Mommy's Rules: Repent Quickly

Mommy's Rule # 3: Repent Quickly

I am so thankful that my sweet little girls are sensitive to when I am angry or annoyed. They call me out almost every time I sin towards them in my tone of voice. Kalena will say "Mommy, you are being kinda harsh." and then Sara might chime in "Mommy, God doesn't like harshness," or "Mommy, the Bible tells us never to be harsh." Although this is hard to hear in the moment, I have made a commitment to myself and God, never ever to let these moments go without quickly repenting for my sin. Although they may have disobeyed, and I want to point out their sin to them in the moment... I need to be an example of what I want them to do when they are called out on their sin. I pull the plank out of my own eye first. I repent with an apology, and then I ask the girls to pray that God would change my heart. Then I pray for myself and ask that God would remove the anger in my heart and help me to always be kind and gentle to my children.

Occationally I see the fruit of my quick repentance. The other day I told Kalena she was being harsh to Sara. Without another word from me, Kalena asked for forgiveness from Sara. It was so sweet and so encouraging. They do learn from my behavior. I am so thankful they are not just immune to my sin, but they know it is wrong and are not afraid to tell me. To God be the glory!!

Mommy's Rules: No Rushing.

Mommy's Rule #2: No Rushing.

Every mom knows the difference between a calm, collected but purposeful readying of the children, vs the chaotic mad rush to get out the door. I am a rush-a-holic... and I am coming clean and it is time I quit!! I am making a commitment to my children and my husband, (as I head quickly into the "soccer mom" role of getting different children to different places) to do it all without rushing. I want to remember: if I can't get there calmly, it is worth being late.

Things rushing does to me:

Makes me angry with my children. Why can't they get their shoes on faster and who just pooped in their diaper on the way out?

Makes me neglect discipline. Someone just disobeyed blatantly but if I take time to discipline the correct way we will be late!!

Makes me forgetful! Important things I have forgotten while running out the door: diapers, sippys, school supplies, paperwork, my phone, my purse, jackets, umbrellas, the stroller...etc.

Speed. I have delt with my lead foot tendencies in the past and thought I had this sin taken care of.
*(yes, it is a sin to speed..Romans 13:1-2 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.)
But in the busyness of carting around all the little ones, I have seen this horrible sin rear it's ugly head in my life again!! It seems I may have to post "Romans 13" on my dash board next to my speedometer once again :)

What rushing does to my children:

Makes them anxious.
Makes them whiney towards me and each other.
Makes them unhappy and frustrated.
Makes them disobey
Makes them wet their pants :) (forgetting to go potty before we leave!)

Lord, help me to slow down in the busyness of the day. Help me to plan ahead, and remember to set timers and give myself reminders so I am not rushing around to get all the children in the car, out of the car or back into the house. Thank you for the wonderful attitudes, the peace and joyful countenance you give to my children and I when we get ready to leave the house orderly and calmly. Help me to trust you fully and not rely on my own strength to do this!

Mommy's Rules: Tone of Voice

We must enforce so many rules to our children... I thought I would start to keep track of the rules I have created for myself as a mommy.

Mommy's Rule #1: Always Keep a Gentle Tone of Voice. No exceptions!



Collossians 3:8
Put aside anger... put on compassion and kindness.

Talk softly and use the Rod. How easy is it for us to "talk harshly and spare the rod"? Far too easy for me, because the later is much easier, and convenient. Far too often I think to my self "f I am harsh enough they will obey me" or "If I am harsh enough, they won't ever do that again." These are lies from the pit of my sinful selfish heart!!

This is my first rule because of all the parenting rules one could possibly think of, this is the hardest rule for me to follow. I find myself failing in my tone of voice everyday. It is so easy to get angry (AKA: frustrated, impatient, needing to "get through to her") Wether it is "Get your shoes on, I've already told you twice", "Don't push her", "Don't spill that", "You spilled that!!", "Don't touch your poop", "Be nice", "get off her head" etc, I need to always remember to speak how Christ would want me to speak, with patients and loving gentleness. In times when a child needs to be quickly admonished, it is better not to speak at all, and to remove the child (gently) into a room or bathroom to discipline, than to speak with harshness. Our children are going to naturally want to become harsh when they become angry because of the depraved state we are in. Helpless and hopeless without the Lord. When we are harsh we are making it that much easier for our children to do what comes natural with their anger. It will take a gentle example and a lot of hard discipline and training to guide their little hearts to the biblical response to anger. Giving into our own anger in our tone of voice will teach them how to do the same. Even if we are just saying one word ("No") there are a hundred different tones you can use to say it. Staying always gentle and loving with our tone as a mommy will teach and train your children to be gentle and humble with their anger.

