Independence Day with our family is about as cliché as cliché gets! It’s family, food and fireworks. In typical Texas fashion, the weather will be scorching hot. We will head over to my in-law’s home and the older kids will immediately run into the backyard and jump in the swimming pool. The toddlers will beg for…
8 Tips for Maintaining a Family Summer Schedule
Keeping a family summer schedule can be sanity-saving and yet tough to maintain at the same time. Summer is a wonderful break from academic routines and along with the warmer weather and more hours of sunlight each day comes the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors more frequently. If you are like our family, much of…
4 Fun Ideas for Summer Bucket Lists
Tomorrow, June 21, marks the first day of summer (for those of us here in the United States and the rest of the northern hemisphere), and this year we will be celebrating with a Summer Bucket List pajama party! We will be wearing our PJ’s all day and sleeping in after the rooster crows (hopefully…
Dads Are to Be Earthly Mirrors of a Heavenly Reality
The Bible says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). Over the years, God has shown me that the attack on the institution of fatherhood and the strategy to make fathers unloving and…
See What God Has Done! Do You See It?
Devotion For You How vital that we pray, armed with the knowledge that God is in Heaven. Pray with any lesser conviction and your prayers are timid, shallow, and hollow. But spend some time walking in the workshop of the Heavens, seeing what God has done, and watch how your prayers are energized… Behold the…
Holy Week Activities for Kids
The days and week before Easter, also known as Holy Week, can be a wonderful time of encouraging children to understand the significance of the days before Christ’s crucifixion and the resurrection. Holy Week, also known as Passion Week, is the week before Easter, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending on Easter. Today we are focusing on…
Telling the Easter Story and Jesus’ Resurrection with Eggs
It’s been a tradition in Christian families for years to us plastic eggs to teach children the meaning of Easter and the story of Jesus’ resurrection. While there are many Christian stores that sell the Resurrection Egg (TM) kits, I’ve found that making them on your own is fairly easy if you have the time…
Family Fume: Speaking in Love
One spring day, I sat in my backyard with my friend Suzy and our kids. While we relaxed in lawn chairs, sipping lemonade, a few of the children played on the swing set. The rest sat at our bright yellow children’s picnic table, purchased just days earlier. They were happily creating masterpieces on the pages…
Walking on the Wild Side of Parenting
In our enthusiasm to celebrate children (a good thing), we are sometimes tempted to overlook the key Christian doctrine of original sin. A child can be raised by godly parents, yet still choose to live an ungodly life: A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke. —Proverbs 13:1…
Four Ways Families Can Keep Christ In Christmas
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – the Christmas season is here! Everywhere we turn, the sights, sounds, and wonders of Christmas surround us ready to captivate our family’s hearts. Have you noticed as you drive around town how your children’s eyes fill with wonder as they gaze at the spectacularly lit…