Single Mom | Grit and Grace Life

This is Why I Don’t Have Just One Parenting Style

Just because I videoed my son jumping off the roof onto the trampoline before I made him stop does not make me a total free-range parent. My kids are gymnasts, dancers and daredevils… kinda like their mom. Wanna snowboard down the black diamond hill? Sure, let’s do it. Wanna hike to the steepest point on every mountain we encounter? Sure, let’s do it. Wanna hop on our bikes and just ride and ride to wherever we end up? Sure, let’s do it. Wanna train for a half marathon at 13? Sure, let’s do it. Wanna do a handstand or walk on your hands everywhere in Los Angeles (and every single city we visit)? Sure, but let me take your picture and put […]

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What This Strong Woman Did When Her Husband Left

By Ashley Vancil / Relationships

“I don’t love you, and I haven’t for a long time. I don’t think we should be together.” Words I never imagined hearing from my husband, much less a little over a month before our third son was due. We had a plan. I knew we were both stressed; that we were fighting more than normal, but I never thought things were that bad. I was a good mom, I kept up with everything at the house, and I always made sure dinner was prepared when he got home. We weren’t great, but we were okay. I spent the next few weeks begging for forgiveness. “Don’t do this! Don’t separate our family! We love each other; we can get through this!” After a

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A Therapist’s Practical Advice for Blended Families with Dr. Zoe Shaw – 050

By This Grit & Grace Life Podcast / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Email | TuneIn | RSS | MoreSince nearly 50% of new marriages are remarriages, it should come as no surprise that many women are blending families. It doesn’t take long after making those marriage vows to discover combining families can be complicated. It can also be beautiful. How? We brought in our most reliable expert, psychotherapist, and relationship counselor, Dr. Zoe, to share a balanced and a realistic view of how to blend these separate families into one unit with equal parts grit and grace. Darlene (married mom of two adult daughters) and Julie (widowed single mom) ask the often searched for questions that are frequently found at The Grit and

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This Is What I Learned About Life After My Rape and Pregnancy

By Monique Jackson King / HerStory, Motherhood

In 2009, I was ending a relationship that had me completely mesmerized! I was involved with this man for the previous five years in what was called, by today’s standards, a “situationship.” In other words, I was madly in love with a man who had no intention of honoring our relationship with validity or legitimacy. Each of my close friends would ask me what our status was, and my standard answer was, “We’re taking it day by day.” In my heart, I knew this wasn’t the love that was designed for me, but I also did not want to let go of the good conversation, the companionship, the intellectual stimulation, or the familiarity that it provided. I allowed that fear to blind

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How to Get Your Kids to Depend on You (Less)

Encouragement and Hope for a Single Mom

By Kim Spurlock / Motherhood

Single mom-hood, the hardest job ever but the most rewarding. The best way to give some insight on being a single mom is to be transparent and let you in on my journey. So with that being said, let me take you back a few years to January 21, 2014. This was just an ordinary day in my life, so I thought. Little did I know my whole world would be turned upside down and ripped apart. That night my journey as a single mom started when my husband of 11 years committed suicide, leaving me with two sons, ages 12 and five, and a 10-year-old daughter. Now all the details leading up to his death, well, that’s another story for another

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You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be a Great Mom

By Darlene Brock / Motherhood

We don’t believe in superhero capes here at The Grit and Grace Project. That’s not to say we aren’t ever superheroes; we absolutely are. We do everything; Earn the paycheck, dry the tears, mow the lawn, balance the budget, cook the meals, and even fix the toilet. But one thing we don’t need to do is to be perfect! It’s something many of us expect from ourselves, but I’m telling you from first-hand knowledge, it is absolutely not necessary. So be encouraged, Mama! One of the worst places to feel this perfection pressure is in the role of mom. We become quite convinced that if we do not meet every need our child has, prevent all cuts, bruises, or hurt of any kind, and keep them

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

By Clare Marlow / Motherhood

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

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Discussing All Things on Relationships and Faith (Video)

By Our Grit and Grace Life Videos / Faith, Relationships

We believe relationships and our faith are some of the riches parts of our lives. We wanted to make it easy for you to get to some of our favorite articles on relationships and faith. 7 Things to Look for in a Man 5 Important Things to Discuss as a New Couple How My Husband and I Survived My Affair How to Know if Your Boyfriend is a Charity Case 5 Things I’ve Learned in a Decade of Wifing From Pregnant Widow to Single Mom, Building Faith: Growing in Your Relationship with God, Battling the Mind Monster: A Letter to My Mom This is Your Brain on FOMO Family Devotions Can Hurt For The Fatherless On Sex and Faith and Marriage, Comforting Thoughts