I love parenting Biblically. I love the Bible. I love my kiddoes. I love Jesus and the Word of our Lord, who gives us everything we
need for life and godliness. Thank the Lord!! Praise Him!!

A Few of my Favorite Things!!

These are a few of my new favorite things this summer. Here is a wonderful glass sippy cup from Lifefactory. I love using this on a daily basis for Katelyn, and then taking our plastic ones when we are on the road. Glass holds up so much better and... who knows the benefit of daily glass vs daily plastic. I feel it is safe to leave water overnight in this sippy vs a plastic one because of all the talk of plastic leaching into the water.


This is my new favorite kitchen organizing method... glass jars. I love them. I bought widemouth glass jars and plastic caps to fit them from Amazon. I feel so much more organized in my cupboards, especially because some of our shelves are much higher than normal. I can use these for leftovers and in the freezer too!



On our patio we have a wonderful turtle sandbox. When it is hot enough, we fill it with water. However, it has been cool some weeks this summer, so I decided to fill it with beans. I didn't want the mess and hassle of sand. The first beans we have tried are El Dorado beans, bought cheap at a local Mexican supermarket. They have held up nicely in the summer heat, but they do break if an adult steps on them. I will be experimenting with different types of beans to find one that is more sturdy. My next try will be Pinto beans. When they are done playing, I simply sweep them into a dust pan and dump them back into the turtle. This has provided SO many hours of good "clean" fun for the girls!!

Our CG

We love our Community Group. These people have become so dear to us in the past two years... we cherish the friendships we have with each family. We have laughed with them, cried with them, and shared our sins, struggles, and our victories in Christ with them. We thank God for giving us such an amazing group of people to walk through life together with. We look forward to raising our kids with their kids, strengthening our marriages together, and all becoming closer to the Lord with them. As Proverbs 27:17 says "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." We pray we will be able to sharpen these people as much as they have sharpened us, and moved and encouraged us on towards Christ. We love you CG!!

Andrew's Birth

My contractions started in the evening of the 12th after a walk to the nearby CVS to rent a movie. Marci's small group was meeting at our house and we were glad to leave the girls in bed while we got out for a bit. The contractions were stronger than normal on our walk, and continued but were less intense, through the entire Harry Potter movie we rented. At bedtime, Justin fell fast asleep, while I was half asleep, still feeling contractions. At about 1am I got up, unable to sleep. It was about two contractions later (at about 5 minuets apart) that I woke Justin up. I flipped on the light and told him it was time to go. We called Hannah, who came right over to spend the rest of the night with the girls. We got to the hospital at around 2am. I was dilated to 5cm. I got an epidural at around 4am. As soon as I got the epidural, my contractions slowed down and became less intense. I was extremely worried that the epidural might cause something to go wrong with the baby or the labor. I was thinking of having them turn it off. Justin was very calm and, in his typical fashion, was trusting fully in God. His wise words were helping to ease my mind. The baby's heart rate dropped for a short time and the nurse came rushing in to reposition the monitor. I was worried once again. Justin came to my side and said "Lets pray." He prayed for the labor to progress and the safety of our sweet baby. At once after he said "Amen.", my water broke! It was amazing. It was as if God was reassuring me that everything was fine. After that the labor progressed very quickly, and our sweet son was born at 5:48am. About 45 min after we prayed.
God is powerful, and this is yet another lesson for me to learn to trust him. He is in control no matter what happens. This reminded me that i still have a ways to go in learning not to worry in hard or scary times. I thank God for my faithful husband who is such a wonderful example to me in so many ways. He has tremendous faith.
I was reminded of these two verses during labor:
Phillipians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
I have the confidence that I know God enough to really love Him... and I do... I really love Him. So therefore I can claim and hold to this promise that God gives. If we love him, no matter what happens it will work out for our good. Thank you God for this promise, and my your peace that surpasses all understanding guard my heart and mind!!

It's A Boy!!

On July 13th we welcomed Andrew Edward into our family! He was born at 5:48am and weighed 8lbs 3oz and was 20 1/2 inches. We love him so much and can't wait to add some blue to our household of pink. God has been so good to us once again. We praise and worship Him for his kindness and this blessing of little Andrew! We don't deserve this life or any of our sweet kiddoes, but because God is overflowing with mercy for those who love him, we receive His grace and blessings.

Thank you Jesus, we are speechless before You.