These are five of the books that have been helpful to me these past couple years. Under each one, I will share a snippet of what each one was about. My purpose is to encourage you and help you grow in being a Mom. Hopefully, this post will guide you to a book that reminds you that you are an awesome Mom and doing a great job.

Prayer is powerful. It is something we can do anytime and anywhere. I love how God uses our prayers and answers in His perfect timing. One of the most powerful things we can do for our kids is to pray scripture over them. In 2013, I began a journey of praying scripture over our children. It…

As a parent, I am constantly thinking about how I can help build character in our children. I desire that my kids will reflect Jesus and be a light to the world. This past year, I found a resource that has been so helpful in this journey. It’s a book called In This House We Will Giggle by Courtney DeFeo. The subtitle of the book is “Making Virtues, Love & Laughter a Daily Part of Your Family Life.”

Do you know the difference between body-consciousness and body-confident? Which one would you rather your daughter be? I didn’t know the difference until I started reading Raising Body-confident Daughters: 8 Conversations to have with your Tween by Dannah Gresh. This book starts with sharing the difference between being body-consciousness and being body-confident. I love how Dannah addressed our need to have our thoughts about our bodies based on God’s intended purpose.

My kids love to tell me about a book they are reading, a game they are playing or what happened at a friend’s house. My kids share all the details. All. The. Details. Sometimes, I have a hard time tracking the point of their stories. To be totally honest, sometimes I get weary of listening…

Have you ever waited a long time in a line? You may have really wanted to purchase something for your child and in your mind, it was worth the wait. I did this at an event the other day. My kids were so excited to get a balloon from the balloon artist. At first, it seemed that the wait was short.

“Mommy, watch this! “ I have heard this phrase over and over again through the years. Does it sound familiar to you? Kids love when we watch them. Over the past several months, I have realized how much I have missed. Why have I missed the things my kids have done? Because I have been too busy catching up on other people’s life. The Facebook, text, Voxer, and email notifications have consumed me. God has been working on my heart in this area and I am so thankful.

Prayer is one of the most powerful weapons we have. How often are you using this weapon? How are you using it? The other day we had a prayer time as a family. My eyes were opened. I was challenged and convicted.

The second workshop that I attended at the Hearts at Home conference was called “Sticks! A plan for hope and reduced stress.” It was led by Nadia Swearingen-Friesen. I appreciated Nadia’s transparency and encouragement. The three main points that I gleaned from this workshop were: Know your dreams for your family and have a plan to implement, Our job is not to raise only good children but kind, compassionate and faithful adults, and Teaching kids the importance of playing with their siblings.

Have you ever wanted to go to a place to receive training in mothering? To help you sharpen your skills? To be surrounded by Moms just like you? I attended a conference that met each of these needs. It is called Hearts at Home and was held on April 21-22 in Peoria, IL. This is my third year attending this conference. Every time I go, I walk away refreshed, challenged and encouraged. In the next several blog posts, I will share the three key points I learned from each workshop or main session. My desire and prayer are that you will able be refreshed, encouraged and challenged in your parenting journey after reading these blogs.