3 Fun Things to Do with Your Kids This Thanksgiving

It’s the week of Thanksgiving, which means your kids are officially out of school or in their final days before Thanksgiving break. If your family is like mine, you are so ready for some time off from school so you can eat delicious food, catch up with family and friends, and begin your Christmas shopping (and decorating!). While it is easy to fill this week with lots of activities, the thing that I cherish most about Thanksgiving is it can be a time to rest. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is taking a nap after lunch on Thanksgiving Day!!! While …

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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 …

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Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

Valentine’s Day. It can be a mix up of emotions for many of us, especially if we end up looking for love in all the wrong places. You know, the love we read about in romance novels or on the Hallmark channel. Let’s face it, we’ve bought into the hype that Valentine’s day is the one day of the year that we go over the top to show our love for that special someone in our life. You know how it goes, it’s the day where we spend more than we should and stress about getting everything “just right”. For …

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How to Mentor Your Children Through the Holidays

As we find ourselves full-steam into this holiday month, I am especially sensitive about the opportunity to intentionally mentor my children through the holidays.  I want to help them embrace the fullness of remembering the Christ child’s birth, without heaping on extra responsibilities rooted in traditions that become a drain on their schedules and deplete their rest and joy. The challenge, however, is that my children are in distinctly different developmental stages.   Oh the Teens My oldest, fifteen, is studying for finals while primarily being concerned with seeing her friends as much as possible before the long, family-focused break. …

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Expectant holiday expectations

The secret to managing your holiday expectations

And just like that, the holiday season is here! If we’re honest, most of us have expectations for these special days. At the very least, we have hopes. The holidays are a snapshot of mom life. A lot of how the journey unfolds depends on our expectations. Children have expectations too. Can we blame them? We bring mounds of popcorn to the couch for animated movies about snow, talking reindeer and wishes coming true for kids across the spectrum of naughty and nice. We sing songs about the most wonderful time of the year and days that are merry and …

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Practical Planning Before the Holidays

If you’re like me, the holidays can sneak up on you, and before you know it, they are dragging you and your family around by your shirt collars. By the time New Years hits, you need rest before you can even think about resolutions. I’m not a planner, but a few years back, God led me to start being more intentional about how to keep the Lord front and center during the holidays. To rethink some of our traditions, to pray through necessities of time and money, service and giving. As a result, this handout was born. I can’t think …

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How To Have A Jesus Loves You Party With Your Kids For Valentine’s Day

          We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 ESV February has now become the month of love. No longer just a single day, on the actual day of Valentine’s Day, but in a lot of ways the whole month is celebrated by showing those you love how much they mean to you. Honestly, I think it is fantastic idea, but truth be told, our loved ones should know how much we love them all the time…not just on a day, or during a special month that society tells us to celebrate. As a …

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The Unbusy Be of Christmas

It has taken me many years, but I can honestly say that I’ve been set free from being overly stressed at Christmas. Well, as far as the busyness of Christmas is concerned anyway. Certain stresses in life go on no matter what the season. I was asked awhile back what traditions I can’t live without at Christmas and what insights I’d learned each holiday along the way. Don’t cringe like she did when I tell you that I’m not a big traditions person. It’s a long story, I’m just not. But I do enjoy dwelling on the reason for the …

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Surviving December With Small Kids

What do you get when you mix two young children, one tired mom, and a Christmas to-do list? Definitely not peace on Earth. “Don’t step there!” My hand jerked toward my toddler’s ankles, but too late. Her foot crunched a row of Christmas ornaments arranged meticulously on the rug, prepped for hanging. “I sorry, Momma!” Her sock hovered over a sparkly blue star, crushed into five pieces. “I told you to stay on the sofa! Sweetie, if you want to help Mommy decorate the tree, you need to be very careful around the ornaments. Now it’s broken.” Her bottom lip …

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