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Parenting Oct 31, 2018

Anger Management 101 for Moms

How can someone so small make you so angry? I mean, really, did you ever think a four-year-old would be able to push your buttons so expertly? And why is it that you can control your temper with 99 percent of the people you interact with, but your kids can have you pulling your hair out and trying t

Marriage Oct 29, 2018

What Men Have to Say about Romance

I did a test survey of fifty men on a retreat. When I asked the question “Do you yourself desire romance?” one of the men answered, “Yes, very much,” but added in the margin, “but we have different definitions.” That led me to want to find out what definitions of romance women may have missed. Men a

Encouragement Oct 10, 2018

5 Things to Remind Yourself When You Fall Short of Superwoman

Have you ever experienced mornings that are perfect for comedy shows, but not so much for reality? These chaotic, sometimes even humorous mornings, may consist of walking the dogs, making breakfast, packing lunches, getting dressed, packing sports gear, and somehow managing to drop kids off at schoo

Lessons I Learned Oct 3, 2018

3 Musts to Hearing the Voice of God

Have you ever been praying and all of the sudden, you are prompted in a way you have never experienced before? I think moms, in general, are intuitive; however, we doubt ourselves. We wonder if what we heard was from God or from our own flesh. Here are three things to put into practice to identify G

Lessons I Learned Sep 17, 2018

3 Things You Must Do to Let God Breathe Life into Your Desert Valleys

One morning, during one of our content meetings, I asked our team if they had been reading anything interesting in their Bibles. After a few minutes of quiet, our intern spoke up and mentioned a passage in Ezekiel 37, which talks about the vision of the valley of dry bones. This creepy vision produc

Parenting Sep 3, 2018

3 Reasons Why God is Not Answering Your Daughter’s Desire for Marriage

“It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all” was once said by Shakespeare. You may have a daughter who is desiring marriage, but it seems as though God is not answering her as quickly as she hoped. It seems to her that all her friends are getting engaged and married and she

Encouragement Aug 6, 2018

Don’t Let Addiction Thrive in Darkness

Do you know of a family member or a close friend who suffers from addiction? How has their family reacted? Have they been open about their struggles with the mental illness or have they kept them hidden in the dark? I understand these can be emotional questions to answer because I have family member

Encouragement Jun 25, 2018

How to Love Your Kids Without Losing Your Mind

This week, I heard a viral recording of a hilarious high school answering machine. The options for the parents to choose in the recording were ridiculous. Some of the options included were, “To make excuses as to why your child did not do his homework, press 2” and “To request another teacher for th

Marriage Jun 11, 2018

9 Ideas for a Summer Romance with Your Husband

Frank Lutes romanced his wife Mary far beyond flowers and candy. He was recognized by Woman’s Day magazine as being the world’s most romantic husband. Probably his most romantic gesture of their 65-year marriage happened when he found out the hotel where they spent their honeymoon was set for demoli

Parenting May 21, 2018

20 Ideas for a Family Fun Night

A friend of mine has a fun family tradition. Every year, he spends one night with his children where there are no rules. I repeat, no rules. This night is crazy! Each No Rules Night is different than the last. The kids can do whatever they want (within reason) and it has created so many memories for

Marriage Apr 16, 2018

Husband and Wife Bucket List

When first in love, life is simple and sweet. You and your spouse stay up late dreaming dreams and making plans for how things will go. Everything seems promising and exciting. But then life happens. Those dreams you dreamed are pushed aside and saved for later. But why can’t later be today? I’d lik

Parenting Mar 12, 2018

How to Get Kids to Listen

Many a mother has puzzled over this: how to get kids to listen and follow through on what they’ve heard. As a wise man wrote, We want our children to be doers, not just hearers. I know that I have a part in guiding my children from hearing to doing. I know that talking to my son while he’s playing v

Podcast Mar 5, 2018

There’s More to the Song, “I Can Only Imagine”

Have you ever had a song that stuck with you? A song that resonated with you so much that you wanted to listen to it over and over again? “I Can Only Imagine” is that kind of song for millions of people, including myself. Whenever I have trials in life, whenever I have another heart surgery, wheneve

Parenting Feb 21, 2018

6 Mistakes to Avoid When Raising a Son

I have two sons and three daughters. They’ve grown into awesome young adults, but there were huge bumps along the way. Now that I’ve come out on the other side of the childhood years, I want to warn you about some of the mistakes I have made and some that I have observed other moms making when raisi

Parenting Feb 19, 2018

6 Mistakes to Avoid When Raising a Daughter

I have entered a new phase of raising daughters. My oldest daughter, who is also my oldest child, got married last year. This daughter of mine has always brought me great happiness, and now, we have a friend relationship, too. I respect her advice. I seek her opinion on work matters. I look to her f

Marriage Feb 12, 2018

Words to Inspire a Happy Marriage

I love asking loving, married couples their secret for a happy marriage. Many times they’ll just look at each other and smile. But there have been other times when I’ve gotten some really good advice. The discovery I made was that there was an interesting commonality in the advice — it usually has s

Marriage Feb 7, 2018

25 Characteristics of a Wife Who Truly Loves Her Husband

Until a year ago, my husband, Mark, lived in a “forever young” bubble. He looks great, works out regularly, and never gets sick. Another Saturday moving day came (a regular occurrence with 5 young adults in our family) because my daughter was moving into a new apartment. In the rush to get it done,

Marriage Jan 31, 2018

4 Ways to Fight Fair in Marriage

Mark and I recently did a weekend marriage conference. We had just completed a session about how to fight fair in marriage when a young, newly-married, couple approached me during the break. The moment I was free they leaned in with an anxious look on their faces and asked, “when did conflict start

Marriage Jan 10, 2018

7 Facebook Rules for Couples

I love Facebook, I really do. It’s great for keeping up with my friends; it’s great for getting a heads up about special deals, and it’s great for getting to know our Facebook friends of iMOM and Susanme. However, there is one big thing that Facebook is not so great for – marriages. In fact, Faceboo

Marriage Jan 3, 2018

7 Marriage Resolutions

Years ago, before marrying Mark, I visited an older friend who had a great relationship with her husband. Since I hoped to get married myself one day, I asked her advice on how to have a great marriage. I waited expectantly for her to utter what I was sure would be some deep and profound words of wi

Encouragement Dec 25, 2017

The New Year’s Hello and Goodbye List for Moms

The New Year is almost here. Hello and goodbye to the present and the past. I’m ready for 2018 and willing to move on from 2017. As moms, the passage of time is both exciting and a little bittersweet, too. On one end of the time spectrum for moms, it’s thrilling to see our babies take their first st

Parenting Dec 17, 2017

Family Christmas Bucket List

Every year during the Christmas season my husband and I watch a particular movie together. If a year went by without doing it it would feel like a loss. It’s the small moments involving loved ones that makes this time of year so special. Are you a bucket list family? Add even more joy to your holida

Marriage Dec 11, 2017

Prickly Spouse? Prepare for the Porcupine Part 1

My husband, Mark, often describes himself as a porcupine because as he says, “he can get a little prickly.” The reality is we all have porcupine moments in our relationships and especially in marriage. Acknowledging that you can be difficult and identifying what triggers the prickly spouse within is

Marriage Dec 11, 2017

Prickly Spouse? Prepare for the Porcupine Part 2

Mark and I are no strangers to conflict. We are both passionate and that fact shows up often in our communication style. While I’m always up for a debate, constant conflict in marriage can put an unwelcome strain on a marriage. Lasting conflict in marriage is a dangerous path that no couple should g