Are You Broken?

  “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”  (2 Corinthians 4:7) Two compassionate dark eyes squinted while looking for a particular clay jar in a large storage room. This man knew each of the shelved vessels intimately from His time bent over His potter’s wheel. He skimmed the shelves looking for one that refused to attract attention to itself. He hoped to find a large vessel, a bit broken, and covered with just enough dust to be overlooked and unnoticed by the untrained eye. Then He …

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Raising Brave Kids

She mounted the twisted iron ladder to the monkey bars. Surely she could slip and smack her nose. So I yelled to my six-year-old before she reached the second rung. “Be careful!” Those words fly out of my mouth about a hundred times a day. When my daughters dance dizzy in the living room, run barefoot through the yard, fumble with poster paints, or beg to pour the milk—my mommy reflex blurts, Be careful! Accidents are not on our agenda today. The way I see it, God entrusted these children to my care, and I am determined not to mess …

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Praying For Your Kids: Simple, Specific, Power-Packed Prayers

For years I had heard it said that we needed to pray for our kids. I get that, and I completely stand behind that thought process. What I didn’t always understand was the beauty and wisdom that came from praying simple, specific, power-packed prayers over my kids. It took a lot of reading, praying and talking with my husband, but over the course of all that investigating we discovered there were some very practical things we wanted to pray for over our boys. It actually fit perfectly with my M.O.M. Mission Statement (see my post in May 2013) and very …

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Mom Mission Statement…and why it’s important to have one

4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[a] 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 NLT Mission Statements — Most businesses have them, ministries have them, and so do …

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Mother’s Day and Leukemia

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia hit the Mayer family full force on September 26th, 2012.  Daniel, the youngest of four boys and only four years old, is in the battle for his life. Submerged under the unrelenting vice of suffering, how does a mom walk this road with her family? Here are some answers from his sweet momma Kelly:  How did Leukemia impact your Mother’s Day? Leukemia really affected Mother’s Day this year but in a fairly roundabout way.  I guess “strain” is the best way to say it.  Leukemia puts a big “strain” on everything and everyone.  Relationships within our family …

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How a Wiggles Movie Changed My Life

“Please, Mom? Pleeeease?” My daughter pleaded as she climbed into her car seat. Since buying our first minivan, I’d come to appreciate all its amenities but one—the built-in DVD player. That thing was a source of constant battle. Every time we boarded the van, my children asked to watch a movie. And every time I replied, no. Because good parents don’t let their children watch television in the car. My Perfect Parent Handbook has lots of rules like that. Good parents don’t buy sugary cereal. Good parents don’t let their children wear pajamas to the playground. Good parents have a …

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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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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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Heightened Awareness: Living Life in the Midst of the Unknown

© Angela Farley | Dreamstime Stock Photos RF-LL Most of my life is lived in a constant state of heightened awareness. At any given moment I am painfully aware that I could have to drop everything and be in the middle of a medical crisis. Truth be told, that is pretty much true for any of us, especially moms. Our kids are in a state of constant movement and yes, at any given time, they could get hurt. For me, it is the same, except that I have also experienced this medical crisis too many times. In 2005 my oldest …

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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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