What is your family doing this summer?

Do you have plans to launch or complete a project? Will you go on a trip or two near or far away from your home? Will you stay up later, sleep in longer and relax? Is there a mission trip on the horizon? Or maybe a lemonade stand? Or early morning hours of swim practice and meets? Or are you children still tiny and summer hasn’t taken on a new meaning of relaxation for you, yet?

As my children have grown out of the baby stages and into the school ages, I have enjoyed summers with them more and more. I love taking them roller skating, ice skating and hearing them have fun with their friends into the wee hours during sleepovers.

And I really love traveling with them. We are definitely a traveling family, and the summer months bring more trips and more fun… without cramming in the school work.

Often I find summer to be filled with gorgeous ways to explore the wonders of God’s creation together.

This summer I challenge you to create and keep a Wonders of God’s Creation journal.

As you and your children come across God’s fingerprints, whether in a beautiful sunset, a ladybug crawling across the sidewalk or a majestic canyon or coral reef, take a picture and/ or write a few words about what you saw and why you think God chose to share it with you.

You might see wonder in the joy of staying up late, sharing stories with your son, or you might see it in the giggles of your daughter as she tries to tickle you. You might even see it in the most breathtaking scene you can imagine on vacation.

Stop. Take advantage of the lazy days of summer. And record His wonder. I bet you’ll start seeing it more and more each day.

Want to share your journal entries and experiences? Join me on MomsToolbox this summer for a brand new original Bible study: Exploring the Wonders of God’s Creation. We launch in June.

In the meantime, tell us about some of the wonders you have experienced lately right here in the comments…

Want to try out a fun devotional journal for your little girl? Check out My Faith Journal from Tommy!

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Amy is the Mom behind both Mom’s Toolbox and Mom’s Travel Tales. She is a world traveler — in heart, body, and prayer and enjoys sharing her experiences with others. She regularly hosts the Bible in 90 Days read-along. A mother of three young children, Amy writes to equip moms with tools for success whether at home, abroad or in between.

Easter Sunday may be long gone this year, but before we turn the calendar and launch into May… and also throw away what might be left of the candy from the Easter baskets, let’s stop for a minute and remember just what Easter is all about.

If you are anything like me, you might have put in a lot of thought to make Easter mean more than just bunnies and chocolate as the days got closer to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. You probably talked to your kids about the gift Jesus gave us in offering himself for our sins. And hopefully you were just as inspired as I was by my fellow Tommy Mommies great ideas for celebrating with your family.

But once Easter passed, did you carry on that teaching? Did you continue to remind your kids just how BIG a deal Easter really is?

For those of you with kids in school , try to stop for a few minutes this week, before you start going into overdrive in wrapping up the school year and all the activities that entails. And for those without kids in school, take a moment to share, too.

Stop and just talk to your kiddos about Easter one more time.

Ask them what they liked about your family Easter celebration this year.

Ask them if they want to celebrate the same way next year.

And then ask them if they thought your family’s celebration helped them learn anything new about Jesus… or if it helped them to really think about the excitement of His resurrection.

The Resurrection absolutely amazes me and thrills me. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be one of the few IN THAT TOMB that first Easter morning and be astonished that Jesus’ body was NOT in that tomb. I can’t imagine the astonishment and excitement that must have covered his followers as they put the pieces together and realized that yes, what Jesus had said all along made perfect sense. And he HAD in fact, overcome death. Woah.

Take a few minutes this week, maybe pull out one of your Easter storybooks or the Bible and talk about the Easter story with your children one more time.
Because what happened on that first Easter Sunday is much more than a one-day affair. It changed life, and death, forever.

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Amy is the Mom behind both Mom’s Toolbox and Mom’s Travel Tales. She is a world traveler — in heart, body, and prayer and enjoys sharing her experiences with others. She regularly hosts the Bible in 90 Days read-along. A mother of three young children, Amy writes to equip moms with tools for success whether at home, abroad or in between.

Right around Christmas time, it was discovered that I had a cyst on my liver. Although I had faith the surgery would go just as well as the surgeon said it would, I still had a few thoughts that jumped into my head, making me think about how I had been using my time and whether or not I was doing in my life what God had intended. I felt comfortable with what would happen to me if God called me home, but I wondered what gifts I would have left my children had that been the case.

The surgery went exactly as planned and I have been told that I have nothing to worry about in terms if it for the future and that cyst.

Fortunately, the questions I asked myself as I prepared to go under anesthesia, and the plans I made have helped me to change a bit.

Since preparing for surgery, I have tried harder to make every day count, and yet I’ve also loosened up my perfectionism a bit, which has been a great change, and has helped me to make better days for me and my family.

Some of these things I did before surgery, and some I modified. Either way, here are 5 ways I try to make every day count:

Keep a master to-do list and update it.

I keep a master to do list written on notebook paper. It is several pages long and has everything from reminders to pay the bills, to restaurants I want to visit as a family, to my writing obligations, essential errands, Bible study plans and dreams for changes in our home decor. Everything I want or need to do goes on that list.

Make a daily to-do list

From my master list, I break things out into daily lists, with tasks that need to be completed and time commitments for each day. I review the list for the next day before I go to bed, making changes as needed.

Read the Bible, journal and pray each morning

I have a reading plan and spend time in the Word each morning. Before I read, I ask God to guide my heart and mind as I read. Then I use the SOAP devotional plan to zero on on the messages He may have for me.

Yes, some days are off and running before I am ready for them to be, and on those days I carry my Bible around the house with me, even sometimes into the car and on errands until I get it read.

I have found that reading and praying are essential to staying connected with my Father. And staying connected with my Father keeps me in tune to what IS important.

