By Dougetta Nuneviller
Spring is the perfect time to talk about birth. Baby animals are born, baby plants spring from the ground. Life begins again, and all things are new. Just like when we are born again in Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! II Corinthians 5:17
By Jill Savage
I once read that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who walk into a room and say, “Here I am. Come talk to me. Come ask me about me. Come make me feel comfortable,” and those who walk into a room and say, “There you are! You look interesting to get to know. Tell me about yourself.” It’s a subtle but essential distinction.
Friendship has to begin somewhere. If you’re friends with someone from childhood, you may not remember how that friendship began. As adults, however, we need to know how to meet someone new, get to know them a bit, and determine if pursuing a friendship would be valuable. The quicker we can learn to be a “There you are!” person, the easier it is to meet new people. When we stay in our “Here I am” corners, we are more concerned about our own comfort level than we are about the comfort of those around us—and we are slow to make friends.
Join Jill today on Focus on the Family: Embracing the Imperfections of Real-Life Motherhood
By Jill Savage
One summer when my two youngest boys were in grade school, they ran inside and said, “Mom, it’s so hot outside! Can we see if it’s hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk?” The practical side of me started to say no, but I caught myself. Why can’t they try it? Why is my first thought always no? Why can’t I say yes? Is it “wasting” an egg, or simply using it for a different, but just as valuable, purpose?
Join Jill today on Focus on the Family: Embracing the Imperfections of Real-Life Motherhood
By Jill Savage
When child number one threw a fit in the grocery store one day, screaming at the top of her lungs in this very public place, I was so embarrassed. I’d witnessed a scene like that before I had children, and I swore my kids would never do that. Since becoming a mom, I’ve found myself in all kinds of situations I never thought I’d be in.
Note: Be sure to listen in as Erin talks about her book for moms, “Beyond Bath Time” on Focus on the Family today.
By Erin Davis
I can feel it happening again. I’m dreaming of a Mother’s Day where I am allowed to sleep until 10, wake up to a fancy brunch and a clean house, and enjoy an endless stream of compliments and thank yous from my husband and children. It’s the kind of Mother’s Day we all dream of and the kind, of course, that ain’t never gonna happen.
And then what? Shall I sulk? Throw a fit? Pout in the corner? Probably not.
By Erin Davis
Batman probably ranks high on most lists of superheros. I certainly dig his leather pantsuit and underground lair. But my favorite thing is the bat light. When citizens were in trouble, they would shine a giant bat-shaped spotlight over Gotham, and down would swoop their hero to save the day.
God has sent out the bat light to parents for generations. If we look in His Word, we find countless calls to make teaching and living our faith out at home our highest priority. In verse after verse, God sends the clear signal that our children are a gift and a mission field. When we miss this message, the consequences are huge.
By Amy Catalina
Of all holidays, Mother’s Day is probably the one that evokes the widest spectrum of emotions. Perhaps it’s warm thoughts of your own mother or joy that you ARE a mother. Perhaps it’s pain and disappointment if you are enduring infertility. Perhaps it’s heartache if your relationship with your mother is strained or she’s gone. Perhaps it’s angst if your current season of motherhood involves more pain than joy.
By: Kristyn Getty
In the spring of 2008 I first prayed for a baby, and in the spring of 2011 God answered that prayer with the birth of our beautiful daughter. My joy was full but so were the fears I wrestled. In some ways I felt like a baby Christian again, caught in a whirlwind of emotions, learning and applying what I have known and trusted into a completely new life – I know I’m definitely not the first to feel that!
Friends of ours had given us a card when their first son was born; it was full of prayer requests for his little life, a prayer for every day of the month. My prayers were not quite as coherent as those, especially at first, but the urgency of the moment drove me to my knees. “Help her, help me” baby prayers at 3am; prayers as I heard the baby monitor light up in the morning; prayers when I thought of her safety, her soul, her future; prayers with my husband; prayers while Eliza listened in.
By Heather Patenaude
Mom. Just hearing or seeing the name brings up so many thoughts, memories, and feelings. For you as a mom…and of your mom. (Kiddo: “You have a mom?!?!” You: “Yes. Mommy has a mom.”) Perhaps those thoughts, memories, and feelings are rich and happy. Perhaps they are sad, painful, and full of loss. Or perhaps they are a swirling, complex mix of both.
I’m certain there are those whose Mom-memories sit on one of the two extremes—utterly happy or truly painful. And for those of you in that painful place, let me stop to say I pray you know the healing and redemption of Jesus and are fueled by His power in your own mothering. But my guess is that many of you fall into that last, complicated mix—because that what life is! A complicated mix of joy, pain, awkwardness, humor, hurt, wisdom and a host of other adjectives.
By Erin Davis
One of the things that troubles me about raising kids in the current cultural climate is the trend toward blurring gender lines. In the eyes of the majority, what makes girls girls and boys boys is all up for negotiation. The implications of this shift seem huge in the lives of my children (and their children, and their children…).
But frankly, I’m a little too swamped with bedtimes and temper tantrums to find time to figure out how to instill Biblical gender roles in my sons. I don’t have a clue how to cut the Truths in God’s Word up into pieces small enough for my littles to digest and embrace. Most days I just tell them to go play in the mud and hope that somehow translates into an understanding of who God wants them to be. I recognize that it it’s important to teach my kids about God’s design for who they are, but I need some tools to make it happen.
As we start celebrating Mother’s Day around here at Beyond Bath Time our heart goes to those want-to-be moms. I know there are many of our friends and sisters who are dealing with infertility. This following post is from a young woman who is hoping for two pink lines!
“When my husband and I first started trying for a baby, we were ecstatic. We picked out names, thought of fun announcements, started planning around certain dates- we were ready for an addition. But month after month has passed and we’re not the ones making a pregnancy announcement- everyone else is. Feelings of despair and fear set in.
By Heather Patenaude
This month here on Beyond Bath Time we are going to be celebrating Mother’s Day! We are looking forward to honoring our moms, sharing our hearts, having a few guest bloggers, and a few giveaways!
Make sure you check back every weekday from now through the week after mother’s day as we celebrate motherhood and moms!
By Heather Patenaude
I received a text from a new mom recently. It took me right back to those first few weeks I navigated the waters of motherhood. Everyone else made motherhood look easy! But now, with this 7 pound bundle, I felt clueless!
8 years and 3 kids later, I read the text from my new mom friend and just smiled thinking, “Oh the newborn stage goes so fast and yet everything seems so overwhelming!”
The answer to this question might seem pretty obvious.A child from outside a family becomes a part of a family. Forever.
The circumstances from which that child comes can vary immensely from one child to another. The essence, however, is the same in every case: the presence of both extreme loss and need. Loss of a birth family. Need for a stable, secure, loving, and warm forever family.
Romans 8:37-39 … in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“We are soldiers of the Lord”, I told my children one day. “You mean were going to war mom?” This was the start to a very interesting conversation.