Making the Most of Every Opportunity

I shared in my first post that I desire to do more than just entertain my kids on long indoor days. I want to engage their hearts and pour Christ into them. I know many of you are facing the same long days we do with the same desire for your time to be spent pouring into them. So here is another handful of ideas for yucky weather indoor days spent for the glory of God: 1) Pray for family members. Then make construction paper cards to encourage them with things you love about them. Decorate the cards with stamps, stickers, markers or whatever you have around. This is also a fun time to call people you love and tell them you love them. 2) Teach your kids about the important role a person that loves them has and make a short video to thank them . Example- Teach how God calls the husband to love his wife, provide for his family, etc. Share how God loves what a hard worker Daddy is and we are so thankful for him. Pray for Daddy and then plan and make a short video (usually on my phone)...

In Florida, I tend to spend summer inside (since it's so hot) and winter outside, since it's beautiful here then.  I love to read ideas for indoor play. We don't mind tv/movies, but really like to use that minimally and instead I want to engage my kids. If I'm honest, most of the lists I read online are fun ideas that engage body and mind, but totally neglect the heart. I want to enjoy time with my kids in fun ways, but always intentionally pointing them to Jesus. And long summers (or long winters for my friends up north) provide an opportunity to do that within our home. Day after day after day. How do I entertain them for months? Eek! I'll post a few posts with some things I've done that both entertain AND engage the heart. Here's today's list: 1) Genesis 1 creation art. Go as creative as you want doing layers with different art/craft supplies. Paint sky and land and water, then draw/color plants, then make play dough animals, and last make pipe ...

Recently, I identified a struggle God is lovingly freeing me from: a desire for my kids to love God and walk with Him all their days. It may not sound like a struggle, but it is. I struggle, because there are many dry seasons with no fruit. In it, I'm painfully aware that I cannot do that work in them! I can (and should) point them to Christ, love them tangibly, and pray with them. But I can't change their hearts. Only God can and He does. He is freeing my heart to find great comfort in that truth. This overwhelming desire can turn to fear and lack of trust in the Lord. It also reveals in me my own selfish desire to succeed. If I fail as a parent, my kids are no better or worse than if I "succeed" in my desire to raise them in a way that points them to our hope and joy: Jesus. He brings fruit in them, not me. And He is well pleased as I step out in faith in this huge task that is clearly waaay beyond me. God reminded me sweetly that He delights in my love for our ch...

I've been writing about ways we can seek God's glory intentionally as we eat out. Feel free to go back and read the rest of the series. I mentioned thinking about daily life intentionally in Post 1, pouring into family while eating out in Post 2 , and eating within a budget in Post 3 . This last post is the part of our eating out that we love the most: pouring into others . We love good food. But the food is only one part of our experience eating out. Our favorite part is building relationships where we can encourage others in Christ. Eating together is a great opportunity to build relationships with people and eating out has given us relationships with restaurant owners/ employees that we met because we love their restaurant. We have grown in so many relationships with people by eating together regularly. Eating together after church became a regular habit in a group of friends we had when we were first married and it was such wonderful weekly fellowship. Once our group s...

I am having so much fun with my kids and it's a blast to be their Mommy. But somedays I wonder how my house is dirty again, the laundry from last week isn't put away (and it's laundry day), and how can we possibly be behind in school year academics already even though we started two weeks ahead??? But today God sweetly reminded me that these days of playing with my boys and spending all my hours with them will fly by quickly. Babies don't stay babies for long. Here's a sweet poem a friend shared that reminds me why the house can wait- because I'm rocking my babies and babies don't keep. Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth, Empty the dustpan, poison the moth, Hang out the washing, make up the bed, Sew on a button and butter the bread. Where is the mother whose house is so shocking? She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking. Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue, Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo. Dishes are waiting and bills are past due P...

I've been writing about eating out and how to keep in mind doing everything to the glory of God as we go (or don't) out. You can catch up with Post 1 and Post 2 by clicking on them. Today I want to talk about the financial side of eating out. If there is one reason I can see to completely eliminate eating out, this is it. But I don't want these posts to be a defense of eating out. Whether or not you should is something you need to carefully weigh with God. We have had seasons where we knew God was calling us to eat at home only and give generously. We had seasons where we could not afford to eat out, so we did not.I guess what I'm trying to say is:  I will not try to pretend that eating out is cheap.  It's not. But it can be done within budget. That is where I'll hang for this post: with a budget. We have a line in our budget for food and know that is all we have for the month. We may choose to go out once or twice a month at nice restaurants or several time...

I seem to be sharing my experience with potty training a lot through email, facebook, and in conversations, so here's a post for you all to read and me to look back on as my younger kids come up to this big step. Pee and poop should not make me angry, but I feared they would. Which is why I waited until Jimmy was almost 3 , and then we committed to potty training him. Life is far easier without diapers, so you may want to start sooner. I waited because an easy training experience mattered more to me than months without dirty diapers.  My biggest issue in potty training was me. I prayed that I'd be calm and just enjoy seeing him take this big step in his life (since really we can guide, but it's his/her step to take). And as I sought God, I saw that it was important for me not to take it too seriously, but to enjoy even the trials of it all without pressure on him. This was hard for me and took a LOT of prayer. I hate how much I want him to perform. Ouch! I think you ...

I shared in my last post that we like to eat out. We have 2 kids and they enjoy it, too. We know that when we do it, eating out should be to God's glory. So here is one big way we look to point to Christ as we eat out: family. We want our eating out to lift each other towards Christ. Here are a few benefits: 1) It's a way to serve my husband.   Andy LOVES eating out. When we first met in college, Andy ate out daily.When we married, most of our friends ate out on the weekends and we often went together. It was fun, social, and totally normal. Once kids came, Andy didn't stop enjoying it, but our friends stopped going. When we went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, we saw that most of our monthly spending was eating out. It was way too much money (I think it was $800 one month. Yikes!), but that massive amount we invested showed that it was something we enjoyed doing together. Andy didn't want to cut it out completely. I agreed to keep it in our bu...

"So, whether you eat or drink, or   whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." -1 Cor. 10:31 Ahhhh... eating out. My friend Beth posted on her blog confessing she eats out often. She shared that it works for her life stage of no kids and enough paycheck. Then I noticed that most of her friends who thought it was great also clarified that it makes sense since she doesn't have children. I searched to see if any of her friends with kids admitted that they also eat out a lot. None did. That was awkward for me because I'm a (pregnant) mom with 2 kids. And we eat out out. Often. Sometimes more than once a week. Our friends and family all know this. Suddenly, I wondered if people who know me judge me for eating out. Then I panicked that maybe it's wrong to eat out and I've just been blind to it. So I called Andy (who laughed at me) and then prayed. God did a sweet work in my heart to reassure me that He is well pleased with me. I'm reminded that my heart an...