When we focus on our children’s outside behavior and neglect what is on the inside, we will cause our children to become manipulators. They will learn to please us by jumping through the hoop (by acting the way we tell them to act out of a fear of punishment) but they will not learn the…
Ashleigh Baker
Ashleigh was an active part of YLCF from 2006 through 2011. She continues to seek poetry in prose on her blog, where she shares her heart and her home.The Lost Art of the Mother’s Helper
We’re in the middle of a big move. My little family is pulling up our roots (my roots anyway) in California, loading up a moving van and driving a bit north and a bit east, eventually landing in a tiny Rocky Mountain town (my husband’s roots). You may remember that my husband is a Marine–a…
Because Then They are Big
There are times in this life when we think the clock has all but stopped. When we’re little, we can’t wait for our birthday or Christmas. In high school, we can’t see past graduation. For many of us, we eagerly await the arrival of Prince Charming. Sometimes it’s a promotion, or the envelope with our…
Blessed Insignificance
“So… what do you do?” The question has been presented in various forms over the two years John and I have been married. I heard it again last weekend at the wedding we attended. Before I answer, I ask myself, what do I do? Thinking over my days I remember the many little things that…
Afraid to Blink
I’ve been going through pictures tonight. My camera card was full, and as I emptied it onto my computer, I began scrolling back through older pictures. Pictures of the past few weeks and months. I saw one of John and Merritt just before John left and was struck by how little Merritt was then. Two…
The Iraq Journey
And then… he came home. Military wives know there are times we can feel so very alone, whether or not our husbands are deployed. Since it is always helpful to me to talk with or read about other women who “get it”, we put all the deployment-related posts from my blog during the time John…
Strength That Is Not My Own
The following was written and published at Heart and Home in March 2008, just six weeks after my Marine deployed to Iraq. Listen. Do you hear that? Stillness. Complete quiet. Both my boys are sound asleep. The first soft notes of an old Amy Grant song I loved as a little girl are beginning to…
Hanging In There
Some of you may remember when my husband, my Marine, deployed to Iraq in early 2008. Our boys were 21 months and seven weeks old, respectively, and we’d been stationed at a new base in southern California for six months. It was our first deployment and, at that time, the hardest thing we’d endured as…
