How to Teach Your Children to Practice Hospitality

  The door to the bakery jingled as I opened it. Inside the bakery were many signs that Valentine’s Day was almost here. Heart-shaped balloons and stuffed teddy bears the size of small children greeted the entrance, and iced cookies personalized with “I Love You” lined the glass shelves, tempting me in all their sugar glory. Love was all around, that was for sure. Approaching the cashier, I told her my name and what I had ordered. She came back with four sets of Valentine’s cookies for my kids’ teachers and two large boxes of assorted cookies for our doctors. …

Share
Lessons in LOVE

Lessons in LOVE in Eras of Evil

In a recent meeting in a children’s church class room, I read rules displayed on the wall. “Side hugs only,” it warned. Everything else was about what’s NOT allowed:  secrets, piggy backs, carrying, tickling, lap sitting. Are these things all bad? So dangerous? Can’t we be affectionate without being evil? Can’t we use loving touch? Does modern love have to be sterile to be safe? More than ever, our children look to us for lessons in love. An era of evil is a hard time to for a child to learn what love is, and evil reigns today. It’s not the …

Share

2 Tips for a Great Valentine’s Day

  Have you ever hoped to have a perfectly wonderful day, date, or evening; then ruined it by something you did or said? It’s a sickening feeling. You wish you could have a do-over. But that’s just in movies. We canNOT go back. We canNOT not see things we’ve seen or heard words we’ve heard.  So today, make plans to not ruin your day.  Take seriously the following two tips: 1. DO Remember how much Jesus loves you & what real love is. Love is patient, love is kind  and is not jealous; love does not brag  and is not arrogant,  does not act unbecomingly; it does …

Share

A Special Valentine

~~A special Valentine just for you~~ The prince is stately, unrivaled, yet the peasant girl is common, plain. She is sometimes “sullen and sour, even cranky.” Not the type you’d want to spend the rest of your life with. “His attraction to her is baffling.” Yet, he cannot live without her, so he proposes to her. Soon afterward, he leaves to build their future home and take care of his father’s kingdom duties. He promises her that he will return for her as soon as everything was ready. In the meantime, she forgets that she is betrothed. She lives as …

Share

Four Foundations for a Happy Marriage

I think it’s time to really just get real about marriage. Marriage isn’t always easy and you don’t always like each other. But there are four things that can help you have an amazing marriage no matter how tough things may get. So…in light of the upcoming “Holiday of Love” I thought I’d share some thoughts on love and marriage in a rather exposed, up-close and personal kind of way. My husband is my best friend. But it hasn’t always been this way. However, now…after 28 years, I can say we are more in love now than the day we said “I …

Share

How To Have A Jesus Loves You Party With Your Kids For Valentine’s Day

          We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 ESV February has now become the month of love. No longer just a single day, on the actual day of Valentine’s Day, but in a lot of ways the whole month is celebrated by showing those you love how much they mean to you. Honestly, I think it is fantastic idea, but truth be told, our loved ones should know how much we love them all the time…not just on a day, or during a special month that society tells us to celebrate. As a …

Share

Rethinking Valentine’s Day

I have an issue with Valentine’s Day. As I grew up my parents gave my siblings and I candy and told us they loved us. At school I got candy and those little cards that get thrown away almost as soon as you get home. I gave them too. As I got older, I secretly wished a certain boy would send me a card that shared secret feelings. I hoped and wished, always to be disappointed. Even if I received a card from a certain boy that said something like “Be Mine” I could never be sure if he really wanted …

Share

Fun Indoor February Activities for Kids and Moms

It is February and for most of us it is still cold outside. What do we do to keep our kids from going crazy? Here are some fun February activities to keep your kids from suffering boredom.   Did you know February is Canned Food Month? Host a canned food drive for your neighborhood, church, school, or just your family. Have your kids help you bring the cans to a food pantry.   February is Snack Food Month             Are you still trying to keep your New Years resolution to eat healthier? Check out this yummy and healthy snack that …

Share

Happy Valentine’s Day Mom

Oftentimes, on a day when love is in the air, moms sometimes are so busy loving on others that they don’t necessarily ‘feel’ as loved as they are. So, here’s a reminder of just how much you are loved and a sweet little poem to reflect on all you do! “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.’” Jeremiah 33:3 “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are …

Share