Momma Tara~Parenting
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Stupid Ol’ Apology
Earlier today, the girls and I had to run to our doctor’s office for a quick well-child check. The entire outing took less than an hour and everything went perfectly on time. But, in one of those “tell your children about your BIG GIANT FAILURE” kind of teaching moments … (Because wow! They sure do love to hear about when we’ve blown it, don’t they?!) … I told them about a visit to this doctor’s office that did not go nearly as well … Years ago, I rushed and rushed to get through our morning, pack up the (much younger) kids, get them to my friend’s house, and make it to my appointment…
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I Bet I Was A Prayer Request Just Like That When I Was 13 Years Old (The Rich Tapestry of God’s Providence)
If you haven’t read this Tim Challies’ post, you really should. It is wonderful! The Rich Tapestry of God’s Providence It reminds me of five minutes I spent with a woman at my church after our service. She had given a prayer request during the service for a thirteen year-old girl she knows whose life situation is utterly chaotic: addict mother, no stable home, might have to move out of state to live with a father who has had no contact with her in years. This dear woman was not only concerned, she was trying to discern the role (if any) she and her her husband should play in this…
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My Arguments Bounced Off of Her Like Tigger on Red Bull
A few years ago, I had the joy of serving a group of pre-teens and teens in a Geography class. Not being a geography expert (understatement of the year and a fact that I made quite clear to the parents and students when they asked me to serve), I was happy to walk with the students through their Geography textbook as they memorized vocabulary words and definitions and took their tests and quizzes. But, as I told them, I was never going to remember the name of every ocean / river / lake or the capital of every country / province / state, etc. because: A) I don’t have the time to memorize all of…
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The Difficult Task of Declining the Sleepover Invitation
Last year I read a post by Tim Challies on why his family doesn’t do sleepovers, reminded me of an awkward conversation we had to have with some of our dearest friends in the world. It had to do with an invitation that one of our daughters had for a birthday party sleepover. As a general rule, we are a “NO SLEEPOVER” type of family. But we have some exceptions to this rule—basically, when we have known a family for years and years and we trust them and their children to be not only appropriate, but vigilant, re: access to and use of technology, nature of entertainment, length of unsupervised child-time,…
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Child Abuse in the Church: Justice Can be Grace
I greatly appreciated this link from Challies and I urge you to read it and listen to its counsel: Safeguarding Against Abuse in the Church The only thing I would add is that it’s never too young to (age-appropriately) begin talking with children about these things. Let me give you an example … When Sophia was little, my assigned task at our little homeschooling co-op was theology and parties. (Great job I have, eh?!) One Christmas Co-Op Party sticks out in my mind because that week, a dear friend had shared with me more details of how she was sexually abused for years by her own father, pastor, and other church leaders (many of whom are in…
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Forgiven — Not Just Our Sin, But the GUILT of Our Sin
One of our family’s favorite Psalms is Psalm 32. I really can’t imagine parenting without it. As one example of why it is so necessary to us, years ago, my husband and young daughter were reading through The Hobbit and Fred had to correct her attitude on something. I wouldn’t have even known about this little exchange because I was upstairs at the time, in an entirely different area of the house, preparing (“coincidentally”) for our women’s study that week on Psalm 32, but the weeping child roused me and I headed downstairs to see what was going on. (BTW— meditating on Scripture, praying, and looking up theological terms that I could not easily define…
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Does Motherhood Narrow the Mind?
Last week, in our church’s Introduction to Theology and Logic class, I was privileged to discuss three extremely important topics with three extremely wonderful pre-teen girls: The Ordo Salutis God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Free Will The Problem of Evil I hadn’t planned on discussing these topics–but I teach by the Socratic method and thus, I go where the class takes us. And our initial discussion (that I had planned for the day) on whether you can prove Christianity scientifically landed us smack-dab on top of the three topics above. So that’s what we spend the majority of our time on—on those topics and looking at Ephesians 1. As I debriefed with the girls’ mothers after class,…
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Remembering As We Are Dying
Easter always makes me think a lot about death. Of course, Good Friday is the main impetus for my thoughts. The worst day ever, leading to the best day ever. But I also think about our second child who slipped from my womb the afternoon of Easter, 2007. The Day of Life reminds me of death. Every year. Plus, I miss my mom. Sure, she was all about the bonnets and the gloves and the bunnies—what we call “Springtime Fun” in our home (as opposed to the Real Easter). But it was still very spring-y and very fun. So I miss her smoker’s laugh at the girls’ egg-hunting, baskets-overflowing hilarity. I…
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My Top Three Suggestions re: Air Travel with a Baby
At the end of Ella’s gymnastics class yesterday, a young mom and I were talking about her upcoming (flying) trip with just her 2 year-old, her newborn, and her. Solo. Husband/Daddy couldn’t make it. When she found out that I Sophie and I flew on 74 flights together before Sophie turned 1 year old, she asked if I had any advice. (This photo was taken when Sophie and I headed out on our first flight in February 2004.) The problem was, our kids’ gymnastics class was ending and we were juggling small children and putting shoes and coats on, etc., so I only had like three minutes to think of something to…
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Are you still closing your eyes to the real risk of child sexual abuse in your church?
In one of my most-read previous blog posts, I tackled a topic that I consider to be one of the most important topics in the church today: child sexual abuse … Child Abuse in the Church: Justice Can Be Grace After reading a link from Challies this morning (The Top Five Reasons Your Church Could Land in Court), I am only that much more convinced that this topic is extremely important and yet, shockingly and naively ignored by most Christians and most church leaders. (Thankfully, not my church leaders and my church administrator. But I know they have to fight tooth and nail, at great personal cost of time and effort, to…