As I sat with my kids the other day and asked them to finish the sentence, “My favorite thing about Christmas is…”, I was shocked yet, overjoyed to hear them say that a well thought out tradition we had started was now their favorite thing about Christmas. It was a few Christmases back when I happened to stumble upon a Continue Reading →
Have you ever taken the time to think about the traditions you celebrate? I mean, why do you celebrate each tradition? Is it just what you’ve always done or is there significance to it? Previous to having children, I didn’t put much thought into “tradition”. I just followed the ways of my family, doing what we’ve always done, but when Continue Reading →
So is everyone ready for Christmas? I’m not! For some reason I just can’t seem to get into it the season yet, but just the other night when my family piled into the car in their pajamas and grabbed their hot chocolate, I got a little jolt in the right direction. As we drove around looking at Christmas lights, with Continue Reading →
In our car, there is a driver and a navigator. My husband is the driver and I am the navigator. Each of us is uniquely fit for our job in our car. We can each do each other’s job, but yet it just seems that when he’s in the drivers seat and I am in the navigator’s seat, it’s like…well, Continue Reading →
Character is not something that you can teach your kids in one day. In fact, I’m pretty sure it will take a life time, but for now, my job is to help show my kids the building blocks of character. Another way I think about this is that right now I am helping piece together the skeleton of character for Continue Reading →
Character. They say that “character counts” and I know that I want my children to have character, but what exactly does that really mean? What does the word “character” mean? In my dictionary it says that character is the total picture of “features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.” Hmm…that made me do some Continue Reading →
Have you ever had one of those moments, as a parent, that freezes for just a moment? A moment long enough to think, “This is a test. I can either respond to this one way and fail miserably–probably end my kid up in counseling some day–or I can respond another way, save the moment and feel like a hero. Hmm…which Continue Reading →
Love signs. Do you have them? We do in our family. They are little gestures or looks that we use to communicate with one another from across a room. Some moms (even myself) have mastered the “death look” and her kids know her intended message, but this is not the kind I’m talking about. I’m talking about the kind that Continue Reading →
As I ready our home for a family adventure this week–a real road trip, I thought I’d share a simple thing with you that we do in our home. I won’t post again until the weekend since I’ll be having fun elsewhere! Living in a large family, it can often be hard for my kids to get a spare moment Continue Reading →
Prayer. It is such a simple thing, but greatly underestimated. People say, “I feel so helpless because all I can do is pray.” I used to say that too, but now I realize that prayer is the most powerful thing that I can do. It is the most powerful tool that I have as a parent, but yet I think Continue Reading →