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 …
TherMOMeter: Setting The Temperature In Your Family
As a young mom, I had no idea that my mood could and would set the temperature for the entire house; actually I wasn’t aware yet, but I was the therMOMeter of my home. If I was in a bad mood, it eventually bled over and made everyone else have a bad mood too. My boys were little when I decided to test this idea out. I decided that no matter how I “felt” that day I would take a few notes and see how quickly my attitude started affecting how the kids (and even my husband) were behaving in …
How to Make Your House a Joyful Home
‘Wives should feel that home is their place and their kingdom, the happiness of which depends mostly upon them.*” Ouch. You mean the happiness of my family depends mostly upon me??? As much as I would love this responsibility to fall on someone else’s shoulders, the fact is I am the one with the responsibility of constructing a joyful home. So how do we intentionally design our “place and kingdom”? Fashion a home which glorifies God and as a natural result love, joy and rest fill each room? This will not come naturally. By nature we are …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Be You, Bravely
This Halloween, I just knew my girls would want to be Anna and Elsa from Frozen. Like most other four year old girls (and their parents, if we are being honest!), they have fallen in love with the story of these two sisters. But, when it came time to get dressed to go trick or treating two weeks ago, my girls refused to wear their new costumes. If I’ve learned anything about being a mother, it’s that I’ve got to pick and choose my battles. So, instead of forcing them to wear their Anna and Elsa costumes, I said, “Okay, …
Exciting News & FREE Resources for YOU!
Whooohooo! We have some exciting news for all of you! In January, M.O.M. Groups are launching online and across the globe…AND, we are accepting applications for NEW M.O.M. GROUP LEADERS and NEW M.O.M. GROUP REPRESENTATIVES/SPEAKERS! AND…we are working on a date to hold a training webinar for all who join! If you have been trying to begin or expand a mentoring ministry in your CHURCH and/or COMMUNITY, or on the MISSION FIELD, The M.O.M. Initiative is here to help you do just that! If you’re a mom who is looking for a mentor, that means more M.O.M. Groups are coming …
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, …