Passionate Mama

I am passionate about my love of Jesus Christ and I am passionate about my family. When I thought about this title and writing about what I am passionate about, I asked my daughters (without sharing this title first), what they think I love the most. The answers were an emphatic, “ME!” and “Jesus!” I figured I had the title right.

I am a wife, a step-mother to two young men (though I simply consider myself their mother the majority of the time), and mother to two young girls. The aside may bother some, but there is a reason behind that aside and it is not a liberty taken lightly, but one earned through earnest prayers, much time, lots of love, counsel, guidance, concern, and worry. God has helped me guide their steps with loving church families and their grandparents. God has also shown me when it was time for me to step back and let him intervene and given me peace when He did so.

We are blessed with a lovely, Christian daughter-in-law and two beautiful grandchildren.

I began homeschooling our younger son in 2004 and have homeschooled since that time. (He did graduate from a public school with our permission. Our daughters will be graduating from homeschool when the time comes.)

Getting here has been a long journey. I have worked in the corporate world. I have had a great deal of experiences that helped me grow and learn who I really am and what matters most to me. What matters most is family – and friends who you love like family.

I have a wonderful husband with a completely different personality from mine. I am a high-strung Type A personality. He is a relaxed, easy-going Type B personality. My dad thought us getting married might help me loosen up a little.

I generally call hubby a duck – problems just roll off his back. I, on the other hand, am not a duck. Over the years of having this discussion with him, I finally came to the conclusion that God made him a duck – and that is fine, but God did not make me a duck – and both of us must simply accept that fact. I may look at him and ask, in an exasperated tone, “How can that NOT bother you?” To which he simply replies, “It just doesn't. I don't let it get to me.” On the other hand, he will look at me and ask, “Why are you letting that bother you?” I respond with, “It just does and I have to work through it.”

In life, I figure that God gives us lessons to learn. I learn by trials, challenges, and experiences. I even learn by the way I work through those trials and challenges. I have learned, for example, that it is perfectly okay to give myself permission to feel however I feel – hurt, angry, frail, lost, confused – those things that do not seem to be correct to feel sometimes. I used to hold the feelings inside until I would have a physiological issue that required me to address them. I don't do that any longer. I learned that God gave us feelings to feel what is going on around us. That is what makes me passionate and concerned and involved in this world around me.

I learned, through experience, just how valuable family is. Family is so precious. No amount of money can replace family. You can always make more money, but once time is spent, you can never get it back.

The purpose of this blog is to journey through some of these lessons I've learned and share some of these with others. I wish to be an encourager of other Christian moms in their stages of motherhood through stories, prayers, and fun ideas.

I would love your comments, thoughts, and encouragement for myself and one another. I will try to respond to requests and questions in a timely manner to the best of my ability.

This blog will be monitored. Differences of opinion with statements of why one has a different opinion are welcome. Asking for clarification is appreciated. Agreeing to disagree on a point is perfectly valid. Making assertions without having walked in someone else's shoes or getting all the details is cautioned. Unkind comments, foul language, or belittling someone else will not be tolerated.