It was a rather ordinary day in 2010. Light rain fell on the windshield as we drove home from our weekly Bible study. Our car pulled up to the stop sign and she stole our hearts. A precious lady standing there in the rain. Her bleeding sign echoed her bleeding heart. The sign pleaded for food for her “gran-babies” and…
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Random Acts of Kindness Printables
Eclectic Homeschool (When One Homeschool Method Isn’t Working)
You know the story of Goldilocks. She goes into the house of the 3 bears and tries out all their stuff. At first, the porridge is too hot, then too cold, and finally just right. Next up are the chairs: too little, too big, and again, just right. Finally she gets to the beds. The first one is too hard,…
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How to Cultivate a Lifestyle of Learning in Your Homeschool
Do you remember the first time those little eyes peered up at you pleading for you to read them a book? Or how fascinated your kids were with seeing new things and asking 5 billion questions about them? The other day my friend Leslie shared one of these stories with me. During the normal course of everyday life, his son…
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The Blessing of Make-a-Wish
I remember clearly my plans for November 2, 2016. My work to-do list was stacked with the launch of a brand new product, a few business calls, and the usual Wednesday check-up tasks. I had planned to cook spaghetti, teach the 6th grade Frontline class that night at church, and do a few loads of laundry. By 9am all of…
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Cancer is the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
Cancer is one of those things you pray never happens to you. It’s one of those things you KNOW can happen, but hardly can fathom the reality of and so you don’t. In 2009, two of my friends had young children diagnosed with cancer within a few months of each other. First it was Julia, 2 years old, who had…
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Balancing Screen Time: A Christian Family Movie Plan You’ll Love
In 2010 I sold our TV. Seems a little extreme, huh? I’ll be the first to admit it was. I remember sitting on the couch the night before I was to meet the man I sold it to, feeling like I had completely lost my mind. It was a relatively rash decision. As a single mom, money was incredibly tight….
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Control Your Tongue: 5 Strategies to Teach your Kids
When I was a kid, I was taught this little rhyme as a way of dealing with mean people: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. You probably know it, too. And I’m sure you also know it’s a BIG FAT LIE. Words come and go so quickly we assume they bounce right off,…
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For when there’s an emptiness in your heart
The tree glistened behind him as we sipped hot chocolate on the sofa. “Mom,” he wondered, “do you ever feel like there’s an empty seat at the table?” I glanced over at the table dressed with sparkling silver, holly berries, and fine white china. For us, holidays had become a memorable affair. We had come to love dressing up and…
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For when you feel like you’re not enough
It was 2am and darkness blanketed more than just the empty hotel room. As sleep teased my exhausted heart, the light from my phone illuminated the moment. The message was as long as it was heavy, making the tears difficult to push back. “My greatest struggle is I don’t feel like I’m enough. My track record proves the truth; I’m…
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Free Printable Chore Cards for Kids (you can edit)
I don’t know about you, but managing chores with my kids has been one of those parenting things that has taken a lot of “tweaking.” Ok it’s taken multiple overhauls and a lot of tears. Haha. Who am I kidding? It’s difficult to come up with the right balance and a consistent plan that will keep your kids motivated to…
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A Chore System that Teaches Good Money Habits (without entitlement)
The one thing I’ve probably struggled with most as a parent is finding a chore system that teaches good money habits without making my kids feel entitled. For me, money has been a personal struggle. I was one of those kids who graduated from college with 30K in debt and a nice sampling of credit cards to go with it….
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6 Ways to Find Peace in the Storm
It’s the longest 52 minutes of my life every single time we enter that room. It would be easy to blame it on the chill of the air or the stiffness of the chair, but I rather think it has more to do with the lack of distraction. For safety, one must leave all possessions outside of the scan room. No…
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How to Teach Homeschool Math (A Simple Plan for Non-Math Lovers)
Homeschool math… I have to admit, just the thought once made me feel a twinge of queasiness. Now don’t get me wrong, I love school. Like, absolutely love it. I’m the kid who was always counting down the days until the new school year. I love learning new things, love the smell of school supplies, and actually find lectures fascinating. BUT,…
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Language Arts Homeschool Curriculum: A Plan from Kindergarten to Graduation
Choosing language arts homeschool curriculum can be the most difficult decision to make. It’s not difficult because of the actual subject itself. It’s often difficult because of what we make of it as parents. We realize the importance of it and as a result often put so much pressure on this one thing that our kids begin to suffer. So…
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How to Love Reading (for kids)
Do you hope your kids would one day love reading as much as (or even more than!) they love their technology? Are visions of lazy, video-game-addicted, junk-food-eating kids haunting you, too? My friend, you’re not alone! When my kids have free time, it often means they need a little “encouragement” to do something besides playing video games, watching tv, or eating…
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How to prepare your heart for the hard things
We’ve walked through the doors marked “Pediatric Oncology” 18 times since November. It’s the place no one ever wishes to go and most people never imagine they will face. But we’ve done it over and over again. We’ve sat down in the waiting room next to babies with no hair. Teens who can barely walk with walkers. Little girls with…
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How to help your child obey when it’s hard
I’ve found that some kids just really struggle to obey. Have you? I saw this a lot as a classroom teacher. Some kids were just natural rule followers who couldn’t get in trouble if they tried. Others couldn’t stay OUT of trouble if they tried. Even their best efforts fell short. Every. Single. Day. As a parent, I wasn’t surprised…
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Do you really want to start over?
Have you ever wanted to start over? Life is hard and sometimes ugly. We mess up and get messed up. Painful circumstances haunt our joy and bad choices laugh in our face. Sometimes we long to just start over. I think that’s why there’s so much hype around New Year’s Day. There’s something about a brand new year that motivates…
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How to have a victorious year (even when bad things happen)
It was 2010. We sat crammed around a table too small for all of us, but no one seemed to mind. Over the years we had come to love this time away to renew our hearts, eat kettle corn, and play games into the early morning. It was our church’s women’s retreat, but to us it was so much more. Although…
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Why bah-humbug and good riddance really won’t make you feel better
I won’t lie. This year has been hard. Ridiculously hard. As the year dawned, I found myself walking yet another friend through an unwanted divorce, mourning the pain of 3 very young children, the strained hopes and dreams of a dedicated parent, and the brokenness of a faith tossed aside. Then there was a failed romantic venture that etched deep…
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Choosing God’s glory in the face of the unknown
Have you ever thought about how difficult it must have been for Mary to face the circumstances surrounding Jesus’s birth? We’re usually quick to focus on the words of the angel proclaiming that Mary was highly favored among women and chosen. Because we know the ending of the story, it’s easy for us to see this visit as a blessing…
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