Woke up, got dressed, read the Bible, did devotions, prayed, drank water, brewed tea, made breakfast for the kids, got in a load of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen from the night before, packed bags for swim team, filled water bottles… and that was all before the kids even got out of bed. I…
Celebrating an Untraditional Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is approaching and, as a mom, you would think I’d be excited. Don’t judge me when I say, “I’m not”. This isn’t a case of false martyrdom or not being happy with the gifts I’ve received over the past decade. If I’m being completely honest, I have difficulty celebrating myself. Perhaps it can…
Helping Our Kids Hear God
If you were on a game show and asked to list off all the prayers you learned as a small child, how many could you name? I would guess several would quickly come to mind from a few different categories, like: Bedtime Prayers: “Now I lay me down to sleep…” Mealtime Prayers: “God is great,…
Raising Kids That Choose Joy
Choose joy. I say it all the time: to myself, to my friends and especially to my children. But is it as easy as that? I dare say it is not. In my book, Raising Uncommon Kids, I wrote about how I’ve struggled throughout my years as a parent to redefine our priorities and model…
Teaching Kids about the Character and Names of God
What does God look like? What does God sound like? When does God ‘show up’ for you? Have you ever really thought about these things? More importantly, have you ever asked your kids if they think about it? Stop for a moment and consider who you are as a parent. Are you always the same…
Random Acts of Kindness for Kids
“Nobody can help everybody, but everybody can help somebody.” ‑Denver Moore This is my favorite quote from Same Kind of Different as Me (and the new Same Kind of Different as Me for Kids). The beautiful lesson this teaches our children is that although everyone cannot help everybody, someone can help somebody. This simple concept…
On Losing a Loved One: God Is a Good, Good Father
Losing a parent is never easy. I know. I lost my father one year ago this month. Even as I write those words, I can hardly believe it. I had fallen into a rut of telling people I lost my dad six months ago. Then last week, I started getting emotional about him all of…
Peer Pressure: If your friends jumped off a bridge…
I’m sure all of us can remember a myriad of catchphrases we overheard our parents chastise us with over and over again as we were growing up, but perhaps none more than “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” Perhaps it sounded a little different in your family. Maybe something like: If your…