Equipping Parents for The Journey
“How did you sleep last night?” “Not at all…the baby woke up 5 times.” “Well, I didn’t sleep, either. You were so loud getting out of bed, and you didn’t turn off the monitor, so I could hear the baby crying the whole time you were with him.” “Oh…I’m so sorry that I disturbed...
This class will lead you to discover not only your child’s physical and mental preparedness for the next stage, but also help you to look at your approach to parenting in the coming years. As your preteen pushes for independence, the challenge of parenting is to let go, allow more personal responsibility, and expand...
Does this sound familiar? Yesterday morning went something like this: Me: Liv. Liv! Olivia! Olivia Marie! (at the top of my lungs) Liv: Crickets. Me: Stomping up the stairs, muttering under my breath, Disrespectful! She’s ignoring me!? I bet she’s just hoping I’ll give up. I’m not giving up! In fact, I’m the opposite of giving...
Preadolescence—that weird and awkward phase between 10 and 13. You were there once, and I bet you are cringing a bit just thinking about it. Now looking at your child with a lens of life experience, I bet you have a bit more sympathy. Yes, we parents have all made it through the gate...
As older parents of a single child, my husband and I were very cautious, controlling, and protective of our little one. When you wait so long to finally have a child, you tend to hold a little too tight. As we approached the kindergarten milestone, the anxiety in our home rose exponentially. We had...
For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit. Jeremiah 17:8 The trees are coming...
This week, it was blistering cold outside, so we crafted ourselves silly indoors. We sang, we drank cocoa, we played games, and we made more paper plate angels than you could imagine—which was fitting given that we lit the fourth of the candles on our Advent wreath this week, which is also commonly referred...
I’ve been a bit sidetracked the past few weeks. It started as I took my three children (ages 4 years, 2 years, and 6 months) for a “tour of Texas,” as I often like to call necessary road trips. We loaded our pint sized RV (commonly called a minivan) with as many clothes, snacks, and...
Presented by Family Pastor Dave Carl and Dr. Andi Thacker, Ph.D., LPC-S, NCC, RPT-S There has never been an easy time to raise kids, but it seems harder today. Remember the nursery rhyme from your childhood: “What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice; that’s what little girls are made...
We would like to extend my sincere thanks to Kelli Lawrence for sharing her heart and wisdom with us today. Motherhood has given me my greatest joys and my deepest disappointments; my proudest accomplishments and my most humbling failures; my deepest contentment and my most unsettling struggles. Do I have any “AMENS” out there? Parenting...
Special thanks to Daniel Lebsack, Associate Pastor of Recovery Ministries at Stonebriar Community Church. I can clearly picture the situation in my mind. It is late at night, and I am a couple of hours past curfew. The porch light and the light in the entryway are on, but the rest of the house and the...
Several years ago, someone interviewed the contemporary artist Marc Chagall for a PBS program. The young, arty interviewer started the session with a question about influences. His question was very long and involved and exhibited his own learning along the way, giving everybody, including Chagall, a lecture on the nature of influences on the...
