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.

Wow! Another year has flown by and us here we are again, preparing to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

In my house that means coordinating lots of dates on the calendar for parties, musicals, and worship services, decorating the house, baking, meals with extended family, shopping, wrapping, sharing, giving, promising myself to get a good night’s rest each night (and failing miserably), and a bunch of other stuff, all jammed into the pretty short Advent season.

But Advent is about much more than all of those activities. And no matter how hard we try to make it special for our kids, special for our friends, special for ourselves, the most special thing has already been done: He came for us.

No matter how much busy-ness we decide to carry out or create, the best thing about Christmas has already happened. Unto us was born a Savior!

This season, as you rush from here to there, cramming things in to make the holiday special, please stop as often as you can and remember: He already made it special. And He made it special for each and every single one of us.

So how do you share this with your kids and also remember it yourself?

I’m going to try to focus on Him more and the other stuff less. Sure, I’ll still decorate, go to parties and do other things, but I’m making a point to stop and thank our Father as often as I can, rather than focus on how long my to-do list may be. And I plan to tell my kids all about it as I go and invite them to join me in saying “Thanks!”

Thank you, Father, for your son. Thank you, Father, for this season to really step back and reflect. And thank you, Father for the opportunity to celebrate by______. I’ll fill in the blank with whatever task I am doing or is overwhelming me. I have a feeling that, by regularly pausing, He will help me to keep my focus closer to where it needs to be.

Another way I keep my focus on Him is through something I first made for myself in 2008:

It’s an Advent calendar for moms and families. Each year I tweak the activities to fit and then follow them each day. If you’d like to join me, I’d love to know you are doing some of the things with me. Just click over and take a look.

What else can we do?

Cover our days in the Word.

It’s easy to get caught up in all the extra worship services and forget to read your Bible and pray each day. Try extra hard this December and let us know how it goes. If you are struggling to find a reading plan, consider reading a bit of Luke all month long or pick up a Bible and read whatever chapter of Proverbs reflects today’s date. Whatever plan you pick, the important thing is to stay in the Word and focus on Him.

Together let’s pause this month, reflect, and not allow the busy-ness of December take us away from the the most special thing about Christmas.

Merry Christmas, friends!

Nativity photo credit:Hoejin

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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.

I am thankful for my kids and I want to be sure they know that.

So often I get caught up in teaching by correcting, reminding my children to sit still, get their homework done without being distracted, stop talking and the like.

With all of this correction going on, sometimes I wonder if I need to do more teaching by example.

This month, instead of teaching my children thankfulness by asking them to tell me what they are thankful for, I am going to try my best to let them know each and every day that I am thankful for them and their efforts.

I might give my daughter a super-big smile as I thank her for being a ray of sunshine in our morning routine. I might arrange for a ‘date’ with my older son at the library when he can pick out books un-rushed as I thank him for being such an avid reader. Perhaps I’ll learn a few jokes and share them with my silly middle guy who has a sillier sense of humor than I do.

Showing I am thankful for them doesn’t mean I need to go over the top and do things that require extra effort every day or even every week, though.

I’ll also do simple things like making a point to just say “thank you for being you,” more often or “thank you for doing as I asked,” when they follow instructions.

I wonder what all of this thankfulness directed toward them will do for their self-esteem and their attitude. And I wonder how it will impact their actions.

I’m also keeping a numbered sheet of paper for each of them and writing something I am thankful for about them for each day of this month. Then, at the end of the month, I’ll give them my list for the 30 days so they can reflect on it and be reminded of some of the ways I am thankful for them. Or maybe I’ll keep the lists going through Christmas and wrap them up as Christmas gifts.

My hope is that this little exercise will teach my children how to express thankfulness and love as they see me modeling that behavior. I have a feeling much more will be accomplished at the end of the month than just that, though.

How do you express thankfulness toward your children? I’d love to read some of your ideas so I can use them, too.

If you’d like to join me in this thankfulness exercise, feel free to join in anytime. If you let me know you’re in right here in the comments, I’ll pray for your commitment to the exercise.

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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.

Parenting is always changing. As I’ve said here before, often it feels like once I get the hang of something, circumstances change.

I feel the same way about parenting three (or at times four, if you include our foreign exchange daughters of the past two years) children. We have always had basic rules and guidelines, but each child is so different from the others that we often have to modify our strategies.

Our youngest is such a people-pleaser. She just wants to do the right things and wants to help. She thrives on gaining acceptance and, consequently I compliment her on being a great helper. I also try to stress how much I love her because God made her just the way she is.

Yes, motivating her by praising her actions is convenient, but I also want to establish a strong foundation in her to gain her worth from our Father, not from her actions.

Our middle child is quintessentially middle child. He goes with the flow and flies under the radar. Every now and then he shows his deeply sensitive, caring side, and he gives the best hugs at bedtime. He reminds me that I cannot take his easy-going demeanor for granted and instead I need to make time for special moments with just him, listening and letting him know how thankful I am to have him as my son.

Our oldest is our deep thinker. He wants to understand things. Teaching him to do as told and not question authority has been a challenge… but we have seen great strides in the past few months. On one hand, I want him to do as told and not question, and yet on the other, I want him to be self-motivated and know why he is doing what he is required to do. More than once I’ve told him not to question me, to trust me and to just do as I have instructed and not argue or procrastinate. And then I think about my own relationship with our Father and wonder how many times God has thought the same thing about me.

And caring for someone else’s teenager in a foreign country (at least to them)… That is an entirely different ballgame! Especially when your own children are only in elementary school!

As I focus on building strong relationships with each of my children individually, as well as building a strong family bond, I am reminded of our Father. How in the world does He know just what blessings to put in our day to make each of us smile, and which lessons need to be taught in different ways? I only have a handful of personalities to figure out, yet he has billions. And he loves each and every one of us just the same… Even when we mess up. Amazing.

So how do I do it? What is the key to treating each child as an individual, yet still holding them all to the same family standards?

I certainly don’t have it figured out, but my husband and I try our best.

We make time for one-on-one time with our children. No, we don’t have an elaborate schedule, and no, it doesn’t always work out perfectly, but we try to find pockets of time where each of us can spend some alone time with just one child while the other does something with the other two.

We don’t always split things up by gender. It can be so easy to have my husband handle the boys while I do girl things with our daughter. Instead, we intentionally mix things up here and there to get new perspectives… and sometimes my husband even teaches me a thing or two about the girly stuff from his experiences with our daughter.
I pray over my children individually. I admit that sometimes, at the end of the day, it’s easier to just say a blanket prayer over our children. But the nights that I take the time to pray out loud over them while they listen, praying for their individual needs, are especially powerful.

Our standards for our family remain consistent with each child, yet we recognize the ways to reach those standards are different. Consequently we do have different expectations for each child for some elements, but the end goal is the same for everyone.

Finally, I try my best to remember to extend and also accept grace. Not even one of my children is perfect. And I am not perfect, either. I am not expected to be perfect and I, consequently, cannot expect them to be perfect, either. I can expect them to try, though. And I can expect them to show love. But I cannot expect perfection in every area all of the time.

And, back on that grace thing, I try to remember that I am doing my best, but I am not God. I am going to make mistakes. I just need to learn from them, ask for forgiveness (sometimes from our Father, sometimes from my children) and move on. He will see me though. And He will wash over my mistakes if I just ask.

What about you? If you have more than one child, how do you be sure to treat them as individuals and meet each one where he needs to be met? I’d love to learn from your ideas…

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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.