It’s that time of year when we search out  suggestions for gifts for the parents. Here is a simple in inexpensive list.

For Fathers we have the following gifts:

#5 -GPS for their car. They no longer will have to fear the backseat driver. It also gives them a chance to brag about their new gadget. Amazon.com will have it for a relatively inexpensive cost. Best Buy will also have a discounted section for GPS.

# 4- Desk Top Valet Charger. It will enable all the charging of cell phones,ipods and any other gadget that needs nightly plugging in, as well as resting place for their keys. Prices begin at $49.99 and range up to $140 for the deluxe versions.  Target and Walmart  are carrying wonderful versions of it.

# 3- Gift Certificate to Armour®Fleece Hoodies. They are warm and fashionable. If you log on to www.sportsauthority.com you can see a wide variety.

#2 -Digital Camera. This will enable him to have a gadget that will be easily used to enhance his hobbies. He can be the rescuer of the day with a quick snap shot when needed. Target, Best Buy and Walmart have digital cameras on sale by various manufacturers.

# 1- The Coppola Restoration  Gift Collection” It is the red carpet of the Godfather Trilogy. The footage is at its sharpest, cleanest and clearest version of the movie classic.  Scenes have been restored and improved in color and length.

For Mothers the gifts are  all about time for her to do something other than her routine. Many mothers are tired out by the endless lists of things to do. Unburden her with the following gifts:

# 5 – An American Express Gift card. This allows mom to go directly to the store and pick out the one item that she wanted.  She may be surfing online and see something that she just cannot resist.

# 4-  A Book store gift certificate. Many mothers I know see articles and or do take time to keep up with Book clubs. If you give a certificate from Barnes and Noble or Borders she will have a chance to pick up exactly what she would like.

#3 – Movie Night Certificate. The movie industry has just come out with new numbers that the average movie goer is a woman. Purchase a gift certificate for a movie for mom and a  friend. You can include snacks on the certificate as well. Fandango has great deals.

# 2 Gift Certificate to a Favorite Coffee house. If mom gets a moment to go have a cup of coffee and read that new book you purchased than she is bound to be in a better frame of mind.

# 1- Gift certificate to a favorite spa. Most women love to be pampered and taken care of.  Mothers in particular need a little extra TLC.

{For more from Oretha Winston follow her on Twitter}

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A Mother’s Prayer, starring Robin Givens (Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys), Johnny Gill (legendary R&B singer), Shirley Murdock (Man of Her Dreams) and Jermaine Crawford (HBO’s The Wire), tells the compelling, heartwarming tale of family members torn apart by their individual struggles.

The only thing that can truly bring the family back together is a mother’s dying wishes.

With a lot of love, this family is about to learn the true meaning of the saying: the family that prays together stays together. Come along on an emotional journey through song, laughter and triumph.

View a clip from the DVD below.

A Mother’s Prayer is available in stores and at Amazon.com now.

Enjoy and be blessed Family.

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GORLESTON, UK, September 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A young British mother has criticized medical guidelines that, she said, resulted in doctors refusing treatment and leaving her newborn premature son to die. 23 year-old Sarah Capewell told media that her son Jayden, born at 21 weeks and five days gestation, was refused intensive care because he was two days under the limit set by Nuffield Council on Bioethics, a UK bioethics think tank that creates guidelines for medical practice.

Capewell said that her son Jayden cried and lived for two hours before dying in her arms. During that time, his mother took photos of him and pleaded with doctors that he be admitted to the special baby unit at James Paget University Hospital (JPH). Staff at the hospital, in Gorleston, Norfolk, told her that had Jayden been born two days later they would have helped him.

Since her son’s death, Capewell has launched an internet campaign to change the guidelines and says that she has received messages of support from around the world.

Guidelines set down by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 2006 say that intensive care should never be given to babies below 22 weeks gestation, and rarely to those below 23 weeks. In secular bioethics, this is called Futile Care Theory, which holds that in cases where there is no hope for improvement of an incapacitating condition, such as extreme prematurity, no treatment should be offered.

A spokesman for the Nuffield Council told LifeSiteNews.com that “resources are not covered in the guidelines”. The guidelines, said Catherine Joynson, communications manager of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, “state that doctors caring for premature babies should not be driven by the resource implications of their decisions. those decisions should be determined by clinical judgements of priority.” Nevertheless, while preterm babies often suffer long-term health effects, some born before 22 weeks survived in the US and Canada with intensive perinatal care. In 1987, James Elgin Gill was born at 21 weeks and 5 days gestation and survived. In 2007, Amillia Sonja Taylor, born in October in Miami, Florida, at less than 21 weeks and six days gestation and under 10 ounces, survived to go home with her parents in March that year.

