Category: Parenting

Because He Loves Me

5 Comments

“Oh Momma….come heerree,” my little man called from the back door in his sing-song voice. “I’ve got something to show yoouu.”

Sometimes these requests cause me to hold my breath, afraid there will be a finger dangling from its base or some disaster to clean up. But something in his voice this time sounded promising. So I stopped whatever I was doing and followed him to the back porch. You can imagine my surprise when I saw this:

20170228_092352

A freshly blown off porch (blower provided by Daddy with a rent fee of $2), wiped down picnic table with a beautiful camellia blossom planted in a vase. All just for me! Just because he loves me!

I engulfed my little boy in my arms and said thank you with all the reciprocal love I could find. Then I sat down across from him on the bench seat and discussed the finer things in life according to a seven year old while soaking in the serene scene he created for us.

Continue reading →

Good Morning!

Leave a comment

This morning my sleepy 13 year old stumbled into my room. Since he was the first one up, he nestled quietly into the coveted spot right beside me on the bed. With his head against a pillow propped up on my leg we discussed quite deeply the thoughts of a young hunter/trapper boy. Most of the language I didn’t understand but I tracked along as well as I could with my barely awake brain.

He talked about guns and what the calibers meant, how many bullets go in each barrel and so forth. And I just listened. We talked battle scars and injuries and how it would be good for his future wife to have some nursing background.

I marveled at how easily we embraced and how fluidly the conversation ebbed along. I wasn’t distracted by my phone pinging the day’s notifications and I wasn’t in the middle of teaching my other two math or English. It was just me and him enjoying some sweet conversation.

Continue reading →

A Gift for Jessica

1 Comment

On the spur of the moment last Saturday, we declared a Family Date Night to Tyler. Caleb needed some new shirts, because when you grow 4.5 inches in a year, nothing old fits! Since I had some Kohls cash in my wallet, I figured that was just the place to shop.

We’re also down to 4 hens in the chicken pen, and so buying some new chicks has been on my ever-growing list as well.

As I’m planning the route in my head, all-of-a-sudden I remember the movie God’s Not Dead 2 just came out in theaters! We saw the first one as a family and the kids loved it, so I thought that would make a fun surprise if we could fit it in. I kept it a secret in case we couldn’t.

We all start loading up in the truck when Mackenzie comes outside, flicking her hair back and swinging her purse over her shoulder. She says, “Mom, we’re going to meet someone named Jessica today and when we do, I’m going to give her this flower.”

Continue reading →

When My Child’s Behavior Spills All Over the Street

Leave a comment

One thing my new schedule and the beautiful weather allows me the freedom to do is take a walk down the back-roads behind my house. I have a favorite journey down a winding trail, canopied over with tall, waving pine trees.

When I trekked along this morning, I noticed the road had been repaved. Before when I walked, water from an underground spring flowed all over the road, in some places pooling up into quite a puddle. Since I’m not a six year old boy, the puddles aren’t my favorite thing to stomp through.

They repaved the road, making the center significantly higher than the sides, which created a perfect, natural rut for the springing water to flow along. This left the middle of the road dry enough to walk down without raising up my pant legs.

I don’t know why my brain thinks like this, but this whole scenario reminded me of my strong willed child. The child that has tested every ounce of my will since the day he was born. The child who’s passion and behavior often spills all over the road – or the store, house, wherever he is.

Continue reading →

Triggers

2 Comments

Normally, I like to stay away from “How-To” books. They seem to stifle my creative nature, but also because, I long to follow a formula that looks nice and neat, tying life in a pretty bow. So, when the title promises me 5 Guaranteed Ways to Grow a Happy Family in 3 Easy Steps, it sounds appealing as I imagine my darling children all neatly dressed with ironed pants, smiling at me even when I tell them No.

Inwardly I want that book. I want to follow those 3 Easy Steps and obtain the advertised results. But I’ve tried to follow the 3 easy step philosophies and claim my overnight success as a parent and….failed.

I quickly thought about this glitch of mine when Wendy Speake Brunner asked me to read and share in the launch of her and Amber’s new book, Triggers.

