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Redeeming Halloween | The Pumpkin Gospel

What does Redeeming Halloween look like?  If you are reading this post, most likely you or someone you know has struggled with "celebrating halloween" like most of our American or World culture does... and you are looking for an alternative. If you are like me, you didn't want to be the grinch or viewed as some judgmental Christian. And let's face it, even in the church, when you rebel against the norm of what most do, people judge [...]

Reclaiming the Sacred Influence of the Woman

Dearest Sister, Sometimes we can loose sight of our purpose, our mission, and our calling. In all the striving to be a better wife, mom, sister, writer, homemaker, _____, we can forget that our identity is not connected to any of those roles. Since the beginning, women have struggled to find their identity in God alone. Just look where that got Eve. And now here we are, Daughters of Eve, Daughters of the One True [...]

Why We Don’t Do Sleepovers: Parental Peer Pressure

When I was a kid I never really thought about the pressure I put my parents under when I was asking, then nagging them if I could go over to a friend’s house after church. It’s funny how most children don’t have it in them to actually think outside of their self focused wants and put themselves in their parent’s shoes. So naturally when I was pregnant with our first baby, I was completely unprepared [...]

Redeeming Halloween Resources

Do we participate in the annual halloween festivities that our culture pushes?  This is the age old question I believe all parents for generations have struggled with. Don't you?   Regardless of how different things are today than they were when our parents were raising us, the reality is, this question still haunts parents today. I have often talked with other moms about the challenge we have as first generation parents who are not only [...]

Refusing to Raise Cookie Cutter Kids: Entitlement Attitude or Work Ethic?

In the previous post, which you can read here, we talked about how what we believe in regards to why and what we were created for impacts our parenting. Today I am going to share what we personally believe and how that impacts the way we parent. Disclaimer:  We are in the trenches and by no means have it all figured out!  We are not perfect parents, we screw up a TON! Our children aren't [...]

By |August 10th, 2012|Blog, Core Christian Parenting Fundamentals|3 Comments

Refusing to Raise Cookie Cutter Kids Part 3

If you knew that you only had until your child was 16, 17, 18, or 19 (or even 25) years old to train them for life... what would you most focus on? Are you doing that? I am preaching to the choir here trust me. I am guilty of getting too busy, making my kids too busy that they don't have time to develop some of the character traits on my list.  What happens then?  [...]

By |August 9th, 2012|Blog, Core Christian Parenting Fundamentals|0 Comments

Refusing to Raise Cookie Cutter Kids Part 2

What has inspired this post series on Refusing to Raise Cookie Cutter Kids? I have been thinking about the youth of today in general.  You hear about how the average child watches between 3-5 hours of television a day and know from experience how busy a child's life can be going from school to sports and from piano lessons to youth group. When you stop to think about a child's life for a moment... how [...]

By |August 8th, 2012|Blog, Core Christian Parenting Fundamentals|2 Comments

Refusing to Raise Cookie Cutter Kids

You know that concept... "Cookie Cutter"... it's used to describe the neighborhoods where all the homes look, well, cookie cutter! They all have the same trim, the same paint, the same lawn... Something has been awakened in my mind and soul recently... as my heart aches more for the needy, it aches more for the lost, but it also aches for us all, the privileged. This past week our family was blessed to go to [...]

Thistles~ Weed Em’ Out

Thistles... those nasty, prickly, hard to weed noxious plants! Aren't they a terrible nuisance to the gardener? One thing about these thistles: you need to get them out when they are little!  If you wait to long to pull them... their roots grow deeper and their thorns grow bigger and more prolific. If you were to compare pulling say this weed:   to this weed: Boy, what a difference!  There is really no comparison! The [...]

Thistles & Thorns

My eldest daughter screeched, "Ouch Mom! I'm all scratched up!" "Well why don't you were gloves Kels?" I responded... so began the next conversation with the kids... (I know what you are thinking... wow she over does it when it comes to these metaphors...but really, honestly... can you over due teaching when you have hours of weeding... plenty of time to sing and laugh and simply sit quietly working hard together... is there such a [...]