Fun Ideas for the Holidays

It’s time of the year again. The kids are on break from school, family is getting time off from work and your house is starting to look a little less spacious than you remember. Yes, the holidays can be stressful, but it’s a great opportunity to spend time with your family. Everyone loves to open…

December 19, 20190Comments

Byinfo

Family Mental Health

Managing the Stress of the Holidays

Stress is unavoidable. It might surprise you to learn that pressure can be healthy. With the right amount of stress, then you will thrive. It will help you solve problems, prioritize, develop new brain connections, and also learn new things. I love the stress of trying new things, figuring out solutions to problems and finding…

December 17, 20190Comments

Bycatherine@theridgeproject.com

Family Prison

Gifts for Prisoners- 7 Gift Ideas They Will LOVE

It was 4:00 a.m. as I rolled out of bed and began preparing for the day. Today was a special day, so I needed to spend a little more time on my appearance. I carefully curled and sprayed my hair so it would stay beautiful all day. I dressed up in a modest but attractive…

December 13, 20190Comments

Bycatherine@theridgeproject.com

Family Mental Health Prison

How to Build Good Memories Around a Prison Visit?

Prison visits can either tear a family down or build a family up. There are a lot of things about visiting your man in prison that you have no control over, but you can control whether these visits help or hurt your family. Barbed wire, metal detectors, corrections officers, bars, and loud clanging doors are…

December 5, 20190Comments

Bycatherine@theridgeproject.com

Activities Family

Family Fun in the Fall

The temperatures are getting cooler, the leaves are changing color and Fall is in full effect. Not warm enough for swimming, but not cold enough for building a snowman. There are plenty of fun activities to go do with your family, but maybe money is a little tight. Why not try out these fun inexpensive…

October 16, 20190Comments

Byinfo

Activities Leadership

How to Create and Achieve Your Goals

My first family goal was to get off welfare. Even as I write that goal down, I feel a little sadness that it took me hitting rock bottom to realize the importance of creating goals for my family. I never made a conscious decision to become a welfare recipient. It just happened when my family…

September 11, 20190Comments

Bycatherine@theridgeproject.com

Activities Family

Mother and Daughter Getaway

One thing I never have enough of is time. I always have the best intentions of accomplishing everything I want to do, but time still gets in the way. I am always re-prioritizing, always trying to squeeze more into the 24 hours I have each day. It never works. Something is always left undone…

September 2, 20190Comments

Bycatherine@theridgeproject.com

Family Leadership

How to Connect with your Teenage Boys

Boys have feelings, too. The media’s message is that boys are destructive, uncaring, and sometimes just plain dumb. Our society is buying the lie that boys don’t have feelings and that lie is hurting our sons. Mom, you have a vital role in your son’s life. Boys need their dads to teach them how…

August 19, 20190Comments

Bycatherine@theridgeproject.com

Family Leadership

How I kept my children out of Prison

After Ron went to prison I became intensely aware that my children were more at risk of going to prison. It scared me. I never wanted to visit my child in prison. Not EVER. Every time I heard another statistic, the reality of the battle for my children’s future slapped me in the face. I…

August 15, 20190Comments

Bycatherine@theridgeproject.com

Family Mental Health

How to Overcome Loneliness

I stood in a room full of people, but I felt completely alone. Laughter drifted past me, and voices carried the pain of my loss as they floated around me. Pain and grief were my constant companions. My husband was in prison and I had been left alone out here to carry a heavy…

August 3, 20190Comments

Bycatherine@theridgeproject.com