Encouraging thoughts for Moms

  Have you ever lost something of value to you? I'm married to a man that often misplaces what seems like everything. I hear countless times a day, "Have you seen my ____" (It's usually keys, wallet, or phone). While often times it is usually left in a bizarre place, the feeling of losing something is overwhelming. The fear of it being gone forever leaves us with an incredible urge and desire to find it ASAP. And once it's been found, we release a huge sigh of relief. Not today, black hole of the universe!  It reminds me of the time my kid wandered off at the store. We had driven three hours away to visit my in-laws cabin. My husband went fishing and my mother-in-law and I took the kids to the local Walmart to pick out their Halloween costumes. It was when we were in the meat section that I looked up and noticed my two year old was nowhere in sight. I called his name, I quickly viewed every nearby aisle, I ran over to my mother-in-law who also did not have him in ...

    My daughter will be five in July and she can light up a room just by walking into it! She is a performer, she is funny, and she is just fun to be around. Many of her qualities I wish I had in my own life. She loves with her whole heart, and that girl loves Jesus! Deep down to her core, she lives for Jesus! But she also struggles...greatly. We are coming up on the one year mark to her diagnosis and I sit here still in disbelief but also humbled that we are walking this road. Last year, I started to notice things in her that I did not think were normal. In my momma's mind, I did not want to think there was something wrong with my child but the outcome was getting more painfully obvious by the day. I can remember one day we were doing dance class via Zoom (Thanks, Covid), and I was right next to her doing it with her. One second she was laughing and having fun, the next second - she was gone. Her eyes glazed over, she was unresponsive, and just in outer space. I yelled her na...

    My son is now two and a half and is brilliant, athletic, caring, and funny. He's a perfect fit in our family. However he has struggled with speech since he was about 18 months old. It started with unbearable ear infections, one every two to three weeks to be exact. It was a rough winter - full of all-nighters, antibiotics, and fear of when the next one would hit. Luckily we were able to have tubes put in just before the pandemic started. While the tubes have helped tremendously, his speech took a significant hit. Up until he was two years old, everything was just pointing and grunting. The tool man grunt was cute for a while...until it became a concern. He's currently in virtual speech therapy and has come a long way, but is still delayed compared to other kids his age. It's still hard to understand him and my heart goes out for him. He gets frustrated, angry, and melts down when nobody gets what he's trying to say. A few days ago, our Amazon Echo was playing music ...

    If you're a toddler mom, like myself, you've probably seen both Frozen movies at least a dozen times. You can easily recite lines and sing along to every word of every song. My daughter owns at least three themed dresses and on occasion, gives us an entire recap of each movie in song and dance form. One of her favorite songs, and mine as well, is the song "Into the Unknown". There's some sort of magical spirit that calls Elsa to seek out more adventures and her heritage. Right before we belt out the chorus, we sing the words "I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you." Last summer, I took my kids to the little amusement park in Fond Du Lac. My daughter, who is completely fearless by the way, insisted on going on the little mini roller coaster. I hesitantly agreed knowing it might be too scary for her. She got right on, buckled up, and gripped the handles for dear life. The ride started and fear was written all over her face. While I was ...

    Hello friends. Me here again. The kids are in bed and the house is quiet (my most favorite time of the day!). I thought the demands of life were rough when we had a newborn in the house, but as the kids are going through the toddler stage - I'm quickly learning that the exhaustion is real no matter what stage of life we are in. The two's are terrible, the threenagers are sassy, and don't get me started on the fours. But as I sit here reminiscing on the struggles, the below-the-surface struggles are rearing their ugly heads again. I'm quickly reminding how much I'm personally struggling, how much I've failed as a mom, a wife, a worker, a friend, etc. It's easy to let these fears attack us. Most of the time, our deepest struggles go unseen and unnoticed. This morning like many other mornings before, it was a mad rush to get out the door. It was a fight to get the right outfits on and a fight to comb hair. The vehicle was loaded and running, and I had 0.5 s...

    This morning, like many times before in the past year, I've woken up wondering what kind of world my children have to grow up in. To say I'm sadden by the events of our country recently is an understatement. While I do not wish to make this a political thing, my heart breaks watching our country in turmoil. And maybe the events of your own personal life are leaving you feeling the same thing.  My son is now two and is big into farms, tractors, and all things related to it. A couple weeks ago, we went to a small tractor toy store in the area and he was in heaven! It was a meltdown getting him to leave...if you've never had the experience of carrying a toddler surf-board style out of a business, you're missing out! Before we left, we let him pick out a small toy. He picked out a small white cow to add to his farm collection. It's just a little plastic cow with really not much appeal, if you ask me. The car ride home was spent making moo sounds and pretending that ...

    We made it! Sitting here in the early morning hours of the final day of the year 2020, I'm just reflecting back on the past 365 days. What a year it's been...if I were to find the right word to describe it, it still wouldn't do it justice. Maybe you're like me and can't wait for the clock to strike midnight and we can finally kick this year out to the curb and deadbolt the locks behind it! Maybe there's also a little part of you that's wondering if this year is simply the prelude of things to come in the next year?   As I reflect, this year did not exactly bring us blessings (at least the forms of blessings one would expect). Actually if I were to categorize 2020, I would say it will go down as one of the worst ones for our family in history...and maybe yours too. We've been forced to face situations that we never thought were possible. The unexpected quickly became the normal around here. Fear has surrounded us and the devil has looked us in the eye...