Gratitude Archives - The Mom Initiative

A Thanksgiving Proclamation

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thess. 5:18 NKJV Do we fail God’s will of giving thanks, in every situation? Remember the Grumbly Bunch in the wilderness? “God, why did you bring us out here? To die? In this wilderness? Where are we going? There’s no food. No water. And we hate this manna!” Uh-oh! According to the original Hebrew, Numbers 11:1 (Masoretic Text) tells us the people were evil for complaining and made God’s anger glow. Therefore, He “sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed …

How to Teach Gratitude to Our Children

Some things I vowed I’d never say to my children. Like this one. “Don’t waste those waffles, girls. Did you know there are kids starving in Africa??” “What?” My younger daughter, age four at the time, looked up at me and crinkled her nose. “In Africa. And all sort of other places around the world. Even here in our own country! Not all kids get to eat as much as you do.” “But I don’t want waffles! I wanted cereal!” My seven-year-old whined. “Too bad. Eat the waffles. Some children are lucky if they get a bowl of rice—and that’s …

Why Gratitude is Essential in Your Life

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, many of us are thinking about gratitude. The truth is, though, sometimes, thankfulness can be hard to find…especially during a difficult season of life. Four years ago, my husband and I experienced our fourth miscarriage 6 days before Thanksgiving. I didn’t even want to go to any family dinners that year, let alone think about things I was grateful for. All I wanted to do that year was wallow in my own sorrow. And, if I’m being completely honest, my feelings didn’t change for quite some time. I didn’t feel very thankful, so I didn’t want …

The 3R’s of Making Memories as a Family

When you reach the place where your littles are bigs, you’re grateful for every memory. The good and the bad become part of your cherished family lore. Your one-of-a-kind memories are added to the story you share with generations who passed on your nose, eyebrows, height, and bunions. Bless their hearts. Now that my kiddos are grown up, I realize we were adding stories to our shared history without even knowing it. Making Memories as a family is easier than you might think. Whatever stage you’re in as a mom, being intentional about memory making will enrich the lives of …

For the Mom Who’s Lost Her Marbles…

I was picking up run-away marbles that morning and grumbling that I was at risk of losing mine when I thought of her. Her hallow eyes loomed in my mind as I crawled on my knees and tried to grab those shiny glass orbs scattered all over the living room carpet again. My four-year-old had been cooking me marble stew since she’d stumbled from bed before sunrise, and my pots and pans were scattered all across the couch. (Um, I mean, the oven with couch- cushion burners.) There was nothing terrible about the hours ahead- just another day of folding laundry and reading picture books, …

A Day in the Life of a School Teacher

Wowza! Who’s ready to go teach today? Teaching IS one of the hardest yet most rewarding jobs on the planet. I speak from experience. And what people say about teachers being underpaid and overworked…Yes it is TRUE! There is no other job where you get to teach the subject you love, be a like a parent to a bunch of kiddos, be a disciplinarian, be stern yet loving, be going a million miles a minute, be entertaining, be challenging, be inspiring, be a shoulder to cry on, be a club sponsor, and the list could go on and on. I rarely had my …

Teaching Gratitude to Ungrateful Children

The Stretch Marks No One Told Me About

No one told me about the stretch marks that come after the baby is born. No one told me about the stretch marks that come after the baby is born… Click To Tweet Oh, I’d been amply warned of the blemishes that accompany pregnancy. I remember sitting in the waiting room with my firstborn tucked safely inside of me, his tiny form no bigger than a grain of rice. And as I’d flipped through a pregnancy magazine and munched on saltines to keep the morning nausea at bay, a seasoned mom had willingly filled me in on my soon-to-come reality. …

Four words you need to know to raise grateful kids

Every year words are removed from the dictionary for lack of relevance. It’s not surprising to see words like “cassette player” fade from modern vernacular. Still, the words we use have a lot of potential in our efforts to grow grateful kids. Certain words have staying power in a mom’s vocabulary. To grow gratitude in the hearts of our kids, we have to grab hold of four words and cultivate them in our conversations. No Children who always hear “yes” at home will anticipate “yes” from the world. Receiving a “no” isn’t only realistic, it’s routine. Daily life …

How Moms Can Enjoy Their Days…Even the Hard Ones (Plus a Giveaway)

We have probably all been there. A sweet grandmother looks longingly at our children squeezed into the cart at the grocery store and utters words similar to these: “Enjoy these moments. Time goes by so fast.” And though we appreciate her sentiment, there’s another part of us that wonders…How can we enjoy these moments full of tantrums, middle-of-the-night feedings, hours of crying, and more diapers than we can count? How can we enjoy these moments that are just plain hard? I have been there (more times than I care to admit). I have been the mom wishing for the next …

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