What do you think?

I'm seeking some feedback/input. I just put up a poll on the right side of this page, under my photo. Could you take a minute to click and post your preference?

I am trying to decide which name for my practice is more appealing to more people and I thought I'd ask you all to vote.

I have some ideas that need "sorting out" so to speak and hope to have more to share soon.

I also will be tackling those questions you submitted-so be sure to check back soon.

If you haven't yet submitted a question, there's still time. Go here for details.

My passion is helping women find peace and contentment
so they may enjoy healthy relationships
and be all that God has created them to be!

Ask-the-counselor

Many times people have questions about their mental and emotional concerns.....

private issues that they are uncertain or even embarrassed to ask.

Or maybe you have a question or concern about a friend or a family member.

Maybe you've just wondered about something for a while or been curious....

now is your chance to ask the counselor.....

You can email me your questions at Lena at LenaWright dot com

Or post them by leaving a comment (not as private)

I'll take the questions and answer them here on the blog.

I will protect your privacy by not posting your real name in the Q & A.

Thanks!

I'll look forward to hearing from you.

My passion is helping women find peace and contentment

so they may enjoy healthy relationships

and be all that God has created them to be.

Image by Travis Seitler via Flickr

(Jesus speaking) The Scripture says "I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices." You don't really understand what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong. Matthew 12:7

(Jesus speaking) "Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the big piece of wood in your own eye? How can you say to your friend, 'Friend, let me take that little piece of dust out of your eye' when you cannot see that big piece of wood in your own eye! You hypocrite! Frist, take the wood out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to take the dust out of your friend's eye." Luke 6:41-42

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These verses bring up an interesting concept-Personal Responsibility. This is something that we, as a society, seem to be displaying less and less of as time goes on. We're often looking for someone or something to blame for our circumstances-whether it be relationship difficulties, job stress, financial problems or bigger challenges. We could blame our parents, our spouse, our kids, the pastor, our boss, our coworkers, our siblings, our neighbors.....anyone, really. We can also blame our circumstances "I was born poor" or "my family was so dsyfunctional" or "my spouse is such a jerk" or "the company I work for is so bad" etc etc.

The problem with blaming others is that blame keeps us stuck. If I blame my problems on someone else then I will feel powerless to change things and I will feel trapped. Feeling trapped will then lead to feelings of depression and/or anxiety. It's a vicious cycle...something happens, I look for someone to blame, I feel justified in my anger toward the person or situation I blame, and over time, resentment sets in and I begin to feel trapped and like a helpless victim. That cycle repeats until anxiety, depression and eventually despair take over. Does this sound like victorious Christian living to you?!? Surely, this is not how God intended for us to live.

The truth is that we all make choices in life. Sure, sometimes things happen that truly are not our fault-someone else makes a bad decision and we have to deal with the consequences. However, from my years of experience, I have learned that many times, the feelings of being trapped/stuck are of our own making. We make a choice to give up our power to someone else and we stay stuck.

So if we all make choices and we all have personal responsibility for our own lives what are we to do? The bottom line is that if your life is not the way that you want it, you MUST stop blaming others and consider what you are doing to contribute to the problem, especially the feeling of being trapped and powerless. I understand that bad things happen to people. However, because we cannot travel back in time to undo the bad thing that have happened-all we can do is work with the here and now. The present. This is where personal responsibility for our own lives comes into play. We cannot change what has happened to us, but we can change/decide/choose what we will do today.

Maybe it is time to formulate a plan and TAKE ACTION. If you don't take action, how will things ever change?

Some ideas for taking action:

* Call a trusted friend
* Talk to your pastor
* Call a Christian Counselor
* Join a small group Bible study
* Go to a 12 step meeting
* Ask for prayer and be specific
* Talk to your spouse


Take responsibility for your life-this is not a dress rehearsal.

