by kathilipp | May 2, 2014 | Home |
After two book deadlines and a death in our family, I’ve gotten behind on the 2014 Things Challenge (haven’t we all!?!) Well if you need a little inspiration, check out this post from Kori over at see-the-sunrise.com
It’s never too late! You can do this. Even if you just got rid of 10 items a day, you could start today and not be behind.
If you’re feeling behind, here are a couple of places to get some numbers quickly:
- Go through your magazine rack and pitch any issue that is over three months old
- Go through your gadget drawer in your kitchen
- Now that the weather is warm, (at least in most parts of the country. Sorry silly Colorado…) donate any clothes you didn’t wear all winter, as well as any summer clothes that you’re pulling out that just don’t work for you anymore.
- Do the same with your kid’s clothes
- Look at the paperwork on your desk. Every decision is a thing and it counts
You can do this friends. I promise.
by kathilipp | Apr 30, 2014 | Relationships, Uncategorized |
The release of my new book, I Need Some Help Here! Hope for When Your Kids Don’t Go According to Plan, is just a few weeks away! And to get ready, I have a few great FREE resources to get you ready for summer with your kids.
The first of these resources is my new eBook, Surviving Summer Vacation, Plans and Prayers for a Mom’s Sanity, and for a limited time it is available as a free PDF download. But you have to hurry to get it for free because once it is released on Amazon, I’m no longer in charge of the price!
And could I ask you a favor? Would you be willing to share it via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or your blog?
To get the Free download follow the steps below:
Share it with family, friends, coworkers and followers on social media. Choose the platform of your choice:
Option #1: Post on Facebook:
Post about Surviving Summer Vacation on Facebook. Click here to share this post on Facebook.
Option #2: Post on Pinterest.
Post about Surviving Summer Vacation on Pinterest. Click here to repin this pin on Pinterest.
Option #3: Post on Twitter.
Post about Surviving Summer Vacation on Twitter. Click here to retweet this tweet on Twitter.
Option #4: Post About the Book on Your Blog.
If you have a blog, you can write a post about Surviving Summer Vacation. The first 20 people to write about the eBook on their blog AND send us the link will receive a copy of my upcoming book, I Need Some Help Here! Hope for When Your Kids Don’t Go According to Plan being released on June 6. Just email the link to your blog post to bronwyn@kathilipp.com.
To Download your free book, Click here and fill out the form – it’s that easy!
by kathilipp | Apr 20, 2014 | frontpage, Home |
Rarely does good trump business, but in this case, good kicked business in the behind.
When my publisher, Revell, told me the release date of my new e-book, Surviving Summer Vacation: Plans and Prayers for a Mom’s Sanity (May 6th) I may have had a slight panic attack.
As much as I would love to tell you that I was able to have those Lazy Hazy days of summer laid back and unplanned for my kids, that’s just not how we could roll. Unplanned is not a good look on my family. Sure, we could have reading time every day, but to have the rest of our time be unstructured? While other kids may spend a whole afternoon looking at a roly-poly in the back yard, my kids took a more destructive route to life – cutting up curtains with a forgotten pair of scissors, devising ways to torture their sister, and so on.
You see, I’ve had (and still have) kids at home. I get the stress of summer vacation, and well, by May 6th, you’ve got to have at least a basic plan in place.
So I begged, and pleaded, and maybe groveled a little and beseech-ed (because it sounds biblical) my publisher to release the book a little early so that a mom could have a little time to prepare!
But Revell (did I mention I LOVE Revell) did me one better. They are letting me GIVE AWAY advance PDF copies of the book FOR FREE. Did I mention that they are FOR FREE?
Let’s be clear: Publishers don’t do things like this.
Did I mention that I love them?
Here’s what you’ll get:
Surviving Summer Vacation is a fun-packed book with hundreds of ideas to make your summer spectacular. Along with all these mom-friendly kid ideas that are contained in this PDF preview, you will receive access to a free Kindle or Nook version (being released on May 6th) along with 10 PDF downloads to make your summer as smooth as possible. Here are just a few of the fun areas that are covered:
- And Summer Begins
- Responsibility
- Mom Time
- Gardening
- Reading
- Music
- Creative Activities
- Food
- Adventure
PLUS! A Sneak Peek of my next book I Need Some Help Here! Hope for when Your Kids Don’t Go According to Plan
Now one caveat: Because it’s a preview copy, the links to all the free and wonderful downloads are not activated. But don’t fret. When you sign up to receive the free preview copy, I will follow up with an email on the eBook release date how to get your Kindle or Nook copy that includes all those downloads, again for FREE.
