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Like millions of TV viewers, I have been drawn to the TLC program “Jon and Kate Plus 8.” In case you’ve haven’t seen the show (most likely you’ve been living in a cave), it’s about a Pennsylvania family with eight children – twins and sextuplets.

The show follows the family on its journey of life with 10 people in a household. I’ve enjoyed watching it for two main reasons: it’s comforting and it’s realistic. I take comfort in the fact I don’t have eight children. I take comfort in the fact that if this couple can survive with eight children, surely I can survive with one. The family seems real – Jon and Kate squabble and fight. They aren’t always all smiles, but they seem to really love each other and try to do the best they can as parents. Read more about the family here.

The show has its share of critics and people who think Jon and Kate Gosselin have exploited their children for financial profit. I think they’ve been able to give their kids some perks in life they normally would not have been able to afford or coordinate.

Earlier this year, Kate Gosselin published a book titled “Multiple Blessings,” which chronicles the family’s story and includes more about their faith and Christianity than TLC chooses to include in the TV show. (Photo: Kate Gosselin signs copies of “Multiple Blessings.”)

Last night I had the chance to hear Kate speak at my church, Seacoast in Mount Pleasant. The event was sold out and the place was packed with hundreds of women eager to hear from this mega-mom.

At the “Coffee with Kate” event, Kate Gosselin explained how she and Jon were Christians, but how early in their marriage and when their twin girls were small, life was good and they weren’t really relying on or consulting God. (Gee, haven’t we all been there. We’re cruising along, soaking up the blessings and, well, God is in there somewhere.)

But when life tosses us a curve ball, suddenly we run to God, giving him our full attention. Kate talked about how much she and Jon turned to God when they found out they were expecting not one or two, but six babies.

I can relate to Kate, who is Type A all the way and has a strong desire to plan and control her life. Suddenly, she had no control. She turned her worries over to God and accepted the fact this was his plan for her.

I took comfort in the fact she says it took more than two years before she completely came to terms with their child-filled life. My daughter is almost a year old, and I still have trouble accepting my life as a parent and my role as a mother.

Logically, we know life works better when we turn to God. Yet, why is that so hard for us to do? And better yet why is it so hard to do when life is going well? For some reason, we seem to think we know better. We want what we want how we want it and when we want it. I pray I begin to want what God wants how he wants it and when he wants it for me.

Thanks, Kate Gosselin, for sharing your story and for setting an example that God always provides and that he loves us enough to craft the perfect plan.

Kate shared this verse and how, even though she’d know this verse since she was a child, it really hit home when she was pregnant for sextuplets:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

I thought I might have noticed it several weeks ago. No, couldn’t be. It was the lighting in the bathroom. Yes, had to be the lighting in the bathroom.

I noticed it again. I just need a color touch up. It’s just a very light-colored hair, that’s all, just a very light hair.

I look again a few days later – in a different bathroom mirror. I feel sort of ill.

It’s a gray hair. Actually, it’s a couple – or maybe even more than a couple – gray hairs. I mention it to my husband, who admits he noticed them some time ago and graciously kept his mouth shut. Smart man. Although, he has a couple of these ill-gotten hairs himself, so can’t really criticize.

After the events of the last 12 months or so, I can’t say I’m surprised to see some gray hairs popping up. I feel I’ve aged a decade. But I really wasn’t expecting to see these tiny harbingers of old age for at least another 15 years.

On the bright side, we live in the modern times of hair color. I will have this little problem taken care of at the end of the month and every few months thereafter.

We will never speak of it again.

Most days I don’t watch The Oprah Winfrey Show, but yesterday I was interested in the episode because it featured Oprah discussing her battle with weight. I’d read a piece she’d written for O magazine about how she had gained 40 pounds and was so disappointed she was still talking about her weight. (You can read more about it here.)

I appreciated her candor in discussing her battle with weight, her struggles with emotional eating, self-esteem and how she’d completely taken herself off her own to-do list.