Ladies-tell me what you think of this

Image by flightsaber via Flickr

What follows is taken from the book Captivating. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it, and Wild at Heart. Captivating is about women and Wild at Heart is about men. People generally have strong reactions to these books-they either love them or hate them. I'd like to hear from you-about your reactions to one or both books, and to these thoughts that follow. Send me a comment (click on the link at the very bottom of this article, or you may email me at Lena at LenaWright dot com if you prefer.

Enjoy!


"Ladies, you are the Bride of Christ…and the Bride of Christ is a warring bride.

Now, often the hardest person for us to fight on behalf of is ourself. But you must do it. Your heart is needed. You must be present and engaged in order to love well and fight on behalf of others. Without you, much will be lost. It is time to take a stand and to stand firm. We are at war. You are needed.

Yes, men are created in the image of the Warrior King. Men are warriors. But women need to fight, too. It is a powerful good when a man battles for a woman’s heart and stands between her and her enemies. But oftentimes, there is not a man present in a woman’s life to fight on her behalf. And even when there is, God desires the woman’s spirit to rise up in his strength as well. One day we will be queens – we will rule with Jesus (Rev. 21). We need to grow in our understanding and practice of spiritual warfare not only because we are getting beaten up by it but because it is one of the primary ways that we grow in Christ. He uses it in our lives to strengthen our faith, to draw us closer to Him, to train us for the role we are meant to play, to encourage us to play that role and to prepare us for our future at his side.

Much of what he allows in your life is not just for you to accept, but to get you to rise up! God wants you to know how to wield the weapons of warfare, how to take a stand and how to fight.

“One day you will be a Queen and you must open your eyes.”
(William Wallace to the Princess in Braveheart)

Women are not meant to be helpless creatures. God has given us a fierceness that is holy and is to be used on behalf of others".

(Captivating , 195-196)


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In Memory of "Judy" Pong Sun

My mom and my sister.

My family, my friends, my heroes.

My mom lost her battle with breast cancer in 2005.


This Sunday is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Northwest Ohio

In Memory of my mom, Judy Pong Sun -I am part of a team my sister organized and raising money for the cause.....I will be sleepin in on race day-not able to travel to be there in person this time, but my sister and friends will be there. I joined the team and am supporting the cause. I am almost to my fundraising goal, can you help?

$5 or $10 or $20 will get me there.....

I also support this cause in honor of my friend, Marilyn who is a breast cancer survivor.

She will be there on race day.


Go here to make a tax deductible donation

https://www. kintera. org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=281697&lis=0&kntae281697=022CB3C3337C407D9928828FFD7D73EF

Click Here to Donate

Book Review-The Adoption Decision

Book Review by Lena Wright
www.ConnectionsWellnessCenter.com
September 22, 2008



I recently read The Adoption Decision by Laura Christianson. This is a book that I highly recommend for people considering adoption, those already in the process of adopting and even those who have already adopted.

The subtitle of the book is 15 Things You Want To Know Before Adopting, and Laura does a great job of using humor and real life stories to convey serious issues that need to be considered by prospective adoptive parents. I appreciated the author’s use of scripture and her decidedly Christian world view. It helped me to focus in on what is important to God. Most of the books about adoption I have discovered so far do not address the issues from a Christian perspective.

Mrs. Christianson includes a segment on ‘Adoption Lingo’ that is helpful for people just getting started in researching adoption. Her wealth of experience as an adoptive mom, educator and mentor are evident throughout the book. Laura also shares the stories of many different adoptive families and this adds a depth of experience-both positive and negative to the book. I think that Mrs. Christianson provides a realistic picture of adoption so that readers can go into the process with their eyes opened to some of the challenges. At the same time, I did not experience the book as discouraging or negative toward adoption. She managed to strike a healthy balance between the reality of adoption and the fantasy or naiveté that prospective adoptive parents may have at the beginning of the adoption process. The author does a good job of asking thought provoking questions and sharing real life experiences of adoptive families.

