How Parenting Makes Me Insane
Sundays, in our family, are our home maintenance days. It’s the day we do piles of laundry that have accumulated over the week, pick up the stray Legos, put away a clean dishwasher, or load a dirty one, do the grocery shopping and assemble backpacks for the coming... Read More
Winning at Parenting When You’re a Cake-Decorating Loser
“Could we sign up for a cake decorating class on Saturdays?” This came from my fourteen-year-old daughter as I stood at the sink up to my elbows in dirty dishes. I paused. The last thing I wanted to do was give up my Saturdays. I was already losing... Read More
How to Embrace Mystery
When I was a kid, I wanted to be Joe Hardy from The Hardy Boys. Well, to be perfectly honest, I wanted to be Shaun Cassidy portraying Joe Hardy. There’s an awkward photo of me in a jacket with the sleeves pulled up, shorts and high white socks to prove... Read More
Getting Practical: Are My Kids On Track
This is Part 2 of my Book Review for “Are My Kids on Track? The 12 Emotional, Social and Spiritual Milestones Your Child Needs to Reach” written by experienced counselors: Sissy Goff, David Thomas and Melissa Trevathan. Why This Book Matters It’s not just teenagers that are struggling with things... Read More
Parenting Through Transition: Confession Of A Recovering Control Freak
I started back to fulltime, in-office work this week, for the first time in over three years. To be honest, my emotions over this transition have swung back and forth like a pendulum: Anxiety. Excitement. Guilt. Pride. Eagerness. Dread. (What? Your pendulum is a little less extreme than... Read More
Family Life | Make It Personal | Self Care
You Are Enough
The thing about having a baby is that no one, no one, can prepare you for the full experience. People will give you advice—mostly unsolicited—but until you take your sweet baby home . . . there just aren’t words to convey the joy, pain, responsibility, honor, anxiety, and... Read More
Reviewing: Are Your Kids On Track?
As soon as a child is born, we start measuring, don’t we? The number of fingers and toes. Height and weight. Number of wet diapers. Weeks and months. And my personal favorite, number of hours slept in a row. As they get older, that kind of counting doesn’t... Read More
Are You Finishing Well?
I thought I raised my children well. They seemed like good kids. But then, a few months ago, my oldest son did the unthinkable. The most thoughtless, unimaginable thing he’s ever done. He moved out. I probably should have been expecting it. After all, he’s 21. But I’d... Read More
Family Life | Fight For The Heart
5 Love Languages for Children Gets Practical
I have three kids in different phases, and here are a few practical ways this book hit home for me and how I used what I learned in my own family for a TRIPLE WIN: Read More
Family Life | Fight For The Heart
Reviewing the Five Love Languages of Children
“Anger’s the most troublesome emotion in family life.” All you have to do is scroll down your Facebook feed or flip on the news to realize there are a lot of angry people out there. And if I’m being honest, there are times when anger simmers and wins... Read More