A publicity stunt? Well, I suppose some cynical folks might say that. But I can’t imagine many women who would want to share how much they weigh, how they feel about themselves and what sizes they have in their closet with a national audience. So, I give Oprah credit for addressing an issue that thousands of women face daily. Who hasn’t made a commitment to start exercising and then skipped a few too many gym sessions? Who hasn’t committed to making more time for yourself and then found you had no time for anything you wanted to do?

While I might not always agree with all of Oprah’s beliefs, I admire her for all she’s done, her charity and her ability to rise from humble beginnings to make something of herself. She’s one of the few celebrities I’d really like to meet.

“Falling off the wagon,” as Oprah puts it, happens to all of us. I’m just glad People magazine isn’t there to document it.

It seems at the end of each year, I pause and wonder just where the year went. They always seem to disappear so quickly. I feel that way again this year, but am actually relieved to bid farewell to 2008.

This year has been challenging to say the least. I think back a year ago and can hardly wrap my mind around all that has changed. This time last year I was hugely pregnant and we were excited about our baby girl who was to be born in early February.

We were blessed on Feb. 2 with a beautiful, healthy daughter. We are happy to have her in our lives, but the adjustment to parenthood was harder than I ever could have imagined.

I returned to work full time in April and was learning to juggle work and family on a new level. But I was happy to be working as so much of who I am has been wrapped up in my career. Even after having a baby, I knew I couldn’t turn my back on my work.

So, my layoff in October and the resulting life changes rattled me in a way I’m not sure anyone could understand.

It’s been a tough year and I’m ready to move past it. The year 2008 will always be special because of Katherine, but it is not exactly a year I would be eager to repeat.

I pray for a better 2009 and a wise spirit that can look back on these challenges, learn and grow from them and move to a new level of greatness.

For Christmas, Santa brought me a Flip Video Camera, an awesome little device that makes uploading videos to the Web super easy. Here we are playing around with the new device on Christmas morning (totally ignore my just-out-of-bed look and focus on that adorable baby).

Our babies: Mocha, Belle and Katherine.
And Katherine says, “Should I be on all fours for this photo?”

As I was cleaning out my 2008 calendar, I came across some notes I took during a presentation about having fun a work given by Mike Veeck, author of “Fun is Good” and part owner of the Charleston RiverDogs minor league baseball team.

Just thought I would share his tips about how to infuse the workplace with fun (which should be pretty easy for me these days since I work at home).

1. Hire passionate people.
2. Have fun – laughter improves everything.
3. Values (write down four one-word values for your company).
4. Teamwork – build a team you can be proud of.
5. Generosity of spirit – mentor someone.
6. Creativity (have creative meetings in the morning; but keep meetings to an hour or less).
7. Customer service (write your top 25 customers a hand-written note).
8. Give back to the community in which you live.

Additional tidbits of wisdom:
* People want to be empowered to make decisions.
* How we deal with success and failure on a day-to-day basis is the defining moment for how we handle business and people.
* How we approach change defines our business.
* The No. 1 employee morale gift: unexpected time off.

A recent article in Newsweek discussed how reporters were trying to draw comparisons between Jackie Kennedy Onassis and soon-to-be First Lady Michelle Obama. The article points out how different the two women really are and showcases the inane attempts by the media to connect the dots, particularly in terms of fashion.

Obama has pledged to focus on complex social issues, such as support for military families, once she gets to the White House. Still, most of her recent headlines have been about her clothes, such as the mixed reviews she drew for her election-night Narciso Rodriguez number.

Seriously? This woman has a master’s degree and a law career and we’re talking about her clothes? I have yet to read anything about Barack Obama’s ties or suit selections.

Let’s move beyond looking at women as little more than Barbie dolls. The First Lady will be representing one of the most powerful countries in the world as more than just a fashion accessory to the President. How about reviewing and critiquing her policies, thoughts and strategies rather than her choice of handbags and dresses?

I know, I know, the title of this posting leaves you scratching your head. What could we possibly learn from men? (ha, ha to my male readers). Well, we moms could learn a couple techniques for squelching our mommy guilt.