Show love to your family

I try very hard to find ways to show my husband and children that I love them. I try to let them know I am listening when they are talking to me by looking at them and commenting on what they say. I have also learned to include things I want or need to do for them on my big master to do list so things don’t slip through. I also make it a point to tell each of them I love them and try to give them a reason why each day. (I don’t come up with a new reason each day. Often, my reasons or things I love about them are the same day after day.)

Show love to those around you

I try to open doors for others, look people in the eyes, smile and show respect to everyone who crosses my path. You never know who really needs that smile of yours, so I try to be generous with mine. Being kind and generous is really a simple task and it can make a huge difference in the next person’s life… plus it always make me feel warm and fuzzy inside to share God’s love! (If you need ideas on ways to show kindness, I’d be happy to help.. click on over to my posts on Operation Intentional #Kindness and join in!)

These 5 simple tips really are simple, and yet they have helped me a lot. I want to be intentional. I want to make every day count. They help me to do just that.

What about you? What do you do to make every day count?

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Amy is the Mom behind both Mom’s Toolbox and Mom’s Travel Tales. She is a world traveler — in heart, body, and prayer and enjoys sharing her experiences with others. She regularly hosts the Bible in 90 Days read-along. A mother of three young children, Amy writes to equip moms with tools for success whether at home, abroad or in between.

February is the month of love, so why not use this chance to show love as a family to others?
Here are a few simple things you can do which will have a lasting impact, both on those to whom you are showing love and on your children who will learn new ways to help others and share love.

1. Make sandwiches and sack lunches and deliver them to people in need.

Before our children were born, my husband and I used to make sack lunches around Christmastime and deliver them to people who looked like they could use a lunch in downtown Houston, near where we lived.

This year, we finally decided to invite our kids to join us and made it a family event. We bought foods we knew the kids liked (and we liked, too) and put everyone to work making sandwiches and stuffing lunch sacks. My 5 year old daughter even decorated the sandwich bags with stickers. Then we loaded up the car and delivered the sandwiches, praying for those we fed, and for ourselves.
This took only a few hours, but I know the impact of it could be eternal.

2. Volunteer as a family at a food pantry (stocking, sorting, or whatever they need) or other donation center.

Most food pantries, whether it be one at a church or a community center, welcome volunteers in many roles. Find one near you, call ahead and schedule a family outing for an afternoon when you can help with whatever tasks they need. Most centers will allow children to help. Just be sure to share your children’s ages over the phone when you schedule your time to serve to be sure your children can help with the tasks they assign to you.

3. Host another family over for dinner and game night.

Host any family you enjoy or want to shower with love. Decide whom to invite as a family and then show your kids how to be good hosts by deciding what to do that evening. What should you eat? What activities should you do? Work with your kids to plan the menu, prepare the food and plan all the fun.

4. Bake cookies and deliver them to your local fire station.

I confirmed this one with one of my favorite firefighters who said that yes, cookies are always welcome at fire stations. So bake a batch, pile the kids (and cookies) in the car and drive over to your local fire station to say “Thank you,” in person.

5. Sponsor a child through Compassion International or a similar organization.

Sponsoring a child through Compassion International or a similar organization will not only change the life of the child you are sponsoring, but will also change your own children’s perspective of the world and your own. Yes, it costs money on a regular basis, but that money is well spent. And making the decision as a family to cut back in other areas to make this happen is yet another lesson in love to share.

Looking for even more ideas? Join me every Sunday on MomsToolbox as I issue a weekly assignment for sharing love and kindness to those around you as part of Operation Intentional #Kindness.

Do you have any other ways you can you show love as a family? Please share your ideas in the comments so we can all show more love this month and always.

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Amy is the Mom behind both Mom’s Toolbox and Mom’s Travel Tales. She is a world traveler — in heart, body, and prayer and enjoys sharing her experiences with others. She regularly hosts the Bible in 90 Days read-along. A mother of three young children, Amy writes to equip moms with tools for success whether at home, abroad or in between.

Are you a new year’s resolution-maker? Or perhaps you prefer to approach the new year with new goals, as opposed to calling them resolutions. Either way, a new year is another great way for a fresh start.

But new year’s resolutions can also be so intimidating. And what happens when you find yourself three weeks into the new year and you’ve already messed up?

Here’s what I do:

I ask for forgiveness from myself and I ask for forgiveness from my Father, and then I start all over again.

He washes our mistakes away, and, although it can be hard, it is important for us to follow His example and release ourselves from our failures, too, no matter how big or small they may be.

Release yourself and start over.

Now, once you’ve done that, relish that clean slate. Embrace the fresh start and really give it a good go the next time.

But how do you do that?

I know that if I want my goals to stick, I need to:

• pray about them and think about them
• make them achievable
• make them measurable
• think about the steps to achieve them.

Then I:

• pray about them some more
• decide which ones to share with my husband or others
• write down each goal and my steps to achieve it.

In one of my SOAP devotionals last month, God pointed out to me that Jesus instructed the disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation.

This reminded me that I also need to pray to stay away from temptation and to pray to stay on His path.

In making (or re-making) your goals or resolutions for the year, be sure to invite the Holy Spirit into your goal-setting. Ask our Father to guide you. And then ask Him to keep you on track and away from temptation to falter.

He wants you to succeed. He wants you to glorify Him in your role as a mom. And He knows that is hard.

Call out to Him. Ask Him to help you. And ask and then accept forgiveness when that is needed, too.

So, with all that said, are you ready to invite Him in to your resolution-making or goal-setting? What does 2012 hold for you?

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Amy is the Mom behind both Mom’s Toolbox and Mom’s Travel Tales. She is a world traveler — in heart, body, and prayer and enjoys sharing her experiences with others. She regularly hosts the Bible in 90 Days read-along. A mother of three young children, Amy writes to equip moms with tools for success whether at home, abroad or in between.