Each year on October 10, the world pauses to recognize World Mental Health Day, a reminder that mental well-being is just as vital as physical health. For those working in demanding, heart-centered roles like child welfare, foster care, and family services, it can be easy to focus on others while neglecting your own needs. But just as you can’t pour from an empty cup, caring for yourself is essential to caring for others.
My daddy worked at a cotton compress all my life. Back then, compresses existed to take the bales of cotton from gins (600 lbs each) and squash them down to about half-size so more could be stored. Then, the bales would be placed in warehouses, sometimes as many as 250,000 bales or more, and the overflow would be placed in open fields. Now, they mostly just store cotton.
This week, CK Family Services foster parents, Alan and Ashleigh Conway, were honored in Frisco as part of the Savannah Bananas Tour Stop.
September is National Kinship Care Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the families who step up to provide love, stability, and safety for children when their parents are unable to care for them.
At CK Family Services, our mission is simple yet profound:
People united through God to enhance the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of at-risk children and families.
This North Texas Giving Day, we invite you to join us in this mission—because together, we can be the difference a child or family desperately needs. Give now: NORTH TEXAS GIVING DAY
As we step into fall, we’re reminded that “being well” goes beyond just physical health—it’s about tending to our hearts, minds, and spirits. One of the most powerful tools God has given us for our well-being is His Word.
The Bible isn’t simply a book of encouragement; it is living, active, and effective. God’s Word strengthens us in good times and sustains us in difficult ones. Scripture is both a comfort and a weapon, reminding us of truth when our thoughts or circumstances feel overwhelming.
Mark Lindskog, IT Director for CKFS for the past six years, has a remarkable story of trials, triumphs, and personal experience in foster care and adoption. As a High School sophomore in San Jose, California, Mark experienced eye problems which led to the discovery of a malignant tumor in the center of his brain. He faced an impossible choice—undergo surgery with a 90% chance of severe brain damage or certain death as the tumor grew.
It may have been the Summer of ’74. I know I was a teenager and did not possess a driver’s license, but I was close. I already had a stripped-down Toyota Corolla my brother-in-law gifted me with about 250K miles on it. I had been driving heavy equipment, tugs, and tow motors at the cotton compress with my dad for years, and I was a very competent driver of my stick-shift Corolla. Cops did not care back in the day because they knew I could drive. But at vacation time, Dad drove because we were now on the interstates with highway patrolmen.
There’s nothing quite like the crack of the bat, the cheer of the crowd, and the smell of ballpark snacks in the air, especially when surrounded by hundreds of smiling faces in purple shirts. This year’s CKFS Day at the Ballpark was a grand slam!
For Brian King, a lifelong Denton County resident and accomplished technology leader, the decision to become a foster and adoptive parent came not only from the heart—but from a search for purpose and the desire to make a difference in a child’s life.