Category: Family

Family life is daily. There is no vacation from being in family, yet is a daily practice session for application of how we are to live with others. Enjoy every practice session as you grow together and learn about and grow in God’s incredible grace.

Family, Finances, For the Love of Family

How Living with Boundaries Makes Life Better

I can’t remember the exact day or even time period of my life when it happened. But it was a conviction; a conviction that grew and expanded to infiltrate all of my life.  The conviction? God’s blessings come with boundaries; boundaries for our benefit and his glory. As Gary and I were climbing out of debt, and dealing with the temptation of using credit, I was slowly convicted. Although we lived fairly simply, our spending was beyond the boundaries of our income. It was probably an answer to some sporadically spoken prayer for contentment and ridding ourselves of materialistic and […]

Family, For the Love of Family

Parenting by Faith

  And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.   It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command. It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting […]

Family, For the Love of Family

Valentine’s Day is Next Week!

Valentine’s Day is possibly my favorite holiday. Not in the romantic way, but only in the childhood precious memories way: decorating shoe boxes, making and exchanging valentines or more (relatively) recently our family’s annual tea party with homemade sugar and chocolate cookies. For whatever reason, I have always loved Valentine’s Day. The holiday gives reason to celebrate love between friends and family. Wanting to make Valentine’s Day special for our boys and Gary, it was necessary to plan. Time, money and energy resources were sometimes limited. To instill a fond Valentine’s memory in our children, management of all resources was imperative. In […]

Family, For the Love of Family

A Resolution I didn’t make

It was crowded after our delayed three hour turbulent ride from Denver to Chicago. Passengers were inevitably going to miss connecting flights and emotion was running high,  yet most of us patiently waited our turn to exit the plane. A two minute dialogue between a young mom and two irate passengers created an unexpected personal resolution. I didn’t resolve at that very moment – it just happened.  A sad, painful ‘discussion’ caused me to unconsciously resolve to add a bit of kindness to life’s daily interactions. The mom, concerned for her young child, asked politely “would you please watch your […]

Family, For the Love of Family

Mary Did You Know?

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Mary Did You Know? (lyrics by Mark Lowry; music by Buddy Greene). By asking the question, Mary did you know?, the song prompts us to consider the possibility of Mary not knowing. Most likely she didn’t know what Jesus life would entail for him to be the Savior of the world. As a young girl and planning to be married soon, she was confused and disturbed (Luke 1:29). She tried to understand as she was told, “The baby will be holy, and he will be called the son of God.” I believe Mary […]

Family, Food, For the Love of Family

Making Breakfast Work for YOUR Family

In my  recent post 5  Intentional Practices for a Great School Year, the first practice listed was breakfast. We know that it is the ‘most important meal of the day’ but how  At Family and Home Works, our goal is to give easy-to-implement suggestions to make family and home work for YOUR family.  Below I have outlined a a few suggestions for the most common barriers. “I’m Not Hungry”.  Humans can’t go a long time without their body needing some kind of sustenance. Hunger may not reveal itself immediately upon waking, but it will come. Our goal is to avoid hunger while […]