To get your copy, click on the button below, fill out the form (there are only two items of info we need) and you will get it in your email TODAY.
Happy Summer planning!
[Tweet “Get your copy of Surviving Summer Vacation today! Summer is almost here! http://tinyurl.com/khs336l”]
by kathilipp | Apr 8, 2014 | Relationships |
Do you have a blog? Just love Facebook or are a Twitter fiend? Would you like to be on our launch team for my latest book “I Need Some Help Here!” Hope for When Your Kids Don’t Go According to Plan.
All you need is at least one kid and a less than perfect parenting record. Qualify? Click on the link to apply!
I just spoke for a group of moms where one of the mentor moms asked me where I got the ideas for my books. My response, “I usually write out of my own weakness. My next book is all about how we as moms can feel that we are not good enough as parents and how to rely on God in those weak times.”
The mentor mom replied, “Oh, I never felt inadequate as a mom.”
This book? It’s not for her.
My hope with I Need Some Help Here – Hope for When Your Kids Don’t Go According to Plan is that every mom who thought that her parenting journey would be different. Who thought that if she just tried her hardest, her kids would fall into place.
This book is for all of us who have done our best, but our kids — whom we love and adore — are not necessarily on the path we would have chosen for them.
If you have doubts as a mom, join me. We want you to assure the moms that you influence, that you speak to through your blog and via social media, that they are normal. They are OK. They are cherished.
And while we try with all our might to do the best we can with our kids, ultimately, they belong to God. And that is the best place for them to be.
Thanks for your willingness to bring hope to a world of women who desperately need it.
Click below to find out more!
Hope Hero Application
by kathilipp | Apr 4, 2014 | Uncategorized |
I don’t know when exactly I stopped praying. Just that, gradually, in the exhaustion and life changes of new motherhood, I stopped regularly reaching out to God.
I knew I needed God. Boy, did I need him. I was a mess. An exhausted, weepy, milk-leaking time bomb of a woman.
But other than frequently asking God, “Are you sure you meant me to be a mother? Really, really sure? Because I’m not at all convinced that I’m the right one for the job,” I wasn’t managing a whole lot of prayer.
I wanted to have quiet time with God, but many days I couldn’t even seem to find the time to take a shower. At night, during the three seconds between my head hitting the pillow and sleep overtaking me like an oncoming trailer truck, I would think, Oh I didn’t pray today. Again.
Part of the problem was my limited idea of prayer as this hour you spent with God very early in the morning. I constantly felt guilty for not doing this. Praying first thing in the morning is a beautiful way to greet the day, and I know that it works well for many, but at this stage of my life, the thought of getting up earlier than my lark of a baby was daunting, to say the least.
So I was thrilled to discover a prayer ideal for praying at night.
It’s an ancient Ignatian prayer called the Examen, and since it is an examination of your day, it makes the most sense to pray it at nighttime.
First, you reflect on where you felt closest to God in your day.
Second, you think of when and where you felt furthest from God.
Finally, you ask God for forgiveness for any ways in which you strayed and ask for help in doing better.
I love this prayer. Often I go through the three steps fairly quickly and then fall asleep. Other times I find myself lingering with God in thanks for something or working through a time when I messed up. It is so joyful to reflect about those times in which I feel close to God, which for me usually come when I am with my children or in fellowship. And I find that I don’t even dread thinking about those times when I have gotten angry (usually also with my children) or otherwise erred because I am asking forgiveness and resolving to do better. I actually find myself looking forward to these nightly strategy sessions with God.
Yes, I am still exhausted when I fall into bed at the end of the day, but having this agenda for my prayer makes it so much easier to do it rather than just feel guilty about it. (How much time do we waste feeling guilty about NOT praying?)
When it comes to prayer, I don’t think God cares much whether we do it at night or in the morning, just that we do it.
I still pray the Examen at night before I fall asleep, and I still get to be woken up in the morning by my early-rising boys leaping into my bed and snuggling into my arms. And that is a beautiful way to greet the day.
In the comments please share your tips or favorite way to pray. We will choose THREE winners to receive a copy of Julia’s book Mom Seeks God. You have until Friday, April 7. Or you can purchase Mom Seeks God today.
Julia Roller is the author of Mom Seeks God, the story of her journey to reconnect with God through ten essential spiritual practices that she did her best to fit into the chaotic life of a mom with small children. She lives in San Diego with her husband, two sons, and miniature dachshund.
by kathilipp | Mar 31, 2014 | 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids, Relationships, tips and ideas |
Spending time outside does not have to just be camping, as much fun as that is, but there are many ways to get the kids outside in the fresh air while spending quality time connecting with your children. Ones that don’t include going to the bathroom in the forest.
