The basic premise of our book is that you don’t have to kiss dating goodbye, in fact, if you learn how to honor God, others, and yourself then you can actually have a great dating experience that prepares you very well for marriage!  We take a pro dating stance in our book and then help young adults learn how to set up the right boundaries to keep themselves safe and protected while dating.

Here’s the chapters:

1. Let’s Hear It for Dating
2. Making a List and Checking It Twice
3. It’s All in Your Personality
4. Dating 101
5. Sex and the City
6. Staying Safe While Dating
7. Keeping Emotional Boundaries
8. What If Mr. or Ms. Right Turns Out to Be All Wrong?

As you can see the book is very applicable and straightforward. I think the best feedback we’ve been given over the years is that people really appreciate our openness and honesty. Amy and I are very transparent in the book and do not take a position of talking down to young adults, but rather, we respect them and believe they can make healthy choices in their dating relationships if they are given the chance.

The reason behind wanting a new title is that the church, in general, wasn’t ready for a Christian book to have the word “naked” in the title.  I was a bit ahead of the curve on that one =]  The book still did extremely well, and has been in print since 2003.  But now we get a chance to spruce things up, expand and deliberate on what we’ve learned since initially writing the book and put a new cover on it as well.

So let us know what you think would be a great title for the book.  If a title is chosen, the winner can have the choice of whatever they want from our online store (one item only) and of course a signed copy of the new look book!

LADIES ONLY PLEASE

The 100th survey filled out wins The Comedy of Love DVD by me! It’s my first comedy show ever, and I think you’ll enjoy it (at least I hope you will).

[Leave a comment with your ideas and get entered to win a copy of "Joy that Lasts", a great resource when things get tough!]

Michael and I are heart-broken over the lost lives in Haiti. I’m writing this article for accountability and prayer. Our family wants to care for the orphans and widows in Haiti. We are not sure what this looks like yet, but we know our first step is getting our paper work and training done to become a foster family.

I would like to challenge all of us to find a way to help Haiti that fits your family. We’ve opened our home to big sisters before, now we’re feeling the urgency from the Holy Spirit to DO SOMETHING. I hope we have the pleasure of being used by God in this way. We are looking for direction and are open to many possibilities. I think it’s hard to even ask for prayers for us when they are needed for survival in Haiti- but as you are praying for Haiti- pray for clear direction and movement of supplies and care. God is good – even in disaster! I pray we can live a life worthy of our calling.

HELLO Dear Friends and Family

FIRST – thank you for continuing to pray!!! LOTS of great GOD things happening – can’t wait to share, right now they are happening too fast to do that. I will let you know more when I know more.

We are working hard on getting the word out about ORPHANS, what can be done to get them to families and getting Louis HOME.

Thanks to a friend in the media we have been contacted by several news sources and have a platform to advocate for our child and others. http://nwahomepage.com/content/fulltextfox?cid=145162 (Link to our local news interview).

We have interviews that should air as following: (times listed are CST)

CNN – Friday Night 6-7pm
FOX and FRIENDS – Saturday Morning 5:20am central time live interview
Geraldo Show – 9pm (the producer has said they would like to find Louis and then allow us to see him on TV)

Please pray that the US Government would act swiftly to find a way for children who are already adopted by US citizens to immediately leave Haiti and join their families. Please also pray for the bigger picture that includes more children finding families.

Many have asked how to give or make a difference for Haiti… These are my recommendations for giving that we have personal connections to:

1. Worldwide Village – www.worldwidevillage.com

A. In Allocation line type the name “Livesay Family”- This family is living & serving in Haiti. Troy & Tara Livesay are friends of the Tugwells. Please check out their blog www.livesayhaiti.blogspot.com They have helped us with adoption related matters periodically – Tara even thought seriously about taking Silas in their home when we were denied immigration. They delivered wipes and diapers to us in Haiti even when they were facing a personal crisis. They are remarkable REAL people who love God.

B. In Allocation line type the words “earthquake relief”- Any funds will be used for food, medicine and relief efforts. This ministry will begin Monday to send a group of physicians with the food & medicine to run mobile medical clinics in Port Au Prince. The trips will last 10 days with groups going back to back. If you know a Dr. or RN that is desiring to go to Haiti to help you may contact this ministry. The Livesay’s are helping to coordinate this effort.

3. Heartline Ministries – heartlineministries.org -The Livesay Family also works with this ministry. This ministry will be providing food & medical relief. John and Beth McHoul have been in Haiti since 1989. Also great people with big hearts. John also keeps it real on his blog – very inspiring.

