We’re posting this Marriage Monday from the Fairfield Inn in Boston. It’s the last night of a five day vacation for two that we took exploring the coast from Boston to Bar Harbor, Maine. Once in Maine, Mark officiated a wedding for some...
“As women, we tend to be more critical of ourselves. We need to learn to see our beauty and worthiness from God’s perspective, not our...
I received this email last week:Hi, Jill!You’ve asked for fun summer ideas–I want to share this one with you! Each summer, my parents host their grandkids for “cousin camp.” They just go to my parents’ house and have a ton of fun. Right...
I was talking with someone about living with less and they asked me if I’d always been a contrarian. I laughed because I’ve certainly not ever used that word to describe myself (but I would guess that maybe my parents could have used that to describe...
Years ago Mark and I were introduced to the concept of the Three Question Technique. This communication concept helped us deepen our conversations and get out of the rut of short answers that kept conversation at surface levels. Mark says… When Jill and I were...
So have your kids said it yet? You know the phrase.We’ve all heard it a million times.Mom…I’m bored. Yep, I heard it yesterday for the first time. Somewhere around 2:30 in the afternoon it escaped out of my 13-year-old’s mouth. So you want to...
One of the best thing a mom can do for herself and her family is to exercise. It’s a stress reducer, a health maximizer, and an important part of taking care of me! With a gym membership not in the budget, what’s a mom to do to find no cost...
Mark and I have been working with our teenage sons this summer on the concept of “freedoms.” We recently sat down with the boys and had a discussion about how we use our time. We discussed three categories that our activities fall into:Things...
Help! Everyone Wants A Piece of Me!“…a ruler came and knelt before [Jesus] and said, ‘My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.’ Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. Just then a woman who had been subject to...
Today’s Marriage Monday is about the importance of daily dates. No, we’re not talking about dinner and a movie everyday, we’re just talking about intentional times that we connect everyday with our spouse. Mark says…I can tend to get really...
“You’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious- the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to...
An excited mom caught me after Mark and I finished the Living With Less So Your Family Has More workshop at the Hearts at Home Conference in March. “I’m so excited,” she said eagerly. “My husband and I have a comfortable lifestyle. I have never been...
Note: For those who receive my blog by email, you will get Marriage Monday on Tuesday morning. Blogger was down all day Sunday and Monday and I was unable to post until Monday afternoon. So better late than never…here’s this week’s...
“Many times when you see a hostile, angry teenager, you are not seeing the heart of that teen. It’s a mask, a signal that he is hurting on the...
You’ve probably heard the saying, “The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.” And then there’s, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Both of those sayings seem to describe our family. Take Erica, for...
