What lessons did you learn in the garden as a child? Personally, I remember the wonder of seeing new sprouts poke through the dirt and green strawberries brighten to red under the summer sun. Gardening taught me about God’s good creation, and as I became a mom I understood that patience and cultivation related…
5 Traits of a Good Friend (and How to Help Kids Develop Them)
As a mom of both young kids and older ones, I’ve learned how important it is for my children to find good friends. It’s been said that we are most like the five people with whom we spend the most time.. This is especially true for our kids. Kids pick up characteristics they see. They…
The Importance of Reading Aloud to Kids (and Getting Truth Deep In Their Hearts!)
I didn’t grow up in a reading home, but when I was in the sixth grade my family moved next to a library and that changed everything. I fell in love with books, and I was swept away to imaginary worlds. Yet so many times I wished I had someone to talk to about the…
Hardships of Teens and Tweens: Why having God’s Word to stand on while growing up is important
One of the most challenging times for kids is their tween and teen years. Changes happen rapidly within them and around them. Kids often feel unsure and unsteady. Yet when we understand their biggest struggles, we can also help them find a firm foundation to keep them strong. Here are three things to look out…
5 Scriptures That Address Key Issues Teens Are Dealing with Today
I have three teen daughters and one more who is right on their tail. I’ve also raised teen sons into adulthood. (Quite a feat!) During the teen years, there are so many concerns heavy on a teen’s heart: interactions with other guys and girls, school pressures, school or relationship drama, feelings of insecurity, and worries…
How to Raise a Strong Girl in a Princess World
When my oldest daughter Leslie was 5-years-old she refused to wear pants… for a whole year… because she was a princess. I thought it was cute for the first month, but we lived in Montana. Have you ever tried to dress someone in a snowsuit while they were wearing a dress? I have seven daughters…
4 Tips to Help Our Kids Relate to Bible Stories
One of my favorite things to do is read Bible stories with my kids. I grew up going to church, but Bible reading didn’t really happen at home. I loved the flannel-graph stories that my Sunday school teacher told, but these stories were usually theme-based and told out of order. As an adult, when I…
God’s Awesome, Unique Design of All People: Teaching Our Kids About Diversity
We attend an inner-city church in Little Rock, Arkansas. Little Rock is known to be a place of desegregation struggles — past and present. Up until 1957 schools here were segregated, and even now the residential areas of our city are highly segregated. Whites live on one part of town and blacks in the other.…
Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.: Teaching Our Kids About Friendship and Faith
As a mom of ten kids I’ve discovered that often the best things we can teach our kids aren’t about things they can see, but they’re about the unseen things. Things like justice, equality, friendship and faith. In our world they often see prejudices and injustice. Usually kids know this isn’t right, but they don’t…
5 Big Bible Story Takeaways for Little Ones
Helping to Apply Big Stories to Kids’ Lives Even at a Young Age I remember snuggling with my son Cory when he was a toddler and reading Bible stories to him. I read about biblical people, and I told Cory about God when he was just two-years-old. As Cory got older I read the stories…
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