Is there such a thing as legitimate crying for something? We hear much about not catering to children’s selfish demands. We know whining is unacceptable behavior, and the Bible forbids it anyway (Philippians 2:14). So should children ever be allowed to cry for what they want? Should you ever pick up a crying baby? I [...]

Filed under: Communication and Meaning

As is often the case, when I determine to teach a topic to my children, the Lord turns my attention inward first. Hmmph. But in the case of thankfulness, I’ve got that one under control, right? I mean, I can list a whole bunch of things I’m thankful for, so I must be a thankful [...]

Filed under: Discipleship, Wisdom

I keep forgetting how often what I think is misbehavior in Laurel (13 months) is really trying to do what her older siblings are doing. Sometimes she truly cannot do what they are doing (like cut and paste paper nighthawks). Other times she is stretching herself to do something well within her ability to learn [...]

Filed under: Child Development, Mealtime

We have more company coming, five little ones exactly our children’s ages, and six adults. We’re all looking forward to spending time with Lee’s family. Lee’s mom and dad are a lot of fun. They had three little boys close in age long ago, and they’ve got a lot of knowledge we can learn from. [...]

Filed under: Introspection

One of the things I admire about my sister-in-law Martha is her ability to teach her children to resolve conflict. When her children come, needing a referee, she helps them think through how they’ve already attempted to solve the problem, and then gives further suggestions that might be helpful. Many times I’ve heard her ask, [...]

Filed under: Getting Along

Sometimes I get to the end of the day and think, you’re angry far more than you should be as a mom. Then I am puzzled by this evaluation. I don’t feel like an angry person. How could I have an anger problem? So I’ve been listening to myself react for awhile. Yes, there are [...]

Filed under: Introspection

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I Thessalonians 5:18 I’ve been thinking about thankfulness this week. A few days ago, David told me that he was tired of coughing and having a runny nose. I asked him if he could tell God thank you [...]

Filed under: Discipleship, Humility

For awhile, I want to make a habit of devoting Wednesdays to talking about how the Scriptures have made a specific difference in my life or the lives of my children. I’m going to try not to be too abstract, and I’m going to try to limit my posts to Scripture I’ve already used this [...]

Filed under: Wisdom

Normally, I come up with stellar ideas about Thanksgiving a week after. I know I’ve thought about it, but when I did a search here on my blog for “Thanksgiving” (notice the search box in the top right hand side of my blog). No returns, so not only did I think about Thanksgiving a week [...]

Filed under: Family Devotions

Our children are learning about God’s Goodness in children’s church. The children have spent a lot of time learning about what grace is, and why it shows God’s goodness to us and other sinners. As part of the lesson, the children were asked how they could show grace to those who have done wrong to [...]

Filed under: Getting Along, Introspection