If you are here because of our iMOM Operation Summer Lovin’ for Moms and Kids–Welcome! This week the Operation Summer lesson to learn is about being passionate about our kids. I was and am passionate about loving, protecting, nurturing, and training my children. But in one particular case, I missed an opportunity to use my passion to nurture and train because I was unperceptive about what I needed to be passionate about. It was one of my bigger perception misses. I have a child…
Pondering takes selflessness, and selflessness takes self control. Those are the two keys to pondering that will help you overcome the 9 things that get in the way of pondering. Self-Control It takes self-control to put down a good book when a child comes in bored and wants to play a game. It takes self control to look up from Pinterest when your son walks in the door from school, or to get off the phone when your daughter needs help with homework. And it takes self-control to give up a party to help one of your kids with a school project or to cancel a tennis match to comfort a daughter who didn’t get asked to the prom. The great benefit of learning to exercise self-control is this: if you learn self-control, you will be better able to model it to your child. Self-control has another name: deferred gratification. Selflessness It takes self-control to be selfless. The job of motherhood is a selfless one, to be sure. Moms do not get days off unless they have a substitute, and substitutes are hard to come by and costly. Pondering takes selflessness. Selflessness is sacrificing what I want to do so I can do something …
The process of adopting a child can often be daunting in itself, though the real journey for an adoptive family starts after the child comes home. It’s wonderful if you want to support an adoptive family, but be sure to keep these 6 things in mind. 1. Give them space. It’s important to allow the family bonding time with the child, so allow them the space they need to do that! 2. Watch your words. Kids are always listening, so be mindful of what questions you are asking. 3. Respect their privacy. Try to avoid asking prying questions about the child’s history. 4. Embrace honesty. Don’t judge the parents by any frustration that they may be walking through – it’s a difficult process! 5. Bring the community to them. Support the parents! Offer to make them a meal and drop it off. That is always greatly appreciated. 6. Respect their parenting methods. There will be trials that parents need to learn to correct in their own time.
I’ve always wanted to adopt. Adoption stories always drew my interest. But I think my desire began at age 15 while I was working with underprivileged kids. I had the hardest time sending home a boy named Jason every night. I just wasn’t ever sure what kind of condition he’d come back in. Mark and I had three children before our 6th wedding anniversary. I still wanted to adopt. Mark, however, didn’t quite share my desire. We did, after all, have three healthy children. I think it is that way for a lot of people. You’re either very passionate about adoption, or it just doesn’t quite register. I failed at several attempts to interest him. To be honest, failing is putting it mildly. I took him to some adoption classes, listened to various adoption stories, and that convinced him we definitely shouldn’t adopt. Plan B kicked in – I prayed for the Lord to take action. I believed it was possible. I shared with my sister that the Lord was going to have to drop a child in my lap. A year later, she called on the phone and asked me to go look out my living room window. I said why? …
We’re all busy. And it’s hard to ensure we are spending the time that we need to bond with our children, considering all of the things that everyone has going on. Find the time to commit to these family traditions and just watch the connections grow. Here are 8 great ways to bond with your kids and create fun family traditions, and they don’t have to be huge! 1) Spectator Sports 5) Be a Fan Club 2) Fishing Hole and Hunting Lodge 6) Get Outdoors 3) Creative Outlets 7) Travel and Explore Cultures 4) Leisure Sports 8) Unwind and Converse
Yes, I confess that I over project managed my kids. I fell into it very easily with my little mini-me Megan. She was so type A herself that dancing began at 4 and swimming and art lessons and piano and straight A’s and the diligence award accumulated quickly. She marched right through it all beautifully. I managed a very complex calendar of weekly events. My second, Emily, did it all, too. She thought all the activity was just what we do. And so did I…
Sex is a popular topic. It gets 506,000,000 online searches a month. God gets 55,600,000. President Trump gets over a million. The weather gets 185,000,000. I offer these stats for a little comparison. More people search for answers about sex than answers about religion, politics or the chance of rain. Sex is a very popular topic. It is also a topic that I think gets over analyzed to the point that we are confused and discontent in our contrast and comparison of what we should or shouldn’t be doing as partners. I think that is a mistake on our part. Married sex is the best but it is not always perfect. Sometimes it’s worthy of an academy award but more often it’s quick after the kids go to bed but before we fall asleep from exhaustion. Everyone has their own reality about sex. Yours is not mine and that is fine because we are all really different. So let me be real about our married sex, in the hopes that it will encourage you to be realistic about yours. I will begin with… The First Night Our honeymoon was our first night together. Our wedding was huge and our reception was …
Every parent is inherently passionate about their kids, but the ‘stuff’ might be getting in the way. Here is a plan for passionate parenting. 1. Protect Yourself. Practice time management and cushion your time. 2. Be Realistic. It’s OK to let some things go. 3. Be Flexible. Ride the roller coaster, this will help you find joy in every day.
The Passionate Mom T-shirt is a newly designed Bella + Canvas shirt. The fit is unisex, so it fits true to size or loosely. The tee is made of 50% poly, 25% combed and ring-spun cotton, and 25% rayon. If you are ordering internationally, then please contact me. Order here.
