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Our Children are Not Problems to Solve- They are People to Love
I was picking toys off of the living room floor and the thought came, almost audible- “Your children are not problems to solve, Ashley. They are people, made in my image to love.” I’m not sure if it was the Lord speaking or a phrase I read somewhere, but I heard it and I haven’t stopped thinking about it…
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Gospel Hope for the Good Mom: Freedom from the Shoulds of Motherhood
My favorite Christmas present was a Baby Shivers doll. I got her when I was 6 years old and I was beyond excited to have a doll that looked so real. From a young age, I was always quite concerned with appearances. My mom amiably let me use some of my little sister’s diapers and baby clothes to dress her.…
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When I don’t feel thankful
It’s November. It’s the time of year for thankful turkeys and thankful trees, practicing gratitude for the many things we have been given. But if I’m honest, sometimes I don’t feel thankful. And when we don’t feel thankful, what are we to do? We’ve all been there. We are having a “good” day and then there is a trigger, often…
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The Ultimate Guide to Potty Training: A Failure turned Success and Persevering when things don’t go your way
I have to be honest. From the time I found out I was going to be a Mom, there were a few areas that scared me, but the one that topped the list of “things that scare me about motherhood” was Potty Training. Thus, with our first I put it off nearly as long as possible and kept thinking,…
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Prescription for Contentment
“Prescription for contentment: never allow yourself to complain about anything-even the weather, never picture yourself in any other circumstance or someplace else, never compare your lot with another’s, never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise, never dwell on tomorrow- remember that [tomorrow] is God’s not ours”- from Calm My Anxious Heart, Linda Dillow These words popped…
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Mama, Stop Trying to Carry All the Things
His cherub face looks up at me, 5 stuffed animals in his arms, “No, Mama! I do it myself!” This picture was snapped almost a year ago, but both of my boys still like to carry ALL the THINGS. We’ve tried reasoning (“Hey bud, you can’t hold all of those things. God gave us only two hands”). We’ve tried giving…
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My First 6 weeks as a Mom (spoiler alert, it’s way HARDER than I thought!)
**Note*** This was originally written and published on my blog dancinthroughtheminefields.blogspot.com in October of 2013, and you can read the full post here Thoughts on motherhood so far: It is hard. Way, way harder than I imagined. I read an article the other day that defined happiness as reality-expecations. I expected motherhood to be difficult. Everyone says it is, but…
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Thoughts on Motherhood, 9 months in
(Originally written July 2015) This month Caleb has started throwing mini tantrums when he doesn’t get his way or if we take something away from him we don’t want him to hold due to germs, danger, etc (like our Iphone or the remote). He has also started hitting us in the face on occasion. He is just so rough. He…
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Use Your Words, The Power of Praise
With toddlers in the house, Daniel Tiger is a favorite around here. I often find myself singing the jingles. Lately the one that has been playing on repeat in my mind is, “Use your words, use your words…to say how you feel”. I have attended two funerals in the last few months where the person giving the eulogy did an…
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Do the Hard Things, Even when it seems like you deserve a medal for keeping everyone alive for the day
Sometimes as parents we have a whole fun day planned. We’ve looked up the free events in our community and packed the bags and planned the meals and we are excited to show our kids the day. We just cannot wait to get our little ones dressed up and out the door, ready for an adventure. But, somehow it never…
