“The more terrible the storm, the more necessary the anchor.”
William S. Plumer
Tips for Happy Travels
When someone asks me to describe my fondest childhood memories, I typically respond with the vacations we took as a family. Some of you share similar fond memories, while others may have horror stories as you recollect those times of family togetherness. Yes, family travels can be terrific or they can be a bit trying. Although the unforeseen can arise on a vacation, we still have the ability to make every vacation a great vacation.
One of the most important ingredients for a successful trip is a good attitude. Bottom line, it doesn’t really matter where you go, or what happens along the way, a memorable vacation is anchored in your own positive perspective. You can set the tone for the whole experience by maintaining an upbeat outlook and an encouraging spirit along the way. Before you leave the front door, remind yourself to stay positive, thankful and prayerful throughout the twists and turns.
Here a few ideas to help:
Prepare a General Itinerary. Planning your days, and especially mealtimes, can help the trip run smoothly. Purchase tickets and make dinner reservations ahead of time. Talk with your family about the plans and tell them what they can expect along the way. Invite input and ideas in the planning stage. Leave room for flexibility and free time to relax or do spur of the moment excursions.
Remain Flexible. Things change. Weather happens. Flights get canceled. This is an opportunity to teach your kids how to handle challenges with grace and resilience, instead of anger and frustration. Help your kids change their expectations and creatively look for what you can do instead of remaining annoyed about what you can’t do.
Provide a Bag Full of Fun. Put together a simple goodie bag or small backpack for each child with age appropriate activities, snacks, games or toys. Make sure it is carry-able for your kids, so that it can go with them in the car or on the plane. The element of surprise helps to build the anticipation, so consider giving the bag to each child as you embark on your journey.
Have a Daily Family Devotional. Family trips offer a time of connectedness when you can share your hearts and pass on your spiritual values. Read a short devotional or a Psalm or passage of scripture each day as a family – talk about it and pray for each other’s needs.
Allow this time of togetherness to draw you closer as a family and create wonderful family memories. Prayerfully plan your trip and ask God to allow His grace-filled love to flow through each one of you as you spend this time together. And remember Paul’s encouragement in Romans 12, “As much as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
For more fun tips, check out The Power of a Positive Mom
Cost of Freedom
Hello dear friends and Happy Independence Week,
On Saturday, we joyfully celebrate this great nation’s freedom and heritage. I have been reflecting on the great sacrifice of those who first signed the Declaration of Independence and am inspired by their conviction and courage. At great personal cost, they believed in something bigger than themselves and envisioned what freedom would mean for future generations.
This week, I encourage you to reflect with gratitude on those who bravely paved the way for our freedom.
Tree-mendous Themes for the Summer
“Nature is a volume of which God is the author.” – Harvey
Need some fresh ideas to keep the kids or grandkids entertained this summer? When my kids were young, I started a fun summer plan called “Theme Weeks.” The concept is simple – when we had a week free from camps, trips, and VBS, we made our own fun by focusing on a theme. I used ABCD as our guide.
- A stands for activities
- B stands for books
- C stands for craft
- D stands for devotional
Here’s an idea of how you could plan out a Nature Theme week.
Day One: Bugging Out
Activities – Make or buy bug catchers and go on a bug hunt, visit local natural history museum or university, rent a bug movie, chase fireflies in the evening, look at bugs through a magnifying glass.
Books – The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Quiet Cricket both by Eric Carle, Ms. Spider series by David Kirk.
Crafts – Create your own antennae using a headband and pipe cleaners, make tissue paper butterflies, make and decorate bug catchers using plastic jars and netting.
Devotional – Consider the Ant, Proverbs 6:6-11
Day Two: Flower Power
Activities – visit a garden or nursery or arboretum in the area. Purchase seeds and plant a small garden or plant flowers in a pot.
Books – Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert, My Backyard Garden by Carol Lerner
Craft – Paint and decorate flower pots and visors, make tissue paper flowers, color or water paint pictures of a garden, make ice cream treats with ice cream in clay pots, use chocolate cookie crumbles for the dirt and put a plastic flower on top. Add a gummy worm for effect!
Devotional – The Four Soils. Mark 4:1-20
Day Three: Super Skies
Activities – Visit planetarium, lay down outside and cloud watch talking about the different shapes that you see, star gaze at night, look through a telescope.
Books – The Cloud Book, by Tomie de Paola, It Couldn’t Just Happen: Fascinating Facts About God’s World by Larry Richards.
Crafts – Make drawings of both the day sky and the night sky. Use glitter for stars on the night scene and clouds for the day.
