It is so crazy how quickly children learn!
Every moment in their lives becomes an opportunity to learn something new. As we were traveling across Ohio to visit Daddy in prison, there were so many “teachable moments” we had together. We were not always conscious of how much our sons were learning from traveling to…
Prison visits were both wonderful and terrible moments in our lives.
Wonderful because we got to be together, hold each other (however briefly) and talk to each other while we looked into each other’s eyes. Terrible for so many other reasons – the location, the atmosphere, and the reminder of the reality that prison was…
Over the course of my life, I have conquered many fears.
Growing up, I went from being fearless to becoming fearful. I battled fear of being alone, fear of driving, fear of riding in a car, fear of flying, and many other fears that would often paralyze me. Over the course of time, I have…
“I want to stay here with Daddy!”
Every time I heard those words, pain would shoot through my heart. Not just the pain that comes from knowing your children are hurting and you cannot fix it, but also pain from the terrifying picture of my sons in prison. I knew they did not understand what…
For some time now, emotional intelligence has been a popular term floating around the internet..
in classrooms, and at the water cooler. But, is this just a passing fad or is there really more to it? According to The Gottman Institute (The Institute), “A particularly powerful study tested school-aged children on self-control and conducted follow-up…
Arguments are never about nothing
Most of the time, we are left wondering how in the world we got into this heated argument when it started out as a serious conversation. The original topic somehow gets lost in the discussion as soon as someone asks the question, “WHY?” or the other starts their sentence with,…
Let’s face it, holidays are hard.
Independence Day is coming quickly, and everyone I know is making plans to spend time with their families for the holiday weekend. I am reminded of all the holidays we spent with Ron in prison. When Ron first went to prison, I did not want to celebrate at all.…
Why can’t I be proud of my dad?
This was a question I found myself asking a lot growing up. When I was two years old my dad went to prison. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t home with me or why I couldn’t stay with him where he was. All I knew was my…
Ron and Cathy Tijerina
Welcome to our blog! We are super passionate about helping others build a strong, resilient, permanent family—especially those who are deemed disposable by the rest of the world. We were that family! Our family lived through 15 years of Ron being in prison and came out on the other end strong,…