Lately I’ve talked with some friends who are hurting. I should say, who are *also* hurting. From my tiredness, feeling like a towel that has been wrung, all I feel is twisted and dry. I feel very cautious about saying anything about the hurt.  Though poets and celebrated authors have received acclaim and income from […]

Like parenting in general, it helps me when I think about homeschooling in terms of seasons. Each season has its own unique joys, its own unique challenges, and each is discernibly different from the one before. HOMESCHOOLING BEGAN LIKE SPRING Was it that way for you? (It’s not that way for everyone, so don’t feel bad […]

Today I’m starting a new video series, where I’ll share “3 Things I Wish I’d Known” about various topics and life experiences. Many will be about life as a wife and mother, but this first one is “3 Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Started Blogging.” I’ve been blogging since the summer of 2006, and started blogging here (at jessconnell.com) […]

Today I want to ask you something: Have you been waiting for the elusive “zap?” What I mean by that is: Are you waiting for something to happen TO you in one of these areas: Is your child throwing tantrums and out of control? Are you in a marriage slump? Is your house a wreck? Are you […]

Burnout can come to any of us. Sometimes it comes because we’re in a high-stress season, and sometimes it comes because we’ve over-committed. There are times, though, when burnout comes because we have not treated ourselves as human beings worthy of care. Whether because we’ve been a “mommy martyr” or because in the busyness of life, […]

“One day, I’d like to write a novel.”  Millions of people have likely spoken those words (whether out loud or in their own heads).  And yet, few accomplish it. If you’ve got “write a novel” on your bucket list, but haven’t ever done it, NaNoWriMo– National Novel Writing Month— in November of each year is an opportunity […]

“Many of the difficulties we experience as Christians can be traced to a lack of Bible study and reading. We should not be content to skim through a chapter merely to satisfy our conscience. Hide the Word of God in your heart! A little portion well digested is of greater value to the soul than […]

On a recent post, I received this (wonderfully honest) comment: “I must not be working hard enough, but I don’t remember feeling this same kind of exhaustion before kids. Nobody whines at work and quibbles constantly and interrupts my every task with the frequency of little kids. At work I did what I got a […]

When our children are little– still young and immature– the discipline and structure we give them is for their good, because they do not yet possess the guardrails that will help them, for example, to get the rest they need. But note: they do not often see these things as “good.” They want to do […]

Q: I know my son needs to be trained out of some of the bad behaviors he’s picked up over the last 6 months of having a really loose schedule, but I feel so angry at him. I am so worn out and he talks back so much, and all I want to do is […]

So you’ve decided to homeschool. Or, not allow sleepovers. You don’t watch certain kinds of movies, Or, you don’t own a TV at all. Or maybe, even though they’re Christians, you’re convicted in ways that are obviously different from the convictions they have, or had. You can feel judged. They can feel judged. They can […]

Q: what happens when I honestly want to learn how to make my 2- and 4-year-olds obey? How do I know what’s realistic…when every book and every parents gives opposite, yet “biblical” advice on the subject? What happens when I’m at the end of my rope over tantrums from the younger one like I never faced […]

One of the realities of my life right now is that there is a dividing line that happens in almost every first/intro conversation I have with people (and this last year has included a lot of those)… The normally-progressing conversation that happens before… and then the shift that comes after… … people find out I […]

Throughout my life, I’ve experienced God’s kindness. Parents– I was raised by a dad and mom who knew God and taught me about Him, did the best they could with what they had, loved me well, and entrusted me to the big God that they themselves trusted. Teaching– teachers and professors who taught me to […]