If you’re over 35, we need to hear from you!

Recently we heard from a MOM Group leader who shared that the young mom she mentored in jail showed up at her church when she got out of jail. She hasn’t received Christ yet, but God is working on her and the MOM Group she was part of in jail was where she discovered how much God loves her and her children and wants her to become a mom they can be proud of. Oh, you know that made my heart smile big time! MOM Groups are where lives are changed and families strengthened. It’s the heart of TMI. To …

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Bait and Switch: How to Drop Your Gloves When Your Kids are Challenging You to a Fight

Kids seem born with an innate knowledge of how to push their mommies’ buttons. Especially when teenagers or kids of any age know they are wrong, they take pleasure in seeing just how many buttons it takes to send mom over the deep end. And when we put on the gloves and enter the ring with them it may feel good for a little, but in the end we all lose. We not only lose our cool, but we lose a teaching moment. We lose the opportunity to show an example of how adults ought handle difficult people and situations. …

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The Smell of Freshly Sharpened Pencils

Ah, those never-ending summer days! When you’re young! The Bible says, “It’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it!” (Eccl. 11:9a TLB) And we did! Back in the old days…when I was young…there was no air conditioning for homes. No comfy indoor climate to entice us to be insiders. We were outsiders. We actually got exercise by running around playing tag, kick ball, or roller skating. We circled the neighborhood subdivision on our bikes until dark, and the bugs hit our teeth or our mothers rang a bell for us to come home. To cool ourselves, we played …

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Top Qualities of a Successful Wife

Tension fills the room each time Mary and her husband Andy come around. Mary’s non-stop disdain of her husband makes everyone uncomfortable. Inwardly, all around silently cringe with embarrassment and sadness for him.  Even when away from his wife he isn’t protected. Mary’s mouth drips cutting remarks which harm her husband as well as his reputation to anyone who will listen. Who can find a capable wife? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will not lack anything good. She rewards him with good, not evil, all the days of …

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Grandparent’s Day of Prayer

If you believe in the power of prayer join grandparents throughout the world in making National Grandparents Day on September 11, 2016 a Day of Prayer for our grandchildren. Today our nations as well as other nations are under attack like never before educationally, socially, financially and spiritually. Christianity is under assault and parents and grandparents are involved in a tug of war for the hearts and minds of their children. A Spiritual Battle for the Souls of Our Grandchildren Our grandchildren live in a desperate moral and spiritual climate while navigating in a world hostile to truth. Many years …

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5 Tips to Fight Your Back-to-School Worries

If your like me, for many reasons summer is my favorite time of the year. I get to spend uninterrupted time with my kiddos. I get to hit the beach with my family and take other mini vacations. And, I get to sleep in on some of those extra special days. As a former high school and middle school teacher, I really needed my summers to rest both mentally and physically. For me, summer has always been a time for rejuvenation, rest and a whole lot of fun! It’s been a time away from work to think, pray and spend time with …

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Mom Doubt. God, What Were You Thinking?

“God what were you thinking when you gave me this kid?” “God what were you thinking when you gave me this kid?” @loriwildenberg @themominitiativ Click To Tweet Have you ever asked The Lord a question like this? I know I have. Do you doubt you’re equipped or qualified to be the mom to you kids?   I question my position when I’m: Navigating issues— issues I don’t have a good handle on.   Being exposed to interests and hobbies I am not naturally drawn to. Experiencing frustration with a personality so different from my own.  Yet, even in the midst of …

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If You Want to Get It Right This School Year

I forgot her water bottle. The first day of kindergarten, I had my daughter’s backpack stocked, her school supplied labeled, her lunch bag filled with her favorite food plus a special note using only words she could read—but! I forgot the bleeping water bottle. I am a terrible mother. All summer long, I thought about this day, the first experience of navigating math and music and recess without Mom, without my steady presence to help her make choices and pull her socks up and open her yogurt lid. And here is it, kindergarten. We have officially grown. My baby must …

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Praying Paint

Yes, you read that right!  Sometimes local language and geographical accents collide to create a wonderful and beautiful, albeit confusing, story. We had just moved to the beautiful Rocky Mountain foothills of Colorado from the Piney Woods of East Texas. And this is how our story unfolded… As school began that fall, our oldest daughter, Kylie, was beginning kindergarten.  On the second day of school, I had this discussion with her about some school supplies she was still lacking.. This is what I heard:   Kylie: Mom, I need some praying paint. Me: You do? Why? Kylie: For school…my teacher says I …

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How to Make the Best Summer Memories

I was lying beside him in the top bunk, scratching his bony back as I tucked him in on a warm summer night. The school year was looming just ahead, but we weren’t talking about that yet. For now, we were still savoring the lavish gift of summer.  Soon we’d trade flip flops for tennis shoes and swimsuits for school bags. We’d embrace reading minutes and math homework and lunch packing, but in that quiet moment on the top bunk, I longed to know if the school-free months we’d shared had been all my seven-year-old had hoped they would be.  It had …

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