Lisa Jacobson's Blog, page 21

3 Things Your Child Needs From You During A Difficult Season

I had left my Bible and journal on the table that morning.

I woke up a little late, and I didn’t have time to clean up before I needed to get breakfast ready for the boys.

One of my boys noticed my things on the table and started asking me questions. He asked me what I had been doing, what I had been studying, and what did I need that journal for.

That’s when it dawned on me that even though I was working on being disciplined with my morning devotion time, my children had a rarely seen me studying my Bible.

In that moment, as I explained to my son why I used a pen and paper as I studied the Scriptures, I decided that I needed to be more transparent and authentic with my faith walk in front of my children.

Over the years, my boys and I have been through many hard times and trials. I have learned they often look to me to take their cues on how they should handle what’s going on.

I have also learned the importance of drawing closer to Christ during hard times and I realized that if I wanted my boys to learn that same lesson that I needed to set the example.

Continue reading 3 Things Your Child Needs From You During A Difficult Season at Club31Women.com

Why You Should Teach Your Kids About The Power of God

Every time I go to the ocean I look at the miles and miles of water in front of me, and I am amazed that there is so much of it and that it stays put.

It shouldn’t surprise me because God talks about this very things when he talks about his great power with Job. He asks Job,

“who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,

and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,

and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

Job 38:8-11

As adults we tend to take the power of God for granted, don’t we. We may have heard about it all of our lives and it just doesn’t spark the awe that it use to.

I want my kids to see the power of God at work in the world around them and in their own lives. I want them to know that the power of God is mighty and overwhelming, that it is a huge source of comfort and peace.

Continue reading Why You Should Teach Your Kids About The Power of God at Club31Women.com

A Prayer Request {and Why I’m Not Writing This Week}

Our sweet Avonlea is scheduled for major surgery this Monday, and we’d be grateful for your prayers for her.

We’ve known for a while that she would need this surgery and now that time has come. We’re thankful that she is being cared for by a hospital that specializes in children just like her and they’ve been both kind and helpful through this entire process.

We realize that when it’s done and she’s healed, she will be all the better for it – but we’d have to admit that we can’t help having mixed feelings about it. The surgery will be long (5+ hours) and the recovery even longer (6+ weeks). She’s also been quite fearful as the hospital is not exactly her favorite place and rather far from our home.

So I won’t be writing on the blog this week, but I was sure you’d understand.

And sure you’d pray.

Thankful for you,

*****************

On Instagram? I’d love to have you follow me over there @Club31Women!

Continue reading A Prayer Request {and Why I’m Not Writing This Week} at Club31Women.com

A Family Favorite – Easy Texas Sheet Cake

I can’t even tell you when it happened.

I blinked and closed my eyes and my tiny eight-pound brown-eyed beauty with golden curls turned 12 years old this week.

I still remember the way she felt in my arms, small and light, but somehow heavy (the weight of responsibility?) as the crook of my arm held her tight. So fragile, yet that neck of hers was already holding itself up just hours as she took her first breath.

I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. She’s always been the independent type, the do-it-herself type that was going to figure it out in her own way and in her own time.

Much like her talking! That girl was speaking in sentences and paragraphs well before she was even a year and a half. My husband says, “She was the type of toddler who would be sitting in a shopping cart and people would stop and stare when they heard her chatter on – is that coming out of her?!”

At times, this independent spirit saddened me because I felt I wasn’t needed.

I wish I could go back in time to my younger self and give me a pat on the back and say, “Give it time.

Continue reading A Family Favorite – Easy Texas Sheet Cake at Club31Women.com

7 Books for Your Tween Girl’s Journey to Womanhood

When I was a girl, I had a special place I called The Bower.

Really, it was just a Wisteria shrub that had grown over an old clothesline near an overgrown flower bed in our backyard. I thought it was enchanting, and many times I slipped through the tendrils and branches to sit inside with a notepad, sketchpad or good book.

When I was a teenager, that Wisteria shrub was cut down.

Little did I know as a “tween,” but Wisteria is meant to have beautiful, fragrant blooms. Our Wisteria was never meant to be planted in such a shady place, had never bloomed, and could never truly thrive there.

Growing up is sort of like that.

We cannot grow up and truly thrive under just any conditions. We must have the right amount of shade and sun, the best soil, and lots of loving care in order to go from a sprout to a full bloom.

Even with all the loving care my parents were able to afford me, growing up was not easy, nor is it easy for my precious eleven and twelve-year-old sisters, or anyone else.