Continue reading →

Warning! Underground Cable Wire

4 Comments

Last year held such change for our family. As we closed chapters and creaked open new ones, one thing that has remained for me, is this calling to write.

Now, I’ve always written, but I preferred the words to remain safe, tucked inside my nightstand drawer. Four years ago I was not even thinking about releasing them on the World Wide Web to be read publically. So this act of obedience has been hard at times. I have this fear of being misunderstood. The thought that someone could read in-between the lines of what I write and misunderstand my message, scares me every time I hit publish.

It’s been three years since I wrote my first blog post and towards the latter part of last year I began to feel this rumble inside me of something more percolating. Blogging became more than just a way to process and straighten the jumbled up slinky life often throws at me. That is always why I write, but I felt it growing from a hobby into a calling, a ministry to encourage and help others also struggling to sort out this of life.

Continue reading →

Build Yourself Strong

Leave a comment

I don’t know that I had a word from the Lord last year, but my husband did. Diligence. It looked like a 5” scar on the side of his hand as a result of putting a new roof on our house. Diligence called us home from Kenya, to a new church body, to a long remodel project, and two of the biggest family decisions we’ve ever made. I’m ready for a new year and a new word!

As I moved books and games into their new space, I also wanted to spruce up the rest of the house. Naturally, I turned to the internet for inspiration on how to do that. I came across the Nester’s site and a video series she wrote called the Cozy Minimalist. Those words rang in my ear…

Now, I don’t want to a minimalist that lives in a tiny house and can fit all my belongings in a FedEx box. But I longed for less maintenance with a warm touch. So I wrote down the words, Cozy, Beautiful, Minimal and decided these would be my words for 2016.

Continue reading →

Change Out the Needle

2 Comments

Our family went to visit my parents in Arkansas for the Labor Day weekend. I expected it to be a time of rest as it often is thanks to my mom cooking and cleaning the dishes for me. And while I did rest from those duties, my mind didn’t.

So my first day back home I needed to do absolutely nothing. My body was tired. My mind was tired. I needed to hit the “reset” button, but couldn’t find it.

Before I left, Mom and I went to Hancock fabrics to look for a pattern that I could make something out of the fabric I purchased while in Kenya. I always make skirts thinking I’ll wear them and then never do. So I needed a pattern of something I will wear! I told my mom when we were checking out that I’m sure there will be a blog post about this afterwards. And I was right!

20150913_161007

This was going to be my project for the week off school. In my day to do nothing, I started a movie, started another one for the kids, and closed the door to my sewing room.

Continue reading →

My Space, My Place

Leave a comment

I love finding hidden commonalities with new friends over the internet. I found one with my fellow blogger, Ashley Hales. We both signed up for the Clumsy Blogger course in hopes to not trip over inconspicuous power cords and such anymore in this world of blogging. I know it helped me and it put me in touch with Ashley and her site, Circling the Story. I say we have a commonality because we both like to share stories of others.  As Ashley said, “All our stories matter. Story begets story.”

Yes.

Today, she’s allowed me the privilege of sharing my story. My story of finding joy in the mundane tasks of cleaning house and feeding my family. It took me flying 9,000 miles away from home this summer to realize it, but I’m thankful for the lesson none-the-less.

Thanks Ashley for allowing me to share my story!

Here’s a glimpse, and be sure to view the whole story HERE.

Continue reading →

My Home Make-Over: Heart Addition

2 Comments

Sometimes motherhood wakes me up with smiles and kisses surrounding my face. Other days, I awaken and face tasks much too hard for this only child to tackle. This would be one of those days…

The day started with me desperately trying to talk myself out of driving  60 miles to get groceries at the nearest Costco. “Are the savings really worth my morning?” I pondered.

Doing some quick math confirmed, yes, they were.

To the utmost delight of my children, we slipped on our shoes and slid open the doors to pile in our minivan ready to conquer the aisles and bring home the bacon.

Actually, I’m pretty sure I had to remind each of my children that they weren’t alone in their “I don’t want to go” statements. I didn’t want to go either. But I do like to eat. And, I am always thankful on the back-end for a pantry stocked with supplies for dinner.

Continue reading →