The Powerful Vocation of Making a Home
The art of householding and homemaking lies within everyone’s grasp, with a much wider-reaching impact than we might at first imagine.
The Calm Before the Chaos: Preparing for a Newborn Baby with a Toddler in Tow
After months of preparation, the due date for our second baby has finally arrived. In this period of calm before the chaos, let me share a few ways we have been preparing to become parents for two under two.
Our Family Happy Place
If you can, work towards creating a happy place for your family. Discuss ideas, then start planning and working towards it. Your family happy place could be a screen-free family meal together, a fun bicycle or scooter adventure, or a fancy picnic at your local park.
Two Secrets to a Happy Home
The big question is: “How do you create a happy home?” I think a lot of people wished they had come from one. Working with young people and families with both older and younger children, I’ve noticed that a happy home can come from any race, occupation, economic status, political persuasion and any other variation you wish to throw into the mix. When you have a strong culture in a home, ...
40 Ways Your House Will Change Once You Have Kids
Be prepared for the absolute mess which your children can make while growing up. At the same time, they will fill your home with joy. Kids. They are amazing creatures whom you love to the moon and back, but they can frustrate the heck out of you. And none of this frustration is EVER put as a warning in the parenting books. What To Expect When You’re Expecting and Knocked Up ...
Men at Work… At Home
Is it possible to mix work and family life in the same space? Do the benefits outweigh the challenges? Prime Minister Gillard described the pressurised life of modern families as the single greatest challenge facing Australians. So what’s the solution? ‘Telecommuting’ or working from home has been put forward as the 21st-century answer to this growing dilemma, but is it really that simple? Disruptions My hubby worked from home quite happily ...
Spare the Leftovers
Our marriages deserve our very best, not just the dregs of ourselves. Take the opportunity this Christmas season and New Year to establish better habits and re-prioritise your loved ones. It’s that time of year again -- the season of joy and gluttony. By the time Christmas Day is over, our refrigerator will be filled with yummy, delectable leftovers. Unfortunately, not all leftovers are so delicious. Too often in a marriage, ...
6 Tips for Spring-Cleaning a Home
Looking for motivation to declutter your home? These 6 tips for spring-cleaning your home might help. The holidays have always been the best time to deep-clean the home, which often includes a cull of material possessions. But when you’re forced to isolate at home (as many of us have experienced), the decluttering process may have been done already... or has it? Whenever I read a spring-cleaning post, I get motivated to ...
Schooling From Home is Not Homeschooling
Schooling from home may look like homeschooling, but the similarities are only superficial. At a fundamental level, the two are drastically different. Criticising current trends can be like walking into a minefield without a map. One size doesn’t fit all. Despite the assertions of blanket “equality” and blurred distinctions, some distinctions do matter. Everyone is of equal value, but not everyone, nor everything is equal. For instance, beliefs may align with facts, ...
13 Lessons from Nearly Losing a Child
When a crisis hits you out of nowhere, what do you do next? When Guy faced nearly losing a child, he learned 13 lessons before the crisis was even over. Sometimes in life you have experiences that profoundly and permanently change you. Experiences either solidify your existing beliefs, assumptions and expectations, or they challenge and change what you thought you knew. Some are so small you don’t even notice them. Some ...
