Easter is one of my favorite times of the year. I love celebrating Jesus and His resurrected life. I appreciate how—symbolic of Jesus’ rebirth—the whole earth breaks forth in life, budding fresh and new from a frozen world stripped bare. Easter gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect on the life of Christ. I… [Continue Reading]
parenting
Learning to Stand, to Believe, to Overcome … in the midst of life’s pain
For much of my parenting I focused on helping my kids make good decisions, yet as they’ve grown into adults I’ve realized that their decisions are only part of the factor. My kids will also face heartbreak because of hard circumstances and the decisions of others. There are times the darkness will seem to overwhelm… [Continue Reading]
How to Regulate Yourself as a Mom … and Control Your Anger
As a mom, I can tell when I’m out of sorts. Sometimes I don’t stress about the sticky floor or the grumbling kids. And then there are days when everything seems wrong, and deep down I know the “wrong” is something inside me. Everything makes me angry. Have you ever had days like that? The… [Continue Reading]
Sleep as a Benefit of Homeschooling
I’d been a homeschooling mom for twenty years when I was forced to have kids in the public school system. I say “forced” because we had kids in foster care and DHS would not let me homeschool them. So for the first time ever I filled out paperwork and had to figure out the schedules… [Continue Reading]
How to stop your child’s angry cycle
The flash of anger in my tween daughter’s eyes surprised me. We’d been camping, and Maddie’s 6-year-old sister, Aly, had just burned her finger on hot ash. As I treat the wound, Maddie strode up. “I hurt myself, too,” she said, with attitude. “Last night when we were making S’mores.” “Hold on,” I said. As… [Continue Reading]
10 Ways to Make Your Home a Place of Healing For Kids From Foster Care
John and I opened our home to foster care and adoption with a lot of hope and little knowledge of what the reality would look like. As a mom trying to help these kids heal, I learned a lot about children, trauma, myself, our mutual needs, and healing. Out of everything I’ve learned, the… [Continue Reading]
How to Get Your Kids to Pay Attention While You Homeschool (Through Crafting!)
We brought our kids home to homeschool after adoption. Because the older girls had been in public school for all their lives they had an idea of what school looked like—lots of lessons and worksheets and counting down the hours until they can play. When we started homeschooling with Sonlight, they didn’t know what to… [Continue Reading]
3 Ways Children Teach Us To Pray – Kari Patterson
As I type these words, my daughter is snuggled up next to me with her head resting on my stomach. She’s been mostly quiet, but throughout the past few minutes she’s softly spoken a thought: “I loved seeing the ducks today.” A question: “When am I going to Madison’s house?” A praise: “I love you,… [Continue Reading]
Teaching Kids to Pray
Every morning I sit down with my kids and work on prayer journals. I want to teach my kids how to pray. I want them to know they can turn to God for anything. Below are ways I’ve taught my kids to pray during Meal Time, and below you can find out more information about… [Continue Reading]
What My Anger Showed Me About My Heart
I am so thankful for writer friends who support each other. Recently my friend Elisa Morgan asked if I’d write a guest post for her blog. She asked me to be real, and I was. This ended up being one of Elisa’s top blogs of 2018. Do you ever struggle with anger? Thankfully there is… [Continue Reading]
5 Christian Parenting Author Giveaway
I’m excited to partner with these other authors to bring you some of the best Christian parenting resources available today. Check out each author and their product below and then join the sweepstakes HERE between January 13-18, 2019 Eastern Time. Thrive Family Video Series By Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN. THRIVE! is… [Continue Reading]