Have you met her? She can be a quiet whisper, or an irritating shriek. She loves it when you’re sad, thrives when you’re mad, and wants nothing more than to see you miserable. She tells you you’re not good enough. She compares you constantly with your friends, other mothers, and all those pretty pictures on Pinterest. What kind of mother ARE you? You ALWAYS get it wrong, don’t you? Nobody else feels like this. Just YOU. Ketchup doesn’t count as a vegetable. It never has. You’ll never be good ENOUGH. She’s had a lot of names, but me? I think …
Raising Girls to Be Ladies
As we walked down the hall, she bent over, looked my grandgirl in the eye and said, “Little ladies don’t do that.” My daughter-in-law is very intentionally raising a little lady and it’s a beautiful thing. In a world where being a lady is almost a lost art and not a very revered role, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for moms to expose their little girls to what a real lady looks and acts like. During an interview, Elisabeth Elliot said of her mother, “If I were to have asked my mother if she had to work hard to be reverent …
The window of a mother’s influence
As the 16th President of the United States, he brought a broken nation together and freed a persecuted people, yet he said that, “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother” ~ President Abraham Lincoln. A mother has the potential to influence her child to become all God planned, despite the obstacles of life, to nurture greatness from a once-swaddled helplessness depending on her for life itself. The window of opportunity was wide open for so long. From her bassinet, her eyes locked on mine as if she studied my every word and expression. …
Giving Thanks A Challenge & The M.O.M. Initiative Monday Link Up!
“. . . give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 My heart felt raw and prickly – as if somehow the circumstances of my life had ripped a layer of skin off my soul and left a raw pulsating mass. It wasn’t one big event, but the bumps and hard knocks of a multitude of tiny things that resulted in one irritated mass in the center of my chest. My refrigerator was on the blink, coursework weighed heavy, and my house was a disaster. I sat in front of …
Teaching God’s Word Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
I’ve been working on a new book for moms and one of the questions I’m often asked is this, “How do you teach God’s word to your kids?” Here is an excerpt from my book Modern Moms © and its perfect for everyday moms like you and I wanting to led our kids to Jesus. 🙂 Being in central Nebraska, I am smack dab in the middle of farm country. In fact, most of my friends have grown up on farms or are married to farmers. Don’t even get me started about football around here either (We still don’t really get it). Husker …
Five Proven Strategies to Navigate Pesky In-laws During the Holidays
By Featured Guest: Mary DeMuth While spending time with your extended family may bring back warm memories of holidays gone by, now that you’re a parent, you may worry about some of those pesky in-laws whose habits you don’t want your kids exposed to. Uncle George’s drinking problem. Aunt Sarah’s nasty mouth. That cousin’s addiction to porn. Grandpa’s shouting. How do you navigate the in-law landmines this holiday season? Five ways. Set Boundaries Before You Go Before you ever set foot in your in-laws home, have a powwow with your spouse (or if you’re unmarried, discuss it with a close …
Carve a Pumpkin Day…and Point Your Children to Christ
Standing beside mama, I watched with wide eyes as she took a kitchen knife and cut a circle in the top of a bright orange pumpkin. Carefully, she lifted the top off and told me to look inside. Standing on tip toes, I peered into the pumpkin. “It’s yucky,” I announced. …
Talking to kids about the Storm
You could pull the curtains and claim it’s sunny, but more than 1/3 of the United States will experience Hurricane Sandy first-hand. Anxiety surfaces for some children, and questions arise for others, but all young minds do some mental filing and processing as this “Superstorm” strikes the East coast of the United States. Don’t be fooled; they’re thinking about more than lost Halloween candy. How do you talk to kids about a storm? What God says about the storm God’s word is not silent about storms. This opens the door for moms to use natural questions, to help children understand …
5 Truths for Moms – Because You’re Raising a Mini-Me
There he was gazing up at his daddy, wearing his daddy’s shoes, laughing like he laughed, cocking his hand in his pocket the same way his daddy did, and walking with his flat feet pointing slightly outward – (almost duckish)…just like his daddy. Although very different with unique personalities, like parrots, my boys unknowingly repeated what we said as if they thought of it themselves. Their response to the circumstances of life often was their impression of ours. The good, the bad and the ugly. It’s what kids do. They mimic what they see and hear. That’s how they learn. …
Red Flag
When we see a red flag we know to – BEWARE. We are alerted to a hidden danger near-by. Recently I wanted to wave a red flag in front of a mom at the grocery store. Her child knew the line that would get his mom every time, “Dad lets me.” When he spouted his claim, I could almost see the mother raising her white flag…surrendering to her preschooler’s whims. She had wanted him to walk alongside the grocery cart, holding on to her or the buggy. (Reasonable in my opinion, just saying.) Apparently this was too restrictive for the …