Q FROM A READER: How do you feed your large family? The older my son gets, the more he’s eating, and I’m realizing I need to get better at cooking more food for less money. Yup, with 9 kiddos (8 of whom are sons!!), you know I understand! This is an ongoing point of analysis…
Author: Jess Connell
When You’re Not Perfect Enough
Have you ever felt that heavy certainty of heart? The guilty pronouncement that declares: “You’re not perfect enough“?? Sadly, it seems to be more prominent in certain places. And from personal experience I can say– it often accompanies the choices we make as mothers, particularly as homeschooling mothers. In truth, it shows up in other places too. The SJWs at Evergreen State,…
“What Good is That with This Huge Crowd?”
In John 6, Jesus is teaching a massive crowd, and meal time arrives. But it looks hopeless. It was too late, and would be too expensive, to run to the town/store to feed such a large group. This happens in our home from time to time. I always think of Sally Clarkson, who said something like…
When Your Home Life Needs a JumpStart
Note from Jess: I wrote this more than a year ago, three months after having baby #9. We’re… barely… creeping out of the postpartum season. Wowzers, things feel overwhelming. I looked around last night and here’s what I noticed: the driveway was a mess. Recycling that hadn’t made it to the bin, toys that were…
5 Thoughts Before I’m 40 + a Life Update
Well, hello there! It’s been a while. Allow me to share some hodge-podgy thoughts I’ve been pondering, as I approach my 40th birthday this month: (1) No matter what choices you make, life contains pain. Fear of pain can not be what rules our decision-making. God doesn’t promise easy roads, comfortable circumstances, good emotions, or…
God is Gooder Than the Hard.
“You are a God of seeing…Truly I have seen Him who looks after me.” ~a pregnant Egyptian slavewoman, in the middle of nowhere… a nobody really… making much of the One who found her in the wilderness, gave her water, and blessed her. When in the wilderness, it makes sense to look at…
VIDEO: Embracing Weakness as a Christian Mother
As I grow in my understanding of the Gospel, and see my own weakness, this was a declaration/confession for me, recorded (and then forgotten, oops!) a little over 2 years ago. I want to be a mom with a Gospel-shaped posture toward life. Recorded: March 2017, after baby #8
VIDEO: Mothering is like FOOD, Not Alcohol
SKIP STRAIGHT TO THE VIDEO BY CLICKING HERE: https://youtu.be/J4_MT8P1ZJc When we work hard at mothering, we often come face-to-face with ourselves. We see our fears and our desire to control everything. We see our own anger. Our selfishness, anxieties, and our weakness and frailty all come to the forefront. It’s embarrassing, isn’t it? Too often,…
VIDEO: Things I DIDN’T EXPECT (as a Large Family Mom)
Like many Americans in the 80s and 90s, (maybe like you?) I grew up with one sibling. So I didn’t really know what to expect as a mom of many children (we have 9 now). Some things we can anticipate: (laundry, food, and stacks of clothes bins!), but what I wanted to talk about in…
Limbo isn’t Limbo
We’ve been in this position before. Almost 17 years ago, Doug & I left our former life in the expensive D.C. area, with our 5-week-old in tow, certain that we wanted for me to be the one to stay home, but with no other plan other than a 1-bedroom apartment that we’d called ahead and reserved….