• Fitness: Wanderlust Summer
  • Ask The Teacher: Gearing up for Back to School
  • Moms + Meals: Sweetest Ever Muffins
  • Beauty: SPF that fights wrinkles!
  • Moms on 88.3 The Wind: Sunday Devotions

Sunday Devotion: Learning to Share

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by Mindi Artherton

If we are “friends” on my personal Facebook page, you may have noticed a few days ago I wrote a short post about football season. My husband coaches and while I love football season and the excitement it brings, I was feeling down that we would have less time at home  togetherand I would have less help with the little ones.

When talking to a fellow coach’s wife about this, she reminded me that we have to “share” our husbands. She said you can’t keep him all to yourself when he is blessing to others when you share.

That got me thinking… 1.) she is right! I know he is in the right profession and I do need to share him! I can’t be selfish and want him at home all the time when he can make an impact on more lives when he steps outside of our house! 2.) What else am I not sharing gracefully?

There are many aspects in my life that God has called me to “share.” Am I doing that? Am I sharing the things He wants me to share and am I doing it nicely?

Two things that immediately come to my mind is time and money. Do I make sharing my time everyday and making sure God is included in the 24 hours that He gives me each day? Honestly… no, not always. He is the one that gives me time, after-all. Surely I can make time to share with Him.

Do I share the money that he has blessed my family with? Honestly, probably not enough… And I am always happy to share financially? Probably not.

While reflecting on this idea of sharing and how to share our God given blessing with others, I have created a little mental list of things I need to start sharing. What is God asking you to share? I know he is asking me to share and it is my prayer I can do that happily!

Local Pics: Back to School

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Ya’ll have outdone yourselves again! Thank you for sending all those back-to-school photos our way! We really do have some pretty cute kiddos in SWMO, but we gotta admit, this photo submitted by a school resource officer’s wife takes the cake this year!

Thanks Officer, for keeping our kids safe! Now lets get to the photos of cute kids!

 

And this final picture will make us all go “ahhhhh!” A kindergartner and a senior…. it goes fast mommas!

 

 

Back to School: Getting back into routine

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Back to school is a hectic time. Getting back into a routine can be a bit of a challenge. How do you manage to fit homework, after school activities, dinner and quality time in?

If you set the expectation for the family from the start they will know exactly what they need to do once they arrive home. Some days it’s so easy for the kiddos to just get home, turn the TV on and veg out. While I’m extremely guilty of this sometimes myself, this should be a reward. After all homework, dinner and reading is completed, then maybe allow them to watch one TV show.

Here are a few tips that may help get your family into a great routine after school that will also allow quality time:

  1. Unpack Backpacks. When the kids come in the door, have them unload their lunch boxes, clean them out, get their homework out and set up. This will help things go much smoother and more seamless for the rest of the night.
  2. Snack time. I don’t know a kid out there that doesn’t come home from school starving. Let them grab a snack and then chat about how their day went.
  3. Outdoor Play. The kids are basically trapped inside all day. Allow them a little freedom once they get home to just run wild outside. This also might be a great time to take a walk or bike ride with the entire family.
  4. Homework time. This can be a dreaded time, but if they know they get a little bit of fun before they need to dive in, this could really help homework time go smoothly. This is also the perfect time to start dinner and still continue to chat about their day. I highly encourage the kids to do their homework where you can see them that way you can help keep them focused.
  5. Dinner time. Some days a normal dinner time can be hard to fit in. However, on those days you can sit around the table take advantage of it. Even if it’s brief, it’s so important to spend that time together. Talk about the highs and lows of everyone’s day. If someone in the family has a low use this time to help talk about the situation and figure out a solution to the problem. It’s a great way to stay connected during this crazy, hectic time.

Last tip: encourage the entire family, mom, dad and kiddos to stay off electronic devices until you have completed all the above tasks. Create a no-phone zone until after a specific time that works for everyone.

Happy back to school mommas. Have a great afternoon routine that works for your family? Share it with us. We’d love to hear about it.

Moms + Meals: Lunchbox tips

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This may sound crazy, but one thing we dread the most about the kids going to back to school is figuring out what to pack them for lunch! Our kiddos eat at school about half of the time and pack their lunch about half the time. Even with having a few days “off” from packing lunches, we still run out of ideas!

We asked other local moms what they were packing for their kids and here is what we found out! We hope this insight helps you as much as it has helped us!

