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Parenting Mar 30, 2016

How to Break Your Child’s Sense of Entitlement

A familiar trope in movies and TV shows for kids, tweens, and teens is kids complaining that they didn’t get something they think they deserve. They complain about a teacher giving them a poor grade. They whine to their friends about their parents giving them an early curfew or not letting them go t

Parenting Mar 28, 2016

Love Your Child Enough to Let Them Hurt

When you love your kids, nothing hurts more than seeing them in pain. As a mom, I can hardly bear to see my kids in any kind of distress, whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual. From skinned knees to serious medical issues, squabbles with friends to messy breakups, parents have to help thei

Marriage Mar 23, 2016

3 Ways to Practice Patience in Your Marriage

I’m sure Mark and I aren’t the only couple that sometimes struggles with impatience. At least, I hope not! Mark readily admits that patience is not one of his strengths, and I certainly have my own struggles with frustration, usually when I’m busy and over-tired (like, I admit, today). When things d

Parenting Mar 15, 2016

Fight the Good Fight

Fighting for your child is something that you inherently do as a mom. Right? We fight for them to have equal opportunity, education, health, a chance to make something of themselves and we even fight for their self-esteem because we believe in who they are and what they are capable of. My sister rea

Marriage Mar 7, 2016

What Every Husband and Wife Must Agree On

Have you ever seen those cheesy “House Divided” bumper stickers that poke fun at a husband and wife pulling for different sports teams? I have always thought they are kind of silly, and maybe a little cute. Mark and I would never need one of those, though, because we absolutely agree on our favorite

Parenting Mar 2, 2016

Are Parents the Root of Bullies?

Is your child thought of as a bully or a ‘mean girl’ at school? Back in January, I had the pleasure of debating whether or not parents might actually be the cause of their children’s bully-like attitude on Fox & Friends. A new study suggests that the origin of bullies behavior may be the parents exe

Parenting Feb 29, 2016

How to Invest in Your Adult Child’s Friendships

It’s easy to invest in our relationships with our children when they’re young. They rely on us for everything! In a way, I miss that season of life. I’m proud of my kids as they grow into incredible, responsible adults, but investing in my relationship with them as they get older has become more com

Parenting Feb 24, 2016

How to Water Our Late Bloomers

My two oldest daughters couldn’t have been more different growing up. Megan was a reserved rule-follower who went through elementary school without ever being in trouble. Emily, on the other hand, was a determined girl with a mind of her own…a mind that just happened to get her sent to the corner tw

Marriage Feb 22, 2016

8 Challenges Every Marriage Will Face

I have seen many newlyweds start their lives together under the blissful delusion that they will never face any problems in their marriage. Unfortunately, that is never the case, and not having a realistic view can lead married couples to feel disillusioned and disappointed. Marriage is one of the m

Parenting Feb 17, 2016

Controlling vs. Contributing to Your Child’s Future

I’ve come to the conclusion that every child, whether they admit it or not must be afraid of the dark. I can’t tell you how many times my kids would call me into their rooms and ask me to leave a night-light, or keep the door open so that the monsters in their closets wouldn’t come out. As adults, m

Marriage Feb 15, 2016

Why Spouses Don’t Listen and What You Can Do About It

Are you a good listener? If so, I applaud you. I have to admit that the skill of listening well does not come naturally to me. I’m a gifted talker! I enjoy sharing what’s on my heart and speaking what’s on my mind, which has its place, but listening? That can be hard for me. We all know that communi

Marriage Feb 10, 2016

10 Ways to Flirt with Your Husband

Do you remember the first days of your relationship with your spouse? If you were like me, your heart would flutter at a meaningful glance, flirtatious comment, or in my case, the handsomest guy I had ever met knocking on my door holding Belgian chocolate chip ice cream and asking if he could pray w

Parenting Feb 8, 2016

Does Your Child Shy Away from Competition?

What does your child LOVE to do? Some kids love sports, some love the theatre, and some love making music. But each of these passions holds one thing in common: they all lead to competition. There are soccer championships, school play tryouts, and band performances. Sometimes, our children embrace c

Parenting Feb 3, 2016

Are You Sending Your Kids Out of Orbit?

When I was a new mom for the first time, one of the strangest things I had to figure out was what it meant to be the absolute center of another person’s universe. Babies and children and even teens rely on their parents for everything—their survival, emotional stability, first social cues, a sense o

Marriage Feb 1, 2016

I Vow to Take the Love Challenge

February is here! January was focused on setting goals for work, but now that that’s done, it’s time to set goals for the truly important things in life – my family. February is the month we celebrate love because of Valentine’s day, and we certainly are all about love in the Merrill home—Megan is g

Encouragement Jan 27, 2016

Looking Back, Moving Forward

I’m not often an introspective person. I would rather be doing than sitting around contemplating things. I’ve always been a girl of action! The downside of being quick to action is that I have been known to act and speak before I think. The upside is that I am someone who looks ahead, takes leaps of

Encouragement Nov 25, 2015

Gratitude Adjustment

“For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:15-16 Today, I thank God for you. I am filled

Parenting Nov 19, 2015

12 Ways to Stay in Touch with Older Children

As my kids have gotten older, I’ve had to get used to less face-to-face time with them. College and career opportunities in different states mean that we don’t see each other around the family dinner table every night anymore. As a mom who craves meaningful communication with all of my children, the

Encouragement Nov 16, 2015

Celebrating the Holidays When it Hurts

Guest Post By: Lisa Appelo I usually love Christmastime. The smell of a Douglas fir in the living room and holiday music on the radio are wonderful. I love all the baking and cooking of Christmas and shopping for that one present that I know will bring a wide grin to my child. But six years ago, we

Marriage Nov 11, 2015

How to Keep Your Marriage on Track When Life Derails You

I don’t know about you, but when I got married, I had a few expectations of the way things were going to be. Mark and I had plans and goals, and we were blissfully on board our marriage train to chase our dreams. But like every other couple, we learned pretty quickly that life can derail you in an i

Encouragement Nov 9, 2015

How to Find a Messy Balance

I confess that I am by nature a messy. However, I am also highly productive. Being messy and productive is like having two beasts at war within. You see, I love to take on lots of creative challenges which can lead to jumping from one thing to the next. And jumping creates a messiness; messy drawers

Parenting Nov 4, 2015

Are Your Kids Running You Ragged?

Something I’ve learned during my two dozen or so years as a parent is that there’s a fine line between being good parents and spoiling your child. As parents, it’s natural to want to do everything you can for your children…but that does not mean you should make them the center of your universe. It’s

Encouragement Nov 2, 2015

Fighting the Lies We Live By

Lies have a really sneaky way of disguising themselves as truth. Once we hear a lie in our head enough times, it begins to convince us that it is right! Then we unknowingly accrue a list of lies we live by. Don’t believe me? Think about a few of these lies we live by, or at least I live by and I am

Parenting Oct 29, 2015

Train Up a Child to Stand for What Is Right

Proverbs says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” As my children have grown up, we have had many discussions about doing the right thing. Many times they were asked by a teacher or coach to do something that was wrong. They had to really think