Parent with Hope

Nurse Appreciation week starts today! 👩‍⚕️ (That’s me 👆 school nursing this week) I appreciate a million things that my career in nursing has given me. I’ve learned to listen, to care, to heal, to grieve, to contemplate joy and suffering on levels I would not have on my own. I hope the grace and wisdom of all these years blessed each family I work with now and to come. How have you been blessed by a nurse or from being a nurse?

👩‍⚕️Today’s adventure: school nursing, virtual homeschooling, and in-between summer planning and learning the Parent Stress Intervention Program so I can support you with more services. Also, I’ve been working on my application for PhD programs. Still a year or two from starting that, but getting prepared! April was a season of rest, so I’m happy to jump back into preparation for the next season of meaningful work. 👉Tell me what season you are in and I’ll add praying for you in my day. 🙏🙏🙏 🙋🏻‍♀️If you’d like to do some meaningful work with me, reach out! ⌨️You can message me, email or fill out the contact form on my website. I look forward to encouraging you anyway I can!

Everyone is home this weekend! In these adolescents years of family, everyone is changing so fast I can barely keep up with their wardrobe, much less updating family pictures. I’m so thankful how God is guiding us as these relationships adapt towards adulthood. The Framework is still such a help in pointing us to what God has given us as we consider how to provide for our growing kids. Our relational investments are bearing fruit, but also we are still finding our way together. God’s grace and hope, by Christ’s death and resurrection, continues to bring us freedom to grow in life and love. Happy Easter to your family, too!

“Why Smart Kids Worry” by Allison Edwards was the first childhood anxiety resource I grabbed when my kids were young. It really helped me appreciate my child’s gifts as I considered how to support them in their struggle. At Connected Families, it’s called the Gift Gone Awry, and helps me keep a fuller more hopeful view of all of our struggles. Now I get to be a resource for parents, too! Being in this webinar with her today, over a decade after I read her book, felt like a full circle moment. Message me if you’d like one-on-one help supporting your child in overcoming anxiety from someone who has not only been trained, but has lived it!

Easter/Lenten Family tradition! I’ve podcasted and posted about this before, so if you know about the “Crown of Thorns” activity, do you have yours out already?! If not, check out my previous post and even a podcast I did describing it. I’ll share in my stories and highlights. This tradition has provided a real-time, humbling and hopeful reminder of Jesus’s power to forgive and bring new life. Have you tried it?

I just wrapped up a virtual workshop for an amazing group of moms in California! 🥰 That was a first for me, but it was so fun to reach out and speak messages of grace and growth into their motherhood. I presented the framework week 1, then did some group coaching week 2. If you’d like a speaker to encourage your group, I’d love to share more of these resources that have transformed my family and many others.

Today I got to chat with for an upcoming podcast! I’ll make sure to let you know when it airs, but check out the great work they are doing in the meantime.

🎙️🎙️🎙️We discussed my experience parenting a child with OCD and how I coach parents in supporting their children to overcome anxiety and OCD using SPACE program while encouraging families in faith.

🛠️🧰⚒️🧰These anxiety specific parenting tools align with framework and can really help you make a solid plan for progress!

📩👋📩👋Message me or comment “SPACE” if you want to learn more about supporting your children through anxiety or OCD.

🕊️Passing the peace! 🕊️
This Christmas we are borrowing a phrase from Sunday worship to practice the good news of Jesus’s birth at home. As we reflect on the peace we have with God through Jesus, we also rejoice in the peace on earth he brings to our family.

🐑The cotton balls represent the peace we have in Jesus, the spotless lamb of God that brought us forgiveness and restored our connection to God.

👉When we give grace to each other, we can affirm passing peace by putting a cotton ball in that person’s jar.

👉When we’ve been hurt or hurtful, we hold on to that cotton ball to remember the peace we have with God as we work toward peace with each other. We can celebrate peace restored by placing those cotton balls in our jars.

➕The tangible reminder helps us all hold on to the reality of God with us. Peace is graciously and abundantly given to us, so we can generously give grace and pass the peace to each other.

Peace be with you!

Waiting for surgery for my kiddo. He will have a long recovery with activity restrictions. Even so, I’m finding a lot of these Christmas connection ideas that he can still participate in. My mom brain is more filled with covering the basic needs while we navigate medical care, but we still want to have a fun and meaningful Christmas! Don’t we all want to rise above survival mode to thrive?!
has always been a great source of spiritual, practical (even for high needs), and fun family ideas. There are still a couple weeks left to donate and get your own Christmas bundle, but anytime is a good time to access and support all the free resources they provide. 9 years into their materials and I’m still being blessed!

Our new family advent plan! With one kid away at college and the others getting older, we decided to let go of our picture books and nightly reading for something more flexible. We are using a Bible app to do an advent reading plan together. We get to share a comment section, connecting to the word and each other ❤️ I loved the traditions we had, but after I grieved that season and appreciated how they served us, I got excited about new possibilities. I hope this encourages you, especially if this Christmas holds some challenges that require adaptations. Our kids grow up and so can our traditions, but the good news of Christ’s birth is forever!

Gratitude is such a blessing! This sweet gift from a Moms Group I recently spoke to got me reflecting. I’m always humbled and excited to get the privilege of speaking to a group of parents. Our time is so precious; so whether it’s coaching, a workshop, or a podcast, I pray for God to use and multiply these opportunity to bless us all. Cards, gifts, emails, and verbal expressions of gratitude stick with me and remind me it’s worth my humble attempts. I hope you also receive my gratitude for the mutual encouragement it is for me to see your tender and persevering heart for your child and get to witness your family grow in love and understanding. Thank you for listening and sharing your time and testimony! 👇Drop some gratitude in the comments to someone who has blessed you recently 👇 If you can, tell them in-person 🥰