” I have one more verse for you, then. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says,

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

So God really does mean what He was saying! And He couldn’t be clearer when He says in the Ten Commandments,

“Do not misuse God’s name, for of the man that does misuse God’s name will not be considered innocent by God.”

God’s not just talking about using His name here, either, although it is definitely a main part to it–He’s talking about using exclamations! Perhaps not, “Oh, my goodness!”, or, “Oh, my word!”, or phrases like that–you have to decide for yourself on those–but He is referring to “Darn!”, “Shoot!”, “Fudge!”, etc. Each of those words are taken from even worse words, which are taken from even worse words!

Please, I implore you–these words not only are a despicable stench in God’s nostrils, and are an ugly black oil stain in your mouth, but they teach innocent children to say even worse things, and they teach people around you what may be and what may not be okay to say! You can almost always tell what kind of person another person is largely because of the language they use! Unbeknown to many Christians, phrases like, “Oh, my gosh!” actually refer to God’s holy name! Exclamations like, “Man!” may sound ugly to other strangers, and before you can stop it, there may be a prejudice spreading. So, please, always watch the language you use, whether it’s virtually, in the real world, in your mind, and in your emotions.

Love,

Kidsboro

I’ve never listened much to Adventures In Odyssey, but after listening to “Kidsboro”, a story about a town of clubhouses ruled by kids, I am definitely starting to listen to free episodes from these. They take a good view of government in this episode, and it makes me feel more bold in learning about government, and then help change it to the way it should work. Learning more every day!
Part One of Kidsboro

Part Two of Kidsboro

Part Three (Conclusion) of Kidsboro

Spring day

Today was just utterly beautiful; I loved the weather, and we had some friends over. Jonas (age 2) took his shirt off, and ran around enjoying the weather (now somewhat cooler) as well. I hope to be loading up a video/picture or two of him soon, because he’s so sweet, and I’m sure you’ll love him. Well, lights out now.
Tomorrow!

An interested feeling fills me…

I pull a blue glass out of our cupboard, pour some skim milk in, and then a little liquid chlorophyll–or, as my Dad likes to say, “Hulk juice”, therefore making my milk turn a marble-ey green. I stir it quickly, hoping to be able to down it before one of my younger siblings comes by and asks for a “Hulk drink” of their own. But before my secret feat can be carried out, Peter comes by and asks where on earth I got my milk to turn green. I look around desperately: there! Sitting next to my cup is a bottle of fish oil pills. The bottle is dyed green, and, thinking quickly, I eloquently say, “Um, ah, well, I, ah, put, ah, fish oil pills in… here. Yeah.” I put on a confident smile and continue to stir my Hulk milk. “Really?” Peter asks suspiciously. For a good reason. “How’d you get the outside off?”
“Easy!” I reply, starting to get the hang of it, “These pills don’t resist too hard. They give if you give ‘em a good squish.”
“And you just put it in your milk and it turned green?” Peter asked incredulously.
I swallowed, imagining sour milk with an even more sour smell with little oil bubbles floating around, and I say, “Yep! tastes pretty…good.” I quickly stir my milk again, and take a sip. I would give Peter a smile to give him confidence, but if I smiled at him right now, I’d burst into laughter.
To my dismay, he exclaims, “Awesome! I’ll have some right now!”
Oh, NO. Yet I’m struggling not to laugh. Micah strides into the kitchen, and, seeing my Hulk milk, wants some, too. Peter, thankfully, explains how disgusting fish oil makes your milk turn green. Micah asks for my verification, and I, really trying hard to swallow down a giggle, nod. A little more hesitant than Peter, Micah pauses, then uncertainly pulls out a cup of milk. I can’t stand it–I run upstairs and spill the whole tale to Mom, and she can’t help but laugh. “Mom!” I gasped, “I put chlorophyll in my milk–” Micah, hearing me, exclaims, “I knew you were kidding! Chlorophyll, huh?” and races down to the kitchen to stop Peter just in time from putting the disgusting pills in his milk. I giggled some more, and downed the rest of my own Hulk milk. Throwing my cup in the sink, I smile as I head downstairs. Some may call what I had just done a practical joke. A lie, even. Or, “just a fib”. But I think that every once in a while, we just need to loosen up and just joke around and have a little fun. I think Micah and Peter thought it was kinda funny, too.
“Hulk milk”!

Long time no write……

Hi, people! Wow, I thought to myself as I walked away from the computer after my last post, “I’m going to start posting regularly now, I’ve got to!”, and then I go and take forever to post again. Sorry! In any case, I’m excited to announce that I have a really important week! One Wednesday, I’m leaving to visit my grandparents, who live about two-three hours away from us, depending on how many kids get carsick, have to use the restroom, get hungry or thirsty, and parents who need naps (because of all this, it often takes three-four hours). Luckily, it’ll just be me and my grandparents, and this won’t take nearly so long. I’ll be doing 4-H with them (they’re my “helpers”)–that’s Woodworking, Foods, and Sewing–and staying until Friday. Usually we return after lunch on Fridays, but this is different: my youth group at church is going on a ski trip to Lake Ann Camp in Traverse City, MI (I think that’s where it is). We will leave (I think) at 3:30 PM on Friday, and stay until 5:30 PM Sunday. I’m pretty sure these are the times, but I might have gotten confused, so I will (hopefully) talk about that in a later post when I’m positive about the time. I’m really excited about this, and nervous at the same time, as I’m one of the youngest people there. I have to go make dinner now, so I will write more later!

Wow!

Wow, people, I haven’t written in forever! But I have an excuse: I’ve been busy! Wave it away as much as you want, I seriously have! John Michael is doing really really well, and he’s so cute, too! He’s got the four week acne, but it’s not too bad. He’s more red-faced right now. Jonas (age 1 1/2) is so sweet: he’s making faces at everyone–the other day he went in for a haircut and he was grimacing, like it hurt! Then he laughed and laughed and thought that was hilarious. I would post more if I could, but I can’t right now. However, I plan to start posting regularly soon. Have a good day, y’all!

Update

John-Michael is doing really well! Like I said, he came back on Saturday. He’s so cute! More info later.