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Passion Takes Action–an excerpt from The Passionate Mom Nehemiah’s people were in trouble, and it is clear he felt passionately about it. There is nothing amazing in that. When our children are in trouble, we can be just as passionate. What is amazing and an inspiration to me is what Nehemiah did with his passion. He did not allow himself to be permanently overwhelmed. He did not freeze in fear…
Read Post →If you choose to zero in on your child’s life—to really try to train your child “in the way he should go”—you will need passion (Prov. 22:6). It won’t be easy because passionate love does not allow us to back away from difficult tasks; it pushes us to take on challenges that are out of our comfort zones. And when that happens—when you have to do something beyond what you know you can do—that is when you learn to pray, believing that God can do the amazing task of raising children through you. An excerpt from The Passionate Mom
Read Post →See that little guy. I took this picture one year after we adopted him from Russia. He still looks so small for 11 years old. But don’t be mislead this child was anything but frail. In fact, in this picture he had just won the Gasparilla 15k for his age group. It was an amazing moment in his little life. And the result of a creative consequence. The problem: Grant had too much energy…
Read Post →THE PROBLEM… is me. I have had innumerable opportunities to learn to be patient. The reality is conflicting, sometimes I am patient and other times I am not. Patience is an entire chapter in The Passionate Mom because it is in my top three things I fail at consistently. A PassionateMom has the ability to suppress annoyance when confronted with delay. (click to tweet) Sadly, I don’t. Patience is a virtue that I have chosen not to value enough to make a habit. And my family knows it. Last night…
Read Post →As a mom I can be a little too passionate about instructing my children on how to be the best they can be. As a result I often forget that sometimes my kids just need a hug, not a lecture. This is an excerpt from The Passionate Mom on my failure to listen and respond in a way that is comforting and encouraging to my children: It really helps to remember that you are listening with the purpose of trying to understand your child. Your listening should be processing but not necessarily forming a response for your child. I am not very good at just listening without processing solutions. I became acutely aware of this from Emily, my most expressive and affectionate child. Emily likes to express every emotion and drama of the day. Of course, I like to respond with lots of instruction about how she should have handled the situation and what the outcome could have been had she followed my instructions. This scenario was playing out quite a bit in her sixth grade year due to some girl drama with her little group of friends. Finally, after about three such situations in one week, Emily covered my mouth, mid-sentence, with her hand, burst into tears, and said, “Mom, please stop …
Read Post →One of my children definitely lives and dreams outside the box. Her individuality became obvious to me her first week of pre-K. She was sent to the wall twice before the end of the first week. My other children had never been sent to the wall, ever, so I was…panicked! “Honey,” I said, “Merrills don’t get sent to the wall. What did you do?” Her response the first time was, “Mommy, Arial Mermaid was playing in my head, and I just had to sing it out.” Her response the second time was, “Mrs. S. passed out the Play-Doh and I tasted it.” “Honey,” I said, “I’ve told you that all Play-Doh tastes the same.” “I know, Mommy, but it was a new color and I wanted to make sure.” To her it made perfect sense and I confess it did to me, too (closet out-of-the-boxer that I am). However, being the mom I think I need to be, we worked at conforming and she never went to the wall again. That makes me kind of sad. It took five years before I let go of conforming and embraced the fact she was born to live outside of the box. …
Read Post →My son is missing from this picture. His look was a lot more exasperated than the dogs. He had been waiting for me and waiting for me and waiting for me to go for a ride. And so were the dogs. You see we don’t own this red Willy but we love him. And we were on borrowed time. So my son was rather anxious to make the most of our time before Willy had to go back to his owner. But I am the queen of “I’ll be there in a minute!” It is not a royal position. It does, however, make me a royal pain to my family. I just always have too much to do and I don’t consider the frustration I impose on the very people I am serving with all my busyness. I am resolving to give up this crown — to seize the moment and be IN the minute. Instead of just promising to be there in a minute.
Read Post →I have a friend, Carla – she’s from Birmingham… I tell you that so you can read her words with a Southern accent. One day I happened to call her right after she picked up her carpool, and she had a carful of kids. As I was chatting with her she interrupted our conversation to caution her children. “Hey ya’ll, listen up! I am on the Peace Train today and you are fixin’ to make me get off track. If I have to get off the Train, you will regret it!” I laughed and asked what in the world she was talking about. She shared with me how she chooses peace and how she humorously put it into a word picture for her children. Her take is this – in the life of a mom, peace can be elusive. It is not going to reign in your life without some action on your part. “Susan,” Carla said, “if I want peace in my life, I must take it. I must make a conscious effort to pursue it and make it a part of my day. So I decided that every day, if possible, I’m going to have peace in …
Read Post →Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Google and now the CEO of Yahoo, is making headlines. After giving birth in August, she spoke at Fortune Magazine’s “Most Powerful Women” dinner and shared the secret of her success: ruthless prioritization. When it comes to her priorities, the 37-year-old CEO says, “For me, it’s God, family, and Yahoo, in that order.” Yahoo’s stock has gone up 18 percent since Mayer took the helm, so perhaps her advice is worth heeding. But how does one ruthlessly prioritize?
Read Post →The 10-day Duck Dynasty 2013 countdown begins today! And the Merrill Men can’t wait. What is it about this clan that made it A&E’s most-watched series? Why did 6.5 million viewers tune in on December 5th for the season 2 finale? What makes this somewhat kooky camo-clad clan so cute? family The Robertson clan is a family with traditions. And those traditions make them unique and give them a point of connection. And that connection keeps them together. Season 3 will be more of what we love. Apparently the Robertson men will be preparing for the beginning of duck season next week and the traditions abound. Phil has two rituals that don’t go over well; a date night with Ms. Kay and abstaining from baths. Meanwhile, the guys carry out their tradition of camping out on the land but the group is divided into those who’ll rough it and those who want comfort. Is that not every families major camping dilemma–who will rough it and who won’t? Certainly is ours. The point here is that in the daily life of the Robertsons there are traditions that must be kept. And those traditions are almost never carried out with naively optimistic family harmony. Nope, …
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