Preparing Your Kids To Be Mission Minded

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 NLT Missions trips will change your life. They will wreck you. You will never be able to look at poverty the same again. You will be compelled to do something about it. Your days of sitting by thinking there’s nothing that I can do to help will quickly be erased from your thought process…you will be determined to make a difference. One day. One child. One step at a time. That’s what has happened …

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what NOT to say {when you hear good news}

Recently, I shared on my blog that I’m pregnant. My husband and I are expecting our third child to arrive in March. It’s been fun to share the good news with family and friends and it’s been even more humorous to hear some of their responses. We’ve received these lines so far: “Are you sure you are having only one this time?” “Were you planning on this?” “You are going to have your hands full.” “Time for you to get snipped, mister.” Since we already have twins, I expected many of these responses.  There is a lot of truth in …

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Treating the doctor’s office dilemma

Every mom knows the dilemma of being in a quiet waiting room with a not-so-quiet child. While other patients nervously occupy themselves with the latest travel magazines, hoping they’ll be called soon, moms do the doctor’s office dance, trying to get their little ones to act like grown-ups. Waiting rooms host people anxiously anticipating procedures ranging from dental fillings to chemo treatments, immunizations to ultra sounds. What do you do with kiddos when you’re in the doctors’ zone?   Don’t despair. This trauma is treatable. There are more ways to entertain a child while you wait than just plugging them …

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The Suffocating Wake of Porn

The day my husband’s struggle with porn came to light, a new, unwanted battle twisted to life inside me. The wicked pictures that once held my husband hostage now try to shove me under their suffocating wake. Each moment of the day painful reminders of my husband’s unfaithfulness surface through: Billboards along the roads flaunting airbrushed bodies causing my heart and stomach to sink. Living room- turned harsh environment- as I tensely wait for the next perfect body flashed at just the right angle (over and over) on our family TV making my skin crawl. Church services… I learned years …

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Who’s Got Your Back? (No More Perfect Moms)

Written by Heather Riggleman, Author of Mama Needs a Time Out Don’t forget to watch the video first! If you haven’t read the book, it will give you info about the chapter on friendships.  http://youtu.be/d2EpSpYEFmU Even in the world of Christians, friendship can sometimes be a daunting idea. Growing up, I never really stayed in any one town long enough to develop friendships and by the time I got high school, I was a combination of painfully shy and tough girl. In other words, according to Jill, I was and often still am a “Here I am” girl, meaning, “Here I …

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True Love or a Fairy Tale?

This isn’t part of Cinderella’s happily ever after… …or in any other fairy tale I’ve read.  The prince and princess who  overcome every obstacle,  finally swept together in rapturous “love”, then wham.  Every force available in the kingdom seems to shove them apart. The prince works a stressful fifty-plus hour work week, travels, leaves before the sun goes up, comes home right in time to tuck the little ones in bed, nods off then speeds off again. His once stately shoulders sag under the burden of his workplace and striving to be a husband and father. Once surrounded in glass …

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When It Isn’t Always Pretty

I’ve stepped away from a few opportunities to write about raising teen and young adult daughters  because I felt that I wouldn’t be writing from a position of strength and victory. There are the privileged few that have the “insider track” on what goes on behind the scenes. The prayers from faithful friends that are being prayed over our every day life. We deal with heartache, a heart that is still mending, struggles with singleness, anger, indecisiveness,  situations that could be life-threatening. This is what I want to show you…the realness of a MOM; a Mentor Mom. You see, it’s …

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Have a Merry Marriage & The TMI Monday Link Up!

A lot of work in decking the halls falls to Mom. A mother’s list is long when counting to Christmas, and it isn’t unheard of for there to be a casualty during the 12 (just 12?) days of Christmas. Does someone named “husband” feel like there’s no room for him in the inn this time of year? Honestly, would your husband say your marriage is very merry in December? Would you? While tackling gift lists, baking cookies, signing cards, and attending parties, a wife might feel like she only has time for her man when it’s time to hang the …

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Urgent vs Important…Knowing the Difference

I could hear her calling me from upstairs.  I really wanted to finish the article I was writing.  I only needed 100 more words and I would be done, but my daughter continued to call for me.  I saved my document and grumbled to myself as I walked up the stairs to see what she needed. As I walked up the last step to our gameroom I could see what she wanted.  My great grandmother’s little round table was set with plastic dishes and a chair was waiting for me.   Gracie has invited me to join her and her dolls …

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WHEN YOUR HEART HURTS

Has your heart ever “hurt”?   Perhaps it hurt for someone who was going through a difficult time. Or, your heart may have ached to the point you thought you were going to die because of what someone did to you; or you unintentionally did to someone. Have you ever noticed that no one can heal your hurting heart? As a matter of fact, sometimes it’s even a puzzle to you why your heart hurts. Things can seem to be in place. Things can appear okay, but deep down, you know they aren’t.  As hard as you try to put …

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