Parenting
Adventure posts on parenting feral farm kids and their shenanigans, who love our life, Jesus, and have an amazing work ethic. Posts on giving their mother anxiety attacks and loving every minute of it.
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What My Grandmother Taught Me About Faith, Family, and Unconditional Love
My paternal grandmother was truly my hero. Honestly, I want to be just like her when I grow up. She was sassy, loving, wise, and deeply rooted in her faith—and she had me in stitches constantly. When I was younger, I’d spend weekends with her. She introduced me to crime shows and gave me my love for reading the Bible. As I got older and life filled up with school, sports, and driving, she’d call and say it was time for a grocery run. She didn’t ask—she told—and I always said yes. Time with her was sacred. But what made her so incredibly special is that she wasn’t my dad’s…
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There’s Something Special About Farm Kids
I’ve said it time and time again—there’s something special about farm kids. They truly are a breed of their own. And if there’s one week that proves it, it’s fair week. Fair week is a time when farm kids come together and live in a world that feels entirely their own. At the county fair, you’ll see them up early, wearing boots and shorts, caring for their animals. They make sure the animals have food, water, and a clean place to rest. They walk them for exercise and prep them for their upcoming shows. Some kids are laser-focused—locked in, maybe a little frantic—as they get ready to enter the show…
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Keeping The Spark Alive
Keeping the Spark Alive with a Roadside Flower After eighteen years of marriage, it’s easy for the spark to fizzle a bit. Life gets busy—we’re wrapped up in parenting, work, farming, housekeeping, and, let’s be honest, just trying to survive until bedtime (or sneak in a nap). Somewhere in all of that, we can forget to pursue one another. Every now and then, my husband gently reminds me to reflect on whether I’m still pursuing him. He doesn’t do it with words. He does it with a daisy-looking weed. (Daisies are my favorite.) The other day, we were at our farm when he got back in the truck holding a…
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School Lunch Ideas for Busy Families
I don’t know about you, but I run out of ideas for my kids’ lunches—especially ones they’ll actually eat without wasting food. I also don’t want them getting tired of the same old thing every day. With school starting soon, I thought I’d share my Pinterest board full of school lunch ideas. These are quick, easy, and inexpensive options that your kids will (hopefully!) love. Along with ideas from the board, I also send leftovers with my kids. Our cafeteria has microwaves, so it’s super easy for them to reheat food. If your school doesn’t have microwaves, I’ve got a tip for you… Some time ago, I found metal thermoses…
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Why Coffee Dates with Friends Matter -Even if You Don’t Drink Coffee
One way I’ve been able to reconnect with friends is through coffee dates. I don’t even drink coffee! But we’ll head over to our favorite local coffee shop, grab a tea or smoothie, and sit there and chat—catching up on life. I do this with one friend as often as I can, which seems to be about once a year now. We sit and talk about anything and everything. One time, we even sat by the window watching people try to parallel park. It was just as fun as you’d think—especially with our commentary! It’s such a peaceful environment to connect. Today, I met up with four friends I used…
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Leadership is Hard
Leadership is one of the hardest roles a person can step into. No matter what you do, you won’t please everyone—and people will talk. Oh, will they talk. They’ll talk about things they think they know… and have absolutely no clue about. I once served on a leadership team where someone outside the group accused our leader of manipulating us—saying he pushed his own agenda and swayed our decisions. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. All he did was create a simple agenda of what we needed to cover—something he was trained to do professionally. He never told us what to think. In fact, most of our discussions…
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Have the Playdate
In our Wednesday night women’s group at church, someone fairly new asked if we had mom cliques—like a group of working moms who were ignored by the stay-at-home moms, and vice versa. We were astonished by this little factoid. Back then, I would host playdates and invite everyone with kids around the same age. One year, we had twenty-five kids here, along with five to seven moms. It wasn’t anything fancy. We just let the kids run wild—splashing in little pools, digging in the sand, and swinging. They always had a blast. They ended up muddy, dirty, and needing to be hosed down from head to toe—probably dunked in a…
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Parenthood Comes in Seasons
Parenthood comes in seasons. And I’ve learned that you don’t truly appreciate each one until it’s in the rearview mirror. This hit me especially hard after we had our youngest feral one. When my oldest three were little, people would say, “Enjoy it. You’ll miss them being little. You’ll miss the chaos. You’ll miss them needing you. Enjoy it now.” And they were right. I believed them—of course I did—but that doesn’t make it easier to actually enjoy the moment when you’re knee-deep in it. Even now, I have to remind myself that someday, I’ll miss this, too. The running in multiple directions at the same time. The messy house.…
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When Failure Feels Constant
“How many times a day do we fail—whether in life, parenthood, or marriage? How many times have we unintentionally let others down? I don’t know about you, but I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count them all. I fail constantly. I feel like I fail as a mother when I’m on a time crunch or working on something, and I snap at my kids for asking me to do something they could do on their own. I fail as a wife when I don’t put my husband’s needs before my own—or even before the needs of our children. I fail when… I fail when… It’s a constant battle.…