To read more, click here

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Psalm 127:3-5 (The Message)

“Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift?
the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?
Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows
are the children of a vigorous youth.
Oh, how blessed are you parents,
with your quivers full of children!

Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you;
you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep.”

Whenever most people find out that I have four children and that mine is not a blended family, they usually grimace or let out a whistle and sigh, accompanied by a rolling of the eyes.

The truth is, I have always wanted at least four children. Both my husband and I came from blended families with 3 and 5 children respectively. Perhaps it was my upbringing as a Roman Catholic, or maybe it was growing up under the parentage of two people who each came from larger families. My father was one of eight. My mother was the oldest of six. Perhaps the Lord just impressed it upon me directly. I don’t know. But I have always enjoyed the idea of having what I consider to be a “medium-sized” family.

In his word, over and over, God reveals that he values children greatly. Whatever God values, so should we believers. Yet I am often surprised to find out how many people view their children as a burden. When I was expecting my second child, older (presumably) wiser women would ask me if she was the last. My answer was always the same, “I have no idea.” Sometimes they responded with derision and spite to that comment. Sometimes they encouraged me. The truth is, I still don’t know if we’re done. While I personally don’t foresee the Mitchells’ having any more children, I have learned to never underestimate what God wants.

I have searched the scriptures on this topic and have come to the conclusion that a godly family has nothing to do with the number of children you have, whether you are a blended family or not, whether your children are adoptive, biological or spiritual. I believe God allows us to make that decision. What does concern him is our lack of consideration for his plan for our family.

A few years back, good friends of my family paid us a visit. At the time we lived hundreds of miles apart, so the visit was one of those all-day-hang-out affairs. It was great. At some point the subject came around to children. Our friends had two, we had just had our fourth. When I asked if they were done, I was surprised at the husband’s answer. I don’t remember it verbatim, but it went something like, “Oh yeah. Two is all we can afford.” This response stopped me in my tracks. Not because I hadn’t heard it before. But because this man had always been so careful to make sure that he followed God’s lead in every area of his life. Yet it seemed to me that in this one area, he had let his wallet determine how many people he should bring into this world.

I asked him, “How do you know?” He paused, for understanding. I persisted. “How do you know that two children are all and will ever be all you can afford? Do you know where you will be financially in twenty or thirty years?” He considered my questions and admitted that perhaps he and his wife should go back and talk to God. And they did.

That was nearly three years ago. My friends still have two children. He and I have spoken since then on the subject. He appreciated my willingness to challenge him. He and his wife are open to the idea of more children, but they are fine with two for now.

Understand I am not advocating big families over smaller families. As I stated before, neither makes you a more godly person. What I am advocating, however, is to seek the Lord’s perspective in this very important area and submit to whatever he wants. Living a godly life, means allowing his perspective to transform our thinking – not allowing the world’s thinking to box us in. We believers pursue God for every other area of our lives: career, calling, spouse, church home, place of service, dating, money. Why not ask God how many children he wants us to have? I’m sure he’s got an answer for each one of us.

It’s never too soon or too late to begin to ask God about children. If you are willing, ask God if , how, and when he would have you add to your family.

Be blessed, Family.

Follow Sheeri on Twitter! Visit her on Black Planet.

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From CBN.com

Two American journalists freed from a North Korean prison after four months tearfully reunited with their loved ones Wednesday morning in California.

They are finally back home on American soil and relieved the nightmare is over.

“Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea,” freed journalist Laura Ling said addressing a crowd of supporters.

Ling and Lee were detained for illegally entering the country in March and faced 12 years of hard labor in the communist state.

“We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp and then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting,” Ling said. “When we walked through the doors we saw standing before us president Bill Clinton.”

They were released after former President Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to Pyongyang, Tuesday, to meet with North Korea’s president Kim Jong Il.

“We were shocked,” Ling added. “But we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end.”

To read more, click here

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From BCNN1.com

Karen Buckle always knew that if she did it at all she would graduate with first class honors at The University of Manchester, despite being autistic and a single mother of three who had also found the time to start up and chair the European self help organization Autscape.

But even she was also surprised and pleased to find she had achieved the highest mark on the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology course and also won one of only five Wellcome Trust Studentship Bursaries to study a Masters in Health Care Ethics and Law.

“My result wasn’t an alternative to a poorer but okay result, it was actually the only way I could have completed it at all,” Karen, 34, explains. “There is a fine line between first class degree and complete failure for me, and a number of times I have teetered on the edge. Only the support of significant people in my life, including my autistic friends, my Disability Support Officer Bryan Coleman, National Autistic Society advocate Norman Darwen and personal tutor Liz Sheffield at the University, kept me from failing completely.