  • “My son likes turkey and ham wraps w/ spinach and shredded cheese! Sometimes we’ll switch it up with a sandwich that’s the same as the wrap. Also if there are leftovers from supper he doesn’t mind eating them cold, we’ll do that too! With that stuff though he likes yogurts, apple slices, carrots, or sometimes grapes. I try not to do the same thing all time, and prepping lunches the night before reeeeeally helps!”

 

  • “I do the $1 lunchables then send a fruit cup, cheese (he loves the laughing cow soft cheese) and some chips with a sweet treat. He usually gets juice for lunch too. I really focus on good meals for breakfast and dinner and over the weekend so he can have what he wants during the week.”

 

  • “Yesterday my son said… Mom, this year can I have advanced lunches? Like more that a wet sandwich, a cheese stick and chips? Ha!!”

 

  • “I’m a mom of 3, ages 17, 14 and 11. If I’m packing a kids lunch, I pack a sandwich, chips or veggie straws, carrots and 2-3 of the following: apples, grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon or cherries. There are times when I’ve been known to buy Lunchables just for the convenience of it. Especially if their going on a field trip ect.”

 

  • ” I definitely go the bento box route for my youngest. Olives, carrots and ranch, goldfish, fruit, lunch meat and a cheese stick, pickles, a sweet treat, almonds, peanuts or cashews, leftover spaghetti noodles with a sprinkle of parm, popcorn….”

 

  •  “I am doing the bento boxes this year for my daughter. She likes cheese, crackers, cold cuts or sliced chicken or ham, carrots and ranch, fruit. Looking forward to some other ideas. Both of my daughters have asked for thermos mugs for hot dishes. Soup, noodles, rice. They both like almost anything wrapped in a tortilla.”

 

  • “Olivia’s favorite is hard boiled eggs and a pancake!”

Thanks for the feedback, friends! We always love hearing from you! Happy lunch-box packing!

Sunday Devotion: Kindness

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by Jennifer Duncan

My husband and I started a tradition with our four granddaughters that I am trying to continue today.  Back when their ages ranged from three to seven, we started having “Cousins Camp” in the summer.  It was our chance to get the girls away from their parents, and do everything fun that we could think of!  We wanted to win their hearts, with non-stop energy-depleting activity.  But, most of all, it was our opportunity to really relate to them and observe their unique personalities.

We also learned a lot about how girls respond.  Since we only had two boys, we didn’t know much about the emotional unpredictability of little girls.   We didn’t know that girls can be prone to hurt feelings, and unexplainable moments of sadness.  We didn’t know that their moods could flip from bursts of giggling to bursts of tears, without warning.  We learned quickly.

One day we were headed out on one of our fun outings, and had successfully managed to get everyone fed, dressed, and hair “fixed.”  (We never had to “fix” our boys’ hair, and I wasn’t very skillful or fast at that!)  Everyone piled into the van, settled on who would sit where, and after we heard the click of six seat belts, Granddad took off across the parking lot.  Suddenly, a low hum from the middle seat exploded into a wail of sobbing.  Kate was crying as if her heart would break…with no warning at all!

My husband skidded to a stop and called out, “What!  WHAT!  What happened?!”

Kate struggled to explain her agony.   “My doll!  My doll!  I didn’t have time to  buckle my doll into her seatbelt!”

Crazy girl drama?  No…definitely not.  What we saw was sensitivity….a nurturing heart…love.  In that one funny moment, we saw the first indications of the precious caring that characterizes this child.  She’s going to be a great mom someday, and I guarantee her babies will always be kept safe.  She’ll be a great friend, a conscientious employee, a valuable servant of God, because the most basic of biblical values…kindness…is innate in her.  We saw it that day, even as we puzzled over the value she placed on a doll.

That was many years ago, and now we’ve been through several Cousins’ Camps, as my granddaughters enter the teen years.  But I see in them the same unique personalities they displayed when they were very small.  The last Cousins’ Camp we enjoyed with Granddad occurred just two weeks before his sudden death.  And at that time, it was Kate who wrote a sweet and funny poem about him…the same kind and caring Kate, who showed such concern over the safety of her doll.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another….”Ephesians 4:32

Jennifer is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  She is mom to two grown (twin) sons, two wonderful daughters-in-law and four granddaughters.  Her late husband, John, pastored two churches in Barry County, Missouri, and one in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  Jennifer serves in teaching, music and lay counseling through her church, Arnhart Baptist Church, Purdy, Missouri.  She also enjoys leading retreats and Bible studies for women.