The 2nd edition of our?holiday e-book, Unwrapping the?Gift of Stepfamily Peace, ?is out and for the next few weeks I want to include some excerpts to help you thrive, not just survive, the holiday season.
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Today I start with the introduction to give you an idea why Heather Hetchler and I wrote the book:
?When we became stepparents we never imagined the roller coaster of emotions we would ride. We willingly said ?I do? to?men with children, while bringing our own kids into the mix.
Like you, we pledged our hearts and our lives to our spouses, agreeing to partner with them to parent our children. Together, we have strived to build a family based on love, faith, and commitment.
As stepparents, we face many challenges in our role and we realize the holidays can be an especially difficult time. While the season offers opportunity to bond and grow closer as a family, there is ample opportunity for hurt and disappointment.
Our book was written for every stepparent who dreams of a peace-filled holiday season. You are not alone on this journey.?
If you feel alone on your journey, reach out to other stepparents. There are a variety of online groups?that offer encouragement and support. (But be careful, there are some that offer only negative support). Here are a few that I like:
Twitter: #TwitterStepmoms ? a group of stepmoms seeking to encourage one another through uplifting posts
Facebook: Buckeye BonusMom: A group moderated by Lisa Teal Webb, stepmom to 3, who focuses on the positive side of stepparenting
Facebook: StepparentingSuccess: A group Heather and I?started?on FB to encourage?stepparents with helpful tidbits
Stepmom Magazine:? helpful articles from other stepmoms living in the trenches, published monthly.
The holiday season is in full swing. How are you doing so far??I hope you?ll download our e-book to help you and your family unwrap the gift of stepfamily peace through the flurry of the holidays.
What tips can you offer that help you through the holiday season as a stepparent? I would love to hear them.
Related Posts:
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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday respect for human rights was declining in the European Union, as part of a campaign to turn the tables on the West's criticism of Moscow's rights record.
"We are seeing a certain deterioration in regard to safeguarding human rights in the EU member states," Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's special representative for human rights, told a news conference.
"Undoubtedly during a financial and economic crisis, solving these problems will not become any easier," he said, shortly before leaving for Brussels to meet his EU counterpart Stavros Lambrinidis.
European leaders have expressed concern over the jailing of members of punk band Pussy Riot, prosecutions of opposition figures and laws restricting protests and foreign-funded organizations since President Vladimir Putin started a third term in May.
Putin, who is expected to meet EU leaders later this month for a twice-yearly summit, has said the West has no right to lecture Russia on human rights or use its concerns as an instrument of political pressure.
After years of Western criticism, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a report on human rights in other countries for the first time last year, focusing on allegations of abuse by U.S. authorities.
Dolgov was presenting the ministry's first report dealing solely with human rights in the EU, where Russia has complained of mistreatment of Russian-born children adopted in the EU and accused some bloc members of mistreatment of Russian-speaking minorities.
The report also cited allegations of abusive treatment of people in custody, poor prison conditions and bias against ethnic minorities and labor migrants.
Dolgov said the EU should take more action to combat "all this ugliness that is unfortunately taking place and continuing in the European Union members in terms of not observing human rights, not observing democratic standards and in terms of not following the rule of law".
(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Steve Gutterman)
Mindy Kaling & Reese Witherspoon Do Lunch?[The Frisky] Shania Twain Kicks Off Vegas Show?[HollyWire] No More Drama For Halle Berry??[Right Celebrity] Katy Perry Wants to Pursue Acting?[The Celebrity Cafe] Heidi Klum Finally Throws Halloween Bash?[The Blemish] Check Out What Dr. Oz Eats at Home?[The Huffington Post] Angelina Jolie Quitting Acting??[Pop Crunch] Ewan McGregor Campaigns for ...
To become a productive working day or Intraday trader you want certain tools and couple of disciplines to stick to. It is not possible to do well at trading with no applying effective strategies. You have to study about the market and the current economic and political scenario, other than the stock actions. A productive trader has to devote at least one hour prior to or immediately after market place hours to sharpen investing methods and refine tips.
What are the day trading equipment?
