It was 2006 when I knowingly traded in my perceived freedom of privacy. We were three flights into our four-flight journey. Our two wiggly boys, then 3 and 18 months, rode atop the heap of duffels piled on a baggage cart as I –with half-grown pregnant belly– waddled past the eyes of the watching customs guard. We were […]

It seems universally true that humans are prone to wait too long to do things we should be proactive about. For me right now, I’m realizing I need to work harder to help my nearly-3-year-old be self-controlled when things don’t go his way. I’m apt to let him go too far down the self-pitying, emotional, tears-down-cheeks train track. […]

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 […]

Moms of sons, you want to take note of Titus 2:6. In the verses before this, Paul is instructing Timothy about HOW he should be pastoring the people in his church. In Titus 2: 1-5, Paul tells Timothy to give: older men a list of 6 things they are to DO and BE, older women a list of […]

You’ve already given your best to the kids. all. stinkin. day. long. So what’s left for your husband– this man you pledged your life and love to? Scraps. Can I ask you a personal question? You don’t have to answer me… just answer in your heart: how long has your husband been surviving on scraps? […]

Rising up this morning, I turned to Facebook videos before God’s Word. Mistake. Now the fears swirl: What is America’s fate? Economic decline? ISIS infiltration? Wicked leadership? Secularization and moral debasing beyond what already is the case? Same-sex marriage, LORD? Spitting in the face of the beautiful God-designed picture of marriage of Christ and the Church? […]

Yay, it’s August! Nearly time for a new school year to begin!! We’re actually going into our tenth year of homeschooling… which is crazy! In January of 2007, we began curling up together, Ethan and I, with Sonlight books. We discovered the world together through books like Twenty and Ten (WWII– Nazis, rations, resistance), Understood Betsy (farm life, lifelong learning), A Grain of […]

Want the truth about being “Mommy?” Motherhood is a LOT… a lot of snuggles a lot of example-setting a lot of comforting hurts a lot of analyzing problems a lot of correcting a lot of smiles a lot of sorting-out priorities a lot of seeking wise counsel a lot of spankings a lot of back […]

Each pregnancy, it happens at least once. A grocery store clerk, relative, older woman, a waiter– someone– says to my youngest child: “Are you gonna be jealous of the new baby?” Here’s what I want to say in response to that: “Be quiet!” (Of course I don’t say that.) What I actually say is, “Oh, no, (s)he is […]

Living something brings a keen awareness of how others view it. Until you are a stay-home mom, you may not realize how others demean that work by using words like “only” or “just” to describe it. Until my husband became a pastor, I didn’t realize the walls that sometimes are built in people’s hearts (as evidenced on their face) the […]

There have been seven times in my life I’ve personally heard the words, “it’s a boy!” 1. In July 2002, following a painful, long delivery, after fearful words were spoken about meconium and the baby didn’t breathe for a long while, I heard, “it’s a boy!” as an afterthought before the NICU team whisked him away. […]

First. Why am I talking about this? Don’t I normally talk about mom stuff? Dear Mom in the throes of raising little ones, here’s the thing: YOU’VE GOTTA FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT. Our culture is ramming gender-sameness down our throats. Male and female are exactly the same. You’re not allowed to say boys and girls […]

Last week, I had baby #7, and 7 babies in, I can say this: newborns are AMAZING. Each and every one. Here are some of the things I love, in no particular order: How they smell. The way they punch themselves in the face with both fists when they sneeze. Their little noises— coos, sighs, satisfied […]

In Part 1, we asked the question- “Are You A ‘Mommy Martyr?’” That article gives a fleshing out of what it looks like to take on the identity of a ‘mommy martyr’ as well as some of the ways it affects our lives. Today (in Part 2), I want to look at 7 ways we […]