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Parenting Apr 28, 2013

Pray or Panic? What Do You Do?

Confession… My go-to answer is panic, not prayer. In a tough situation, I’ll have a good cry, but then, as the tears subside, my mind takes off as if it’s in a NASCAR race, around and around and around, but not in a good way. (click to tweet) Every circle around the track is a different scenario of

Parenting Apr 9, 2013

What Is Your Real Passion?

An excerpt from The Passionate Mom Chapter 7 – Purpose Passion + Purpose = A Plan These three—passion, purpose, and planning—have a special relationship and, it starts with passion. Without passion you won’t have the drive to develop a purpose, and if you don’t ever find a purpose, you surely won’t

Parenting Apr 9, 2013

The Parenting Roller Coaster

An excerpt from The Passionate Mom: Life comes with problems, and so do children. There will always be struggles and opposition to your efforts, days and even weeks when you just can’t seem to get ahead of the onslaught. Little children have little problems, and bigger children can have bigger probl

Parenting Apr 8, 2013

Passion Takes Action With Initiative

Passion Takes Action–an excerpt from The Passionate Mom Nehemiah’s people were in trouble, and it is clear he felt passionately about it. There is nothing amazing in that. When our children are in trouble, we can be just as passionate. What is amazing and an inspiration to me is what Nehemiah did wi

Parenting Apr 6, 2013

Loving Your Child Will Challenge You

If you choose to zero in on your child’s life—to really try to train your child “in the way he should go”—you will need passion (Prov. 22:6). It won’t be easy because passionate love does not allow us to back away from difficult tasks; it pushes us to take on challenges that are out of our comfort z

Encouragement Apr 4, 2013

The Parenting Problem: Fear, Worry, Anxiety, Panic

Do you ever have that nagging feeling in your gut that something is not right? Has it become a constant companion so familiar to you that you don’t know what life without it was like? Are you parenting in fear? Most of my worries follow a little pattern that includes the surprising ability to spiral

Marriage Apr 3, 2013

Be Thankful You Have A Partner In Parenting

There are times when we would all like to throw our spouse overboard. But no matter how imperfect your spouse is as a parent, most single moms (and dads) would tell you to appreciate the fact that you have help and support in the parenting game. After listening to lots of single parents and the chal

Parenting Apr 2, 2013

Creative Correction

See that little guy. I took this picture one year after we adopted him from Russia. He still looks so small for 11 years old. But don’t be mislead this child was anything but frail. In fact, in this picture he had just won the Gasparilla 15k for his age group. It was an amazing moment in his little

Parenting Apr 1, 2013

Confession: I Struggle With Patience

THE PROBLEM… is me. I have had innumerable opportunities to learn to be patient. The reality is conflicting, sometimes I am patient and other times I am not. Patience is an entire chapter in The Passionate Mom because it is in my top three things I fail at consistently. A PassionateMom has the abili

Passionate Mom Mar 31, 2013

Yikes! Book Launch Approaching in…

It is finally time–yippee and yikes! I confess I am more than nervous. You see, I am not a writer and this book took me way out of my comfort zone. In fact, I cried my way through the whole process. It was really hard to reflect deeply on my parenting–I made a lot of mistakes. It was difficult to fa

Encouragement Mar 30, 2013

Happy Easter!

Parenting Mar 27, 2013

When Your Child Needs A Hug Not A Lecture

As a mom I can be a little too passionate about instructing my children on how to be the best they can be. As a result I often forget that sometimes my kids just need a hug, not a lecture. This is an excerpt from The Passionate Mom on my failure to listen and respond in a way that is comforting and

Parenting Mar 22, 2013

When Your Child Is Outside The Box

One of my children definitely lives and dreams outside the box. Her individuality became obvious to me her first week of pre-K. She was sent to the wall twice before the end of the first week. My other children had never been sent to the wall, ever, so I was…panicked! “Honey,” I said, “Merrills don’

Parenting Mar 19, 2013

The Queen Of In A Minute

My son is missing from this picture. His look was a lot more exasperated than the dogs. He had been waiting for me and waiting for me and waiting for me to go for a ride. And so were the dogs. You see we don’t own this red Willy but we love him. And we were on borrowed time. So my son was rather anx

Parenting Mar 18, 2013

All Aboard the Peace Train…

I have a friend, Carla – she’s from Birmingham… I tell you that so you can read her words with a Southern accent. One day I happened to call her right after she picked up her carpool, and she had a carful of kids. As I was chatting with her she interrupted our conversation to caution her children. “

Marriage Mar 17, 2013

Shaunti Feldhahn Book Give Away

This is my friend Shaunti–I love her. And I just saw her last week at the Hearts At Home Conference. This woman has it going on in places that I can only dream of going. She gets men and she gets women and what’s more she gets how to explain them to each other. This is a RARE gift! Mark and I have r

Parenting Mar 6, 2013

How to Ruthlessly Prioritize

Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Google and now the CEO of Yahoo, is making headlines. After giving birth in August, she spoke at Fortune Magazine’s “Most Powerful Women” dinner and shared the secret of her success: ruthless prioritization. When it comes to her priorities, the 37-year-old CEO says, “For

Passionate Mom Feb 28, 2013

JOIN THE DELIVERY TEAM AND GET A FREE COPY OF MY NEW BOOK BEFORE IT’S RELEASED!

We are so excited about the delivery of our new baby, The Passionate Mom, Dare to Parent in Today’s World. The book was a daring journey for me–so much reflection about my own parenting and all that I have learned from reading and working with other moms at iMOM.com. I am deeply passionate about you

Encouragement Feb 21, 2013

When You Can’t Live Without Friends

There are times in a mom’s life when she simply cannot live without friends. I have been through one of those times. Years after I received my first pacemaker at seventeen, it gave out. I had three small children ages 5, 3 and 1. New doctors did new tests and gave me a new diagnosis. They felt that

Encouragement Feb 20, 2013

I Feel Better When I Cook

I have been resolutely cooking now for 6 weeks–not every night, just twice a week. I skipped one week because I was traveling. The results in my mind are clear–home cooking is good for the soul. Not only is it better for your health, it’s better for your family. You feel more connected. Setting the

Encouragement Feb 17, 2013

Get Less, Give More

Our giving got away from us this last year for the first time in our married life. I still get a pang in my heart about it. Since Mark and I married we have always been very purposeful about giving a set percentage, and more if needed, of our gross income to church, several non-profits, missionaries

Parenting Feb 16, 2013

13 Ways to Keep Your Clan Together: Duck Dynasty Style

The 10-day Duck Dynasty 2013 countdown begins today! And the Merrill Men can’t wait. What is it about this clan that made it A&E’s most-watched series? Why did 6.5 million viewers tune in on December 5th for the season 2 finale? What makes this somewhat kooky camo-clad clan so cute? family The Rober

Parenting Feb 11, 2013

Too Young to Date AKA “Go Out”

The boy/girl fascination starts for some around 4th or 5th grade. By middle school many kids start “going out.” The problem with “going out” is as follows: They can’t go out because they can’t drive and if they aren’t mature enough to wisely handle a car they aren’t mature enough to wisely handle ea

Lessons I Learned Feb 11, 2013

Platform Prepping For The Passionate Mom Book Release

I am in the zone–the two months to book launch zone. The pressure is building to prepare a platform, build my home base, expand my social media reach, and create a WOW experience for moms. I am out of my comfort zone. Growing iMOM.com was much more comfortable than growing my platform for The Passio