There is a person reading this post who is doing everything in his or her power to get it right, yet is going nowhere. She is striving to be a godly mom, wife, and friend yet secretly knows it isn’t working. Each night as she lays her head on the pillow she wonders if she has done enough. He is following all the “rules” and "working his head ...
Mommyhood
How to Raise Children Who Serve
What are the skills you want your kids to have when leaving your home? Change a tire. Be financially astute. Do laundry. The list goes on. But what about a servant attitude? Is that a goal? Part 1 of the Should Children Have Chores? podcast got us started. Now let's dig deeper into the subject of raising children who desire to serve ...
Three Ways to Build a Work Ethic in Your Kids
In my mind there are three main aspects of parenting. The first is the theme of this blog – impressing upon our children a God who loves them and asks them to love Him and others in return. A second is financial wisdom. When our children were young, I created the Money Management System to train our children to ...
Should Children Have Chores?
The last few blog posts and podcast episode have focused on being intentional with your summer. With the kids out of school, summer is a great time to focus on the child's heart. I often begin summer thinking about the areas of maturity that are lacking. Without a doubt, having a servant-heart is frequently high on the list. Will chores ...
Is My Child Ready for Kindergarten?
Will you join me on a trip down memory lane? In January 2009 I took a leap of faith and began a blog called "Our Out-of-Sync Life." God placed it on my heart to encourage and empower mommas and teachers to shepherd little ones to live for Christ in this "out-of-sync" world. Fast forward to 2021 and the name of the blog was changed to ...
How to Create Purpose This Summer
As I shared last week, ever May I gain a bounce in my step because summer is just around the corner. For almost three months I will have all my chickadees back under my wings! But I learned several years ago in order to thrive during summer, we must have purpose. I needed to set goals and lightly structure our day, so we didn't greet September ...
How to Set Up an Afternoon Quiet Time for Preschoolers
I love this question from an ABCJesusLovesMe family member: Just saw the sample daily routines on the ABCJesusLovesMe website. What is an afternoon quiet time and how do you get a busy preschooler on board? This is a really good question! Below is an explanation and some points to help get you started. What is an Afternoon Quiet ...
High, Low, Buffalo Conversation Starter
Getting children to talk about their days isn't always easy. When I ask my teen children to tell me what's going on in their life, sometimes the response is "Nothing," or "I don't know." Yet when they were younger, my role was much like a cruise director - I had to steer the conversation and keep their little minds on track. So when Heidi ...
Advice We’ve Learned Along the Way, Part 3
In our final episode/blogpost of this 3-part series, Heidi and I wrap up the best parenting advice we've learned along our journeys as moms. While we said we didn't have any favorites, it's clear that as we came to the end of our list, we really did have some that we hold dearer than others! ▼ Jump to Listen to Episode #7: Advice ...
What I Discovered in an Empty Box
I came across one of my parenting blog posts originally published February 2, 2011. Boy, a lot has changed in 11 years. You'd think with a home full of preteens and teens that an old post wouldn't apply to my life anymore. But reading it, I found myself holding my breath for a split second as the Holy Spirit reminded me that the same truths God ...