Words for Moms

We need to be continually thanking God for our children and enjoying the time we have with them. It gets harder as they mature into the teen years. Not everything goes well every day.  As they mature, part of dealing with life is facing risks.

This fact hit home again this weekend. A young teen in our community died in a freak accident cutting lawn. I never met the young man, but his mom taught all my children English in High School. One moment he was with them and then he was gone. I can’t imagine the pain that they are dealing with now. My prayers are with the family.

It reminds me to keep positive with me kids and even though we deal with issues from time to time, I need to make sure that I stay thankful and remind them of my love for them.

 

“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days;  let me know how fleeting my life is.”  Psalm 39:4

 

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When the children are very small, you are faced with at challenge on how to get everything done and still give your children the attention that they need. Small children need a lot of attention, and yet there are still things that must be done. Read the rest of this entry »

Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. I learned a song to that verse while leading Vacation Bible School. How many times do we follow it? Most of the time we don't want to listen or accept instruction. Now that we are adults we think we have it all together on our own. Also there is a tendency to buck up against any instruction about parenting. We like to feel that we know it all Read the rest of this entry »

It is so hard as moms to trust the Lord for our children. This is a theme that comes over and over again. It doesn't necessarily get any easier as they mature. As moms we want to fix things for them. Our kids have to learn by there mistakes. We can't be going behind them cleaning up the messes in their lives. We have to trust. Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing the reminder of the importance of mothers in the lives and faith of children. Read the rest of this entry »

Life has changed since my kids were small. When my kids were small, many saw being a “stay at home mom” as a valid option. It didn’t mean you were lazy or unable to get job. There were also options for companionship with other stay at home moms and systems to help each other.

As we moved and time progressed, I noticed that there was more of a patronizing spirit towards “stay at home moms”. So often I got, and still get “you are so fortunate” or “it is good that you can do that” as if money reigned down from the heavens so we could do it. I also received compliments on my kids, but people don’t want to acknowledge the reason for their good behavior. Again they put it down to luck or good fortune.

Now, my daughter is a “stay at home mom”. She has career qualifications. Many women and men view her decision to stay home with hostility. “Why would a smart woman like that waste her life?”

My words of encouragement today is that you can stay at home and have a fulfilling and rewarding life. It is a choice. Unless your husband is a millionaire, it involves sacrifice and doing without things. It also involves teaching your children to do without things. The reward is great.

Yes, there are circumstances where a mom must go out to work to put basic food on the table, basic clothes on her family, and roof over their heads. Many cases that is the lot of the single or divorced mom.

We have sacrificed and also trusted God to provide so that I could be a full time mother to my kids. It was tough, we started out poor and now were comfortable. Now that they are almost all adults, it was worth it.

If you have made the choice to be a stay home mom, stand firm and confident. You and your children will be blessed for that decision.

I have yet to read Mike Huckabee’s book called A Simple Christmas,  but the title reminds me of the importance of keeping our Christmas simple. This year things were tighter, and it was probably easier to do so. As we have children, we feel obligations to do things for children, to make memories for them. As they move from babies to toddler, start establishing simple routines for Christmas day and you will be surprised how much they appreciate these little things when they are grown up.

It doesn’t take a lot to make Christmas special. If you get wound up in all the trimmings, it is easy to make Christmas miserable for everyone.

Our trees have always been simple. For a couple years I had a 7 foot tree. It broke, and I was glad to replace it with a smaller one. It took so long to put that tree together, and I was tired. Since we have a bunch of boys in our house, the decorating all falls on my shoulders, especially now that they are older, so I have learned to keep things simple.

When the children were small, decorating the tree was an event. We used many home made decorations. In one house, we really didn’t have good place for a tree, except for in front of a book case. Now, as the children look through my decoration box, there are memories associated with many of the decorations.

We always attend the Christmas Eve service at church. I try a make a simple, but nice supper before we go. This is not the time to fuss with food. On Christmas morning, we have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then we read the Christmas story in the Bible, and then we attend to the celebrations of Christmas. This has been the routine since the children were small. Now that they are adults or close to it, we still follow it. We just don’t get up as early on Christmas morning!!

I try to prepare as much of the Christmas meal ahead of time. Christmas day is a not a day to cook. Lately, we smoke our turkey Christmas Eve, and that makes things easy Christmas day.

There are few foods I cook every year. They are Christmas treats. One easy recipe that is a big treat are “cookless cookies”.

Mix and bring to a boil (don’t cook past a boil or they become sugary and dry): 1/2 cup milk 1 cup margarine 2 cups white sugar Add one drop vanilla. Remove from heat and add to the following mixture: 3 cups oatmeal 1 cup coconut 9 tbs. coca Drop by teaspoon onto a flat surface. Refrigerate. They make be a bit gooey out of fridge, but they are very good.

My daughter is dedicated to her new role as a mother. She spends most of her day feeding baby Katherine, the way nature intended. It is challenging enough to nurse a baby, but sometimes I think doctors make it even more difficult than it needs to be. Read the rest of this entry »

Moms have an important role in the raising of future citizens. Read the rest of this entry »

Today is labor day. Our kids have been in school for weeks already, they are about to receive their first report. I thought I would write some quick tips for Christian moms especially those with children in “government schools”. Some of these I learned the hard way.

1. Pray for you kids, their teachers, and the school. I don’t do this enough. Once year I met weekly with a friend just to pray for a schools. It is hard to find someone else that is available for that.

2. Keep on top of what is going on with their behavior, projects and homework. Make sure that you have a system to communicate with teachers (especially if the students are young). The last few years we had “Parent Connect” because it lets you know there is a problem before it gets too big. If there is a behavior issue, try to work with the teacher to find a way to resolve it constructively. It may involve communicating daily with the teacher until the problem is solved.

3. If you have issues with the school and what is going on, communicate with them. You never know you may be the final person communicating on an issue that leads to change. Try to limit it to big issues. Pick your fights. If you do it too much, they view you as a problem parent.

4. Encourage you children as they grow older to remember that most of their friends need Jesus. Even when the behavior of their friends irritates them, remind them that that is how lost people behave and they need to pray that their friends will find new life in Jesus. Encourage them to be faithful witnesses for Jesus (by word and deed) and even than itself will keep them out of a lot of trouble.

5. Keep trusting God for you children and their safety. God has the power to look after you kids. He is even more powerful than government schools.