S Club Mama

Growing up with a boys' name, Randi, was hard. Not like "real" problems, but for a sensitive child like me, it wasn't easy. I don't remember being picked on outright for it, but I always knew it wasn't a feminine name like Miranda (my favorite - couldn't I have been named that and just nicknamed Randi?!) or Jessica (the most popular name of my time) or Amy (the most popular girl in my class' name) or Brandi (my second option). I remember there being a boy for one year in the grade above me named Randy. Ugh. That made it worse! I was probably in 4th or 5th grade - probably my most sensitive time (until junior high!). It didn't help that a neighbor girl called me Randall - I still hate that to this day so please don't call me that. Then after Austin Powers came out...that was awful. Do you remember? "Are you randy?" I didn't even know that was a word outside of a name!! I remember being at a choir event and these boys teasing me...

Emotions are a normal part of life, but if not taught properly, they can run rampant over a person's life. God gave us emotions to signal us to things - anger when something is not right, sadness when hard times happen, happiness when life is peaceful and swell! However, as it's taken me a long time and many books to understand, our emotions do not have the right to control our responses. image via B&H/LifeWay This can be a difficult concept to teach children but a vitally important one. "What Am I Feelings?" by Dr. Josh and Christi Straub gives parents a tool to use when teaching this lesson to children. It's one you'll teach over and over again because this book is easy to love - characters that kids relate to, cute illustrations by Jane Butler, and an easy plot to follow. My Princess has brought it to me several times since it arrived for me to read to her. What I liked: Like I mentioned, I like the illustrations by Jane Butler. They are simpl...

A friend once said to me that she just wanted to "love her husband, not yell at her kids, and not lose her mind." Can I get a big "amen" to that?! Isn't that the truth? I've discovered over the past decade and more that the Bible really can help us in all of those areas! I'm learning to read my Bible - not just read it but understand it, apply it to my life! She has helped me dig deep, ask questions, cross reference between passages, look at the historical background. Who, what, when, where, why? And I want others to know this ability to read and understand the Bible can happen without a seminary degree! Theology is for everyone! Even me! I wanted to share some passages that have been meaningful to me the past few years. I don't have a "life verse" but this one may be pretty close, " But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content" (1 Timothy 6:8). I have a pretty envious streak and this reminds me that the Lor...