Susan Merrill's Blog, page 34
July 11, 2013
Bouncing Back When You Are Overcome
Sometimes I am overcome. Thoughts press down on me. My failures as a mom and a wife and a daughter andan employee and a friend grow vaporously before my eyes until they tower over me. I am overcome by the dark shadow of knowledge of what I have failed to do.
I have spent time in this dark place. I have visited enough now to recognize when I am on my way again. I try not to allow it. I choose to bounce back to the light by focusing on my immeasurable value. As a child of God I am forgiven for m...
July 10, 2013
Teaching Children Patience
Teaching your kids patience. It sure doesn’t come easy, but it’s an important lesson you’ll teach your kids for the rest of their lives! Use these simple actions to help your child or children develop patience.
Start a Conversation:In the calm moments, ask your child important questions like, “Why do you lose your patience?” “How?”
Make a Plan to Play:Camping is a great way for children to learn that the best things in life take patience.Plan an indoor camping trip and live like old-time pionee...
July 5, 2013
A Story Unfinished
Matt sent me his book,A Story Unfinished: 99 Days with Eliotas a gift several weeks ago. A friend provided this weekend on the beach to rest and read. The combination was what Matt would call a rainbow just for me. I know Matt and his story; I did not know that he had the rare gift to write words never conceived in my literarily finite mind but echoed in my heart. The page above was the beginning of what spoke to my heart below.
But with Eliot I rounded corners to rainbows made for me. I had n...
To Persevere in Parenting
Choose
Five days after I had my first child, Megan, I hemorrhagedand lost so much blood I had to be readmitted to the hospitalfor several days for surgery and a blood transfusion. Becauseof those complications, coupled with my heart condition, asecond birth would be dangerous, so before we could haveanother child, we had to weigh the risks. When we felt it wastime to have another baby, we intentionally made the choice,despite the risks, to have Emily. Eventually we chose to havea third child,...
July 3, 2013
True Story of Kid President
Not every child can be president but they can dream and dreams can lead to other things. Such is the case in the true story of the Kid President. He needed a dream, a vision, something to do. Concerned adults in his life helped him catch that vision. They turned his disability and inability to participate in sports and physical play and created an opportunity for him. The Kid President has an amazing platform to inspire kids and who knows at the rate he is going he may actually make it to bec...
July 2, 2013
Mom-To-Be Princess Kate: Will She Be Royally Overwhelmed?
Lately, I have been royally overwhelmed. It seems as if I have had so much to do for so long that I have lost my way in the maze of kids, husband, travel, book, work and just emergencies of one sort or another. For the first time since I had Emily (baby #2, otherwise known as the one who didn’t sleep for 8 months) I feel as if I am in a fog. I wake up tired and I go to bed with my brain in overdrive resisting sleep because of a relentless urge to make sense of the to-do list still undone.
Late...
June 28, 2013
How to Have a Peaceful Summer
1. Family Team Rules. Don’t be the referee all summer! Become a team and learn to respect and include each other rather than fight. Make them really think about their actions!
2. Think About It. Use this tool to enforce accountability so that they are responsible for their own behaviors.
3. Build Each Other Up. Teach your kids to cheer for each other when they are successful and do good things.
June 27, 2013
The Passionate Mom One-Day-Only Sale
How excited are we for Barnes & Nobel’s TPM feature?? So excited!! What a great opportunity to share the joys of being a passionate mom.
June 21, 2013
Building Patience
There are lots of reasons why a mom can lose her patience. I know because I lose mine all the time! I have learned through much failure that if Ianalyze why I lose it, I cantake preventative action, overcome impatience, and exercisemore patience. So here are the top five reasons why most Ilose my patience, and five ways to build patience.
Five Reasons Why We Lose Our Patience
1. Fatigue. We quickly come to the end of our ropeswhen we have too much to do and too little energywith which to do it....
June 17, 2013
3 Ways A Mom Can Be Unperceptive
It is so hard to be a perceptive mom! But sooooooo important. I have failed at this. Have I confessed that enough over the last few weeks? I have tried to be a perceptive mom, but there have been times when I have missed seeing what is really going on in my children’s lives. When that has happened, it’s usually been because of one of these three ways moms are unperceptive.
1. The Stunted Perception
Developing perception is a choice, and some parentschoose not to have it. Ignorance is bliss—for...