Ten Ways to Get Outside and Connect
1. Go for a treasure hunt in your neighborhood. Here’s a short list of things for your kid to look for: a leaf bigger than their hand, a rock smaller than their little toe, and something they can recycle. You can also have them make up the list to keep them interested.
2. Tape a large piece of butcher paper to your fence or outside wall and paint a mural.
3. Sleep outside.
4. Go fishing.
5. Jump rope on a date with your child.
6. Watch a sunset while having a picnic dinner.
7. Wash the car together.
8. String lights in your backyard.
9. Run through the sprinklers.
10. Play cards outside (but not on windy day).
The biggest thing to remember is to prepare for any event that you do. This means everything from planning on what you are going to eat on your picnic to being dressed warmly enough in case it gets windy. Encourage each child to find something in the activity that they connect with. For the expressive child, it might be the beautiful colors. For the athletic child, it might be games you play while running in the sprinkler. Try to connect with each child no matter what way you choose.
How about you? How do you get your kids outside? What are some fun ways you connect with them while outside? Tell me in the comments and you will have a chance to win my book all about connecting called 21 Ways to Connect with Your kids.
by kathilipp | Mar 24, 2014 | 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids |
Connecting with your child is important to the atmosphere in a home. There are many ways you can connect with your kids. Serving is not only one way, but a commandment from God.
Here are three ways that you can teach your child to serve:
Model service yourself.
This one should be such a no brainer, but often the things we are trying to teach our children are usually areas that we need a little more work on in order to grow our character. Show your children how you are making a meal for the new mom. Let them know that the extra time on the computer was writing a letter to an aunt who is having a hard time. When you take them to a nursing home to play games with the residents, you will be showing that service is important to you and it should be important to them. You will be showing them how ordinary families can do extraordinary things.
Explain to them that serving is not only one action but it is a demonstration of love.
Every time you fill a cup in the name of Jesus, you are showing His love to another person. Explain this to your children. Tell them how He healed the sick and how our families can be like that as far as healing people’s lonely hearts. Tell them that sometimes you plan on serving like going to a homeless shelter and other times God brings unexpected opportunities to serve someone, like an urgent call to watch a neighbor’s child if the mother had to go somewhere.
Reward Them With Praise When They Serve
When you see your child clearing off the table by himself without being asked or you see a note written to a grandparent just because the child wanted to…go gangbusters and tell them over and over how great that is that God prompted them to serve like that! They will be much more likely to want to do it again!
FREEBIE ALERT!
What is one way that you teach your kids to serve? One person who comments will get my book 21 Ways to Connect to Your Kids!
by kathilipp | Mar 20, 2014 | 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids |
Burning a candle is a sure fire way (See what I did there?) to create a warm and inviting atmosphere in your home. But that is just one example of the outward atmosphere. We need to think about the heart of a home in order to really make it a haven. Here are five other ways to make your home a haven.
1. By reading together.
The most haven -producing thing I did as a mommy is simply to read to my kids. I even read to my child when he was a teenager!
2. By weeping and rejoicing at the right times.
We are to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. When a child has a difficult day, scoop her up into your arms and cry aongside. When she makes a great choice, jump up and down and celebrate with ice cream.
We’ve lost the importance of outdoor play. Even if it means walking to the park with your kids or swimming alongside them, dare to move beyond the our walls of your home to venture out to see God’s creation.
4. By limiting media.
Steer your children away from mindless interaction with the TV or video games. Set limits and stick to them. Dare to believe your children are creative, innovative kids who can create instead of idly recreate. {click to tweet}
5. By letting kindness reign.
Determine to treat your children and spouse with the same kindness that you would give a stranger that you are trying to impress. Remember it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. What makes us think anything different would evoke our children’s repentance?
What is your favorite way to make your home a haven?
by kathilipp | Mar 17, 2014 | 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids, Relationships |
Loving your husband will go along way to make a child feel loved and encouraged. And doing things for your child is a great way to connect with them. But with today’s busy schedules, it is not easy to do special things for the kids all of the time.
We think that saying things should be easier, but
using our words to fill the heart is one way that us mamas think we do, but sometimes forget.
{click to tweet}
This list will take you to the end of March with a variety of things that you can say to your child to encourage and connect with them.
