Every day we have a choice. A choice to walk with our head held high or downcast. No one can make us walk a certain way. It all comes down to what we believe. This was displayed to me last year at a Spartan event. A Spartan finisher walked by slowly as if carrying the weight of the world. His face was downcast and he limped a little because of an injury. My friends and I called out “Great job on the Spartan. You did it!”  The finisher mumbled “Thanks” and limped away.

"Mom, what’s for dinner? What are we doing this week?" Do these questions sound familiar? If your kids are similar to mine, you have probably heard these questions countless times. Today, I am going to share with you how two charts have answered these questions for my kids.

It’s already July! Wow, I can’t believe this year is halfway over. Today's post is an update on how I am doing with my new goals for this year. I will also include an update on my habits for the year.

Failure. Just reading that word used to make me cringe. The key words are ‘used to.’ Failure is still not my favorite thing but it has become a friend to me. Why? Because I can learn so much from failure. At the beginning of the year, I set goals and felt very optimistic about them. And then life happened. I realized I needed to let go of some goals and make some changes to the ones I kept.

Today, I am thrilled to share with you an interview with Natalie Replogle. She is the author of a fiction series called “Come to My Rescue.” If you haven’t read her books, I encourage you to check them out as soon as you’re done reading this post. Not only is Natalie an amazing author, she is a dear friend of mine. Before we became friends, I remember thinking to myself, “She is so cool. I need to be her friend.” Natalie loves Jesus and reflects Him in her life so well. She is also an incredible wife and Mom who loves her family deeply. Natalie is so much fun and brings joy to anyone she meets. Enjoy reading this post and getting to know Natalie more.

It has been a full but fun week around here. How has your week been? Two Books, a Trampoline, and a New Walmart are just a few of my favorite things from this week. Read on to see what my other favorites are.

Today’s blog post is an interview with 5 different Moms at various stages of Motherhood.  They have each read the devotional called When the Bases are Loaded. I am excited to share their thoughts.

On an average day, how much do you listen? Not just the listen to while you work listening. But the stop everything and give your full attention listening. Be intentional. This is hard to do, isn’t it? But, listening is one of the greatest gifts we can give one another. Listening is especially hard to do with kids. Maybe you can relate? One of the workshops I attended at Hearts at Home addressed this. It was called 10 Questions to ask your kids every year and it was led by Susan Seay.

Do you ever feel like your child is deliberately trying to drive you crazy? Do you ever struggle knowing how to discipline and motivate your children? Me too. Which is why I read You Can’t Make Me by Cynthia Tobias. This book is packed full of information on how to bring out the best in your strong-willed children. Today, I want to share with you three reasons why I think you would like You Can’t Make Me.

How well do you love your friends and family? A lot of that depends on how well you listen to them. Does that surprise you? It surprised me. Another workshop I attended at Hearts at Home was called Listen, Ask, Listen. It was led by Kendall Parkhurst. She shared a lot of great insight about listening. Today, I will share a few key points that stood out to me.