Last week, I wrote about how I stop tantrums lickety-split. Make no mistake, I’m an advocate for parental authority and consistent discipline: But it made me think– I am coming at these things from a perspective of having GREAT AFFECTION FOR my children, and lavishing GREAT AFFECTION ON my children every day. And, sadly, I am quite certain […]

I had our first baby in 2002. Smart phones basically didn’t exist. Facebook didn’t exist yet. Texting was still fairly new. Phones were still, pretty much, just phones. POSTPARTUM WITHOUT A SMART PHONE/TABLET In fact, for our first 4 babies, I didn’t have a smart phone or tablet to keep me awake in the postpartum […]

We recently talked about not doing something “just to prove them wrong.” Today I want to talk about the flip side: Don’t embrace a conviction just because others do. Just as the world often goes along with lifestyle decisions because of the people around them, Christians sometimes take on the convictions of others around us without […]

Over the weekend, I was thrilled to attend a homeschooling conference with two days of teaching from Dr. Voddie Baucham and Dr. Tedd Tripp. Whoo! The main focus was how to make sure that we are clearly announcing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus in our parenting and in our homes. Talk about a power-packed weekend; it was phenomenal! I want […]

Sometimes life blindsides us. It could be any number of things. But sometimes in life, we feel like everything has exploded around us, and nothing is as it was before. (For us, some of them have been death of a parent while he was driving to our wedding, miscarriage x3, job loss, unexplained illness, hurting/sick […]

Here’s 4-minutes of my off-the-cuff thoughts about training our kids’ quirkiness. SOME HIGHLIGHTS: 00:25– “it’s just an annoying habit; should we train for it or not?” 01:00– example from my real life, yesterday, with my two-year-old 02:00– encouragement from Gregg Harris 02:45– why this is extra-important to me as a homeschooling mom 03:00– how I learned […]

 “Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new.” (2 Tim. 4:2-3) The […]

On the last day of each month, I take some of the Q&As that have happened in e-mails, private messages, and interactions with readers/friends, and anonymously share them here, with you all. CAN I CORRECT A CHILD WHEN I STRUGGLE WITH THE SAME THING? Q: I’ve wondered whether you have any experience in your yelling being passed on to your […]

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 […]

Hi there. I bet if you’re reading this, you’re a happy mama with a cute baby you love… I can relate to that.  Luke Ebenezer (A.K.A. Lukearoni, Lukey, cutest-baby-in-the-whole-wide-world) is our 7th baby, and like I’ve done for all 6 babies before him, once he was ready to start eating solids, I started making the food […]

Virtually all Christian women have read Titus 2. But practically speaking, what does it look like? What does it mean for you and me? Last month, we attended a home education conference with keynotes by Dr. Voddie Baucham. During the pastor’s luncheon, he took a few moments to address the “Titus 2 woman.” I want to share some […]

NON-FICTION RISK: SAY IT Say the things– write the things– that you are afraid to say. I recently shared about my fear of, “Who would ever want to buy my book?” And earlier this week, I confessed not just a past sin that I’ve conquered (which would feel safer) but a current area where God is […]

So my whole life I’ve been a risk-assessing procrastinator. By that I mean, I don’t utterly and completely procrastinate. Procrastination is typically thought of as simply “putting off” and that’s not the whole picture of what I do. No, I *assess* the risk, first… How bad is the job gonna be? Is there any way to […]

Yesterday our family drove to Mount St. Helens, the famous volcano in Washington state that erupted in 1980. The eruption enacted complete devastation in the blast area. It “blew down so many trees that the toll was calculated at 4 billion board feet, the amount of lumber to build 300,000 two-bedroom homes.” The blast zone […]