4. Project Hope – www.projecthope.org

Project HOPE is responding in Haiti with antibiotics, medical supplies, bandages and staff on the ground. The only way we can respond so quickly is because of past donations from supporters like you. When you donate to Project HOPE, you make it possible for us to respond to disasters around the globe, as well as get medical care to those who need it. We personally know the former director of Project Hope – he is a physician who is currently traveling to Haiti on the first trip of the USS Comfort. Noel and I will possibly have the opportunity to serve with Project Hope. Others can apply to volunteer as well.

5. LATER – The Titus Task – www.thetitustask.com

We are praying and seeking God in what He will have us do with our connections and love for Haiti and its children. We are asking God to allow us to be part of a movement where orphaned children in Haiti would find forever families in the US. As a friend wrote to me today…for His Spirit to move and provide miracle after miracle. It is a small world and we serve a BIG GOD! We are praying about taking donations for The Titus Task to designate specifically for Haitian children and their adoption. Seems like a great way to remember Titus!

THANK YOU for all of your support, love, and friendship to our family. Thank you for your prayers. We still need them and we feel them every day – we know Louis must too:-) We have certainly been shown the image of what God called the church to be to each other this week – some have called-emailed-facebooked, some have stopped by, some have cooked, some have cleaned, some have done laundry, some have “assisted”, all have encouraged, all have prayed. THANK YOU!

This is the last email update I will send for a while as other “social media networks” seem more efficient – and more people can be updated and give
updates. I will try to update the blog www.tuglor.blogspot.com. If you are not a member of facebook – it is a great way to get information disseminated quickly – it has been so helpful this week. It is free. Lisa has set up a Facebook group that anyone can join – Louis Tugwell – From Haiti to Home.

Love to all -
Lori
For all of us at home and in Haiti!

Sadly, some of us use anger as a tool to manipulate or intimidate another person into giving up or to control the discussion. Some of us protest with anger when we are not getting our way.

Anger generally creates anger or withdrawal in the other party. What starts out to be a legitimate attempt to communicate or resolve a difficult problem becomes worse. Anger often prevents clear thinking and interferes with goodwill.

What is anger’s purpose?

Anger is like pain. It is a warning. Pain tells us that something is wrong in our body and that we need to attend to it and take corrective action. People who ignore chronic pain without understanding its source take a chance that the cause of the pain will become aggravated by neglect.

via Anger is normal: It’s all in how you deal with it | INFORUM | Fargo, ND .

When Jeanne took her place at the long table, she picked up a small object in front of her plate. It was a stick about six inches tall and pointed at the top. Each side of the stick carried an inscription. Jeanne could only read the side that was in English. It was a wish for world peace.

The speaker said that in some countries the custom is to have peace poles. Unlike totem poles that tell a story through carved images, peace poles merely speak of peace.

God has called us to peace, to active peacemaking, to spread His peace to our world even when we cannot go to the whole world. We probably don’t have peace poles sitting in our yards but maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea! We need to claim God’s peace and pass it on.

The resource mentioned in this podcast is Protecting Your Family: discover how to win the greatest battle your family will ever face!

Oct. 6, 2009 – People who suffer from depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders are more likely to gain weight over time and become obese than people who don’t, a new study shows.

Researchers followed more than 4,000 British civil servants for almost two decades in one of the longest studies ever to examine the impact of mental health on obesity.

They found that people with chronic or repeat episodes of depression, anxiety, or other mental health disorders were the most likely to become obese over the course of the 19-year study.

People with symptoms of one or more mental disorders three times during the study were twice as likely to be obese at the final screening as people who never reported such symptoms.

“We started with people who were not obese,” study researcher Mika Kivimaki, PhD, of the University College London, tells WebMD. “The more times mental health symptoms were reported, the greater the risk for becoming obese by the end of the study. This points to a dose-response association between mental disorders and weight gain.”

via Depression, Anxiety Linked to Weight Gain.

People with borderline personality disorder live tumultuous lives. Their romantic relationships rarely last more than a year, and their relationships with their own family tends to be unstable — some weeks they love them and want to spend all of their time with them, some weeks they hate them and won’t even talk to them (to extremes not usually experienced by the rest of us).

via Another Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder | World of Psychology.

For years now, Psych Central and other websites have offered online personality quizzes and tests that help give you some insight into your personality. And while these work well for what they can say about you, they don’t always give you as much information as you might like. They also don’t always present the information in a manner that makes it immediately clear what your strengths and weaknesses are, or what are really the most important aspects of your personality.

via What’s Your Personality Like? | World of Psychology.