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Parenting

Parenting

Stillness in Rushing Waves of Grace

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Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46:10

The chants of laughter, resounding loud that you could hear from the children who ran into the rushing waves and excitedly waiting for a tremendous wave to come and ride it like we own the vast of the ocean. Its sunrise and morning breeze from the waves are the best-loved moment I had when I was a child. My friends and I loved to dip every morning or afternoon.

Growing up in a place where rushing waves were fun, not even a scary thing, was one of my childhood’s best experiences. But not in the reality of life when I’ve grown up. Its emblem the adversaries in my life’s journey.

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A Single Parent & Jesus

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I was a single parent and suddenly had a red skin rash. The doctor had a talk with me, “Your rashes are most likely caused by stress. What do you do to relieve stress?”

I thought about it a moment and said, “I took a group of seven cub scouts to a clean-up project last week. Ummm and then I helped chaperone the third grade class to the zoo. The fresh air was very relaxing, except the time a student was climbing in the bushes and I had to get him out of there.” The doctor just nodded her head as I spoke. I said, “I feel honored that the teacher trusts me with the most challenging students.”

The doctor just stared at me, blinking her eyes and said, “I see.”

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Summer Stress

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This summer I have been pretty short fused when it comes to my children. I work from home, so during the school year I have eight hours a day all to myself. That’s eight hours of quiet time. Eight hours where I decide how to spend my time.

Queue the end of the school year and all that comes to a screeching halt. My husband still leaves for work at the same time every day, but instead of leaving a short while later to take the kids to school, they are already up and rearing to go.

I don’t know about your kids, but my kids are full of questions. Like millions of them. Often times it’s the same questions over and over again because they either forgot what I said, or they didn’t like my original answer.

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5 Lies I Have Believed About Being A Mom

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I’ve been a parent for twelve years now, and in that time have made all kinds of mistakes. I’m sure I’ll make loads more before it’s all said and done. There are several lies about being a mom that I realize I’ve believed over the years that have contributed to those mistakes, some of which I still struggle with. I believe that exposing the lies of the Enemy is a powerful way to defeat him, so I thought I’d call him out on a few of them today.

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It’s Okay To Be Mary In A World Full Of Martha’s

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Housekeeping is not my forte.

It never has been.

I have friends who are household rock stars. They are the perfect embodiment of the Proverbs 31 woman. But I am not that woman.

Back when I was a single mom with just one child, I could keep up pretty good… most of the time.

Let’s face it, there wasn’t much to keep up with.

However, I still remember the time we went to my mom’s for the weekend and I forgot to take the trash out before we left. That wasn’t pleasant.

But now I am married and the mother of four. I could clean 24 hours a day and probably still not keep up. I tried for a while. And then I gave up.

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Truths to Remember When Walking Into the Unknown

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My youngest is starting Kindergarten in a few weeks (by the time you are reading this, she will have started). Not only is she my youngest, but she won’t be 5 until November, she is a bit behind in her speech, she’s little, and she has no clue what to do when people are mean to her. Seriously, she just sits there and cries.

In a short few weeks, I will be putting her on the bus with her brother. She will hopefully run on the bus with excitement to be going to the same school with him. But I know all too well what can happen on the bus. We have witnessed it over the past couple years.

On one particularly chaotic day, I asked Charlie what the bus driver was doing when all the chaos was ensuing. Be ready to laugh here, my friends.

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Crocodile Tears & Jesus

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Things had been going so well. But now I watched as genuine crocodile tears ran down his chubby little red face.

Tatum had been having a blast in the electric car his Uncle Michael had brought to our house. Driving the tiny vehicle appeared to be the highlight of his toddler life. I was impressed he could keep the pedal pushed down enough to make the car hum across the patio. Steering, however, proved to be a skill he hadn’t yet mastered. His giggles, though, fully compensated our efforts as we raced to keep the path cleared of porch furniture and planters ahead of him.

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5 Bible Verses on Patience

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5 Bible Verses on Patience was written by Candid Guest, Rachel Nelson

“Be Patient” is a phrase I probably use too often with my kids and not enough with myself. When you have young children it becomes increasingly obvious that there in fact ‘beams in your eye’ that need to be cast out, and I have learned that this is one of mine.

My children are absolutely wonderful. They are happy and helpful around the house,  but like all children they also have moments of anger, rebellion, and downright messiness.

Somehow, I am supposed to raise them with loving kindness and meekness without letting myself become frustrated. It’s my job to encourage them to grow, gently prune away any of their imperfections, and guide them to become their best selves, (while at the same time also learning to improve myself!)

I must do this from a place of great patience, because they will inevitably make many mistakes.

Kind of like how God does the same for me.

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Grace & Truth For Life Changes

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So… my oldest son graduates from high school this month.

To be completely candid, I’m a mess.

They finally found something that is helping my migraines, (which is fantastic! – Yay, God!) However, we’ve realized that my head has been in so much pain over the past few years, I was completely numb to everything else.

So here I am, feeling all the feelings I haven’t been, attending scholarship ceremonies, the final state meet of… not just the year, but their lives. And I’m an emotional wreck.

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Peace Be Still: One Mom’s Struggle to Overcome Yelling

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Peace Be Still is a Guest Post written by Rachel Nelson

I didn’t know I was a yeller until I had kids.

When my first born transitioned from babyhood to toddler-hood, I learned that I could get angry, irritated, and stressed a lot quicker than I’d like to admit.

And although I am filled with guilt every time I have yelled or otherwise expressed anger to my kids, I haven’t been able to completely break the habit.

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