Whew…just the SOUND of that brings comfort, eh? How many of us can look back and be reminded of having a home like that? Unconditional love and acceptance…a place where you longed to be and the yucky stuff just kinda disappeared for awhile. Not everyone had that, but we all wished we did. Some of us even had friends who had that and shared it with us.

I once heard my dear friend and parenting MENTOR, Deanna Campbell, share about this very subject. Deanna’s daughter had a dear friend who practically lived with the Campbells growing up…she was ALWAYS there and the Campbells welcomed her like one of the family. This friend grew up and moved on, but when her own mother died, Deanna attended the funeral. When the friend saw Deanna she burst into tears and immediately said, “Thanks for coming!! I knew you’d be here…if I could do anything right now, I’d go back in time. I’d go back to your couch where you’d make us cinnamon toast and serve it on trays in the living room…it was perfect. When I’m sad that’s the ‘happy place’ I go back to in my mind.”

Deanna had no idea that cinnamon toast on a TV tray was the “soft place to fall”, but 20 years later, it STILL impacted this friend.

As moms, we are the thermostats regulating the temperature of our homes. We can’t always control what the world throws at them, but we can make our homes the one place they find rest in the hard times, love in all circumstances, and a comfy place to just be themselves…and maybe, get some cinnamon toast on a tray, too.

What a night…if you were there, I’m sure you’re still hearing Kym’s words of wisdom in your mind. If you missed it, then let us bring as much to you as we can! Over the next few weeks we’ll post snippits of Kym’s talk, comments from moms who were there, and maybe even a guest blog or two.

Let’s make this the summer of bond-building…

How long do we REALLY have to teach our kids to be grateful? How many opportunities do we miss? Take a few moments to read some great tips shared by Ann Voskamp.

Gratitude…it does not come naturally.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/03/how-to-help-raise-grateful-kids/

I’ve been taking some time to save some of my very very very old blogs (circa 2004) to my computer and found a few gems from when my kids were tiny. I felt like this was yesterday…I remember the feeling of being swallowed up by it all and I thought some of you mommies who are still there in the midst of the early years of mommyhood (or even those of us season vets who still need this word!) might appreciate knowing this truth:

God is at McDonalds, too…or wherever you need Him to be today.

It has been one of those mornings…one of those “how many minutes til NAPTIME???”, “why do I keep hearing alternating screaming/crying?”, “how will I make it thru this morning w/o screaming/crying myself!!!???”. Well, at that moment I remembered reading something recently about when you are in need of something from God (ie, patience and PEACE for me today!) – serve others/Him. OK…well, I do need to go on a double stroller search for a special friend in need…she is my dear friend who has new baby and 2 yr old who has CP and a husband recently diagnosed w/lymphoma. Hard times…but, great blessings as I’ve gotten to see friends RALLY to donate, purchase, cook, babysit, etc. for this great family!

Anyway, back to the double stroller safari—SO, I thought “Ugh…I am SO in need today…so I guess I better focus on someone else and quit feeling sorry for myself” (and watching the nap countdown clock!).

So, off we go…the fussy bunch w/the fussy mommy leading the way…1st stop, to buy used double stroller. As I’m on my way, God calls—er, my friend Pamela, actually—and tells me she has a great double stroller to GIVE me and I head over to pick it up right then!! One GIANT thing DONE for my special friend…by way of a God that cares for her! Its exciting to get to be a part of it ya know?

After we pick up stroller, decided car needs washing and that it would make awesome hubby feel good if I go out and do that. SO, off we go…after dropping car, we walk over to germ haven—er, McDonalds for a healthy lunch (ha!). After I order our 2 happy meals and my salad and LARGE DC, I realize I dont have enough $. I start back-pedaling my order (“take off the salad and 1 happy meal…ok now add a chicken nugget order…), all while I drop my purse and stuff scatters, try to contain Maya (she’s fascinated with the ketchup packets), and keep Braeden from BURSTING at the prospect of playing in play area/petrie dish. Here’s where God steps in — the manager quietly walks over and w/o saying a word hands me a card for a free extra value meal and just smiles. I almost started crying.

Sound dorky? Not to me…I am such a privileged person that God shows His love for me in the funniest ways. Just when I think my silly daily frustrations are overtaking me, its as though He whispers “I’m here and I understand. Let me help you. Let me be in control. TRUST ME…I can do this better than you think you can. Just don’t lose focus on ME and what I want for you. Its OK to be frustrated, its not OK to leave Me out of it.”

He takes such good care of me…of us. I’m so excited to see where He’ll show up next! We even had left over food…so, off we go with clean car, stroller for friend, and a lesson from our God who is THE Provider…He even provides new all white meat chicken McNuggets.

What are some great mom tricks/tips you use that we need to know about? Comment below…we’ll re-post some on the blog, too!

Spring has sprung, moms…and you know what that means?

SUMMER IS COMIN’.

