Moms are meant to graduate

I’m graduating this week. Sunday was a Baccalaureate service for our oldest child, and the week will wrap up with the commencement of her Class of 2013. While my long-ago-little girl takes exams and anticipates her diploma, I’m doing some evaluating of my own. I’ve been the best mom I could be, but I have not been a perfect mom. Is mommy guilt seeping in?  A mom can’t help but ask herself if she did the right things, made too many mistakes, or gave her children a good example to follow. Did my children see me? … read my Bible …

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A Letter to My Child

Dear child of mine who happens to be a teenager, I know that you and I can get on each other’s nerves.  But I want you to know that I love you and that God is showing me so much about Himself, and about myself, just by you being here.  I am a better person having known you and I want you to know I am so thankful that God has put you in my life. I know that sometimes It doesn’t seem as though I am thankful.  But I am.  Please forgive me for not expressing that often enough. …

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EXPECTANT: Growing a life while growing a family

A track-mom friend stood by the fence as we cheered our senior girls across the finish line in their last high school race last night. And then my friend did something I didn’t expect. She reached over and hugged me, smiling with teary eyes. Then I did something I didn’t expect. I had a flashback to bottles and blankets. Swallowing a surprise gulp of my own, I reminded myself that this growing up and moving on thing is good. We don’t have children to keep them forever, but when my husband placed our baby girl in my arms over eighteen …

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Why Moms Should Keep Their Promises

“The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them,” (Proverbs 20:7, NLT). I spent fifteen dollars on a snow cone. Crazy, right? Of course this wasn’t just any snow cone. This was a super-sized, rainbow flavored, tantalizing treat scooped into a commemorative Tinkerbell mug. Yes, my husband and I took our girls to the Disney on Ice show, and one glance around the arena told us we weren’t the only parents forking over ridiculous cash for souvenirs. Why? What kind of mother buys a fifteen-dollar snow cone? A good one, I think. Not because good mothers pay …

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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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Solution Revolution

“You’re not doing the same things,” my husband said when I was working with my second son when he was 2, 3 and 4. “Yes, I am,” I remember answering, somewhat frustrated. “The same things aren’t working.” Regardless of the age, sometimes “the same things” don’t work. Developing children requires a diverse strategy arsenal. For academic development, we used alphabet puzzles, flash cards, animal alphabet cards, Bob Books, Now I’m Reading Books. One learned to spell his name first in sign language. Another chose Garfield over classics – our home library is stuffed with Garfield, Snoopy, the classics, World War …

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Mean Girls Come From Mean Mamas

Standing in line for the concert gave my family plenty of people-watching time. As girls and guys made their way to the back of the line, I pointed out all the immodest clothing. “Why would she wear those in public?” “Oh my! I can’t believe she feels comfortable dressed like that!” I commented as one-by-one they passed us. I must have shared quite a few of these statements because my oldest teenaged daughter finally said, “Mom, you are being mean!” I felt so small. I hadn’t thought I was being mean. I was simply pointing out to my girls how not …

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Don’t Lie to Me

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ,” (Galatians 6:2). I want to chat with the new moms out there. Seasoned moms, pull up a chair, because we’re all in this together. Are you comfy? Let’s talk. Motherhood isn’t easy. It’s not supposed to be. Caring for children is a physically grueling, emotionally draining, and spiritually challenging round-the-clock job. I don’t know who might’ve told you otherwise, or how many women withheld this bit of information when they gushed over your adorable baby shower gifts, but I’m here to set the record straight. …

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Deeper Still

I felt helpless laying flat on the table, doctors talking in hushed whispers as they hovered around me.  I gripped my husband’s quivering hand as he sat over me and sobbed.   As the ultrasound wand circled my swollen belly I felt like a lab-rat being inspected from the inside out. The pictures on the ultrasound screen spoke two different messages: one to the doctors of deformity, illness, malady, dysfunction; the other to me of a precious silhouette with hiccups, clinched fists, cute crossed legs, sweet nose. The professionals started urging me to take the “best road”, to terminate the pregnancy …

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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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