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A Mother’s Presence: Encouragement to the Stay-At-Home-Mom
Days spent staying at home, running a household and raising small children can often seem wearisome. It can feel like every day starts looking the same and the temptation to complain and despair can be right around every corner. This is a small glimpse from my childhood that I hope can encourage the weary mother out there. Your presence matters to your children. Day to day, yes. But more importantly, they will remember the moments that make up these days. And those moments will shape them as adults. Magical Moments My mom stayed home with us my entire childhood. I can’t recall one memory that doesn’t have my mom somehow…
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Dear Little One
In honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day, I’m reposting this letter I wrote after losing our sweet baby in September of 2016. I was ten weeks pregnant. It still stings to read these words. All the emotions are so real and raw. It’s interesting to think that if I had this baby, I wouldn’t have our Clara (who is now three). It is a profound mystery to ache for one so deeply and yet love the one I do have so deeply as well. Both are irreplaceable. To all those who have known the pain of losing a baby–Jesus sees us. And He loves to hear us talk…
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Morning Routine: Homeschool Mom of Four Young Kids
There are so many days when I wish I was more structured and organized. I wish my household ran like a lovely, well-oiled machine. I wish I got up before my children every single day and greeted them with a warm smile and genuine excitement when they awoke. Maybe there are moms out there who do all these things, but I fall short of these expectations every single day. So, please hear my heart as I share what our morning routine looks like. It’s messy. It doesn’t look as pretty in real life as it does on a computer screen. But, it is very true that any household, and especially…
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Our Journey to Homeschooling Part Two
If you missed part one of our journey to homeschooling, click here! ——————————————————————————————————————– When Michael and I were thinking about marriage, of course the topic of children came up numerous times. After my experience homeschooling, I was excited to give that same opportunity to my own children. Michael wasn’t very familiar with homeschooling, but he agreed that there was something sweet about the idea of being the ones spending the majority of time with our kids and shaping the way they think about the world. But, we decided to cross that bridge when we got there. Well, we got there pretty quickly since we got pregnant with our first son…
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Why We Chose to Homeschool: Second Generation Homeschool Mom Shares Why
I was homeschooled for five of my thirteen grade school years. So, I guess you can say I’m a “second generation” homeschooler. Growing up, we were not your typical homeschool family. My brother and I were happily attending public schools and had never considered anything else. We didn’t know many families who homeschooled and the ones we did know seemed weird (and I can say that in humility because now we are that weird family!) It started when my brother had a rough year in seventh grade and my parents felt like his best option was to be home for a year. My mom had never considered homeschooling and felt…
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Rest: When Days “Off” Look Just like Your Days “On”…
Spring break was finally here. We had looked forward to it for weeks–thinking how restful it was going to be to have a week at home with no agenda. We had planned for lots of napping, catching up on “housey” projects, and just enjoying the nothingness. But on the first morning of spring break, I sat there in tears because it didn’t feel restful or refreshing at all. And I caved. I caved to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad attitude. It’s hard when nothing changes about my “off” days—meals still need to be cooked, little people cared for, dishes done, toys tidied, laundry folded, etc. My home and my…
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Our 2019-2020 Kindergarten
We finished up our first “official” year homeschooling in May. It was a very sweet intro to homeschool life and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. We just started up again after a fun (and crazy…#coronavirus) summer, but before we get too far into the year, I wanted to take time to share what we did last year for kindergarten during our inaugural year homeschooling. Now, hear me say this: I am not a seasoned homeschool mom (clearly). I am just figuring this whole thing out and making changes as we go along. Most of my decisions are based on what makes sense for our family (my capacity with having four…
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Just a Mom
I originally wrote this blog post in 2011 when I was living overseas and blogging as a way to process everything I was experiencing. I’m sharing it here because it sets the stage perfectly for where God has me in life right now. Being a mom has always been my dream. And God is kind to remind me of that on the hard days 🙂 ——————————————————————————————————————– Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been fascinated by children. I was that annoying little 7-year old who would follow around the mom with a baby relentlessly asking, “Can I hold him now please?” I was mothering other kids before I was even out of…
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Why I Love Trim Healthy Mama
I’ve had four babies in 5 years. I have been continuously pregnant and/or nursing for almost seven years straight. These two things combined definitely take a toll on a mama’s body. And while I generally lose my baby weight pretty quickly, over the years the scale had been slowly creeping upwards. Even though I’ve been passionate about eating nutritious, whole foods for years—I was discouraged to see that despite feeding my body well, I was still slowly gaining weight. Most days I found solace in the Lord and in knowing that my body was growing and nourishing another human being. So, so cool. But it’s still no fun to look…
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Simply Dwelling
Dwelling It’s where you live. It’s your safe place. It’s comfort, rest, peace. It’s that feeling of pulling into the driveway after a long trip and thinking, “Ahhh, finally home.” It’s familiar. It’s yours. Dwelling It’s what you’re thinking about. It’s what fills your mind when you aren’t thinking about anything else. It’s what your mind is “stuck” on. It’s what wakes you up in the middle of the night. Dwelling It’s Jesus. He is our home. He is our comfort, rest, peace. He is our safe place. He is where we find our life. He is the fortress we run to. He is ours. This blog has been birthed…
