When my third child was born, I think 90 percent of my prayers revolved around our collective sleep patterns. (Please let the baby sleep!) These prayers never seemed to be answered. This did not cause me to lose my faith in the power of prayer, but it did cause me to reflect on how I could improve my prayers to ask for things that God is more able to answer.
Posts in the "Finding More Joy" category:
No Place Like Home: Why Getaways Matter
The next time I’m offered a getaway, instead of complaining, I will make a paper chain and count the days! Yes, it is hard to leave, but distance from day-to-day life offers valuable gifts. Among them can be renewed appreciation for your life, the people in it, and even for yourself.
Book Review: Stressed Out! For Parents
When many things demand my time and energy, I can easily become stressed. This book helped me not only understand stress and why it occurs, but also helped me to find constructive and healthy things to do right in that moment so that I can keep my cool and calm down.
Book Summary: Wife for Life: The Power to Succeed in Marriage
When I read this book, I was in a pretty good place in my marriage. But it was a really good wake up call to examine my words, my actions and even my thoughts as I try to love and respect my husband the way I truly want to.
Chore Charts, Reality, and the Heart of the Home
I want to believe that if it works on paper, it works. Period. That if I just make a really outlined time map, a fun and motivating chore system, or a realistic-yet-ambitious goal chart, our home will run perfectly. But most of the time, motherhood doesn’t work that way.
Surviving Exhausting Bedtime Antics
Children need to understand the importance of sleep and how it recharges their bodies, helps them grow, and keeps them healthy. As they are still learning this, bedtime can feel like World War III, but improving behavior starts with us—the parents.
Look Back and Laugh
Many parenting situations are not funny at the time. In fact, some are downright horrifying! But the ability to look back and laugh can make all the difference in how we approach new challenges and put difficult times behind us.
The Heartbeat Check
No matter how crazy the day … no matter how discouraged I feel … no matter how dismal the state of our nation, The Heartbeat Check offers sanctuary.
4 Ways Single Parenting Can Be Amazing
What doesn’t get talked about much are the ways that single parenting is absolutely amazing. Which is a shame, because even though it’s hard, I know I have had some very special experiences that were only possible because I’m a single parent.
Shaping Our Stories
We tell ourselves stories about our lives and our children, but we can and need to tell ourselves the best part of our stories.
Minutes and Moments
This article was originally posted on November 4, 2014. I was really struggling when my twins were a couple months old. I hadn’t slept well in months, at least one baby was either nursing or crying around the clock, and my two-year-old was having a hard time adjusting to her new role as […]
Consider the Winter Solstice
To celebrate the longest night of the year—the day when the solar year bottoms out and starts to climb back up again—we go outside and light a fire. We stand around it, stamp our feet a little to chase away the cold, and something magical happens.