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 […]

{This article has been updated from its original publishing in 2008.} There is something that bothers me and seems to get lost in the whole infant feeding/sleeping debates, and even in the debates about certain parenting methods. These debates cloud the real issues at hand regarding child training. And it is possible that those who […]

The question comes from time to time: How can I have a successful blog while raising little ones? And here’s my honest answer. It may not be a popular one, but it is my real, honest, from-my-heart answer. BLOGGING WHEN YOU HAVE LITTLE ONES When I had all/only littles, I wrote only when I had […]

Parents instill appetites in their children. We know it’s generally true with foods. I didn’t grow up eating: Russian goulash Thai peanut chicken over a bed of sprouts & star fruit for dessert Ethiopian injera I did grow up eating:  Even as an adult, while I might occasionally try something new, or discover new things I […]

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 […]

I am just a white mom. This is what goes through my head as I think about the recent race-centered wounds in our country. I am just a white mom. I’m scared to even write about this.  I feel inadequate and not strong enough. What can I do? I don’t have the soul strength to “lift” the […]