15 Things you can say to encourage your kids right now:
1. I am so glad that Jesus trusted me with you.
2. Please forgive me.
3. I’m proud of you.
4. You are fun to be with.
5. You make me laugh.
6. You are an important part of His story.
7. God’s love for you will never change.
8. I love spending time with you.
9. You are the est gift I ever received.
10. You are a perfect fit for our family.
11. You make me happy.
12. I love to watch you play.
13. I don’t care what we do today as long as I can be with you.
14. I will never stop loving you.
15. God created you exactly how he wanted you.
Say one of these every day for the rest of the month and you will be filling the love tanks of your children and sharing the hope and love of Jesus through you.
What is one encouraging thing you would add to the list?
by kathilipp | Mar 14, 2014 | Relationships |
Ahem…. Well, it happened. My 10-month-old granddaughter kicked my butt.
Yep, this new grandma found herself struggling with a diaper that resembled the aftermath of an atomic blast. Residue, aka baby poo, squirted forth in all directions as squiggling arms and legs that appeared to be practicing infant calisthenics, landed in said residue. I quickly understood that now the small child needed a bath, a new pile of laundry emerged and I spied something that didn’t belong under my fingernails. Eeek! Finishing the cleanup I realized that the baby AND grandma needed a bottle and a nap.
My son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Elise, moved into our home this past week. They are relocating from another state. I thought handling a baby would be a piece of cake after all; I already raised two kids to adulthood. I couldn’t have forgotten that much, or did I?
Well thankfully the baby mama arrived upon said disaster and gave me some gentle teaching with empathy and grace. And a week later, I’m equipped to withstand any diaper that may come my way. *grin*
Even as a grandmother I can learn a lot from a young mom. And younger moms can likely learn a lot from an out of practice Grandma.
I’m convinced that the body of Christ is moving into a new awareness of God’s Presence. And in this next move of God we will see a joining of the generations like never before. The young, old, and in-between will rise to bring God’s purposes and His Kingdom to earth (Matthew 6:9-13).
This is a season in the body where we will learn and place great value the voices of young and old. And just like I had to relearn to diaper a baby there are some timeless experiences I can pass to my daughter-in-law.
As I look back on a lifetime of raising children, if I could tell every mother just one thing I it would be this:
It’s worth it!
It’s worth the years and tears you pour into your little ones. On days when there is poop in the tub, the dog barfed on the carpet, the laundry towers in the hall and little ones cry at your feet. And when no one sees all you sacrifice for your family and a greatly needed pat on the back does not come, it’s still worth it.
Every bit of effort of love, correction, instruction, laughter, fun, and the time you pour into little lives, it is worth it. It is building the character and love into another human being. And your children will step into adulthood fully equipped with faith, love, purpose, and passion.
Mom, You are a legacy maker.
One more thing I would share with every mother is to remember when you begin to question yourself and your parenting ability, I want you to be assured that God is standing by your side, day after day. He is whispering hope into your soul. Life into your tired eyes. Joy into the mundane and love into your heart. Let His voice assure, “You are more than enough.”
When writing my parenting book I came to a place one day where I was stuck. During this frustrating writer’s block, I ask God, “God, what do you want to tell every mother.” Well God was just waiting for me to ask. And immediately a string of words began to go through my head. It’s His personal letter to every mother. Below is a link to download this letter. I pray you will print it out and read in moments of doubt, fatigue, and fear. I’m encouraged to tears of joy each time I read it. I pray you will be too.
God is standing right next to you Mom. He is walking you through to your highest and holy calling, Motherhood.
Beloved Mother
For a chance to win a copy of Lynn’s book Not Alone share what advice has impacted you the most on being the mother God has called you to be or who has been your greatest mentor in mothering. We are giving away TWO copies. You have until MONDAY, March 17 to enter. You can also buy it on Amazon today.
Lynn Donovan is a speaker, author, and an ordinary woman who shares with audiences her everyday adventures of walking in the Presence of God. Her delight is igniting women’s hearts with Holy Spirit fire, inspiring wives and mothers to step fully into their high and holy calling of marriage and motherhood with joy, laughter and God’s favor. She has been featured guest on the 700 Club Interactive, Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson’s FamilyTalk and FamilyLife Today. She coauthored the award winning book, Winning Him Without Words and also Not Alone, Trusting God to Help You Raise Godly Kids In a Spiritually Mismatched Marriage. She has a son and a daughter and a granddaughter. She lives with her husband in Temecula, California. Visit Lynn online at MismatchedAndThriving.com.
It’s never too late! You can do this. Even if you just got rid of 10 items a day, you could start today and not be behind.
