I hope your Thanksgiving holiday was as wonderful as ours! We enjoyed spending time with friends and family and had some of our favorite foods like Beef House Rolls and Persimmon Pudding. I’m taking a week off from regular blogging to spend time with my hubby....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you ever find yourself focusing more on what you don’t have, rather than all that you have?Do you feel overwhelmed with the mundane chores of family life and wonder if any of it really makes a difference?With Thanksgiving upon us, I’ve been thinking...

We’re not alone!

Well from the response to my “Life’s Not Fair” post, I’d say there’s alot more of us “mean” parents out there than we realized! I’ve loved reading about the boundaries you’ve set in your families. I’d say...

Life’s so not fair!

Did you all know that my 12-year-old son is the ONLY kid in seventh grade who doesn’t have his own phone? Well at least that’s what he just told me. Honestly, when picking him up after a school basketball game last week, my husband told me that every kid...

Will you pray for me?

Today I’m in Vancouver, Washington preparing to speak at a fundraiser for Christian Family adoptions on Saturday evening. I’m excited to meet some wonderful people and share my vision and passion about adoption. Sunday I’ll travel to Colorado...

Dream Maker or Dream Taker?

I’m writing this post from a hotel room in Columbia, Missouri. I traveled here today with four teenagers…what was I thinking?Four weeks ago, our 17-year-old daughter, Erica, told me that she and her friend Elizabeth wanted to give their boyfriends an early...

And The Winners Are….

Ok, this has really been a fun contest! Some of you are wild women! Rather than selecting the winner randomly, I decided to select on “wild-ness.” And I couldn’t just select one…I selected 8!!!That’s right…there are 8 of you who get...

Last day for Wild Side Contest!

Today’s the last day for the Wild Side Contest! Share the most wild thing you’ve done in your marriage to be entered into the contest. It’s most likely very impractical, but was alot of fun and a great investment in your marriage. I’ll post the...

Reading the ideas…

Hey all,If you receive my blog via email, you’ll have to go to the actual blog site and click on “comments” at the bottom of each post. This is where you’ll find the “online moms group” that takes place with each of my contests....

Pumpkin Surprise!

It’s really feeling like fall here in the Midwest. The air is chilly, the trees are colorful, and the leaves are falling!While planting our garden this spring, Mark decided to plant some pumpkin seeds he had left from the fall. We’ve never grown pumpkins...

All or Nothing

The last month has been a challenging month for me physically. I haven’t felt well with my fibromyalgia and because of that, I stopped exercising. When I visited the doctor she asked if I was exercising and I couldn’t lie.”I was all summer,” I...

Check it out!

Today I was notified that I’m included in a “best mom blogs” list at the Teens Today site. A quick read through of the list has indicated some great new sites I want to explore! So check it out and be encouraged!

Birthday contest Day 6–Last day!

Tradition #6: The birthday person doesn’t have to do any of their regular chores on their birthday!Share your family’s birthday traditions by posting a comment to this blog post. Make sure and put your email address in the comment so I can contact you if...

Birthday contest Day 4

Tradition #4: We recently started the tradition of going around the table at our birthday breakfast and having each person say one thing they appreciate about the birthday person. This fosters encouragement among family members and affirms the birthday person!Join our...