If you’ve never experienced mommy guilt, then you a) Don’t have children or b) Don’t have children. At some point or another, all moms feel guilty about something – feeding Child a Happy Meal; putting Child in playpen or swing for the fourth time in one day; not reading enough to Child … and the list goes on.

Here’s a particularly interesting article from American Baby magazine targeted at new moms and how to cure five new mom guilty feelings. But what I found most interesting is the “Father Knows Best” tips.

We can learn a thing or two from dads about kicking the guilt habit. Granted, it’s easier for them because they don’t have the societal expectations that we moms do. If a man changes a diaper, he’s a hero. But, for whatever the reason, fathers have got their thinking right. Here are three good manly lessons.

Dads don’t try to do it all. “Men don’t expect to work full time and be the primary caretaker to their kids, a great cook, sexy for their spouse, and a good friend,” Rosenberg says. Yet women do.

Dads don’t feel guilty about taking time for themselves. Does your husband think twice about heading out to the gym? Enough said.

Dads don’t blame themselves for everything (er, anything). Your child didn’t bite the other toddler at the playground because you didn’t breastfeed him or you fed him too much sugar. Kids act out, and they get hurt…just because they’re kids.

Excellent.

Last week I scored a new freelancing gig: updating a company blog about making your office more green. I’m posting twice a week and my first post goes up tomorrow. Check it out here. You also can be a fan of this blog on Facebook and follow updates on Twitter.

Over the last year, I’ve written several stories about the green movement, including stories about green building and profiles of businesses that are offering green products/services. It’s become an interest of mine, so I’m looking forward to writing about how companies are going green.

One catch to the blog, it’s technically based in San Diego so many of my postings should be related to San Diego. I love San Diego and wish the company that hired me would bring out for a meeting!

Check out the blog and follow me on Twitter and Facebook!

In July, I mentioned in this post that I had contributed a chapter to a textbook called “Understanding Media Convergence.” Well, last week I received my copy in the mail. So exciting! Journalism students everywhere will be falling asleep to my words – what a thrill! You can read more about the book here.

Hey, Check it out – I was profiled on The Organizing Mama blog as the MomMinute. While you’re at it, nose around the Web site – lots of cool stuff there.

Plenty of businesses are offering specials related to Election Day. Check out this story about how offering freebies for voting is a violation of the law. As the story points out, “Leave it to the law to spoil all the fun.”

Most businesses figured out a way to get around the law by offering general Election Day specials and not requiring people to actually show their “I Voted” sticker.

Truly, how many people are motivated solely to vote based on getting free coffee from Starbucks or free ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s? I’d like to think people are voting because it’s their duty as U.S. citizens, but, I guess, whatever works … I am, by the way, going to Starbucks this afternoon for my free coffee (but I would have voted anyway!) 🙂

I’ll be the first to admit motherhood has been so hard for me. The last nine months since my daughter was born have been pretty tough. But this weekend I had a great time hanging out with Katherine. It was a much-needed reminder that she is a precious part of my life.

On Saturday, we ran to Wal-Mart and then stopped at the new Petco so Katherine could check out the birds and other creatures. Later that day, Clint and I took her to the Coastal Carolina Fair (in the South, fairs come late in the year so you don’t die from summer heat and humidity). We walked all through the animal barn, with Katherine squealing at the sight of piglets, chickens and cows. She even had the chance to pet a rabbit. And by pet, I mean grab a fistful of fluffly fur and pull. (Eek! Don’t think the bunny can win many prizes missing a clump of fur! Sorry to the nice man who tried to let a baby pet a rabbit.)

Even on Sunday, we went to church, took an afternoon walk through the neighborhood and just hung out. It was a quiet, fuss-free weekend.

I tried to soak it in so I could summon those memories on a day when Katherine is sick, teething or just in a general grumpy baby mood. Or maybe I’ll think back to that trip to the fair when she gives me a 14-year-old, “Whatever, Mom! I’m going to the mall.”