For many years of my life, I was a slave to potty training with the little kiddy chairs. We’d tote them around the house, dutifully emptying out the little chamber underneath the plastic seat multiple times a day, even for the tiniest drops of pee (for which we’d clapped and cheered, like the good potty-training […]

Our 7th child, Luke Ebenezer entered the world Wednesday night (2/11) at 7:19 pm. It was my fastest labor yet (4 hours, start to finish), and he’s our biggest baby yet (9 pounds, 8 ounces & 22.5 inches long). He is sweet and strong and much-adored. We’re all loving getting to know him. I had […]

Sometimes we can feel like it’s wrong to ask, “why, God?” When hard times come, it’s often a natural question of our hearts… but I don’t think it’s a wrong question. The only concern I have is that I think we don’t ask it soon enough. I want to encourage you to ask it now. […]

Skip to content Home Grow as Mom Video: Floor Play Ideas With Your Preschooler Here’s a 4-minute video I made with my 3- and 5-year-olds to share some ideas of specific ways to get down in the floor and play with your preschoolers. IN THE COMMENTS, SHARE: Do you do wrestling play like this with your little […]

Home Grow as Mom Mama, Do You Flinch? Fanny Price is one of my favorite characters in Jane Austen’s literature. She discerns the truth about people, and sees them for what they truly are at their core. Their dressing up, fakery, and flattering does not alter her observations about their character and priorities. This quality makes […]

An excellent wife who can find?     She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her,     and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm,      all the days of her life. … Her husband is known in the gates when he sits […]

Ever experienced the outplay of a two-year-old’s punch to the face? As a mom of 7, I’ve experienced some version of it, several times over. One little boy, many moons ago, slapped me in the middle of a Hobby Lobby trip. Several have yelled “no” at me. And this happened almost a year ago: It […]

{Today’s post is a follow-up from Monday’s– Christian Wife, Let Your Husband Be.— where a reader asked, “Beyond having a joyful attitude towards love making and keeping the home a happy sanctuary for him, what are more specifics things wives can do? I know every husband will have different things that are life-giving to him, […]

Devices are a sticky subject now. 20 years ago it was TV time. No matter what, though, unless you’re Amish, you have to reckon with it. I’ll share what we do- but would love to hear your thoughts. A Yahoo!Parenting article (which — as a sidenote– I think should be retitled more honestly as Yahoo!UNparenting, […]

As women, we are apt to be controllers. We tightly grip the things that matter most to us. We clutch our children, control our husband, treasure our possessions, count calories meticulously… whatever it is that matters to us, we tend to hold it tightly. But… it happened to me again this week: whatever we try to […]

Pastor Matt Chandler says, “I would contend, no one has lied to you more than you have.” One of the biggest lies I think we tell ourselves, is, “I don’t have time for that.” We haul this whopper out whenever we hit something that we know would be beneficial but we aren’t actually doing it. […]

Christian wife, could I have permission to speak into that place where your disappointment resides? The portion of your mind where reality shows up and shows that he isn’t, in fact, the perfect guy you may have thought he was in your early months together? The place where you are tempted to keep an opposite-of-1-Corinthians-13 […]

(I wrote this 11/29/12 as a way to chronicle the loving, affection happening in our home and spur other moms on toward loving affection in their homes. I never published it, recently found it, and am sharing it even though it’s now 3 years old.) This morning, when Moses woke up, he came and crawled up […]

Wanna know what one thing has made the difference in becoming a better mother to my children? I made this 4-minute video to tell the answer to that question, and why I write at jessconnell.com. One of the lies moms have been fed in this past decade or so is that “you’re the expert” and that “you innately possess all the mothering […]