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 …
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 …
when time is fleeting
Time. There never seems to be enough time and it always seems to be in a hurry. Click To Tweet Like summer, for instance. Where did it go? How is it already time to buy the new shoes, meet our teachers, and begin the busy days of fall? It amazes me that at the beginning of the summer, my girls’ hair was just below their shoulders and now it is flowing down their backs, desperate for a trim. And my baby boy, he’s already outgrown his six month clothes, some barely worn. Wasn’t he just born? I blink, and …
Motherhood Is Universal
She clutched a cranky toddler at her hip while her husband lugged a stroller up three bus steps. “Come on, buddy, find a seat!” She urged an unruly older brother, maybe four or five years old. Through her thick southern accent, I heard the unmistakable sound of tired. Make that tired-yet-trying-to-muster-patience. After all, we were in Disney World. It’s the happiest place on Earth. I chuckled under my breath as my husband hauled our own double stroller onto the bus. Our six-year-old climbed into a seat, so I wilted beside her and lifted our three-year-old onto my lap. She stuck …
the bittersweetness of graduation
May was a whirlwind, her days busy with graduation parties, end of the year programs, and final exams. For seniors, it was the month of goodbyes to school, teachers, and friends. It’s hard to believe the last day of school has already come and gone, that this year has hugged its’ last hug and given its’ final gifts. Moms of kindergartners all the way to moms of seniors still can’t wrap their minds around how fast time goes or wrap arms around their children tight enough to make everything slow down. For moms, graduation was a bittersweet victory. In her book Bittersweet, Shauna Niequist …
Being A Fully Present Woman
Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and you are interacting and yet not fully present? You catch yourself nodding and even saying something in response every now and then. It’s generally more like an ‘uh huh’ instead of a real response. You are smiling and pretending to be engaged, but the whole time you are actually somewhere else. We’ve all done it, we make the grocery list, text our kids, husband or friends, maybe even check in on Facebook…all the while in the presence of someone right in front of us. It might be the kids, our …
mourning your maternity leave {how to go back to work after baby}
I zip him up in his footed pajamas, the one that has the little smiling dinosaurs all on it. The house is quiet, not yet filled with our girls’ bedtime stories told by my husband. I hold my baby close to my chest in the silence of the dusk, soaking in his infancy. This was the moment I had been yearning for since I said goodbye to him nearly eight hours earlier. No one can really prepare a mother for the day she goes back to work. For weeks, the day had been stuffed in the back of my mind. …
Even Moms Need More Sleep
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. Genesis 2:2 ESV She’s here, she’s there, she’s everywhere. You’re the mom, which means you are always on the go: groceries, diapers, and carlines are a part of your everyday world and somewhere in the chaos of it all we’ve bought into the lie that we’ve got to be some kind of supermom. You know, faster than a speeding bullet, stronger than…oh, who are we kidding, we’re not super mom, nor should …
a letter to the second time mom
Hey there, you second time mom. Here you are, with a baby on your bust and another by your side. Yep, your hands are full yet so is your heart. As you gaze at your new addition, you wonder how you could have ever lived without him. For nine months, you wondered the complete opposite: how am I going to manage having more than one child? You tried to prepare your first child to become the big kid around the house but you were always unsure exactly how she would react when the baby came along. You’ve probably gotten …
Becoming Momma K
I’m already “mom”. Thanks to my daughter and son-in-love, I will be Momma K! The richness of the blessing of a grand son is beyond words in description. Often times words cannot convey what the heart feels. Conversation about how much we want to bless this little guy is regular between my husband and I. With sparkling eyes, the younger aunts and uncles make plans for play time with their nephew. I pray that God will bless me with a rich relationship with our grand son. Becoming Momma K is helping me become mom all over again. I’m seeing …