Motherhood Challenges Need a Grit and Grace Life

7 Faith Podcasts That Will Encourage Every Mom

These Faith-Based Podcasts Will Encourage Every Mom

Ever heard the phrase, “It takes a village,” about raising kids? Well, with three young ones who are only getting older and more complicated, I need a whole village to myself! Shoot, each kid needs their own village. Each child is so different; this means different methods of raising, different temperaments, and different responses. They are not cookie-cutter versions of my husband or me. Motherhood is all new territory every day and every year, with every child. After talking with several friends who have older kids, I’m pretty sure the adversity during the toddler and elementary years are just the calm before the storm. Before I had children, I started filling my village with people, books, sermons, devotions—you name it. In recent […]

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Moms-Be-Sure-to-Make-Memories-That-Will-Last-a-Lifetime

Mom, Be Sure to Make Memories That Will Last a Lifetime

By Darlene Brock / Motherhood

I recently traveled through Northeastern Georgia as we headed to the mountains of North Carolina. We have the privilege of enjoying the autumn in the tranquil and beautiful land between the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Observing the burst of color in the month of October leaves one in awe of the beauty of creation. While heading to our final destination, we spotted a Fruit Stand – Corn Maze – Hayride – Bakery – Ice Cream Store and Pumpkin Patch. Yes, these were all there in one location. With fare like this, we had to stop and see which of these we couldn’t live without. Parking in an absolutely full lot, alongside another load of pumpkins being delivered from the

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woman sitting on couch breastfeeding her baby

Postpartum Weight Loss While Breastfeeding—Achieving the Impossible

By Kristen Bailey / Motherhood

I thought I’d prepared for every scenario of having a newborn—almost. Enter breastfeeding. There was nothing natural, sweet, or easy about the breastfeeding learning curve I faced. I consoled myself through weeks of clogged ducts, antibiotics for mastitis, and flow worries with two thoughts: my baby’s brain and immune system will benefit from this, and I’ll lose postpartum weight faster burning so many calories. Yet, only one of those assumptions was true! Contrary to all I’d heard and read, I learned quickly breastfeeding doesn’t necessarily make you lose weight. As a mom approaching her baby’s first birthday with a few pounds to go, I’m here with a dose of perspective about the postpartum weight loss journey while breastfeeding. First, let me add

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As a Mom, I Want You to Know This About Down Syndrome

By Shannon Blaeske / Motherhood

“We suspect the baby has a genetic abnormality that is causing the birth defects.” Right from the first suspicion that there were issues with the baby girl growing inside of me, the doctors switched from referring to my baby as “your baby” and “she” to less personal terms like “the baby” and “it.” It was my first taste of how our culture views and treats people who are born, for lack of a better term, different. At 20 weeks gestation, we knew our little girl, Fiona, would have Down syndrome. The diagnosis came a few weeks after we had found out she also had a life-threatening heart defect and bilateral clubbed feet. We were heartbroken and scared. Life was never going to

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Your Guide To the Best Momisms All Moms Use

By Amber Koehn / Motherhood

“When you’re a parent, you’ll understand.” How many of us heard these words from our mothers on one or more occasions growing up? If you’re anything like me, you heard these words quite frequently. And if you’re also anything like me, you swore you’d never say anything that ridiculous to your children because, quite frankly, it was never clear exactly what you were supposed to understand. Moms have their own special language, passed down from their mothers and their grandmothers before them. It’s like a secret code, and you can only decipher it once you become a mom yourself. I know this, because I am now a parent, and all of a sudden, I magically understand. A Mom’s Special Language: Momisms As

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Parenting Adult Children: When to Speak Up and When to Shut Up

By Beverly Whalen / Motherhood

So, your children aren’t children anymore. When did they grow up and become adults anyway? Often, that depends on us as parents. Do we allow them to grow up, or do we hold them back by rescuing and enabling? It’s a hard realization, but if they are to become adults, we must see them as adults, and accept that we are parenting grown kids. When they were toddlers, if we had picked them up every time they fell, they would never learn to walk alone. Likewise, as adult children, they would never learn life’s crucial lessons if we were to save them from every fall—nor would they engage in the reflective process required to grow from their mistakes. That doesn’t mean we are

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14 Ways to Save Time and Money on Family Meal Planning

By Amber Koehn / Motherhood

When I first became a stay-at-home mom, my children were younger and fairly easy to please. At the time, I had an infant, a two-year-old, and two in elementary school. Family meal planning was virtually stress-free because my girls would pretty much eat whatever was in front of them. My kids were great at giving me a false sense of what homemaker life would be like. Eventually, they went and did what every child in the history of children has done: they got older. And with that, my days of making small, simple meals every night went right out the window. I didn’t realize an eight-year-old girl could eat like a teenage boy! Not only was my growing family draining my pantry,

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Ever Crash a Kid’s Birthday Party?

