My oldest son will be twelve years old in a couple months. That’s old enough that we should have had more sensitive subject talks sooner than now. Unfortunately, we have put it off. I guess I’ve been the head-in-the-sand kind of mom without realizing it. We have used the real words for private parts since…
What do you do when it seems like you never feel well? I get a little tired of hearing the mantra myself. Like a broken record-player. Playing the same old song over and over again. Those sad, disappointed little voices. “Mommy doesn’t feel good… Mommy’s tired… Mommy needs to lay down… Mommy doesn’t feel good…”…
Ouch! That one small word can hold so many feelings and emotions. For some it evokes sympathy or compassion, even pity. For others it evokes shame and weakness. For me it’s always held feelings of all of the above, so I just didn’t let it out. I never saw this as a real problem. Occasionally…
Common wisdom says that the best thing a mom and dad can do for their children is to love one another. But more important than that is for a child to see that his parents love Jesus Christ. Not, and I’m being very specific here, not merely hear it said that they love Him, but see everyday,…
Dear Momma, Today I want to share some of my imperfections with you. I yell. A lot. Sometimes it seems that the only way that the boys will listen is if there is yelling involved. I lose my patience easily. I discipline out of anger. I have a hard time apologizing. Is it…
I am sitting on an airplane on my way to a conference and I am so frustrated! I couldn’t find the top I need to wear tonight. Just couldn’t find it. I tore the house up looking for it. How do things like that happen? How can you lose an outfit you wear…
We cherish of the sweet moments of motherhood, of tucking our little ones in at night with soft moon-glow as they drift off in peaceful sleep. Reality strikes in any of the following scenarios that develop after the supposed final goodnight. “Mommy, I need a drink!” says the bright-eyed preschooler in the doorway….
Some days it is not easy to be a mother. I have known this for a long time, but never had it been so apparent as when when my 3rd little one showed up. He is so cute, smells so great – I love newborn smell – and he is up all. night. long….
I know what you’re probably thinking. “That’s an odd number!” Am I right? But this year is our Grandiversary. {BTW, I made that up, so you’re not uninformed. You’ve heard of a Grand Birthday, or a Golden Birthday, haven’t you? Well, if not, it’s the birthday that you have that falls on the day you…
A couple weeks ago my son came home from school so excited to show me he had gotten 6 blue ROYAL tickets. These tickets represent the code of behavior in his school: R = Respect O = On-task Y = Your best A = Attitude L = LeadershipI looked at him and expressed how…
Two years ago, I began reading blogs with the view toward starting my own. In posts by Christian mothers, I kept running across comments like this: “I homeschool my children, but I’m not perfect.” “I use cloth diapers, but I’m not perfect.” Really? Why did you think that I thought you were? In topics…
Twenty years ago, I sat on my bathroom floor in my college apartment with a bottle of aspirin in my hand and was ready to take my life. I had battled depression and self-esteem issues for a long time, and the pain had become unbearable. I wrestled with my jumbled, emotional thoughts. Although the pain…
I used to be the perfect mother, and had the blog to prove it. I sewed cute matching pants and skirts for my kids. I threw ridiculously detailed themed parties just for fun. I prepped and froze 40 meals at a time and baked our bread from scratch. I homeschooled my older children while…
My five-year old has become quite the fashionista in her short life. On a daily basis, I find myself smiling at the outfit she has put together, combining patterns, colors and clothing types in ways I never would have imagined. (Who knew a pink ballet tutu could pair so perfectly with tribal print leggings?)…
I have two precious children the Lord has entrusted to me. Being a parent is the most important call I have on my life. It is fun, rewarding, frightening, exciting, special, and did I mention frightening? What I am not called to be is the most perfect parent. Thank God, because I would assuredly…
I am Mom to six wonderful creations of Christ. Individually and as a group, they are funny, active, sensitive, creative, and often, a riot to live with. They’re also a lot of hard work. Our second son, Ben, arrived with numerous special needs, which really messed up my plans for parenthood. I had it all…
Over the past decade, my working status has changed quite a few times. I was a working woman when I got married, became a stay at home mom when my son was born, went back to work after a year or so, and then became a stay at home mom again! Eventually, I found options…
Face it, we all want to “put our best foot forward” whether meeting someone for the first time, on Sundays mornings at church and of course, on social media like Facebook. But, the fact is, our lives are far from perfect because we are not perfect and neither are our children. This can especially be…
I think we’ve all had those days when we just absolutely don’t want to be a mom. It may be because we have spent the day cleaning up messes, dealing with tantrums, and trying to teach obedience. It may be simply because we are tired and don’t want to play or talk or…
I am a terrible mother. Odds are, so are you. The other night my husband and I were in the family room, and I was complaining about having to tell our daughter to do the dishes approximately 6,352 times before she sighed with disgust and began plunging the dishes into the now-lukewarm water….
Dear Daughter #1, I’m sorry. I really am. I’m sure you have noticed that your father and I do not exactly know what we’re doing. That we figure everything out on you, our lovely, gracious guinea pig. You see, you are our learner child. We’re feeling our way along, using you as our test case. We…
I’m an imperfect mom in need of heaps of grace. There are many ways this is true and many confessions I could make, but as I was thinking about writing a post for this Imperfect Mom Confessional series, I thought I’d go straight to the source and find out what my eleven-year-old son thought. At…
Last night as I was getting dinner ready, my 19 month old toddled in to the kitchen from outside where she’d been playing with her older siblings, grinning from ear to ear with dirt smudged all across her mouth. I paused for a moment, deciding what to do, shrugged, and kept making supper as an,…
As a mom of two girls, I hope that they will bring kindness into a world that so often feels dark with hate crimes, poverty, entitled attitudes and war. I just want kindness – for my girls, their friends and our world. And yet I myself have so far to go in being…
