This is the face of hunger in your community. For too long I had felt that food pantries, SNAP food programs, and food donations drive were to help people in other places. But every community in this country is home to families who struggle with food insecurity including rural, and suburban communities, not just...
Find Routine in the Chaos
In an unpredictable world we live in, predictability can anchor our children's need to feel secure. I struggled with routine and schedules for my boys when they were young, going an entire day feeling like nothing was accomplished. Some days were great, and some days we struggled to get anything completed. If we focus...
Separation Anxiety: The Importance of Time Alone in Childhood
We have been with our littles 24x7 for months as we navigated this pandemic. Now that we are starting to return to preschool, play activities, even church our kids seem to be suffering more or new separation anxiety. While it can be so hard to seperate from our children when they are crying, upset...
Raising the Heart of a Servant
Some kids are natural born helpers, but for most kids the heart for service is developed over time. In Courtney DeFeo’s book “In This House We Will Giggle”, she defines service as “using our hands, feet and heart to honor God and love others.” Our Early Childhood Ministry Leader, Kristin Langford brings...
Draw Near in Troubling Times
I am going to take a little detour from our normal path of encouragement for your parenting journey and share with you where I am right now. It is my prayer that parts of this story will resonate with you and you will find encouragement in knowing you are not alone. You see, I am...
Stop the Fighting: Helping Your Kids Get Along
Our family schedules went from busy and over-packed to blank over night. The first few days were great. We retreated to our homes to get some extra rest, baking and watching movies, and it felt almost idyllic. But now a couple months into sheltering in place, school at home, and and activity limitations, the...
Boy Mom: Connecting With Your Boys
How many times have you looked at your son all sweaty and dirty and thought that you had absolutely nothing in common with this creature? This week, Katie Hayes, boy mom to two active and energetic boys, shares with us insights from her own experience learning to connect with her boys. It is never...
Easter for Little Ones
Telling the Easter story can be confusing and even a little scary for our little ones. After all, we tend to use lots of words they are not familiar with, and we talk a lot about death. So in our "stay at home" situation, our Ministry Leader for Early Childhood, Kristin Langford, provides us...
This Is an Amazing Opportunity
It seems counter intuitive to look at this time in history as an opportunity. But why not take the challenge to change the view of all that is going on in the world under a different lens. What if you were to step back and instead of focusing on the limitation you and...
Advice to a New Mom
It seems the world has been turned upside down. But one thing we can count on is that your new baby will still need to be fed, changed, snuggled, and loved. Even if you have been a parent for a long time, and your baby is no longer a baby, there is good advice...
Raising Digital Natives
In our recent Straight Talk: Raising Digital Natives, we shared insights and recommendations to help you step into your iGeneration’s digital universe and parent in a world so different from the one you grew up in. Who is an iGeneration or Digital Native? The iGeneration was born after the year 2000 and is the...
Celebrating Lent With Your Family
A long time ago, an enormous group of people found themselves on one side of an uncrossable river looking longingly to the other side. They had traveled a long time to get to this place, but there was no bridge, no ferry, and no way to get to the other side. Until GOD! God...