how to stand firm with your kids

Exhaustion can get the best of us sometimes as moms. Have you ever seen your child misbehaving and thought, “I’m going to let that go, just this one time. I don’t have the energy to fight that battle today.”? You’re not alone, mom. I’ve done it — too many times, in fact, as my kids were growing up. Here’s the danger: “One time” rarely ends up being just one time. The more we give in to weariness, temporary apathy or fear of our kids’ anger or disapproval, the easier it is to do it the next time. We may not …

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5 Things I Wish My Mom Had Told Me

 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Proverbs 1:8 NIV   Sweet mamas, oh how I wish we could sit down over a cuppa coffee and talk through these together. I don’t have all the answers, but if you’ll let me, then I’d love to share with you 5 of the things that I wish my mom had told me when I first got married and started having kids.   My “babies” are now almost 21 and 19. By all accounts they are “adults” and so I’m coming to sit alongside you as a mama …

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Expectation: Living with Your Eyes on Christ

My eight-year-old heart thrummed excitedly inside my chest. My body practically vibrated with excitement. It was Christmas Eve. Thirty years later I pray my heart will thrum excitedly and my body vibrate with expectation on Christmas Eve as well. This time though I hope my excitement isn’t because of what lies under paper covered packages, but something far better.  In fact I pray I live all my life expectant – pregnant with the promises of God. Ready to go through the painful labor the Holy Spirit will bring upon me to birth something new ­­– a healed relationship, an adjusted …

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When he walks out and you lose your ability to receive

  The living room twinkled in hues of blue from our eight foot tall white Christmas tree, decked out in blue lights peppered with homemade ornaments. Tori Grace sat at its feet, tucked in between the tree and  fireplace. In all her silly brilliance, I laughed over her funny story when I said, “Baby girl you are so beautiful,” but her response caught my eye. Ever so quickly, she set her jaw and froze over the compliment before smiling and saying, “I don’t like that.” “You don’t like it when mommy says you’re beautiful? What about when I tell you …

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Every heart is Expectant

Expectant devotions for new and expectant moms

How far is the distance between your parenting expectations  and your reality? Becoming a mom has a way of surpassing and squashing our expectations at the same time. It’s a weird and wonderful thing, this journey of growing into a mama. For those just starting out, it helps to have a guide for growing your own life while growing your family. EXPECTANT, 40 devotions for new and expectant moms, is that guide. Whether we join the adventure biologically or through adoption, experience has a way of changing our expectations. Honest moms who can remember will admit to announcing they would …

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We Can Train Them Up But–

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 NKJV Chances are if you’ve been around any mom of faith then you’ve probably rubbed up against this verse a few times. It’s sort of like the parenting “go-to” verse. It’s a great truth that I’ve clung to many times while raising my boys…but, there’s one part of it that I never fully was able to grasp until now. Here’s what I’ve been learning on my twenty first year as a mama bear, we can train up …

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Encouraging First Time Obedience

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” Ephesians 6:1-3 (NKJV) First time obedience is a goal parents desire for their children.  Parents desire it so children learn to respect authority, for their safety, and our sanity.  However I often wonder if the goal for first time obedience removes the human element from our children. Children are not robots. They have plans, desires, dreams, and wills of their own. Therefore children will get frustrated when …

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Motherhood Is Hard Work

Without a doubt being a mom is one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had in my life. Never would I have imagined the sheer number of emotions and the intensity each one brings with it. It’s true, motherhood is hard work, and it’s time for moms to stick together. It’s my heart that by coming to you as a “seasoned” (that’s a nicer way of saying “older”) mom and sharing a little bit of what I’ve learned on the journey of being a mom. Here’s what I can tell you…it doesn’t get easier. Yeah, not the answer you expected, …

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