You may have heard me talk before about the busy bags we take to church. Each and every Saturday night, I fill our busy bag with all kinds of goodies to keep the kids occupied during church. I have a box full of crayons, markers, coloring books, sticker books, activity books, different small crafts and activities that I store in our basement and can choose fun things from.

Since I get asked all the time what’s inside those church busy bags (specifically), I did a quick video on Facebook showing a sneak peek. But I also wanted to share over here since some of you prefer to read instead of watch a video. So…what’s in the busy bags?

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I know famous people, y’all. Jessica Smartt is my friend, a fellow blogger, and now, she’s a published author too. She wrote a real live BOOK! So now I am basically friends with a famous celebrity. Well, I mean, not exactly a celebrity, but it’s still kind of a big deal, right?

Her book is called Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home.

Before you start going down a bad path…this book is not going to make you feel like a failure as mom. Nope! I’m not about mom guilt and neither is Jessica! Can I tell you something?

I really struggle at the mom thing most days.

I see other moms doing crafts and making teepees from sticks and cutting out cookies in the shapes/sizes of the solar system – you know, all the stuff moms are “supposed to do.” Meanwhile I’m over here like, “So…should we take a bath today?”

This book is not for perfect moms who already have it all together. It’s for moms like me! Jessica has made my job easier by writing a book where I can grab tradition ideas instead of trying to think of them on my own. Like Jessica says in the book,

“It doesn’t matter where we’ve come from or what we think we’ve missed out, on we can change the story thru traditions.”

There’s so much good stuff in this book! You’ll get lots of stories, encouragement, some recipes, and over 200 great memory-making ideas. Jessica is my friend, but I would recommend this book even if she wasn’t. Ok, ok, sales pitch over!

Just make sure to check out Memory-Making Mom. It’s available now at Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million and more. If you get a copy, let me know what you think!

As a family, we do Bible time together. We always have a time that our family comes together to do our family Bible reading and prayer time. Annie is 9, so she does have her own Bible time as do Barry and I.  We alternate through the list below and have so many favorites. A good devotional book really can make a big difference for Family Bible Time! So here are ten of our favorites, plus a couple bonus books for moms.

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I’ve gotten asked before, Stacy, “How do you approach church involvement and extracurricular activities?” My take on this might be different than yours – but that’s okay! We can have different opinions and still be friends.

Before we had kids, Barry and I were very active in church.

We were at our church multiple days a week – I was volunteering and headed up one of the kitchens. I was very, very involved and so was Barry – because we had tons of time. But after kids, even thought we still wanted to be involved, it became much more difficult. Kids needing naps – trying to tote things around and contribute with our hands full most of the time – it was harder than we expected it to be!

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If y’all have been following for any amount of time you know that I am a stay-at-home, work-from-home, homeschooling mom. But more importantly than that, I am a wife to Barry. Being a wife is just as much – if not more! – who I am than all those other things. But for some reason, finding time for your marriage is just one of the hardest things to do!

You are not just a homemaker. You are not just a mom. You are a wife.

Sometimes my life as a homemaker is so constant and non-stop that it’s easy for it to take over and become my life. Make breakfast, do dishes, sweep, mop, wipe butts, wash hands, make snack, wipe butts, clean up messes, make lunch, wipe butts, wipe snotty nose, repeat. Yes, it seems like a never-ending job. It seems like it is your whole life is tied up in your role as a mom and homemaker. But here’s the thing – your kids are going to grow up and leave one day. When that happens, you want to make sure you still have a (good) relationship with your spouse. I don’t want to feel like an empty shell of a person when the kids are gone! It’s important that I cultivate my relationship with Barry, not just my children. [Read more…]

This topic was raised by several Facebook followers who asked if we (well, Barry in particular) would talk about safety for the family: including fire safety, bullying, safety on the internet, etc. [Read more…]

Note: Today’s post on how to love and edify your spouse was originally a part of my Watch Your Mouth Family Challenge.

If I am following someone on social media who starts to tear their spouse down, says they are angry, talks about when their spouse does something dumb or that they don’t like, I will unfollow them immediately. This happens way more often than it should!! I don’t have time for that negativity…and you shouldn’t either.

If you feed your spouse negativity and venom and you call them out in public…they are not going to respond with kindness and love.

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