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At our church we have replaced baby dedication with something called a commissioning ceremony. The focus is on parents who both realize and embrace their commission from God to pass their faith to their children. These are some sweet times in our church community. Last [...]

“Children don’t come with a manual.” I’ve heard this countless times and I’ve even said it myself. True, when they are born, the hospital doesn’t hand us an instruction book. However, the more I read the Bible the more I’ve become aware that God has [...]

Memorial Day is the time our country has set aside to honor those fallen heroes who gave their lives for our personal freedoms and our nation’s continued political and religious freedom. Please take the time to talk to your children about what was sacrificed on [...]

In remarkable and unbelievable kid timing, while one child clandestinely fed Murphy, the family dog, bacon under the table, the spiller knocked his cup. This action precipitated a series of unfortunate events.  Our labradoodle freaked and blasted out from under the table and ran beneath the [...]

Today I want to look at Mother’s Day a new and fresh way.  Instead of playing “Mother May I,” let’s change the words (and focus) to say, today May I Mother like this… Moment by moment keeping the end goal in mind.  I am raising [...]

On Mother’s Day we spend the day being thankful for our mamas. We try to spoil them to show our gratitude for all their hard work. Mamas come to church with bellies full of slightly burnt toast and runny eggs that accompanied flowers in a [...]

 There is a LOT of work that needs to be done to prepare my home for summer with my kiddos home! I can’t wait to have them home and am so excited for the big chunk of time together. Cleaning and organizing our home is one [...]

He is Risen!He is Risen Indeed!!!What does that mean to your child when she hears you say it aloud at church? Today we celebrate the greatest victory of our Savior on this earth. When we celebrate Easter, we celebrate Jesus’ victory over death, over all sin. [...]

In thinking about Palm Sunday, I went back and read through Matthew 21:1-11. Here we read about Jesus telling His disciples to get the donkey colt for Him. Then, fulfilling prophecy, He rode on the colt through the streets and people cut palm branches to [...]

 What is a fool? Google dictionary says it is “A person who acts unwisely, unprudently; a silly person”To fool someone is “to trick or deceive (someone); dupe”Parents, I want all of us to be wise not fools this April 1st. Let us not be deceived. Our [...]

In December, our family had a RESET Sunday at church. It’s a day we’ve set aside to give our church leadership a much-needed break on a day when most people don’t go to church anyway. It gives us a chance to recharge and be ready [...]

As an American culture, we’ve gotten mixed-up about why we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  Most of us think that it’s just a day to wear green, talk like we’re Irish and eat Corned Beef and Cabbage.  We have lost sight of the patron of our holiday.  [...]

When our little ones are in preschool they begin to be aware of civil authorities and to see them as the heroes that they truly are. I am thinking specifically of when my sons wanted to play Cops and Robbers and to dress up like [...]

Part of supporting my children in their mission field of school is praying for the authorities in their lives to find favor with them. I am not talking about favoritism. I’m talking about the people who watch over your children at school knowing their names and [...]

When my children were younger, we took many walks through our neighborhood. We would count all the animals we saw, stop and try to identify all the sounds we could hear, and mainly take any chance we had to greet our neighbors! One thing we [...]

Another Love Your Neighbor challenge is to check out Compassion.com and become more aware of their amazing ministry! There are lots of ways to support Compassion’s ministry to children all over the world but choosing to financially support a child will have an impact on [...]

Christmas can become a whirlwind of concerts, big family gatherings, and last-minute gift preparations. We can let all the different moments and pieces of Christmas turn into chaos like a sticky, messy Gingerbread house that is mushed together instead of carefully crafted and built piece by [...]

 The Love Your Neighbor Challenge #10 is to read Matthew 25:31-46 about serving others.  Jesus says what it will be like with Him in glory when He is on His throne,34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by [...]

Being raised by two teachers, I have a unique sensitivity to my children’s teachers. I know they have lives beyond the classroom and are just normal people. Whenever our children are having a miscommunication or frustration with a teacher, we try to help them see [...]

  At the beginning of the school year, people regularly ask me if I am relieved my children are back in school and if I am excited for time to myself. Honestly, I hate it. Their first day back is a sad and hard day [...]

Our family was blessed with some empty nester friends inviting our family over for a nice dinner. They had puzzles and toys. The husband knelt and played with our boys awhile as the wife chatted with our daughter. They integrated our children into our evening [...]

A fabulous way to understand how to do a Family Time with your family is to go to a training time. If you haven’t been able to experience one, you can host one at your church or try to catch one of the upcoming trainings. [...]

One of my favorite things to do as a child with my mom was to sit in the dark living room and look at the Christmas tree with our glasses off! We would talk about all the colors blending together and how pretty the lights [...]

Why do we give gifts to others that we honestly want for ourselves? We have to be taught to think of others first and to be attentive. Think of the precious four-year-old princess who draws her daddy a purple unicorn on his birthday card because [...]

Soon you will watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and hear Lucy say, “We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket.”  Christmas decorations have been intertwined with Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations for months.  I like the decorations, but it does make my whole family [...]

This is the perfect time of year to count our blessings and have a dedicated time of thanks for those blessings. We can be intentional about conversations that spur on grateful hearts and do practical acts that say thanks in a special way. Preparing for [...]