Tell Me a Story . . .

One gift we can give our children and grandchildren is a good story.
Whether it's a fairy tale or a family story, learning how to tell a story is a skill any grandparent can learn and use to encourage, affirm, and entertain.
Check out this column, Once Upon a Time, from Hearts at Home, for tips about telling stories.

Job Description for Moms: Intense

It's easy to forget the intensity of the day-to-day job of motherhood.
For a quick reminder, check out this job description for moms from a column I wrote several years ago for Hearts at Home.

Once Upon A Time . . .

One of the abiding pleasures of family life is sharing stories.
Whether it's a traditional fairy tale or a true story from the family archives, children are enchanted by stories, and stories offer adults a way to share insights, lessons, and faith in a kid-friendly way. Even better, sharing a good story is fun for everyone.
Once upon a time is one way to start -- you can read it here in the article Once Upon A Time I wrote on the Hearts at Home website.

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One of the best stories we can share is the Easter story. During this Lenten season, we can get ready to share it with our children. Here, in another article I've written on the Hearts at Home website, Teach Them Diligently, you can get some ideas for preparing to share the story of Easter with the children in your life.

Wise Investment

Encouragement is a kind of investment in your family, whether you're encouraging your own child or your grandchildren. The Art of Encouragement on the Hearts at Home website talks about how you can encourage family members, and why it's so important.

Making a List, Checking it Twice . . .

What's on your Christmas list this year? Have you thought yet about what you really want?
Making a List on the Hearts at Home website has some suggestions for things you might want to consider!

Crazy at Christmas?

Has Christmas frenzy hit your family?
As a grandma, I remember all too well what it was like to have a houseful of excited children during the Christmas season -- they would get more and more wound up as my husband and I would get more and more tired.
Now I watch as those very children parent their own children, and wrestle with the same excitement and fatigue.
In Taming the Christmas Crazies on the Hearts at Home website, I've offered practical ideas for making the Christmas season a little more sane for everyone. Hope you'll check it out and find some new ways to enjoy the celebration!

Two Tips for Holiday Planning

We spent a little time yesterday with two of the grandkids. A museum trip and dinner out proved both fun and interesting -- what a privilege it is to watch a child come alive to history!
On our way home we drove through snow flurries. It reminded me that the holiday season is almost here, and it's time to get ready. You'll find what I think about that in my blog post Getting Ready for Company on Inspired Bliss. Please stop by!
And if you'd like to include the kids in your preparation, check out my column Thanksgiving Fun on the Hearts at Home website!

One Way to Make the Holidays Happier

A week-end trip to the mall reinforced the reality of changing seasons: Christmas trees, ornaments, and decorations compete with Halloween masks for shelf space.
If you're adjusting to new in-laws, and just thinking of the holiday season is stressful, make time to reflect on how you'd like things to go.
After I'd been a mother-in-law for awhile, I was thinking about some of those issues,and wrote “In-Law Manners” for the Hearts at Home Pantagraph column. I'd come to realize that grandma was right: good manners can get you through almost any situation.
It's just one more way to get ready for the holidays!

Reasons to Rest

One of the tools in our grandparenting bag is modeling.
This is a tool parents use, too, but with age we gain impact when we model good behavior.
Oh, sure, our kids might sigh, even roll their eyes as they mutter something like “what's mom up to now?”
But our grandkids -- they're watching and listening more closely than we realize.
That's why it's important to be intentional about how we live.
If we keep going at a breakneck pace just because we can, we're teaching our kids and grandkids that it's a good way to live.
And maybe it's not.
What about rest?
I wrote about resting in yesterday's Hearts at Home column in the Bloomington Pantagraph. (It's my last column in that space, coincidentally.)
If you're feeling rushed, tired, over-extended, you might want to make time to read it. It could be all the excuse you need to relax.

Summer Fun

Some of my best memories are of spending time with my grandma in her kitchen. It was the place she was most at home. Not only was she a wonderful cook -- she liked to just sit and visit at the kitchen table, sometimes doing little chores like snapping beans or shelling peas. (Who shells peas any more?)
I work as a volunteer with Hearts at Home, a Christ-centered organization designed to encourage, educate and equip moms. Currently a column I wrote several years ago about summer fun in the kitchen is on the home page of the website. You can read the full article here.
If you have grandchildren visiting this summer, check out these ideas for breakfast pizza, summer smoothies, and summer refrigerator art!