By Carey Melton / Motherhood

Not too long ago, my kids were invited to a birthday party at a local jump and play place on a weekday. Those are win-win parties because the birthday kid, the guests, and their family just show up and play. Everything is paid for, and the venue provides the food, plates, treat bags and entertainment, and the kids get worn out! I had a meeting scheduled for the same time the party started, so I double-checked the time, date, location and confirmed that my husband was available to take the kids. When I called to let him know my meeting was over and I was on my way, he said, “OK, the kids are having a great time and already jumping and

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Being a mom—the job that keeps on giving (even though it doesn’t pay)

By Melissa Solle / Motherhood

I’ve read so many articles about the veritable “mom salary” over the years, and I’m trying to get my bearings on why this hasn’t gotten any traction. I mean, seriously! We, moms, do it all! I’m not diminishing those hands-on dads or single dads. Just telling a mom-type story. I was a stay-at-home mom for many years when my kids were younger. That was a tough time financially, emotionally, and physically. I went back to work part-time when my youngest was in second grade and full-time when he was in fourth grade. Now he’s in 11th grade, and here’s the deal. The mom’s salary should be real. The last five years of parenting have caused me to be more aware of the

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Dear Mama, You Need to Break up With These 3 Things

By Rachel Hagstrom / Motherhood

Dear Mama, There’s no doubt about it: motherhood isn’t for sissies. As a mom, you are a leader. An advocate. A nurse. A teacher. A mediator. A friend. A vomit-cleaner, diaper-changer, and so much more. Your job requires a steady arsenal of qualities at your disposal: resiliency; stamina; wisdom; grace; compassion; laughter; and, again, so much more. What you don’t need, though, is that inner lethal voice that criticizes you or downright shames you. It’s the voice that tells you that you’re messing up the little lives in your care or that you’re simply not cut out for the job of motherhood. Sometimes, it whispers quietly, and you briefly forget it even exists. On other days, the bully voice screams louder than

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older woman staring off to the distance with a contemplative face

Empty Nesters, You Have a New Purpose Now

By Eve DeBardeleben Roebuck / Motherhood

Our “baby” of five kids is just two short weeks away from being 21. It occurs to me that even though he’s living with us temporarily and working, he’s for all intents and purposes grown, though maybe not entirely gone. It also occurs to me that it’s the first time since I became a mother 37 years ago that I’ve felt completely free to do exactly as I please with my time every single day. I haven’t had this kind of freedom since, well, ever. After my college years, there was the teaching job and the wedding and the children who began showing up. After three, I was unable to have any more, so we adopted two, mainly because I couldn’t imagine

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A Helpful Hack for Moms with Special Needs Children

Special Needs Child? A Mom Shares Practical Tips to Keep You From Drowning

By Geinene Carson / Motherhood

Having a special needs child requires a certain amount of organization to cope with the endless piles of paperwork. In just the first five years of our daughter’s life, more paperwork has accumulated than in my life altogether. I never imagined the avalanche of white that would follow doctor appointments, test results, therapy sessions, medical bills, healthcare claims, prescriptions, as well as school, grant, and scholarship applications. I soon found myself overwhelmed and drowning in piles of important details. Too often I was caught unprepared without detailed information of my daughter’s medical history or current care readily available for inquiring professionals. This created significant hiccups at times. I already had to wait months to see certain specialists, and my face-to-face time with

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Let Kids Play in the Mud; God Made Them Washable

By Jennifer Schoonover / Motherhood

Dear Mama, Let your children be children. I’m 50 years old now, and one of my favorite memories as a child was playing in a huge mud hole with my sister. Please don’t take that joy away from your child. Picture this: We lived in southeast Texas. Tornados were common, and just before summer break, one hit our town. Electricity was out for a week, roads were closed or washed out completely due to the rain, and school was cancelled. I am sure parents everywhere were not only exacerbated by the devastation of the storm, but add the sheer boredom of all the kids home from school and those parents were about to lose their patience. The Fun of Mud Play My

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7 Essential Tips to Relieve Middle School Anxiety

By Darlene Brock / Motherhood

Middle school is one of the most emotionally-charged seasons in every human’s life. Bringing up this rite of passage, from elementary age to high school, is always a good way to create lively conversation between adults. Although it’s a season of life that most of us are glad to leave behind, there’s just something about sharing those vivid, awkward memories of middle school anxiety that make us both laugh and cringe at the same time. However, the mother of a child in the midst of middle school anxiety needs every little bit of help available when she sends her “just yesterday they started school” child out the door…knowing full well that today might possibly be the day that her sweet baby is

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4 Ways to Save Your Sanity In a New School Year

By Brianna Barrett / Motherhood

As the summer comes to a screeching halt, so does the school bus coming to pick up your child to start the new school year. The summer months were stress-free with no running from tennis to piano lessons to football practice to the doctor. There was peace in the summer. There is no reason you can’t find that same tranquility in the coming school year. 4 Easy Steps to Save Your Sanity In a New School Year 1. Plan meals ahead. On Saturday I take five to ten minutes to plan out our meals for the coming week. This includes going to the pantry to see what we have and what we need, then writing out a menu and a grocery list.

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Here Are the 10 Commandments to Be a Great Stepmom

By Sharita Hanley / Motherhood, Relationships

If someone had told me that I was going to be a stepmom at 21 years old, aka a bonus mom, I would have laughed in their face. Not because I hated kids or because I was rude, but simply because working to become a great stepmom wasn’t a part of my plan. Funny how life works like that, isn’t it? You see, when I was younger, I was convinced—without a doubt—that I was going to be a traveling nomad. Laugh all you want, but it’s true. I’d always loved traveling, exploring new places, immersing myself in a different culture, and writing about it. But six years after graduating, I married a divorced man with two precious kiddos and my role as

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Sending Your Kid to College Is Very Much Like Kindergarten

By Melissa Solle / Motherhood

Several years ago, my oldest child left for college, a large university two hours away. As she prepared for this exciting adventure, I took to pen and paper to express my feelings. The sentiment is likely similar for many who are sending your kid to college, a gap year, the military, or wherever. So, this is for you… To My College-Bound Daughter You are leaving for college in less than two weeks. I knew that this moment was coming, and maybe it was a little denial or perhaps it was genuine thoughts of “it is a long way off…” Either way, now the moment is practically here. and I’m having a mini panic attack. I realize all parents have this moment in

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