1 of the most important tools is a pc with an Internet connection. If you do not individual a quick Web connection, you are inclined to decline. Stock rates alter in each and every and every single second. To get an up-to-day inventory estimate you really should have a excellent net connection. Right now you can uncover a number of World wide web assistance providers in the industry. The broadband providers offer you different amounts of inexpensive and quickly net services offers to fulfill everyone?s demands. Pick the provider and the package deal that satisfies your necessity inside of the funds. Add PowerBoost? technological innovation to your link and obtain huge chunks of organization data associated documents with in no time. PowerBoost supplies bursts of get} and add speeds for the 1st ten MB and 5 MB of a file, respectively. Because most of the Net assistance package deal consists of several free of charge extras, choose the deal that satisfies your requirement.
One more critical tool for day trading is an on the web day trading account or Demat account- You really should have a demat account to commence investing. You can open up a demat account with any financial institution or on the web reveal brokers. Now implementing for a demat account is tranquil simple.
You can utilize it on-line.
Fundamental standards for deciding on a inventory ? The crucial items to be regarded as just before performing day trading are checking value volatility and quantity.
Cost volatility signifies the upward and downward movement of the inventory. It is much better to choose shares that demonstrate fluctuation. In day trading shares moving in a narrow assortment will not give income. Examine for shares that demonstrate fluctuation at a large price. Since you can get income from equally the upward transfer and downward shift concentrate on this kind of kind of stock and get funds.
Volume ? As a large quantity signifies far more liquidity, so select those shares that have substantial investing amount. When quantity is substantial, there will be a lot more price tag fluctuation. When the quantity is large, you will get a lot more exposure to the value to purchase or market shares.
Points to remember just before beginning day trading:-
Day traders must hold in mind the subsequent factors.
Entry and exit value ? You have to decide the entry and exit stage. There are probabilities for the inventory to go above the exit price tag and contact new stages. But you must repair the target. Most of the fluctuating stocks will go up and down with in a bout. So play carefully.
Earnings targets ? Most of the people have a behavior of keeping the inventory for a prolonged time when it commences to transfer upward. This is a bad practice. Such sort of practices can lead you to reduction.
End decline restrict ?It?s greater to place a end decline restrict. As the brand signifies the end decline restrict will limit your reduction. As day trading is a sport of loss and acquire, limit your losses and widen your gains.
Margin accessible to you- Trade for the margin obtainable in your account. Any investing that goes past the margin will set you in difficulties.
Your potential to keep threat ? Check out regardless of whether you have the capacity to bear the chance. You can also choose about the amount of days you can keep the talk about.
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Drug shows promise in prostate cancer spread to bonePublic release date: 4-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nicole Fawcett nfawcett@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
Tumors were reduced on bone scans, bone pain decreased after patients received cabozantinib
ANN ARBOR, Mich. A new drug demonstrated dramatic and rapid effects on prostate cancer that had spread to the bone, according to a study reported by University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.
About two-thirds of patients treated with cabozantinib had improvements on their bone scans, with 12 percent seeing complete resolution of uptake on bone scan. Bone scans assess the degree to which cancer is in the bone; improvements on these scans suggest a response to the drug.
"The effects of cabozantinib on bone scans are unprecedented in the treatment of prostate cancer," says lead study author David C. Smith, M.D., professor of internal medicine and urology at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Cabozantinib is designed to target two important pathways linked to the growth and spread of prostate cancer. The drug had the most effect on tumors that had spread to the bone, which is the major site where prostate cancer spreads. These tumors are typically very challenging to treat once they become resistant to hormone-based therapies.
In addition to the improvements on bone scans, 67 percent of patients with bone pain reported an improvement in pain control and 56 percent decreased or eliminated narcotic painkillers after treatment with cabozantinib. Results of the study appear in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The trial enrolled 171 men with castration-resistant prostate cancer, meaning their tumors no longer responded to hormone-based therapies. The study began as a randomized trial in which all patients received cabozantinib for 12 weeks, after which patients were randomized to receive continued cabozantinib or placebo. The randomization was stopped early because of the dramatic effects on bone scan, and because patients receiving placebo saw their cancer progress much more quickly than those that remained on drug.
Among the 31 patients who were randomized, cancer progressed after a median 23.9 weeks for patients taking cabozantinib, compared with 5.9 weeks for patients on placebo.
"Discontinuing randomization is not common. Stabilization of disease in advanced prostate cancer is rarely due to the natural history of the disease and is in this case due to drug effect," Smith says.
