In honor of February, the month of L-O-V-E, I am sharing an updated, two-part, version of a post I wrote last year. I have added resources in the hope that you are more easily able to find more successful ways to communicate with your husband. Did you know that there is an entire […]
3 Simple changes to grow a happier family
June 25, 2012 By 36 Comments
You carefully prepare the soil and plant two identical gardens. In the first, the little seedlings are nurtured, fertilized, mulched and weeded with an abundance of love, patience and attention. The other plot gets nothing from you except for an occasional condemnation: “Why can’t you grow up big and strong like your sibling?” Oh, fine. […]
Four Insights for Moms from
Lucille Ball and The Chocolate Factory
April 30, 2012 By 15 Comments
Whether you’ve previously seen the clip of Lucy and Ethel working in a chocolate factory or not, you need to watch it below before you go any further. Go ahead and enjoy a bit of humor for this morning. I’ll wait. Their frantic behavior and makeshift solutions hit home every time and make […]
Five ideas to break the unproductive habit of multitasking
April 23, 2012 By 42 Comments
I have a running disagreement with a lovely woman who believes to her core she is extremely capable of accomplishing multiple to-do’s at once. When I suggest slowing down and focusing on one chore at a time, this accomplished dynamo of a retiree laughs and replies there is no reason to do so when she […]
A family only a mother can love
April 2, 2012 By 11 Comments
When we get together with our families for holiday dinners, we may wish for a gathering worthy of a Norman Rockwell portrait. The reality is, however, that we are all blemished and broken, sometimes thorny and troublesome people, and yet still, somehow, generally speaking, are eminently and uniquely lovable. That being said, we often spend […]
The bane of “Must be Nice”
March 26, 2012 By 26 Comments
Wait. Shhh. Do you hear that sound? It’s the whirr of your inner lens constantly refocusing while you search for the perfect subject. It’s the satisfying click when you capture that small snapshot of another person’s life. What do you do with this prize? Well, you snip it from the album of context, of course, […]
The parable of a man and no margin
March 21, 2012 By 9 Comments
You may have had that hair-raising experience of standing too close to the edge of mountain trail only to lose your balance or feel the ground shift beneath your feet. Thankfully you scrambled backwards and out of the danger zone before you went over, your heart pounding all the while as you consider the accident […]
Offering ourselves grace
March 14, 2012 By 7 Comments
You know the drill. You line the kids up before they sit down at the table, and ask to check their hands to see if they are actually clean. A reasonable request, don’t you think? What if God lined us up at the end of the day, and asked to inspect our hearts, especially in […]
What love language do you speak?
January 23, 2012 By 11 Comments
Have you ever met with a teacher, computer tech, doctor, lawyer, or other professional, and found your eyes glazing as they used words and phrases that were meaningless to you, but were the heart and soul, the language, of their profession? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Did you know that every member of your family, including […]
Are you raising a praise junkie?
November 14, 2011 By 8 Comments
Good girl! Good boy! Good job! Are those phrases a familiar part of your parenting repertoire? As much as we believe we are being supportive and loving of our children when we use these phrases, we actually might be raising a junkie. That’s right. You heard me. A praise junkie. Just as addicts crave the […]
