Perspectives in Parenting

You're a busy mom with kids, and you've read it all: use the crockpot, eat frozen pizza, cook in bulk. But, today, I'm sharing some tips and tricks that you may have never thought of that will save you HOURS of kitchen work and get you cooking healthy, at-home meals! Whether you stay home, work, have one child or five, you will LOVE these unique, time-saving ideas that will get healthy meals on the table and keep you sane in the process! 1. Get dinner ready at breakfast (or lunch) This tip is a game-changer once you get into the habit of it! The trick is to prep dinner while your children are eating breakfast and are semi-entertained.  For some of...

I don’t know what it is about becoming a mom that suddenly makes you feel like every.thing.you.do. is being judged by every other mom that you ever come in contact with, from mother-in-laws to close friends to strangers on the street. You just know they are watching your every move and asking judge-y questions about you in their heads: “Isn’t she too young to be a mom?” “Are ALL those kids hers?” “She feeds her kids fast food and red dye?!” “Doesn’t she know breast is best?” You begin to feel defensive against a random elderly lady who wiped your toddler’s nose in the dairy section at Wal-Mart. (Yes, that happened to me. I was going to wipe it in a minute, I swear!...

As a single mom to eleven and thirteen year old daughters, one thing I have found to be true is there are always two sides to every story. With that in mind, I enlisted the help of my thirteen year old daughter, Angel, to help me tell our adoption story. Jess: After watching a single mom in our church take in three little boys and walk through healing and restoration with the family, in January of 2008, my then husband and I started praying about being foster parents. We had been married for four years, just built a house, had no kids of our own and knew the Lord was stirring something in us to do more than create a life...

6:55 am in red letters on the stove clock. “Kids, let’s go. If we don’t hurry up, we will be late.” Now I see 7:00 am ... keep calm but we gotta get moving. “Bennett, you have enough toys for the 10 min car ride to school. You don’t NEED a bad guy. Buzz, Ninja Turtles, and Jake can all be friends in the car. How about we play nice and don’t bring a bad guy? Oh whatever, just get in the car.” “Avery, I understand you don’t like your shoes. You tell me every morning, but those are part of your uniform. The car is open, go get in your seat and buckle up!!” OK, kids out the door, lights...

In Part 1 of my post, I shared our typical day of being a mom and working full-time.  Now, I wanted to take some time to go into the reasons why I work, my tips for balancing life and work, and my advice for dealing with that "mommy guilt" that we all struggle with one way or another. Top reasons I feel that working full time works best for my family: Money - Life is expensive. Period. No explanation needed. Schooling- I went to college then graduate school to pursue a degree where I could make a difference in this world and I want to use it. Continuing Education and Intellectual Stimulation - I enjoy learning new techniques and procedures that will better...