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… […]

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,… […]

Have you ever considered: what or who is the primary earthly source of encouragement in your husband’s life? There are really only 4 options: Your husband’s primary source of encouragement is someone/something else, and he/she/it is not very encouraging. (Meaning: Your husband has little-to-no regular encouragement in his life.) Your husband’s primary source of encouragement is someone/something […]

Hey there, mom in the thick of raising your kids, or mom of 3 little ones, or newly postpartum mom, or homeschooling mom, or tired mom who has been dealing with a sick little person for far too long, or mom helping your aging parent, or single mom carrying the whole load yourself, or nomadic […]

Q: “With 4 children ages 10, 6, 2.5 and 15 mo, the discipline and training (especially of the 10 year old, who has a propensity for argument and complaining and always seems to thinks she knows best) could seriously interfere with normal, everyday activities like supper, bedtimes, homework, etc. Am I looking at this the… […]

On a post last year about the growing expectations on young woman to look physically perfect (and increasingly generic), a commenter wrote: Quick thought from a guy – Know what really hurts? When a girl spends a mountain of care and attention trying to win over exciting but unsaved “bad boys”, but then discovers the… […]

One of the lures some Christian teachers use– especially women teachers– is the outward appearance of their lives. A generation ago, a baby-holding woman with stair step children beside her– girls in collared dresses and boys in slacks– graced the fronts of homeschooling magazines. Inside were articles about her life-changing daily schedule, plan for chores, […]

It happens in the grocery store aisle, when someone else’s children are behaving better or worse than your own. Or in the church nursery, when your child bites another mom’s toddler, or vice versa. Or at the park, when, after being called, your child (or hers) runs in the opposite direction. But where it’s really… […]

We typically don’t know when emergencies are going to happen. This means we’re often in high-adrenaline, reactionary mode, when those emergencies come. One way we can make those times *less* stressful is by being prepared in advance, in the ways that ARE possible. Here are 5 ways we can prepare our families for emergency situations: Basic… […]

We typically don’t know when emergencies are going to happen. This means we’re often in high-adrenaline, reactionary mode, when those emergencies come. One way we can make those times *less* stressful is by being prepared in advance, in the ways that ARE possible. Here are 5 ways we can prepare our families for emergency situations: Basic… […]

#1– WHAT TO DO WITH THE PRESCHOOLER WHILE HOMESCHOOLING? Q: I feel at a loss with what to do with my 2-1/2-year-old daughter while we’re homeschooling, or even just throughout the day as I’m trying to get things done. What do you do with your 2-1/2-year-old? A: Well, Theo’s my current 2-year-old, and he’s a…

1. THEY ARE PRECIOUS AS BABIES. PRECIOUS!!! We built a pen out of the cardboard box from a deck box. We taped it to the floor in a trapezoidal shape so they wouldn’t have any 90-degree corners to run into (and get suffocated by the others, which apparently can sometimes be a problem with small…

Q:  How do I keep busy at home? I find myself so terribly bored and restless at times. Being a stay at home mom is so boring! What am I supposed to do with my down time? Once chores and homeschooling are done for the day, I literally have no idea how to fill the couple of hours before I need… […]

This past spring, I knew something had to change. I’m 36 (and– gulp!– I can only say that for another month or so). And I had started noticing my age. It was little things: groaning, with an additional “oof” or “oh!” when I got off the couch hearing clicks in my knees and ankles as […]