As a parent of older children, I’ve learned that my older children may not share the dream I personally have for their life. Coming to grips with the reality of that is an essential part of letting go and launching them into adulthood.But what if the...
When our kids started wanting to go to movies with their friends, Mark and I discovered Focus on the Family’s “Plugged In” Resource. We subscribed to the monthly magazine and tapped into their online movie and video reviews. In fact, our kids soon...
Two years ago we had the opportunity to share our home with a young man from Poland. Daniel stayed with us for about a month and simply became a member of the family. This past week he came again for five days. We loved the time spent with him. We continue to help him...
Last week I spent three days helping Matt and Anne get their house ready for the baby due in April. They live three hours away (4 hours if Chicago traffic is bad!) so I don’t get to spend as much time with them as I’d like.As a mom of three married kids...
Yesterday, a blog friend asked why my husband and I feel cell phones are “bad” for our kids. I’d like to share with you the “why” behind our decision.First, we don’t think cell phones are necessarily bad for kids. We just...
So my 13-year-old son wants the world to know that he is the ONLY kid in 8th grade who doesn’t have a cell phone. I told him I was happy to tell the world for him. After all, I think it’s only fair for people to know how unfair Mark and I are to our children. And...
A year ago I spoke for a church retreat. The retreat planners gave me a beautiful gift basket of goodies. Inside the gift basket was one of the most unique gifts. It was a gift certificate for a free rental of a hot tub for one week! I couldn’t believe it! I...
You won’t believe what I had to do this weekend. In a matter of just 24 hours I had to replace my blender, my hand mixer, and my iron! I couldn’t believe it! I’ve decided that we need to start a new cultural tradition. I think we need to give married...
I’m spent some time today with a new mom. She was looking for encouragement from a seasoned mom. “Seasoned…” that’s a nice way to say old. :-)That conversation got me thinking about a good blog conversation for us to have. Seasoned...
A couple of weeks ago my daughter and I went to see the movie Julie and Julia. A friend had encouraged me to go simply because of how the movie portrays marriage. You know Hollywood gets the relationship thing wrong much of the time. But they got it right in Julie and...
Ok, so this should make you laugh. Today, I was driving down the road to pick up my son. I’d driven at least 8 miles when I came to a stoplight. The car next to me was honking like crazy so I rolled down the window. The frantic woman said, “You have a cat...
Last week I gave you some ideas for spending some extended time with God. If you missed that post click here. Today I want to talk about prayer. Prayer is simply talking with God! Nothing fancy needed…just talk to God like you would a friend sitting across from...
When you read this blog post today, will you please pray for Mary Provance? Mary is my daughter-in-law’s mom and she has been diagnosed with leukemia. And of all the kinds of leukemia there are, she has the bad kind.A little over a year ago, Mary and I were...
Thirteen years ago when I found out I was pregnant with Austin just two weeks before Mark’s vasectomy surgery, we had to laugh. By that time, I had been leading a large moms in our community for six years. And Hearts at Home was just two years old. God...
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