Last summer we lost Gidget, the only dog my children have ever known. She died like she lived always trying to please all of us. She waited for Megan and Grant to get home and with the whole family gathered around her, we watched her leave. It was the sweetest thing, we loved her so and she so faithfully loved us. None of us could stand it. Something was missing in our home. But, Mark, refused to allow us to…
Confession… My go-to answer is panic, not prayer. In a tough situation, I’ll have a good cry, but then, as the tears subside, my mind takes off as if it’s in a NASCAR race, around and around and around, but not in a good way. (click to tweet) Every circle around the track is a different scenario of the situation, in a thousand shades of depressing gray. I overreact in fear. Fear, worry, anxiety and panic are not the solution,…
An excerpt from The Passionate Mom: Life comes with problems, and so do children. There will always be struggles and opposition to your efforts, days and even weeks when you just can’t seem to get ahead of the onslaught. Little children have little problems, and bigger children can have bigger problems. All five of my children are within six years of one another—I know it’s crazy, but I never planned to adopt two children the same ages as two of my biological children. Then they grew, and…
An excerpt from The Passionate Mom Chapter 7 – Purpose Passion + Purpose = A Plan These three—passion, purpose, and planning—have a special relationship and, it starts with passion. Without passion you won’t have the drive to develop a purpose, and if you don’t ever find a purpose, you surely won’t see the need to have a plan. ……
Passion Takes Action–an excerpt from The Passionate Mom Nehemiah’s people were in trouble, and it is clear he felt passionately about it. There is nothing amazing in that. When our children are in trouble, we can be just as passionate. What is amazing and an inspiration to me is what Nehemiah did with his passion. He did not allow himself to be permanently overwhelmed. He did not freeze in fear……
If you choose to zero in on your child’s life—to really try to train your child “in the way he should go”—you will need passion (Prov. 22:6). It won’t be easy because passionate love does not allow us to back away from difficult tasks; it pushes us to take on challenges that are out of our comfort zones. And when that happens—when you have to do something beyond what you know you can do—that is when you learn to pray, believing that God can do the…
See that little guy. I took this picture one year after we adopted him from Russia. He still looks so small for 11 years old. But don’t be mislead this child was anything but frail. In fact, in this picture he had just won the Gasparilla 15k for his age group. It was an amazing moment in his little life. And the result of a creative consequence. The problem: Grant had too much energy……