Interview with a Mom - Karen

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.
I have been blessed with a wonderful husband and five beautiful daughters and I am a stay-at-home mom.

Why do you love being a mom?
I love that everyday I make a difference in the lives of five young girls. I love that for all the many challenges faced each day, the rewards are even greater!

What has been the most challenging part about being a mom for you?
Discipline. It is so hard to do, but such a huge part of parenting. God has entrusted these children to us and Godly discipline is part of our responsibility as we raise them to be Godly children.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb 12:11/NIV)

What advice do you have for moms in the preschool years?
Enjoy! Challenge yourself to find contentment in the everyday things…holding them in your lap to read books, snuggling up with them to take a nap, sitting on the driveway together doing sidewalk chalk, eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch together on the front porch. It is a very busy time but there is also a simplicity about it.

Share your favorite bible verse and why it means so much to you.
One of my favorites as a mom is James 1:5…If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

So many situations, questions, etc. present themselves each day and I don’t have the solutions or answers. Each night when I pray I ask God to give me wisdom from above to best direct our girls.

What is your favorite lunchtime meal?
Sandwich and chips.

What is your favorite summer activity?
Packing a picnic lunch and heading to the swimming pool for the afternoon. Summer evenings are my favorite. Riding bikes to the park, playing outside, and sitting on the front porch swing.

Share one good “mom tip” that you have learned over the years.
Kids first, housework second. This is one of my favorite poems:

Babies Don’t Keep

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth, Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread, Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking? She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue. Dishes are waiting and bills are past due.
The shopping is not done and there's nothing for stew And out in the yard there is a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing "Kanga" and this is my "Roo." Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow, For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958

Thank you Karen for the good reminders and encouraging words!

If anyone has any questions they would like me to ask in future interviews, let me know! Also, you have until July 1st to leave a comment on the Mary DeMuth interview post and have a chance to win her book Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God.

Wordless Wednesday - Chalk Art

Things I LOVE about summer!

Summer is here in full force and I LOVE it, more so this year than ever before! I think it has a lot to do with having one 3 year old and two one year olds contained in a house for far to long. The ability to free them to our backyard has helped all of our sanity!

I love the signs of summer. Things like seeing sidewalk art cover our patio, swingset, driveway and garage door (and occasionally the inside of our house as well!), fireflies lighting up the night and soft summer rains and the smell they leave behind.

I love watching my kids play outside together on the swingset, in the sandbox, or in the kiddie pool fully clothed and soaking wet. I love seeing them play t-ball with their daddy and going for bikerides together. The pleasure of laying by the pool, soaking in the sun, reading a good book is probably one of my favorite indulgences. And the summertime foods. Things like watermelon, corn on the cob and anything on the grill! I LOVE summer!

Somehow, I am always ready for fall and winter. I think if I had summer all year round I think I might forget to appreciate all the little pleasures it brings. But for now, I am thoroughly enjoying my summer days.

Interview with a Mom - Mary DeMuth

I've been thinking about my blog lately and the idea came to me, "Why not conduct interviews with moms who have survived (or are surviving) the preschool years?" I know I could use the encouragement, plus it sounded like fun.


Then I thought, "Why not start off this new segment with a giveaway?"

So, I will be giving away Mary DeMuth's book Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God!

Then I thought, "Why not ask Mary to be the first interview?" And she agreed! (Thank you Mary!)

So with all that said, here are the details:

If you would like to win Mary's book, leave a comment! For this round, lets do something simple like a comment about why you love being a mom or something you love about your mom(I am planning on doing more interviews and periodically doing more book giveaways!)

On July 1st, I will draw a name and will post the winner (by the way, if you are from out of town or out of state, please enter - I don't mind mailing the book to the winner, wherever she - or he - may live!). So, tell your friends, the more the merrier, and read on!

An Interview with Mary DeMuth


Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.
I’m a mommy of three, wife of one (thankfully!), living in North Texas. We recently returned from a two-plus year stint in France as church planters. My eldest gets her driver’s permit in six months. I’m freaked out.

Why do you write?
I believe God has put words in my heart and mind for a reason. He’s made me to communicate. By writing, I’m simply obeying Him.