"While these initial results are promising, we are still uncertain how cabozantinib will impact the gold standard of survival," he adds.
Phase III studies have begun at some institutions, and U-M researchers are conducting a phase II study to better understand the effect cabozantinib has on bone. This drug is not offered routinely in clinical care at this time. For information about prostate cancer treatment options or clinical trials currently open at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, call the Cancer AnswerLine at 800-865-1125.
###
Prostate cancer statistics: 241,740 Americans will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year and 28,170 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society
Additional authors: Matthew R. Smith, Christopher Sweeney, Aymen A. Elfiky, Christopher Logothetis, Paul G. Corn, Nicholas J. Voglezang, Eric. J. Small, Andrea L. Harzstark, Michael S. Gordon, Ulk N. Vaishampayan, Naomi B. Haas, Alexander I. Spira, Primo N. Lara Jr., Chia-Chi Lin, Sandy Srinivas, Avishay Sella, Patrick Schoffski, Christian Scheffold, Aaron L. Weitzman, Maha Hussain
Funding: Exelixis
Disclosure: None
Reference: Journal of Clinical Oncology, published online Nov. 19, 2012
Resources:
U-M Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125
U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, www.mcancer.org
Clinical trials at U-M, www.UMClinicalStudies.org/cancer
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Drug shows promise in prostate cancer spread to bonePublic release date: 4-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nicole Fawcett nfawcett@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
Tumors were reduced on bone scans, bone pain decreased after patients received cabozantinib
ANN ARBOR, Mich. A new drug demonstrated dramatic and rapid effects on prostate cancer that had spread to the bone, according to a study reported by University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.
About two-thirds of patients treated with cabozantinib had improvements on their bone scans, with 12 percent seeing complete resolution of uptake on bone scan. Bone scans assess the degree to which cancer is in the bone; improvements on these scans suggest a response to the drug.
"The effects of cabozantinib on bone scans are unprecedented in the treatment of prostate cancer," says lead study author David C. Smith, M.D., professor of internal medicine and urology at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Cabozantinib is designed to target two important pathways linked to the growth and spread of prostate cancer. The drug had the most effect on tumors that had spread to the bone, which is the major site where prostate cancer spreads. These tumors are typically very challenging to treat once they become resistant to hormone-based therapies.
In addition to the improvements on bone scans, 67 percent of patients with bone pain reported an improvement in pain control and 56 percent decreased or eliminated narcotic painkillers after treatment with cabozantinib. Results of the study appear in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The trial enrolled 171 men with castration-resistant prostate cancer, meaning their tumors no longer responded to hormone-based therapies. The study began as a randomized trial in which all patients received cabozantinib for 12 weeks, after which patients were randomized to receive continued cabozantinib or placebo. The randomization was stopped early because of the dramatic effects on bone scan, and because patients receiving placebo saw their cancer progress much more quickly than those that remained on drug.
Among the 31 patients who were randomized, cancer progressed after a median 23.9 weeks for patients taking cabozantinib, compared with 5.9 weeks for patients on placebo.
"Discontinuing randomization is not common. Stabilization of disease in advanced prostate cancer is rarely due to the natural history of the disease and is in this case due to drug effect," Smith says.
"While these initial results are promising, we are still uncertain how cabozantinib will impact the gold standard of survival," he adds.
Phase III studies have begun at some institutions, and U-M researchers are conducting a phase II study to better understand the effect cabozantinib has on bone. This drug is not offered routinely in clinical care at this time. For information about prostate cancer treatment options or clinical trials currently open at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, call the Cancer AnswerLine at 800-865-1125.
