As a family, we love playing games together. Good quality games: contribute to a family environment of fun and learning together, make holiday times and extended evenings with other families more fun, give a great opportunity to model appropriate behavior for winning and losing, and allow you to observe your children’s reactions and tendencies to competition,… […]

This is a guest post, written by my mom, Debbie. As we are currently preparing for a cross-country move, away from my parents, my husband’s mom, & much of our extended family, she had some thoughts she wanted to share. Visit her new website: TheButtonWoman.com. ************************************* Many of my friends and loved ones have commented…

Since October is my birthday month, let’s talk about birthday depression. Last year, I (seriously) typed in, “why am I sad even though it’s my birthday?” to Google. Yup, I typed in that phrase. It wasn’t much help, except to say, apparently, this is a thing. Some people get sad, instead of happy, on their birthdays. There… […]

This has been a long time coming… … and I’m SO excited to share episode 1 of the Mom On Purpose podcast! (Scroll down to listen here, or click to listen in iTunes.) Each Mom On Purpose episode features an imperfect-but-growing mom who will share one or more intentional decisions she’s made to benefit her home and family. I’m […]

People say crazy things to pregnant ladies. But it doesn’t mean we have to take those comments in to the deep places of our heart. We talked about one of those, last week: “Your Daughter Needs a Sister!” (an Acceptable Christian Lie). One commenter shared how the classic comment, “it doesn’t matter what it is…

I guess I’m a slow learner. It took me lots of babies and births to finally start figuring it out. Our baby #1 (born in a hospital in Virginia) was in the NICU for a week, I had mastitis for a month, and then we packed up our apartment and moved across the country. WHAAAAT??! After baby #2 […]

Well, if you know anything about our family, you know we have a lot of kids (6, going on 7, to be exact). Spills have become part-and-parcel of Connell family mealtimes. And now, 12 years into this parenting gig, I’m nearly… getting better about… almost… past freaking out about spills at the table. One thing…

Don’t be offended; It’s the question I’m asking myself: What would that even look like? What does it mean to be a fool? Last month I sat in a homeschool conference on the 2nd row of a session by Tedd Tripp. (Can I just eeeeeeeeeek! about that for a minute?) His topic was distinguishing wisdom and foolishness in […]

Early in our homeschooling journey, someone put the book, Better Late Than Early, by Raymond & Dorothy Moore, in my hands, and it has invaded not only our homeschooling, but every area of our parenting. “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” ~W.B. Yeats There is a general approach to education in… […]

A friend recently asked about battling postpartum insomnia, and I shared my thoughts with her and then decided to share them here with you, too, in case you’re facing similar concerns. SPIRITUAL/PHYSICAL ANGLE? I’m not saying this lightly, but have you prayed about it? I have found, for me, that those times when I am…

Last fall, I unexpectedly encountered someone I haven’t seen in decades. Mercifully, it was in a crowded setting where we did not have to interact, and I don’t think he ever saw me. I didn’t even recognize him at first. But when I was young and impressionable, that person-across-the-way deeply impacted my life through manipulative… […]

As we’re talking about with Lisa right now on the podcast, mom life can make it tricky to be actively engaged with the Bible.         I have two videos for you on today’s topic. #1- Here is one practical way I stay active with Bible reading as a busy mom:   #2-…

It’s been ten years. Ten years since my husband collapsed and left the doctors baffled. Ten years of us juggling vitamins, managing symptoms, me insisting on naps and good meals. Ten years with no answers, then partial answers, then what seemed like the answer (narcolepsy dx, about 5 years ago). Sometimes symptoms have gone away,… […]

Have you seen the images on Facebook, trumpeting the amazing, lifelong, unbreakable bond between mothers and sons? Here are some quotes I’ve seen on these photos: “There has never been, nor will there ever be, anything quite so special as the love between a mother and son.” “The bond between mother and son… remains unchanged […]