I know, I know. You’re just trying to get thru the madness of spring right now, right? Well, if WE KNOW YOU we knew you’d want to get this special event on your calendar…now. Moms, summer’s comin’ and MIC wants to help you get ready and get your focus right before summertime.

Whether our kids are in diapers or in college, we all need to begin developing a solid foundation.. and it begins with a BOND that won’t be broken. Kym Carter of Legacy Moms will be our special guest at our last MIC of the school year on 5/3. Kym will provide an inspiring and practical look at how we can create a bond between mother and child that will never broken if we do three simple things to make sure “there’s no place like home”.

So, even if you’ve never been to MIC before, NOW IS THE TIME TO CHECK IT OUT! Bring all the moms you know and come hear Kym walk us through developing A Bond That Won’t Be Broken.

Another AWESOME MIC night in the books! Great stuff, mama. Here’s a list of all the goodies (thanks to Dawn Leath for being our scribe). Do share the list to as many moms as you can – FB or re-post. Moms need moms…and we need to share our good stuff just like we need to share the yucky stuff, right?

Get ready to feel EQUIPPED for all things MOM:

1. Backpack hooks in kitchen with names marking each hook
2. Shoe bin in garage
3. Pretty cedar chest full of shoes
4. Plastic shower holders for crayons/markers in car
5. Grease pencils/Expo dry erase markers for car windows
6. Mr. Clean-Magic Eraser
7. Mr. Clean bath scrubber – removes soap scum
8. Crayon roll  – fabric pockets for crayons, stickers, notebook
9. Cling vinyl – colored sheets – cut out alphabet and shapes
10. cut out shapes from tissue paper; adhere to windows with watered down glue for a stained glass effect and peel off when it’s dry
11. alphabet book to teach alphabet – photos/stickers on each page starting with that letter
12. closable magnetic case with magnets inside for car play
13. Fruit of the Spirit chart – catch your kids demonstrating the qualities
14. Fill a jar with Runts candy (fruit shapes) – kids get to take one when they demonstrate a fruit of the Spirit
15. Let kids put a pompom ball in a jar when they do something good.  Celebrate with a special reward when it is full
16. “Pit and Peak”; “Rose and Thorn”; “Sweet and Sour” – after school/dinner routine for discussing the highs and lows of each person’s day
17. Book – 1001 Questions – use at dinnertime (Amazon); check questions off as they are discussed
18. Throw medicine at bedtime – have child sit on edge of bed and toss medicine into their mouth
19. Teach kids to swallow pills by using graduated sizes of candy
20. Lay out socks and shoes by backpacks.  Reward for a complete week of remembering to do it
21. Keep kids’ clothes in laundry room – each child has a large bin/basket
22. Incent kids to get up and be ready 15 minutes before time to leave if they want free time in the morning
23. www.Ana-white.com   – laundry basket dresser; provides simple blueprints and materials list for making your own items
24. www.ikeahackers.com
25. http://blogchef.net/
26. Ticket system – have kids make 3 tickets – keep clipped together on fridge. Kids pull a ticket for arguing/back-talking.  Increased consequence with each ticket (10 min. in room; 30 min in room; rest of the day in room)
27. “My life in a notebook” – 3 ring binder with a tab for everything you do (kids’ activities, coupons, dr. information, passwords, etc.) – take everywhere with you
28. Keep sticky notes in your purse to cover the sensors on public toilets (for kids who are scared by the loud noise)
29. Calendar poster for each family member –break tasks up by day to avoid overwhelm
30. Use Sterilites baskets to organize your pantry (baking basket, breakfast basket, etc.)
31. Book – Fix, Freeze, Feast – meals using frozen Sam’s items
32. Alphabetize spices on a lazy susan in cabinet
33. Clear plastic bins to store “sets” of toys (legos, blocks, etc.)
34. Stock up on gift cards/prepackaged gift sacks with tissue – keep in car for last minute birthday party gifts
35. Nerf gun fight birthday party – indoors!
36. X&F Foot spa (FM 407 – between 2499 and Morriss)– $29  972-317-5848
37. Speedy Bee Car Wash – FM 407  $3 – can leave your car seats strapped in – free vacuum use after wash
38. Parents Night Out (Fridays/Saturdays); Excite  Gym (972-874-8500)and WinKIds (972-355-9988)
39. Hamilton Beach 3 in 1 Crock Pot – 3 different sized crocks, one base
40. Trashcan Soup – mix any cans of soup with smoked sausages
41. Crock pot liners
42. Mama and Me book – letters back and forth between mom and child; can also be used to discuss difficult questions/topics
43. Grandma’s Secret Spot Remover for clothing (Bed, Bath and Beyond)
44. Fels Naptha – Kroger – soap to remove stains

If I asked you what you hoped to achieve in the lives of your kiddos during these early years, what would your answer be? I’m sure you have a 100 different fabulous answers, but tell me this – was one of them to IMPACT their lives? What does impact look like?