###
Prostate cancer statistics: 241,740 Americans will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year and 28,170 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society
Additional authors: Matthew R. Smith, Christopher Sweeney, Aymen A. Elfiky, Christopher Logothetis, Paul G. Corn, Nicholas J. Voglezang, Eric. J. Small, Andrea L. Harzstark, Michael S. Gordon, Ulk N. Vaishampayan, Naomi B. Haas, Alexander I. Spira, Primo N. Lara Jr., Chia-Chi Lin, Sandy Srinivas, Avishay Sella, Patrick Schoffski, Christian Scheffold, Aaron L. Weitzman, Maha Hussain
Funding: Exelixis
Disclosure: None
Reference: Journal of Clinical Oncology, published online Nov. 19, 2012
Resources:
U-M Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125
U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, www.mcancer.org
Clinical trials at U-M, www.UMClinicalStudies.org/cancer
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The Westbrook Christian Church is located on Lily Cache Drive, between Weber Road and Veterans Parkway, and is most noticeable by its large gray structure and sign out front. The church has a fundamental philosophy of connecting each individual person to God, as expressed in its vision statement, "Westbrook exists to help people know Christ fully and make Him known!" The church offers several ministries, including ministries that focus on meeting the various needs of individuals and families in the immediate community and beyond. Westbrook also offers music and worship programs and student ministries that cater to several age groups. For more information about the church's programs, visit the Westbrook Christian Church website.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? A man charged in the death of an Alaska barista was found dead in his jail cell Sunday, and authorities announced hours later that investigators have linked him in recent months to seven other possible slayings in three other states.
Israel Keyes died of an apparent suicide, U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler said at a hastily assembled news conference that also included the FBI and Anchorage police
Keyes was facing a March trial in Anchorage federal court for the murder of 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, who was abducted from a coffee kiosk in the city last February. He was later arrested in Texas after using the victim's debit card.
Keyes confessed to killing Koenig, as well as killing Bill and Lorraine Currier of Essex, Vt., Anchorage police chief Mark Mew told reporters.
The bodies of the Curriers have never been found. They were last seen leaving their jobs on June 8, 2011. Co-workers reported them missing the next day.
Keyes, 34, also indicated he killed four others in Washington state and one person in New York state, but didn't give the victims' names, authorities said.
The FBI contends Keyes killed Koenig less than a day after she was kidnapped. Her body was recovered April 2 from an ice-covered lake north of Anchorage.
Koenig's disappearance gripped the city for weeks.
A surveillance camera showed an apparently armed man in a hooded sweat shirt leading Koenig away from the coffee stand. Koenig's friends and relatives established a reward fund and plastered the city with fliers with her photo in hopes of finding the young woman alive.
Prosecutors said Keyes stole the debit card from a vehicle she shared that was parked near her home, obtained the personal identification number and scratched the number into the card.
After killing Koenig, Keyes used her phone to send text messages to conceal the abduction, according to prosecutors. He flew to Texas and returned Feb. 17 to Anchorage, where he sent another text message demanding ransom and directing it to the account connected to the stolen debit card, according to prosecutors.
Keyes made withdrawals from automated teller machines in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas before his arrest in Texas, according to prosecutors. He was charged with kidnapping resulting in Koenig's death.
Koenig's family said there was no apparent previous connection between the teen and the suspect. Reached by phone Sunday, Koenig's father, James Koenig declined to comment on Keyes' death.
In Vermont, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement Sunday that they have been working with investigators in Alaska since April on the Currier case.
Investigators have determined that the couple's home was entered forcibly, and that there was evidence of a possible struggle.
Their car was stolen and was recovered several days after their disappearance at an apartment complex about three-quarters of a mile away from their home.
Marilyn Chates, Bill Currier's mother, told The Associated Press that police contacted her some time ago to tell her about Keyes' confession and to tell her that they believed the couple's killing was random.
Certificates of presumed death were issued over the summer and a memorial service was held in late summer, she said.
Vermont authorities called Chates Sunday to tell her of Keyes' suicide.
"After some thinking, our family has been saved the long road ahead ? trials, possible plea agreements and possible appeals ? and perhaps this was the best thing that could have happened," she said from her home in Florida Sunday evening.
Keyes was thorough and methodical in disposing victims, authorities said Sunday. Only Koenig's body has been recovered.
He didn't have a clear pattern in victims, who ranged widely in age, authorities said. Money appeared to be just a partial motive.
Authorities say they may never know the full extent of Keyes' crimes because he parsed out only a little information at a time, withholding names and locations of most of his victims.
There may be victims in other states, besides the four states noted by Keyes, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mary Rook said.
Keyes also confessed to bank robberies in New York state and Texas.
Authorities wouldn't say how Keyes killed himself, only that he was alone in his cell. An autopsy will be conducted.
Keyes could have faced the death penalty in the Koenig case.
___
Associated Press writer Rebecca Miller contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 4-Dec-2012
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