The theme of this month’s CWO issue is Family. In thinking and praying about this topic, I kept coming back to the fact that for me, the word family most often means—friends. I grew up in a very small family. My parents divorced when I was quite young and Mom never remarried. We had no aunts, uncles, cousins, or grandparents on my mom’s side, and most of my father’s relatives became non-existent to us when my parents divorced. Later, when Grandma and Grandpa Gappa passed away, there was no… Read More

One of my all time favorite films is Independence Day. No matter how many times I watch it, I find myself emotionally engaged in the drama, passion and pathos of the story. This film covers such a broad spectrum of button-pushing feelings and sentiments it isn’t funny. Where else can you find a balanced mixture of love and hate, humor and sadness, forgiveness and anger, survival and death, victory and defeat, and good and evil? All that, and Will Smith, too!

If you scroll through all of my CWO columns for the past… Read More

Have you ever thought of the sum total of your life experiences as being a gift from God? That the journey you have walked, no matter how joyful or painful, is something God has gifted you with? And more important, that He wants you to share that gift with others?

If not, I’d like to challenge you today to make the choice to look at your life with a fresh vision. I’d like to challenge you today to make the choice to view your life as your God Story. And… Read More

This week has been one of “those” weeks. We’ve all had them. Although many good things have happened, there have also been some let downs—blessings mixed in with disappointment—the bitter with the sweet. What did I do to escape the reality of some of it? I went to the movies— a quadruple feature all day on Saturday.

But as I emerged from the dark confines of the silver screen after hours of heroes, villains, laughter and tears, my world in the bright light of day hadn’t changed. My husband’s car was still… Read More

We recently had a few inches of snow here in the Dallas area, reminding us that winter is not quite over and yet spring is knocking at the door. The “snow” came and went in a matter of a few hours, very unlike the snow I’d been accustomed to seeing in March and early April while living in Minnesota.

Spring is beginning to bud in the gardens around my neighborhood and I’m thinking of all the things this new season brings. What comes immediately to my mind are change and… Read More

As we approach the Passover and Easter season, my thoughts as a mother turn toward another mother from two thousand years ago. A lady who lived in Nazareth, whose name was Mary. This mother stood at the foot of the cross watching her first born son, Jesus Christ, take on the sin of all mankind and take his final breath. Oh how her heart must have broken.

I have often wondered at what moment had she totally yielded her will as a mom over to God? Was it when Jesus was learning to… Read More

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. A day filled with laughter and love. It’s a day when starry-eyed lovers gaze deeply into each other’s soul. It’s a day, or maybe a memory, when youngsters make big red construction paper hearts covered in glitter and can’t wait to take them to their mothers after school. A day with Cupids, and candy, and….wait, Allison, it’s time for a reality check.

Reality…I remember when my son, Christopher, was in elementary school and would make those construction paper hearts with a sweet message and his name… Read More

At this time of year, we often pause to reflect on the past and speculate on the future. I was doing just that recently as I was pondering the theme for my entire Boomer Babes Rock outreach, a ministry that includes books, speaking, a web site, blog, and this CWO monthly column. I was thinking and praying about the coming year and in doing so I kept being drawn to the theme of Freedom.

I reviewed my past CWO columns and I found this paragraph that I’d written for the April 2007 CWO column:

“At a time in… Read More

This year, I’m hoping that “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” will be just that…a dream. I hope to awaken on Christmas morning to sunshine, green grass and temperatures considerably above the freezing mark. I’m looking forward to my first Christmas in our new home deep in the heart of Texas. For the first year in more than a decade, we won’t be in the frozen tundra of Minnesota for the holidays. While some folks make plans to travel to the snow regions, not me—at least not this year. This year… Read More

My friend Michelle says, “Every test is a testimony and every mess is a ministry.”

If indeed that is true, many of my fellow Boomer Babes have as many testimonies and ministries as we have grey hairs!

During this season of Thanksgiving, there will be no dearth of articles popping up in virtually every print and online publication discussing the topic of “giving thanks.” We’ll be encouraged to give thanks for the many blessings we’ve received…thanks for all the good things we’ve been given. However, I’d like to pose… Read More