I couldn’t help but notice her. She was the perfect mom. Her children seemed like little angelic beings with halos hovering over their heads and they sat like little mannequins in church. Quiet. Still. Perfect. She was the perfect mom, married to the perfect husband and they both had perfect kids. I began to wonder how I could be like her. How could I get my boys to sit still in church for an hour and a half, or stand quietly in line without poking the child beside them, or spinning around with their arms straight out as they smacked …
Just Between Us Girls
Fellow Moms, we all know our husbands need us to be their cheerleaders. Sometimes we feel resentful of that need. We wonder, “Where is my pat on the back for the things I do?” Let me attempt to put things into perspective. Typically our kids are created to look to moms for encouragement and then those same children desire to impress mom with all the things they can do. “Mommy watch me!” is a common phrase from little ones. Bigger kids less overt, “Mom, are you coming to my game?” We innately know we are to build up our children. …
10 Ways to Make Mentor Mania Missional
There’s something stirring in the hearts of women around the world. Hearts are beating with the thrill of changing the world and young women are no longer satisfied with doing motherhood alone. Mentors are on the march and mentees are once again ready, willing and able to begin a journey that will encourage, challenge and change women’s lives on both side the mentor/mentee equation. No longer are young mothers wandering their way through life, struggling to figure things out on their own. The older generation is rising to the challenge and answering the call to be Titus 2 women in …
What My Heart Tells Me (and Those I Love)
For the last 60 days, I’ve been watching my words. They’ve told a lot about the condition of my heart. During May’s The PURSE-onality Challenge (and now June’s TPC “lite”), I’ve blogged almost daily about my journey of “replacing ‘baditude’ with God’s word and gratitude.” Using my Complaint-Free bracelet, I’ve been intentional about curbing complaining, criticism, gossip, and even sarcasm. My goal has been to become aware of my “baditude” habits so I can surrender them to God and replace them with scripture and praise. A Change of Heart During the last few weeks, despite typical end-of-the-school-year chaos, I’ve …
To Homeschool or Not to Homeschool in the Summer
The theme song to a popular kids’ television show sings, “There’s a hundred and four days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it.” That may or may not hold true for us homeschoolers. Since we have freedom to work with a much more flexible schedule than those in traditional school systems, we have a choice: to homeschool or not to homeschool during the summer months. I have been homeschooling since 2000. Over the years, we have worked our calendar a variety of ways. In the beginning, I worked an office job, so our dedicated school days …
I Want My Mommy… Still!
I remember it like it was yesterday. My mom had bought a television… FOR MY ROOM! That was a really big deal in 1976 and I was one excited teenage girl! But Mom had become a busy working woman whose priorities had changed. Not long after that gracious gift assumed its rightful place in the corner of my room, my mom and I had a big blow out. In the midst of the mayhem my sweet mom looked me in the eye and cried out, “Good grief, Stephanie! We bought you a television for your room! What more do you …
Glimpses of Graduates and Goals
Parents and teenagers gathered around the pool, balancing plates of hamburgers and desserts, over napkins in school colors. The graduates splashing and playing looked a lot like the little boys of ten years earlier. My oldest teen congratulated her friends, her own high school graduation still a year away. It was just a glimpse of what was to come, a glimpse I imagined long ago while pushing her stroller draped with a diaper bag in nursery colors. The decisions we made while she was still buckled in have determined where she is now. It’s the glimpse of graduation, while still …
When Momma Blows It
I didn’t always get it right. The mom thing, that is. In fact much of my mentoring comes from times when I’ve blown it and the lessons I learned from the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I remember when my oldest son came home with a bad grade on his report card. It was an opportunity to help him see that failure is never final. I could have spoken life into his crushed self-image and taught him that failure does not define him. The grade was just an indication that he needed a little help, not an indictment on …
Wearing White In The Everyday
I never got to wear a real wedding dress. Instead, three weeks after my 18th birthday, I walked down the aisle resembling a big piece of pink cotton candy with a rain coat. I was seven months pregnant with the groom’s child. Each step was supposed to be joyful. Instead, I remember vividly how ashamed I was. As I looked at my friends and family dressed in T-shirts and jeans, I remember the wedding of my childhood dreams. I wanted to be wearing a big stark white, ball gown princess dress. My hair up in a knot with ringlets of …