
Inspiration and encouragement for your journey
Mom Moments
Recent Posts
Find the latest encouragement and inspiration for the journey.
I created these school planning pages out of desperation. I SO needed to get back on track! Did they help? Some more than others. But I can say for certain that they are 100% cute. In this download you’ll find a weekly lesson plan, semester schedule, grade report sheets, and book/media record sheets. All can be sized for any planner, including the Happy Planner.
If you’re like I was, your kids use more digital media than you’d like. Maybe they’re into video games, binging episodes of Bluey, mindless scrolling through YouTube. If you’ve ever had the thought, “I sure wish he’d do something that doesn’t involve a screen,” then you a. Have a problem b. Are in the perfect position to solve it!
Joy of Advent is a virtual daily devotional reading for children and adults. Each email also has curated music videos and classical (usually) works of art that are truly breathtaking. The Joy of Advent daily readings are structured around the Jesse Tree, in part because the Jesse Tree is a beautiful, ancient tradition, and because it gives us the opportunity to pull a scarlet thread from the tapestry of Scripture.
I couldn’t pay my kids to go outside. They’d drag out of bed, take bowls of cereal to the family room where they’d watch TV followed by hours of begging for “screen time” while I battled our way through the morning’s schoolwork. Months of this, years of it. We fought this battle day after day until we made a dramatic decision and drastic change.
If you think your kids are safe online, think again. Read one mother’s horror story about online dangers and learn the number one best way to protect your kids short of setting back the clock twenty years. Learn about Gryphon and digital safety.
Encouragement
& Inspiration
Needing a word of encouragement? Find it here!
I had dreams for my family life, for the kids education, for my own recreation time (which currently clocked in at daily total of zero minutes, zero seconds). I longed to do things like knit, read books with real pages, write for the joy of it. Instead, I was living life of reacting—not to God’s direction—but to people’s momentary expectations, urgent tasks all shoving and bickering to be FIRST on my list. I was desperate to get back to the most important focus of every day...
If you’re like I was, your kids use more digital media than you’d like. Maybe they’re into video games, binging episodes of Bluey, mindless scrolling through YouTube. If you’ve ever had the thought, “I sure wish he’d do something that doesn’t involve a screen,” then you a. Have a problem b. Are in the perfect position to solve it!
I couldn’t pay my kids to go outside. They’d drag out of bed, take bowls of cereal to the family room where they’d watch TV followed by hours of begging for “screen time” while I battled our way through the morning’s schoolwork. Months of this, years of it. We fought this battle day after day until we made a dramatic decision and drastic change.
How do children learn creativity? Creativity requires courage, and courage requires risk. This lesson is especially vital for children of Apraxia of Speech and their families. Plus discover the inspiration behind the hit retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, Violet and the Woof!
"Anybody can come up with one right answer." The key is to look for the next right answer ...
Helps for Home
Keep home running smoothly with these resources.
If Mamma’s Not Happy…
Taking care of the caretaker is often last on the list, except here!
A Writer’s Life
A glimpse inside the everyday life of a flawed mamma trying to balance writing, homeschooling, and living God’s purpose.
I stopped posting to Instagram in November of 2020. And in so doing (or, not doing, I suppose), I noticed some things… First, there’s very little “Social” about Social Media.
An ever-growing collection of interviews. Going forward all will be linked here for your (and my) convenience! Because I’m not much better at keeping track of links than anyone else. This list could easily serve as an FAQ, with some questions appearing in interviews more or less frequently than others. I hope you’ll enjoy pursuing the links and sharing broadly and widely with all your wonderful people!
For just under an hour I sat in the Calvin College Seminary chapel, captivated by quite possibly the most interesting (and energetic) person ever to be in Calvin College’s Seminary chapel. I took more notes at that session than all the others I attended combined. Good blog headlines? Blogging and social media? Blog-killing mistakes? I scribbled it all down. Like…
My next release, Violet and the Woof, coming soon, has an official cover! And here it is:
My final two events are passed: Books & Mortar and Hopscotch Children's Store Halloween Party. Halloween is officially over!
Saturday marked another release event for my first book, Halloween Good Night, and once again, we had amazing fun. Schuler Books in Grand Rapids set up everything from tables with crafts to treat bags to a cup of water for the visiting author (what, for me?!?).
I had dreams for my family life, for the kids education, for my own recreation time (which currently clocked in at daily total of zero minutes, zero seconds). I longed to do things like knit, read books with real pages, write for the joy of it. Instead, I was living life of reacting—not to God’s direction—but to people’s momentary expectations, urgent tasks all shoving and bickering to be FIRST on my list. I was desperate to get back to the most important focus of every day...