I lost my dad at a young age…but his fingerprints are all over my life. I have memories of seeing him praying or taking tons of notes in his Bible. I am blessed with a mom who – in some of the hardest times in her life – reached out to others who were aching and walked them thru their struggles. I remember peeking in from the back room as they organized and launched the Young Life ministry in our town to bring high schoolers to Christ. I watched my parents impact the lives of others…and in turn, they impacted me and who I have become/am becoming.

Impact.We want that, right? WE want to be the most dominant force of impact in our kids’ lives as long as we can.

How do WE do that? One way I’ve learned that I can impact my kids (by watching my parents) is by stepping out and living a life that includes impacting the lives God has dropped in my path. Sometimes, I’ll be honest, I don’t feel like “impacting” and sometimes when He does make it clear I’m needed to impact someone, I have to ask, “Really God? Really??”

At Christmas I was feeling this same “pull” to do something beyond myself with the kids…an opportunity to get them thinking outside our lil cushy sphere of easy. We decided to spend the month of December doing “Random Acts of Christmas Kindness”. I’m not sure what was more fun – DOING the acts or listening to my kids think them up! Either way, it truly was a huge blessing for our family…it was our opportunity to impact the world and also, as a mom, my opportunity to attempt to leave some fingerprints on their lives like my parents did for me.

Well, something kinda cool is happening at RockPointe starting TODAY. It’s a challenge, really. A challenge to go out into this world for the next 40 days and choose to IMPACT the lives of others. And, frankly mamas, it’s YOUR opportunity to impact your kids’ lives right now. You can let them see you choosing to step out…you can give them the gift of impacting others.

Go check out the challenge (there are even some great ideas of how you can do it if you’re like ME and lose creativity after about ONE day!). Let’s choose today to impact our lil mission field, girls…and watch them impact the world.

Check it out…click below to get started making impact:

How do you spell “love”? Well…obviously, I like to spell it “luv” but I was talking FIGURATIVELY not necessarily LITERALLY. But we all DO spell it a lil differently.

I mean, just today I decided to do something sweet for my 12 year old boy. I thought, “Hmmmm…I do love that sweet, smelly boy. Just to show him HOW MUCH, I’ll dig out his stinky gym clothes and wash them for him…socks, undies, and all.” Then I proceeded to hold my breath and empty his gym bag…while I was in that odorous, dark place I thought I’d take it one step further and clean out the bag. I even started organizing….putting things where any logical person would want them, of course. “Man” I thought, “he is LUCKY to have me!”

Later while patting self on back (again, figuratively not literally), I hear:  “MOMMMMMMMMMMM????” I’m thinking he’ll be like, “I just wanted to tell you how AWESOME you are for washing and organizing my nastiness. You must really, really love me. Thanks, mom. I’ll get a college scholarship now FOR SURE.”

Um. As you can imagine, it didn’t really go down that way.

We started down the road of where?/why?/how could you?? He had a million reasons for WHY there were 3 pairs of  socks in that bag…and why his school ID was loose at the bottom of the bag and not neatly put away in his school backpack…and why there were 2 1/2 empty water bottles (each served a different purpose apparently).

Bottom line – I rocked his world. My effort to HELP him wasn’t showing him love, it was questioning his personal process. I was, in effect, telling him that I could do it better and his way was the wrong way. Hmmm. Aren’t I always begging God to show me how to love him and prepare him for his future? I kinda undid some of that by deciding how he SHOULD spell love.

I decided he should spell it: M-Y-W-A-Y

Trust me, clean out/organize can be a love language to me!!! FOR SURE!

We’ve all been there. Whether our kids are 2 or 20, God made them unique and different from us. Isn’t it time we did a lil investigating into how to love them better? Not our way, but theirs? That’s JUST what we’ll talk about at MIC on Thursday 2/2.

Come join us as we chat, laugh, and – hold on to your hats – dip STUFF in chocolate fountains!!! Bring some mom-friends and grab a bag of something fun to dip in chocolate to share. Let’s learn how THEY spell love/luv and let us love/luv on YOU a bit, too!

Wow.

I love talking to other moms…so many things we have in common…so much to learn from each other. Last night we talked a little about the past (2011). Uh…we even, SCULPTED a lil about the past, too! You girls can sculpt playdoh like ROCKSTARS!

If you weren’t with us (first of all WHY NOT…second of all, we missed you and hope to see you Thurs 2/2), we decided that as we set off on a new year, we’re going to be proactive. We’re going to talk to God and ask Him for direction on naming this year. Looking back, every year has a “name” even if we haven’t officially christened it, right?

The year of strength.

The year of perspective.

The year of enduring.

The year of untying knots.

The year of breaking free.

The year of overcoming.

So many names…God knows them all. Why not decide NOW what we are looking for…seeking to know…desiring to understand thru this year. Circumstances – good and bad – take us to so many places, but we know God can lead us thru it all. So how about YOU, mama? What will you let Him NAME this 2012 for you? Some other mamas are sharing their words here. Go check it out and ask Him to tell you what yours will be…

Here’s to a new year of adventure, joy, pain, and love as mommies. We’re in it together. See y’all in February!