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From Pregnant Widow to Single Mom

By Ashby Duval / Faith

This is part two of Ashby’s story. Read Part 1 here! Shortly after Spencer’s death, I drove out to Immokalee to the place where we used to live. Standing on the grassy bank of Lake Trafford where our Airstream once gleamed in the sunlight, I stared at the water with my hands on my swollen, pregnant belly genuinely not knowing what to do next. This empty space made my loss even more real. Every fiber of my being ached to go back and climb into our cozy home with my husband again, but this empty space was a very visual reminder that he was no longer here and there was not a home to come back to. In the Heartbreak and Confusion, What’s

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My Story, Daring to Date After Divorce

By Shannon Degarmo / Relationships

I was talking with one of my besties from high school while the kiddos played with their toys on the floor. We were just about to hang up the phone when she quickly interjected that she thinks that she found a guy that she wants me to meet. Ummmm…does she remember that months ago I went through a terrible, heart wrenching, devastating divorce? Does she even understand that I have NO intention of dating anyone…maybe ever again! I tell her I think she’s crazy and that there is no way I’m interested. She persists that he’s this great guy, and I’m like why don’t you date him if he’s so great? She begins to get the drift that I’m not interested, but

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Loving My New Life As a Single (Adoptive) Mom

By Kendrick Carlisle / Faith

This is the final piece of a three-part series following Kendrick’s adoption story. We’ve fallen in love with her big heart and witty words. We know you will too. Read the first two sections of the series here: Part 1 A Single Career Woman’s Desire to Adopt and Part 2 This Single Mom’s Worst Nightmare: A Failed Adoption. Oh my gosh! I’m writing this with one eye open and wishing that I’d taken a nap today when little Miss Bea was sleeping. That’s what they say, right? “Nap when baby naps.” So obviously you know what this means… I’m a mama now! And I couldn’t be happier to be sleep-deprived, charting poopy diapers, and mixing up bottles every three to four hours.

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This Single Mom’s Worst Nightmare: A Failed Adoption

By Kendrick Carlisle / Faith

This is Part 2 of a three-part series following Kendrick’s adoption story. We’ve fallen in love with her big heart and witty words. We know you will too…Find Part 1 here. I don’t like to fail or to be labeled a failure, but I mean, really who does? When I was in college I failed one class. I was devastated… and my response was a bit on the dramatic side. Imagine lots of ugly crying and melting into a puddle in the middle of the street like the Wicked Witch of the West… “I’m melting.” Then came the embarrassment; how could I ever tell anyone about my failure? Finally, I told my sweet daddy that I failed my class. I wasn’t sure

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A Single Career Woman’s Desire to Adopt

By Kendrick Carlisle / Faith

This is Part 1 of a three-part series following Kendrick’s adoption story. We’ve fallen in love with her big heart and witty words. We know you will too… One thing you need to know about me before we go any further is that I’m a planner. I like to know the plan, I like to stick to the plan, and if the plan seems to go off track I consider it my duty to get things headed back in the right direction. This can be considered my strength, but it can also be my weakness; it leads to a desire to control any and all situations. I may or may not have been placed in the “control freak” category a time or

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Learning to Love Your Single Self

By Christi Anderson / Life & Culture

“Hi Mommy. How’s life? You have a boyfriend yet?” I had just picked up my 9-year-old daughter from school. It was a rare moment that just the two of us were in the car together, and after she plopped down in her seat, that is how she greeted me. Well…when I dropped her off at school at 7:50am I was single, and when I picked her up at 3:00pm I was still single. I had to tell her that no mystery man who wants a very part-time girlfriend had presented himself to me that day. And I’m OK with that. I’ve been a single mom for 8 years. Right now, I love it. I have three children and they are my priority.

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When Your Daughter is Fatherless

By Clare Marlow / Motherhood

I went to church for many years with a single mom whose two sons grew up alongside my daughter through middle and high school. My friend had divorced when the boys were very young and left their uninterested and uninvolved father on the other side of the country. Her boys, like my daughter, were very active in their youth group at church. They had Bible study with other guys their age on Sunday mornings, attended a large and vibrant youth group on Wednesday nights, and were involved in weekend retreats and summer camp. They had awesome men for their small group leaders, and a great male youth pastor, all who filled the gaps left by their dad. Those men, year after year,

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