“If I get it done at all, I do well, but not getting it done or falling apart were significant risks.”

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When Father’s Day Is Bittersweet

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with gospel recording artist, Cheryl “Coko” Clemons, former lead singer of the 90’s girl group, SWV.  Her next project “The Winner In Me” is due in stores and online Tuesday, July 14,2009.  The lead single, “Wait,” which is in rotation at radio stations across the nation, beautifully showcases Coko’s signature soprano voice, and artfully encourages the faithful to trust in the Lord’s timing. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the song was written by Coko’s own pastor. Largely a collaborative effort, “The Winner In Me” conveys the down to earth, soulful style for which Coko has come to be known. I can attest that the lady reflects the artist. In the few moments we had, Coko patiently and candidly answered my questions, revealing the heart of a woman who has her priorities firmly in order. Below are her thoughts on marriage, motherhood, career, and the Church in her own words. Enjoy Family!

Elev8: It was reported in XXL magazine that you decided that SWV would no longer sing sexually explicit songs such as Downtown and Can We? What prompted that change?

Coko: Well, I’m a wife and a mother now. I’m all grown up – not a teenager anymore. I have to be more conservative. I want to be my children’s role model.  I want them to be able to look up to me. Back then we were just singing nonsense. We didn’t really think about it. Now, I want to think about what I’m singing. I want to mean it.

Elev8: How was your decision received?

Coko: Oh, very well! We were all in agreement. Sometimes when we’re singing [on stage], somebody will yell out “Downtown!” But we just explain that we don’t sing that anymore. Once people hear more songs they’re usually O.K. As long as they hear “Weak,” they’re alright.

Elev8: Just as your sophomore project as a secular solo artist was about to launch in 2001, RCA closed its black music division. How did that affect you spiritually? How did you rebound?

Coko: Well at first they wanted to assign me to another label, but I didn’t want to do that because I didn’t want to be sent somewhere. So I just stopped for a minute.  I just took some time and got to spend time with myself and to know me and got deeply involved in my church. And I think that was the best thing for me because I’ve arrived at the place that I am now. I’m much better spiritually and I’m a much better person.

Elev8: So overall it was a good thing?

Coko: Yes, very much so.

Elev8: You began your career in Hezekiah Walker’s Love Fellowship Tabernacle Choir, then formed SWV, Solo secular artist, and now a gospel artist – is that a path you would recommend for someone starting out in Gospel Music?

Coko: I don’t recommend anything for anybody. I want you to do what your heart tells you to do. I don’t like to tell people what they should do. I think you should follow your heart.

Elev8: What are your immediate music career goals in the next one to three years?

Coko: I plan to continue…to keep singing. But I would love to get my own label. There [are] a lot of great talents out here that I would like to…put out.  So that’s really what my focus is. My mom she wants to record, so I’m trying to record her as well.

Elev8: Does that play into your long term career goals?

Coko: Yeah. I would like to be…maybe like a female “Diddy” but…more positive.

Elev8: You’ve mentioned that you are wife, mother, and obviously you have a career. How do you manage to successfully combine those roles?

Coko: It could be hard. But I make sure everybody knows that my family comes first. I will work, but I have to set time aside for my children so I can do my mommy-thing with them, make sure I’m there for…their ball games or whatever, just so that we get to spend time. My husband also travels. He plays with Israel and New Breed. So we have to make sure that we have time when we all come together as a family because I need my children to know family.

Elev8: How often are you able to do the mommy-thing on a regular basis, carpooling, picking up, and dropping off. Is that an integral part of your daily life?

Coko: Oh, I don’t carpool (chuckles), but yes, I make sure that the mommy-thing is a part of my daily life. It has to be because I don’t want my children to say “Oh, my mom wasn’t there.” That’s something [being present] that has to happen.

Elev8: Yours is a blended family as is a large percentage of families in America, and as such faces really unique challenges. Do you have any advice that you can offer to wives/mothers of blended families that will encourage them, or help them or share things that have worked for you?

Coko: Communication is the key. You have to talk about everything. Put everything on the table. If you hold things in, nothing ever gets solved. If a problem arises you should always talk about it, put it on the table, have family discussions. [It] works for me.

Elev8: Do you have a family night of discussion or is it less formal than that?

Coko: It’s less formal than that. We hang out together. We just went to Busch Gardens the other day and I’m worn out from that. I just try to keep us all together and do family things.

Elev8: Lastly, what advice do you have in general for young women and girls who want to stay sexually pure in our culture? What can you offer them?