Continue reading 7 Books for Your Tween Girl’s Journey to Womanhood at Club31Women.com

When Sex Is at the Bottom of Your List

Mom,

This is a little embarrassing. Okay, a lot embarrassing. But please tell me that sex is more than I think it is. It’s fine. Don’t get me wrong. But the initial passion has pretty much cooled off; we have all the kids we want, and honestly, sex seems like the last thing on my list of needs because I am tired ALL THE TIME!

Dear Daughters,

Boy, do I understand you. Dennis always said he’d be a millionaire if he had a dollar bill for all the times I said how tired I was! And sex was at the bottom of my to-do list more times than not.

We missed each other often. Making sense of our sexual differences sometimes felt like we were from two different solar systems, not just Venus and Mars. I totally get that time and energy is a huge challenge on this front!

First, a quick sweet story about your grandma: While we were shopping for something to wear for my wedding night, my mother gave me two very brief pieces of advice about sex. As I was trying on a beautiful white eyelet nightgown, she said, “He’ll like you much better naked, you know.”

Then she added, “It gets better with time.”

She was right about both.

Continue reading When Sex Is at the Bottom of Your List at Club31Women.com

A Prayer for Those Walking by Faith

Lord, I need you.

I come to you right now, believing that you are and that you reward those who seek you. You have opened my eyes to the truth that you are the one, true God. My Creator. My Sustainer. My Savior. Thank you for allowing me to know you. For loving me before I ever knew and loved you.

You are my source of life. You’re my source of hope, strength, and power.

So I look to you and you alone as I take this next step of faith.

I don’t know all the plans you have for me. But you do. I don’t know all the works that you prepared beforehand for me to do. But your Word and your Spirit are shining a light onto my path today, and so I want to obey what you are asking me to do right now. I don’t see the whole picture, but I know you’re calling me forward. So I will follow you.

Lord, I feel like Peter. He was eager to hear your voice calling him out of the boat. It’s such a privilege to see your hand beckoning.

Continue reading A Prayer for Those Walking by Faith at Club31Women.com

15 Great Gift Ideas for the Graduate In Your Life

I never imagined that there would be two.

At least not two at the same time.

Two graduates in the same year.

One of our daughters is graduating from high school.

And our oldest son is graduating from college.

It’s The Year of the Grads.

So I said to my husband, “You know we need to get them some kind of gift, right? Something special to celebrate?”

And he just might have mumbled something back like, “I think the parents are the ones who should get the gifts.” But maybe I misheard him.

From then on, I’ve been brainstorming on great gifts to get these grads of ours and I thought I’d share some of my ideas with you too.

You know, in case you have a graduate or two of your own . . .

15 Great Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Graduate

(This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure.)

1. Minted’s Graduation Invitations & Announcements

These announcements are so gorgeous! As soon as I saw them, I knew that was the direction we wanted to go in.

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30 Life Lessons I Hope My Daughter to Learn Before Turning 30 {& FREE printable}

Mummy, am I growing every day?

Yes, you are….why do you ask? Wondering where that came from.

“Mummy, I want to be big like you.”

Ok, that caught me off guard!

A very familiar kitchen conversation we can relate to as moms.

Her young heart thinks growing as ‘big’ as I am is all it takes to be a grown up.

I couldn’t quit smiling as I looked down her wide shiny eyes eager to grasp the words I would say next.

The word ‘big ’ reminded me of the pressures … keeping up with bucket lists, goals and expectations of wearing the different hats all come with being ‘big’. Who ever knew growing up would feel this way?

Here are few life lessons I wish my daughter – and other little girls like her – would know before they approach their 30’s. I pray your girls draw encouragement from these important life lessons.

30 Life Lessons I Hope My Daughter to Learn

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Continue reading 30 Life Lessons I Hope My Daughter to Learn Before Turning 30 {& FREE printable} at Club31Women.com

Please Don’t Pass Your Fears Onto Your Kids

She mentioned that he still likes to sleep on the floor of their bedroom.

And it wasn’t all that big of a deal, but perhaps I was a bit surprised.

It’s just that he had his own room, and he was an older boy now.

But what do I know?

It really wasn’t until she told my the why, that I grew concerned.

He’s afraid to sleep alone. Just like me. 

She admitted that she had a number of fears from her childhood, and now he had his fears too.

She had passed on her fears to her son.

Naturally, we want to share many things with our children, but here is one thing we do NOT want to pass on.

Our own fears.

Based on our own insecurities and bad experiences.

Maybe you’re afraid of the water because you had a close call when you were a child.

Maybe you’re afraid of being left alone because someone you loved left you when you were small.

Continue reading Please Don’t Pass Your Fears Onto Your Kids at Club31Women.com