I found The Adoption Decision to be clear and concise, which makes for easy reading. Mrs. Christianson challenges many myths and offers multiple points of view. This book helped to stimulate discussion between my husband and I on many topics related to adoption. I liked that that author not only pointed out things I hadn’t thought of, but she also offered some solutions and ideas for how to handle different situations. She didn’t offer ‘pat’ answers or easy solutions, but she did get us thinking about situations we may encounter with our adopted children. This will allow us to devise our own strategies for dealing with the challenges that we encounter as an adoptive family.

The Adoption Decision also included discussion/reflection questions and a good list of resources. I found this book to be highly useful, user friendly and thoughtfully written. I believe it will be a valued resource as we continue on this Adoption Adventure! I highly recommend The Adoption Decision.

Help Orphans in Haiti

Image by glasshalffull91 via Flickr

This is a personal post.

First, our boys (we are adopting 2 brothers from Haiti) are safe and they have food and shelter and caretakers/nannies providing good care.......

but........

This is a heartfelt and somewhat desperate plea from us, as waiting adoptive parents thousands of miles away from our children who still live in Haiti......

We're feeling pretty worried and concerned.......At this time, our boys are safe from the storms, but it's the after effects we are praying about and feel we must DO SOMETHING.

Watch this heartbreaking video called http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/slideshows/090808_haiti_floods/

Please pray for Haiti. our kids are safe, but the impact from these storms is only just beginning. It is such a poverty stricken place. The storms have wiped out what little crops there were. the supply and demand for food and clean/safe drinking water causes increases in prices, shortages, and sometimes, riots and violence. There were riots and a coup in April of this year...over the increasing prices. These storms are only making bad things worse.


I got an email from the Orphanage today, and they are seeking to stock up on food (rice & beans, mostly) to help them get thru the coming months. The volunteer/administrator is worried and shared her specific concerns and needs of the orphanage with us as adoptive parents.

Please consider making a donation to the orphanage where our kids (Steeve and Jean Baptiste) are at. They live in Port au Prince at Three Angels Children's Relief.


You can make a one time donation....of ANY amount by visiting Three Angels Children's Relief

Or you can sponsor a student at Three Angels Christian Academy for only $27/month by going to the student sponsorship page

School was supposed to start this week-Sept. 8th. But with the storms, the Haitian gov't moved the start of school to the first week in October. The entire country is impacted by the devastation of these storms.

Or

mail your tax deductible donation to:
Three Angels Children's Relief
82 Rivertrail Drive
Palm Coast, FL 32137


Please pray for Haiti. the boys are safe, but the impact from these storms is only just beginning. It is such a poverty stricken place. The storms have wiped out what little crops there were. the supply and demand for food and clean/safe drinking water causes increases in prices, shortages, and sometimes, riots and violence.

I got an email from the Orphanage today, and they are seeking to stock up on food (rice & beans, mostly) to help them get thru the coming months. There is much uncertainty in Haiti.

I have been to the orphanage and met some of the people involved/in charge. You can trust that this is a nonprofit in Haiti is actually helping the children...they take good care of the kids, and they do ALOT with very little resources. your gift will make a difference!

For another simple way to help, check out my fellow adoptive mom, Cara's post called Rice and Beans Night

This is a GREAT and SIMPLE idea we are going to implement right away. Check it out. Talk to your kids about poverty and living conditions. Teach them all that we all have to be thankful for. Teach them about helping those less fortunate than we are......

Thanks for your time and consideration, prayers and ACTION.

Perhaps your church or school or workplace could collect some loose change.....it really can make a huge difference.....I'm putting a milk jug at my office......or maybe hold a raffle or sell some unused stuff around your house....100% of what is donated goes directly to the children-the administration takes no pay-they are all volunteers.

Please pass this along/forward to anyone you think may help.

We are not asking you to do anything we aren't willing to do. If you normally buy us birthday or Christmas gifts, DON'T! Do this instead. Seriously. Nothing would make us happier....and isn't that what gifts are supposed to be about, anyway? Making the recipient happy?

EVERY penny helps!!


Sincerely and prayerfully,

Lena & Bob

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• Clinton named UN envoy to Haiti (cbc.ca)
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• GuardianFilms: Haiti's Lost Girls (guardian.co.uk)