How to Point Our Kids Toward Home

It was such a strange feeling. For the first time, we couldn’t go home.  Year after year, we’d travel from Florida to Iowa to visit my husband’s parents. We stayed in their home, of course — the one my husband grew up in. The one that held so many memories of his childhood, holidays with our kids and incredible home-cooked meals. It always held a comforting, loving familiarity. Last summer, our visit was a whole new reality. Their home now belongs to a new owner. My mother-in-law, once a vibrant, active woman, is now severely mentally impaired as a result of …

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Easy French Dip

While you’re outside enjoying the sunshine and the long days of summer, don’t forget about dinner! Easily whip up this delicious meal in a snap!  These summer sandwiches are made with three easy ingredients, and I promise your whole family will beg for seconds!     Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  Colossians 1:10 ESV Can you share your own easy summer recipe? In Christ, Tara Dovenbarger

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Super easy July 4th Treat from The Mom Initiative and Lindsey Bell

Super Easy July 4th Treat

Independence Day is right around the corner. If you’re looking for a fun, super easy July 4th treat to prepare, check out this idea!  Super Easy July 4th Treat: Simply prepare one of your favorite boxed cakes. Then top with cool whip that has been slightly thawed to make it easier to spread.  Cut your strawberries in half and place them in lines on top of the cool whip (to make the lines on the American flag). Then add the blueberry square to the top, left-hand corner of your “flag.”  That’s it! Super easy and delicious!  Want to make it even …

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Going Down to the Creek

Long before dry cleaners and delicate wash cycles, clothes had to be washed by hand. When the dirt and grim of labor disguised the fabric’s true colors, and made it, um, smelly, the clothes needed to be washed. The women who lived near a river or creek took their families’ laundry down to the water’s edge to pound out the dirt on the rocks. As they walked the worn path, and as they scrubbed their clothes, they would converse with one another, sharing the loads of their lives as they shared their loads of laundry. After a discussion with a …

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My Kid is Orlando

My kid is Orlando.  My kid is Orlando. @themominitiativ @loriwildenberg Click To Tweet My young adult daughter has gone to clubs like Pulse.  One of my kids was a student at Columbine (post tragedy). We attend church, go to the movies, and school. All places that seem safe–places for fun, for education, for worship. All places where senseless heartache, terrorism, and tragedy have occurred. My daughter is a self-proclaimed lesbian. (I prefer to say she is same-sex-attracted because I don’t think people should be identified by their sexuality. I believe identity is in Christ but that is a conversation for …

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Why Every Mom Needs to Know She’s Being Watched

Several summers ago, my salsa jar sprouted eyes. The googly kind, of course. So did my milk jug, tissue boxes, egg carton and toothpaste tubes. Don’t worry, those wobbly watchers didn’t leave me frightened or flabbergasted. After all, the strange surveillance gig was my idea. I’m the one who dug through a box of craft supplies early one morning and located a stash of googly eyes. I’m the one who snuck through the house with a glue gun and attached those wobbly watchers to anything I could find. I didn’t add a pair of eyes to the salsa jar because I wanted …

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Are You Embracing Cultural Christianity?

Perched on my lawn chair peering over my pool, I tried to process what I had read and heard. What I had been reading and hearing for a long time. But now it was time to try to make sense of it all. Christian stars who speak to the masses, write books, and stand tall while wide-eyed Christians hang on every word.   We see multitudes flocking to hear their words while they applaud what they say – even if it doesn’t line up with Scripture. Many cheering on their crass efforts to appear cool and relevant, even if it …

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summer reading

The saving grace of summer reading

Not long after summer arrives, moms wonder how to fill the time and keep kiddos occupied in healthy ways. We may find ourselves held hostage by video games and Netflix, looking back at a lost summer of opportunity. For those looking for better options, most local libraries have summer reading programs as resources for families. Online options like Scholastic Summer Reading make it easy for everyone, rural and urban, to access tools for reading fun.  If we can just get our crew to story time, rows marked “Kids Collections,” or a yard sale where kids left for college, summer reading …

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Happy Father’s Day!

In all we do, we honor thy Father above. And part of that is honoring the men in our lives who lead us toward God. From all of us at TMI, we wish you a very happy Father’s Day! Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 5:1-33 NIV)  

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5 Tips to Help You Communicate: It is More than Just Words

“Jesus help me,” I whispered through clenched teeth as irritation oozed from my lips. I homeschool, and some days I just don’t have the right words to communicate math skills to my children. My inability to confidently and accurately teach maths skills stresses me out. I often plead with God to help me figure out a way to help my kids really comprehend a skill. While begging God for help is a great way to handle stress, I recently discovered my petitions were being misinterpreted by my children. “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you …

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