Julie Voiceover Category

Motherhood

moth·er·hood

/muh·thr·hud/

The nurturing of children from the deepest places of your heart, rooting for them to be their best selves while allowing grace when they (or you) fall short; tired, proud, overwhelmed, joyful, amused and busy—often simultaneously 

Is-Homeschool-Right-For-You--A-Few-Things-to-Consider

Is Homeschool Right For You? A Few Things to Consider

As if it wasn’t hard enough to make choices in parenting—about feeding, sleeping, immunizations, organics and other options that plague parents from day one—there comes a day when we also have to determine what education option is the best for our child. We think age five is going to be a golden age of post-potty-training, semi-independent reading, and the ability to swim and ride a bike without us watching them constantly; instead, kindergarten looms around the corner with its myriad of challenges. How we educate our children is perhaps the most crucial of our parenting choices, or at least it feels that way. There is not only enormous pressure to choose the absolute best for our kids, that which seemingly will prepare […]

Is Homeschool Right For You? A Few Things to Consider Read More »

How-to-Fly-With-an-Infant-10-Helpful-Tips

How to Fly With an Infant: 10 Helpful Tips

My daughter and son-in-law work for a large nonprofit in Haiti but come home every three months on furlough and stay at our home in Florida. Typically while they’re in the U.S., they take a weeklong trip to Texas to work at the organization’s headquarters, and occasionally fly to other states to meet with supporters of their ministry. My grandson was born 14 months ago during a stay at our house, but started traveling with his parents at about eight weeks old. Since then, we’ve all lost count of how many times he’s flown around the country and back and forth to Haiti. My daughter has learned some great tips for traveling with an infant, many due to trial and error. After

How to Fly With an Infant: 10 Helpful Tips Read More »

A-Parent’s-Strategy-For-Surviving-Summer

A Parent’s Simple Strategy For Surviving (and Enjoying) Summer

As most parents are privy to, summer is not the time of year to get things done. Once the kids are out of school, it’s all hands on deck. After the first week of whiplash, my husband and I try to pull ourselves together, get our tag team mode on, and pursue the establishment of some sort of rhythm. Our work demands remain the same, but the amount of time we have to complete our duties suffers a significant decrease. Without a plan, we find ourselves overwhelmed by the chaos, not to mention battling guilt on both the home and work front. Working mostly from home, my husband and I have some flexibility of when we do things; however, when kids are in

A Parent’s Simple Strategy For Surviving (and Enjoying) Summer Read More »

Graduation Day How Will My Kids Survive Without Me

Graduation Day: How Will My Kids Survive Without Me?

It seems like only yesterday that I was the tear-streaked mom sitting in the bleachers watching two daughters graduate from high school. Two best friends, two sidekicks, two sisters leaving the nest at the same time. Two beautiful young women going their separate ways…and leaving their mother behind. I was definitely not ready! Yes, I had two more daughters, also teenagers, still running in and out the door, sometimes sneaking out the window before getting caught in action (severe consequences, like missing the prom and being grounded for a month). I have learned much raising five daughters who are all—much like their dad and me—quite social and free spirited. Would they survive? Could they survive the real world? We would not be

Graduation Day: How Will My Kids Survive Without Me? Read More »

5-Ways-to-Care-for-a-Single-Mom-on-Mothers-Day

5 Ways to Care for a Single Mom on Mother’s Day

A couple of years after I became a widow, a woman in my community started going out of her way to help single moms. Our church gave her a budget and friends gave her a hand, and I was one of many single moms who reaped the blessings of the loving donations of time and offers of help and even gifts. The thing that I remember most is that they gave the kids of single moms a Visa gift card before Mother’s Day so they could buy their moms a gift. If the children were too young to shop on their own, another mom took them to the mall and helped them pick out something just right. It was such a sweet expression

5 Ways to Care for a Single Mom on Mother’s Day Read More »

An Easy Way to Teach Your Kids You’re the Mom, Not the Maid (Video)

— For more mom-ing advice, check out 10 Reasons Why You Should Fight Your Inner Mama Bear, Teaching Your Daughter How to Stand Out from the Crowd, 5 Tips for Managing the Teen in Your Life, Stop Calling Yourself Out on “Mom Fails” ; You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be a Great Mom, and How to Handle Little Boys Who Think They Know It All #gritandgracelife

An Easy Way to Teach Your Kids You’re the Mom, Not the Maid (Video) Read More »

Teaching-Your-Daughter-How-to-Stand-Out-from-the-Crowd

Teaching Your Daughter How to Stand Out from the Crowd

As our daughters were growing up, my husband and I decided early on that we were willing to make some difficult decisions about parenting. All the drama, boyfriends, sassiness, and some fashion trends were not what we wanted for our girls. So, we decided to get on the same page and do our best to help our girls stand out from the crowd. It isn’t easy being “those” parents! I remember riding in the car with my daughters and another young girl who, at around six years old, was talking non-stop about boys. After a few minutes of listening to her talk about how she hoped this boy liked her and how she liked him and on and on, I decided to

Teaching Your Daughter How to Stand Out from the Crowd Read More »