Tell us a little bit about your book Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God.
It’s an intelligent, authentic book for moms. I grew tired of foofy women’s books, dumbed down. I wanted to write something that would speak to women where they were and I wanted to pull away the masks we tend to wear. I’m so very ordinary. I hope that in sharing my own struggles, I set others, who are normal like me, free.


Tell us a little bit about your new book Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture.
It’s a book for today’s parents trying to navigate a new culture with their kids. The world we grew up in has changed worldviews. The question is, what are we doing to actively prepare our children to meet a postmodern culture? I wrote this book while parenting my kids in the hyperpostmodern world of Western Europe. What we learned as a family permeates the book.

Who are some of the authors that inspire you?
I’m primarily inspired by amazing novelists: Leif Enger, Harper Lee, Walter Wangerin, C.S. Lewis, Sue Monk Kidd. Nonfiction writers: Randy Alcorn, Mark Buchanan, Anne Lamott

What book(s) are you reading right now?
I’m reading The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and This Heavy Silence by Nicole Mazzarella. Both stunning!

What is your favorite part about being a mom?
Watching my children own things (not stuff, but their own lives). For instance, Julia, my youngest, cleaned out her closet yesterday on her own volition. Sophie, my eldest, shared Jesus with her good friend because she was personally burdened to do so. Aidan, my son, told me he made a vow to return to France someday. I love watching my kids be changed by Jesus from the inside out.

What has been the most challenging part about being a mom for you?
Slowing down enough to enjoy my kids at every stage.

What advice do you have for moms in the preschool years?
Realize it passes quickly. Cherish the moments. Lay those foundations. You’ll reap much in the later years if you do that. Rest when you can. Take time away from home. Give gifts to yourself. Take a walk outside. Rejuvenate.

What is your favorite lunchtime meal?
Quesadillas (my kids love them too)

What is your favorite summer activity?
Going to the local swimming pool and hanging out/swimming/sunning with a good book

Do you have any parting advice for young moms?
Don’t be afraid to be real. Admit/confess your mistakes to your kids. Let them see you wrestle. Don’t present yourself as perfect and all together. Otherwise your children won’t understand your need for Jesus.

For more information on Mary and her books, visit her blog: www.relevantblog.blogspot.com (it is one I love to read!) and don't forget to leave a comment!

Wordless Wednesday

Okay - even though this is supposed to be wordless, I thought I'd offer a few words of explanation. Our neighbor likes to do elaborate decorations on their front porch. They change it every month or so - I just thought I'd share it with you!

Wordless Wednesday

Disclalimer: I got the idea for Wordless Wednesday from author Mary Demuth. She has written a great devotional for moms titled Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God as well as two novels and two parenting books! Check out her blog at relevantblog.blogspot.com!

One Fry Short of a HappyMeal!

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting the same results. My question is: How do moms stay sane?

Some days (today for example - and its only 8:30 am) I feel like I am slowly going insane. I pull my kids out of the same trouble, pick up the same pieces of cereal, sweep the same kitchen floor, give the same commands, break up the same fights over and over and over again EVERY DAY (sometimes every hour!).

Allow me to vent a few of my frustrations (feel free to share some of your own - I know you have them!). I am going insane from:

- pulling my boys (and girl) out of the bathroom sinks 10,000 times a day.
- picking up a million pieces of cereal (and sweeping up the ones Jonah intentially grounds into the carpet with his little chubby feet).
- putting crying boys into their carseats because they didn't get to push the garage door button this time.
- putting my boys back in their cribs 20 times each (that makes 40 total) because they are supposed to be taking a nap.
- listening to Simon cry for over an hour every night because he threw his blanket out of his crib and I refuse to play that game and pick it up for him.
- listening to a whiny little girl explain why she doesn't want to do something.
- hearing scribbling noises and realizing that Simon has found another crayon and has made his mark on the last doodle-free wall in the house.
- pulling my hysterical kids away from the snack cupboard (because the child safety lock we installed doesn't work anymore) and "starving" them (you'd think anyway by the way they act) until lunch time.

I will stop, because my house has been quiet for about 10 minutes now which probably means I need to go get the boys out of my bathroom and Kory's drawer and clean up the aftershave that they have probably poured all over themselves as I write!

I may just go and check myself into a mental ward when Kory gets home today - at least I would have some peace and quiet! (Just kidding - kind of :))