Last summer I ran this post on being a “yes” mom. Because I personally need the challenge once again, I’m re-posting it for this July!Last week my boys ran inside and said, “Mom, mom…it’s so hot outside! Can we see if...
This weekend, I did some strategy shopping. I went to several stores to take advantage of their sales or catalina deals (a catalina deal is when you buy certain products and get a coupon to use on your next order.) At one store in town (Jewel), they had an incredible...
“Always look for the sacred moments throughout the day… they are there for the...
My walking partner, Crystal, and I were talking last night about the power of cash in a “less is more” budget. It’s a lesson that Mark and I have learned the hard way, blowing budget after budget using our debit card and losing track of just...
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...