7 Ways to Find the Right School for Your Special Needs Child

7 Ways to Find the Right School for Your Special Needs Child

Finding the right school to meet the unique challenges of our special needs child has been like trying to locate a needle in a haystack. I spent the better part of three years researching our options and kept them all on the table: private, public, montessori, inclusion, special ed exclusive, etc. I scoured school websites, engaged in forums, actively sought recommendations from therapists and various professionals, arranged a slew of school tours, and enrolled our daughter in a wide variety of educational settings throughout pre-school. While each place we tried had its strengths and weaknesses, none seemed like the best fit for our daughter’s needs. Some schools loved her well but didn’t have enough experience or expertise to appropriately challenge and develop

7 Ways to Find the Right School for Your Special Needs Child Read More »

what to expect from the 4th trimester

What to Expect in the 4th Trimester

When a pregnant woman asks for advice about what to do when the baby arrives, she’s usually greeted with hundreds of different responses from different women (and men!). However, somehow she still won’t have a fair idea of what’s to come. The first couple of months after a baby’s born are often referred to as the “fourth trimester,” because life outside the womb takes a while to get used to. Here are a few things to expect during your own fourth trimester: 1. You won’t sleep—much. There’s a lot of sleeping for the baby during the fourth trimester, but not a lot of sleep for Mom, or probably Dad either. Newborns often have their days and nights mixed up, or else no concept of them

What to Expect in the 4th Trimester Read More »

Is Disney Creating Minefields for Moms?

Is Disney Creating Minefields for Moms?

Almost every little girl sings the songs from Disney movies. Many have worn their princess gowns to Wal-Mart and even taken spoons from the table to create their own dancing silverware to many of the Disney ditties. You were probably one of those little girls doing the exact same thing to your place setting. Yet today, that same entity, Disney, who has brought much delight to many children, has also chosen to introduce cultural shifts that you may or may not agree with into their story lines. As mothers, we have to acknowledge the changes in our society and educate our children. This is a parent’s responsibility, not an entertainment entity’s. Unfortunately, Disney has joined those in the entertainment world who think their job is something more

Is Disney Creating Minefields for Moms? Read More »

practical mom advice for breastfeeding and formula

Practical Mom Advice on Breastfeeding and Formula

Being a mother may seem like the most basic thing a woman can do. Because women’s bodies are designed to be able to carry a human life, it may seem like nourishing them would be easy and natural. The assumption is that breastfeeding is easy, and that it’s possible for everyone. Well, that’s just not true. Some women can’t get pregnant, or can’t carry a child. Some women have very difficult pregnancies. And the same is true for breastfeeding. It’s not always for every mother and child. Now, the generally understood medical opinion is that “breast is best” and hippie mamas everywhere will shout it from the mountaintops. However, there are many factors that I urge you to think through before you feel pushed—and dare I say it,

Practical Mom Advice on Breastfeeding and Formula Read More »

Alarmist Mom: How to Fight The Urge to Freak

Alarmist Mom: How to Fight the Urge to Freak

I have a new hobby in my middle age. I am an alarmist. I wonder if this is something new or if I’m just now realizing it. When they were little, I did a decent job shielding our boys from my tendency to warn them about impending doom. I vowed to never say things like, “Get down from there, you’ll fall,” or “Put that knife away, you’ll put someone’s eye out.” By not saying these things, I hope I communicated something like, “You are such a refined amalgam of balance and skill and strength and grace that I trust you will rarely fall.” And, by golly, they didn’t … very much. I wonder if I’m already losing my filter. We have a

Alarmist Mom: How to Fight the Urge to Freak Read More »

Remember This When Your Baby is Growing Up

Remember This When Your Baby is Growing Up

My husband and I are incredibly thrilled to be pregnant with our third baby. We recently had one of those trendy “gender reveal” parties and found out it’s a little girl. But then something happened that I didn’t expect. I felt sad. It’s not that I’m disappointed—I’m very excited to have another girl—but she might be our last baby. As soon as I realized it was a girl, the phrase popped into my head, “and they had three daughters,” past tense, and rather final. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for the future, but a piece of me doesn’t want this childbearing phase of life to end. I think whoever invented the idea of cherubs must have felt this same way, because babies

Remember This When Your Baby is Growing Up Read More »

Your Teenage Boy Will Break Your Heart, and You’ll Be Better for It

Your Teenage Boy Will Break Your Heart, and You’ll Be Better for It

What is it about teenage boys? I’ve been in love with them since I was about twelve. They are, in general, insensitive, inarticulate, clunky, and smelly (even when they discover deodorant and cologne, because they don’t discover moderation until later). But they are all those things with a seemingly endless supply of charm. I’m in love with them. Good thing, since we raised four. And, at one time or another, all of them broke my heart. I mended, though. A Mama’s Boy Let’s be honest; most moms secretly want a mama’s boy. A boy who will engage us, prefer us, unburden his very soul to us. All things teenage boys hardly ever do, in part because they don’t know how and in

Your Teenage Boy Will Break Your Heart, and You’ll Be Better for It Read More »

Scroll to Top