Coko: Just don’t do it. You have to be strong minded. And if you’re strong minded, then don’t even put yourself in that situation where something could happen or you’ll be tempted to do something like that. Just stay away from that whole situation.

Elev8: What areas of growth for you personally are you working on? What things would you like to be better at doing?

Coko: I guess I need more patience. That’s a biggie for me. I’m a mother, so I really need more patience, just dealing with people – period.

Elev8: What do you see at present is the greatest challenge that is facing the body of Christ today?

Coko: People. We need to just stop judging one another and just talking so much. Less talk more prayer – I think that’s what we need.

Elev8: Is there anything else you would like our readers at Elev8 to know?

Coko: I just really thank everybody for the love and support from SWV and for those that have crossed over with me into my gospel [career]. That means so much to me. I really appreciate it. I just pray that everybody would continue to follow me.

“The Winner In Me” is available July 14, 2009 in stores and online – watch for it!

Find more music like this on Coko’s Place

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From Gospel.com

Tears were streaming down her face. Her daddy said, “What is the matter, Honey? Why are you crying?” She said, “Daddy, don’t you know?” He said, “No darling, what is it?” She pressed into his big chest and sobbed, “I don’t want you to go back!” Many of us have probably witnessed this with our own children and husbands. I was that little girl 35 years ago, telling my dad that I didn’t want him to go back to Vietnam.

Years later, tears flowed in our house when my husband, Eric, was preparing to return to Iraq after having been gone for a year. The day Eric left will always remain vivid in my mind; as moments ticked away, we videotaped Eric with the kids. They clung to him, and we said heart-wrenching things.

With this being our second yearlong deployment, we knew all too well the dangers that lay ahead. This time, though, as a battalion commander, Eric would be out daily in his HMMWV (High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) in an area that includes the town of Tarmiyah-part of the Sunni triangle. I knew all the facts and figures; how many lives the previous battalion had lost due to IEDs, the hours of casualty notification, and also that Eric’s predecessor had been targeted by the very same people he was meeting with to help democracy take hold.

To read more, click here

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Regardless of how you feel about the war in Iraq, the war on terror, the President who sent our troops abroad, or the President who holds office now, we all can agree that our soldiers need prayer.  In the stateside political fray over the war on terror, it is easy to forget that the people who deserve the most attention are just that – people.  They are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts – and above all – they are each someone’s child.

To Our Soldiers Serving Abroad:

We here at Elev8 simply extend our thanks.  We recognize that peace and freedom are not free.  We acknowledge the sacrifice that you make not only by leaving your families behind, but by offering your very lives in service everyday. Saying “thank you” is truly insufficient, but Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.  You are loved and appreciated for your loyal service to this country.

In an era where many people lie for a living, fail to live up to their obligations, and refuse to keep their keep their word, you are to be honored, if for no other reason than for upholding your commitment to your country.

For the danger that you face on behalf of our nation everyday – Thank You.

For your willingness to put your lives before ours here at home – Thank You.

For the families and loved ones you left behind – Thank You.

For the determination that you have shown and continue to show in serving these United States of America – Thank You.

For your obedience – Thank You.

For honoring your commitment to your nation and her people – Thank You.

For standing as examples of courage to us all – Thank You.

Please accept our blessing over you:

May God keep you, bless you, and return you home safely to your families and to America.  May he cause his face to shine upon you, be gracious to you, and reward you beyond what you can imagine for your military service.  May he protect and sustain your families in your absence and after you come home.  We praise him for your sacrifice.  We ask him to honor you for it. May you prosper as your soul prospers and above all, give you peace.

In Jesus Name – Amen.

We salute you this July 4th!

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From MSNBC.com

When it comes to preventing risky teen sex, there may be no better deterrent than a doting dad.Teenagers whose fathers are more involved in their lives are less likely to engage in, according to a new study.

The more attentive the dad – and the more he knows about his teenage child’s friends – the bigger the impact on the teen’s sexual behavior, the researchers found. While an involved mother can also help stave off a teen’s sexual activity, dads have twice the influence.”Maybe there’s something different about the way fathers and adolescents interact,” said the study’s lead author Rebekah Levine Coley, an associate professor at Boston College. “It could be because it’s less expected for fathers to be so involved, so it packs more punch when they are.”

Understanding a father’s influence in teen sexual behavior is important, experts say. One in four American adolescents under the age of 15 has had sexual intercourse and, by age 18, two-thirds have had sex, according to research. The concern is, many sexually active young people aren’t using protection, a contributing factor in rising teen birth rates. Approximately 750,000 teenagers become pregnant each year and about 3 in 10 teenage girls become pregnant at least once before age 20, according to government statistics.

To read more, click here