Why We’re Not Opposed To Giving Our Children Christmas Gifts
@ evgenyatamanenko Dollar Photo Club NOTE: This post is not addressing those parents who do not have the financial means to buy gifts. That is a different topic entirely. This is about choosing not to give any gifts with the intent of teaching our...
What Grace Means To Me; A Fallible Mom
What does grace mean to you? God’s unmerited favor. That’s what it means to me. It means that even though I’m weak, and I mess up, He still loves me, and makes things work out for my good. When we offer grace to each other I think of it in terms of not being too hard...
Oh, These Baby Birds, This Beautiful Girl, And My Tender Mama-Heart
My daughter and I are simultaneously learning what it feels like to have to sit back and let our little ones learn to fly. She’s almost 16. And this week she’s been nursing two baby Robins. They fell from a tree in our front yard one day when it was really...
He Wants Me To Love Him
We finally did it! We overcame the many obstacles and got family pictures taken! Such a burden lifted. I'm the queen of procrastination when it comes to family photos! But it's done, and our friend did a fantastic job capturing this little group of people I'm blessed...
Intentional Marriage: Book Review
In honor of Crystal's anniversary, you can get this book free, today only! Is your husband driving you crazy? Or Do you feel alone in your marriage? I can empathize because I’ve been there. It’s a yucky place to be. And it certainly isn’t a place that makes me say...
A Great Resource To Help You Pray For Your Husband
I know I need want to pray for my husband but sometimes I’m just lost for words. I’m just not sure how to pray. What are his needs? What should I pray for? How can I intercede for him? I love this book because it meets my needs when it comes to praying for my...
It’s Like We’re Sleepwalking; Slow Down To Connect With Loved Ones
There we sat, sipping our sweet teas and waiting for our food to arrive. Going to a restaurant is usually a special time for our family. It's one way we can slow down and connect with each other. It gives mom a break and it’s a time for us to all relax and enjoy...
Do Your Kids Know You’re an Ordinary Person?
How do your children perceive you? Do you remember discovering things about your parents that as a younger child you never really understood or considered a reality? I’m not talking about deep, dark secrets, I mean ordinary aspects of their humanness. Were you...
Respecting My Husband: What’s Bread Got To Do With It?
Making homemade bread. Painting walls Creating a homemaking routine that works. These are some things that I was determined to get “right” but it took many tries. With each try I learned a little bit more about what I was doing wrong and what I was doing right....
Giving our Children Roots And Wings
Late last night I posted the following on my business Facebook page: “I just wanted to check in and say I haven't forgotten all of you. I've been pretty quiet lately due to some pressing family matters. We've been away from home a lot lately, visiting with my...
Mom (and Dad) Relax, This Parenting Thing Takes A While
Recently in a mentoring group I participate in a desperate mom asked for prayers. She feels like she has lost the joy of parenting and has become a grouchy old lady. She shared, “I am trying to raise godly men, but they are more like wild men lately!” Oh, how I can...
When Your Kids Declare “It’s Not Fair!”
“It’s not fair!” Is this what your children declare every time they don’t like a decision you’ve made? Somehow, children learn early on that by playing the “fair” card, they can stop an issue in its tracks and turn things around in their favor. Or at least they think...
How Fighting For What I Want Strengthens My Marriage
Sometimes it’s difficult to admit that you’ve grown in a particular area. Why? Because when you do, you’re also admitting that you needed to grow! It’s hard to look back and see the less-mature person you used to be. But it’s good. It’s certainly better than the...
But How Will I Lead Them?
Recently I began reading through “The Story; The Bible As One Continuing Story Of God And His People.” Today’s reading took me to the part of the story where the Israelites are about to enter the beautiful and abundant land that God had promised them. Moses, who had...
The Beauty of Godly Submission
In a culture that elevates personal freedom to an unbiblical level, it is difficult for a wife to believe she is actually called to obey her husband. And the husbands aren’t exempt from any blame in the controversy this passage tends to stir.
I Wish I Was a Mom Like That
Do you pale in comparison when you look at other moms? Stop it! You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Live your strengths, thank God for them. Be thankful for the strengths of those around you but stop trying to be someone els. It would be a boring and ineffective world if we all had the same strengths.
“Train Up A Child…” It’s Not What You Think
I could write a whole article on the devastating misconceptions in this teaching; e.g., the idea that bringing a child to church is what God had in mind when
What Would You Wish You Could Say?
Are you mad at your husband today? Or maybe your kids are driving you crazy? Is it easier to tell them all the ways they are letting you down than to tell them why you’d give your life for them?
What if I Don’t Raise the Next President?
I’ve heard it said many times before, in an honorable effort to validate a mom’s choice to stay at home or to home school, “What you’re doing is very important. After all, you may be raising the next president.” Or maybe they say the next astronaut, or the next Billy...
Pure… Gut-Wrenching… Joy
That’s what my children bring to my life. As I sit on the couch listening to my little boy talking away, with his sweet little two-year old vocabulary, and only getting two out of ten words right, and his precious little expressions that only a toddler...