I am really just a simple girl blessed beyond words. As a mother of five beautiful children, a grateful wife, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a teacher and a follower of Jesus Christ… I stand humbled. This book is about my journey through parenting intentionally while navigating through the challenges of raising five very unique children. This book is full of practical tips and inspiration.

Who will be influenced by my life? Who will be influenced by your life? Who will be influenced by those you influence? Consider the roles that you play. Are you living as a strong influence in these roles? What might be preventing you from having the influence you desire? Woundedness? Fear? Insecurity? Habits? Selfishness? Jealousy? Need for apologies? Need for forgiveness? Explore the ways you might intentionally lean into your roles with influence!! Our conversation offers five ways to strengthen your influence.

Nobody is immune to the virus of stress. All of us are vulnerable to the bacteria of stress. We all have to deal with three things that just come with life and they all cause stress. The boundaries between work and leisure, public and private, are dissolving so that we have no rest and we are forced to be time jugglers and multi-taskers. We’re all rats in the rat race. We’re all overwhelmed by all we have to do and we struggle with priorities to remember and agendas to keep under control.” Check out these ideas to get the stress out when you are stressed out!

While traditions certainly hold value, they can also involve stress. Holding too tightly to unreachable expectations can evaporate all of the joy out of the holidays. Letting go of expectations can eliminate stress and create room for happy memories.

Friendship has always been super important to me. I believe that the relationships that we have with our family and friends are really our legacy. The experiences and life energy of friendship with family and others are really our most important treasures. When evaluating what is important in our lives, I don’t think many things are more meaningful than the investment we make in the people in our lives.

One of the easiest and most productive habits a mom or dad can cultivate for noticeable success is implementing car school. Whether you home school or choose to do school in a traditional way, you likely realize how difficult it is for your child to sit still to memorize, read or listen. Because I have succeeded wildly with this idea over my twenty plus years of parenting, I vouch for it enthusiastically!!

From the time I was a little girl, I would pray out loud and talk to God. Then I would listen. I would listen all day everyday. It was like an ongoing conversation. It can be words or music. Because my mother and father loved God and spent time nurturing our spiritual formation, I had a firm confidence in God’s love for me and his desire to communicate with me.

So, what is a 10 minute face? What other kind of faces are there? What can you actually do to your face in 10 minutes? What is this important to “embrace” most “everyday”?

Fatherhood on earth actually comes from the fatherhood of God.  From the very beginning Christ is the perfect father.  He created fatherhood on earth as an introduction to who he is.