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When the Going Gets Tough
By Laura Vandercook Some seasons or days as mother are easier than others. We can keep the house relatively clean. We can get supper on the table most days of the week. We can care for our family, and there aren’t huge problems looming. Some seasons are not as lovely. My grandfather used to say, “Life’s not all fried chicken and ice cream.” He was right. Some seasons your husband looses his job, and he has to get a temp job in a nearby city. You only get to see him for a few hours a week. Maybe one of your kids gets a chronic illness. Maybe you just had…
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What To Look For in a Husband
By Amanda Hinton I have been married for 16 years and have been blessed with six children. My oldest is 11 and, although marriage is not immediately on the horizon for her, she is already forming an idea of a husband in her mind. What do I want her to know about a husband? What do I want her to have in a husband? What does God want her to have in a husband? What should she be looking for? Find a man that puts God first in his life. When God is first in his life, He will be first in your life together. When God is first, all…
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Never Done
By Vanessa Rasanen It is currently 4:30am. I have been up since 2:45 when our youngest woke up and refused to go back to sleep. To be fair, my husband initially got up with him at 2 (!) and tried to settle him back down, but as he has a 12 hour shift at the ER today, it seemed best that I tag him out and let him head back to bed. For 45 minutes I rocked and cuddled our little man before finally giving up, brewing some coffee, and settling onto the couch to let him play. And in my head I’m replaying the words I said to friends…
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Some Dreams Have to Wait and That’s Okay
By Vanessa Rasanen Years ago during my active blogging days I attended a conference for Christian bloggers and writers. It was a disaster for many reasons, none of which are pertinent here, but there’s one piece of advice a fellow writer had offered to me — unsolicited, of course — that has nagged at me since. We had been discussing how to write a novel while being a parent with young kids. Her advice? Don’t put it off for years. Get it done. Make the time. It was really the only piece of advice I heeded from that awful weekend, and I set to work on my manuscript. I worked…
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The Sacred Work of Mothering in the Pew
By Shelley Hurt Mielke I was recently talking with a friend about the challenges of worshiping with small children. She was lamenting how hard it is to teach her children how to participate in the liturgy while juggling wiggly siblings and easily distracted littles. And with every fiber of my being, I got it. I have blogged here and here and here and probably scores of other places about how hard worshiping is with little ones. I can’t count how many times I came away from worship frustrated, exhausted, sad and even angry. Not exactly the emotions one would hope for after worship! While we always wanted a large family, I used to joke with my…
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I Make Motherhood Look Awful
By Vanessa Rasanen Tomorrow is Monday. Again. I will get up before the sun — and hope I rise before any of the kids do. I’ll feed the dog, let him out, and groggily reheat coffee that I brewed on Sunday morning, because 1) I only know how to make 12 cups at a time, b) I can’t drink 12 cups in one day (*for shame!*), and finally, meh. Reheated day-old coffee is as home to me as cold eggs on a slice of toast that my three year old has snuck a bite out of while I hear cries of “Mom! I need help wiping my bum!”. After feeding,…
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I’m Failing to Parent in the Pew
By Vanessa Rasanen That Sunday was pretty much like any other, except my husband actually had the day off work and was able to join us for church. I don’t know if having him there with us caused me to drop my guard or what, but shortly after the Lord’s Supper had concluded and our pastors were returning the chalice and such to the altar, I looked up to see our almost three year old little girl smiling at me from the other side of the chancel railing. Somehow she had slipped away from me and her Godmother while my husband was out in the narthex disciplining the five year…
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Withholding Forgiveness
By Allison Hull I’m sort of a free-range mom. I let my kids play outside in the front yard. And in the street of our cul-de-sac. Drives some of my family insane that I’d let them ride their bikes around our house without me watching them. But both they and I need the space to run free. The neighborhood kids from the block do the same. They all meet in the street to play, joke and chase each other around. And during this time at least once if not three times a day one of my kids comes in crying. I can handle it if it was because of…
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I Do Not Care If My Children Are Happy
By Allison Hull and Vanessa Rasanen “As long as my children are happy, I’m happy.” We hear this often, don’t we? Whether it’s from secular folks who argue that it shouldn’t matter who our kids grow up to be, what they do, or how they act, or if it’s our own parents insisting they only want us to be happy, this emphasis on the pursuit of happiness is ingrained in our society. Everyone just wants everyone else to be happy, especially the children. We are constantly inundated with calls to “live and let live” and told “You do you; I’ll do me”. If we question this “whatever makes you happy” brand of parenting, we get…
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Speaking Forgiveness to Kids
By Allison Hull My eldest son is amazing. He is always looking to do more to help others. He pushes to go to church, not once, but at least twice on Sunday. He guilts me if he has to miss. He begs to go on shut-in visits and sing to everyone. He talks to anyone he meets about Christ and church, and invites strangers to come to church all the time. I routinely get told that we are raising him right, that he’s a joy to be around, how wonderful he is when asked to do something, and how selfless he is. We have been told that he truly shows…
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