Devotional – Creation Genesis 1:14 – 19, The Heavens Declare the Glory of God. Psalm 19
Day Four: Amazing Animals
Activities – Visit the zoo, local farm, doggy park, rent or go to movies about animals, dress up like animals using face paint and making ears using felt and headbands.
Books – Anamalia, by Graeme Base, Animals Born Alive and Well, by Ruth Heller.
Crafts – Make animals out of clay or foil or recycled items. Bake and decorate animal shaped cookies. Draw pictures of the zoo and Noah’s Ark. Put together photo album of animal pictures from magazine or from the zoo.
Devotional – Creation Genesis 1:20 – 25, Noah’s ark Genesis 6,7
Day Five: Tremendous Trees
Activities – Take a hike through a forest, visit a wooded area and do bark rubbings, collect leaves, plant a tree.
Books – The Legend of the Three Trees, by Angela Elwell Hunt and Tim Jonke, The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein.
Crafts – Create tree bark rubbings by holding paper on the side of a tree and rubbing with a crayon to get the impression (collect several and compare different barks), draw a forest, make a collage from items collected on your hike, preserve leaves between wax paper or clear contact paper, write a poem about trees.
Devotional – All of creation sings God’s praises Psalm 96:11-12
I hope these ideas spark your thinking and give you some fun ideas to make it a memorable summer. Other possible themes include: farm week, prince and princess week, music week, or art week. You get the idea. My purpose in sharing the concept of theme weeks is to encourage you to spend time engaging with your kids or grandkids this summer. Stay tuned for more summer fun in the weeks to come.
Check out my bestseller, The Power of a Positive Mom, for summer reading and additional creative ideas.
A Positive Launch into Summer
It can be the best of times, and it can be the worst of times. We know it as summertime! As moms and grandmoms, we want to make it the best of times, filled with joyful memories and personalized time with our kids. The temptation is to fill up every moment with activities and day camps. I want to encourage you to embrace space this summer! Allow yourself (and your kids) to breathe and enjoy relaxed, unscheduled time. In the next few weeks, I want to give you some ideas to enjoy summer with a smile on both your face and that of your kids. Today, I want to give you simple ways to launch into summer with your family.
Celebrate the beginning of summer with a family party. I’m not talking about a big bash; I’m just talking about a fun breakfast with the kids to help them get excited about all they have to look forward to during the summer. Prepare the kids’ favorite breakfast and make several posters introducing the season. Here is my suggestion for possible posters you can make using fun colors, stickers, and markers:
Boredom Busters – Ask the kids to come up with activities they can do if they ever begin to feel bored. Teach them that Boredom is in the eye of the beholder and no one ever needs to actually be bored; they just need to think a little more creatively. In fact, I told my kids that the B-word (boredom) was off limits for our home. Talk together about ideas that someone can do when they feel like there is nothing to do. You will all be amazed at the possibilities: sidewalk chalk, bubbles, hopscotch, reading, roller skate, basketball, frisbee, crafts, .
Super Summer Schedule – Create another poster to write out summer daily, weekly, and/or monthly schedules. You may want to have a summer monthly calendar marking the weeks when the kids are at camp, or you are all on a family vacation. You can also plan a loose daily routine with activities or outings in the morning, lunch, and then rest time in the early afternoon. Everyone needs a little downtime – even teens. In our house, we called it FOB (Flat on Bunk). This is a quiet time to relax, read, nap, and simply take it easy. For later in the afternoon, plan a craft, or allow them to watch a movie, or build a fort, or help with dinner. After dinner, what about a family game, or a walk, or simply playing outside before you start your bedtime routine? Keep in mind – kids do better with routines. You don’t have to be hard and fast with your schedule, but you will find your kids are a little more at ease when they know what to expect throughout the day.
Loving Limits – During the summer, you may want to put a few limits on what the kids do. You may need to place a limit on the amount of time spent on computer games, television, or tablets. Talk about what is reasonable and work through some loving limits for the summer. Pray about what is right for your family and lovingly have a conversation about it. Make sure you and your spouse are on the same page. It is helpful for your kids to know the summer expectations up front.
The most important thing you can do to make this summer one of the “best summers ever” is to set the tone in the home with a positive attitude. Stay flexible. Remember what Solomon said, “We can make our plans, but the final result is up to God.” Determine within your own heart that you will enjoy your kids, even if the house isn’t perfect or you don’t get to go on a dream vacation. Summer offers a unique time to build both relationships and memories through spending time together as a family. My desire is to provide simple ways for you to enjoy your kids and make it a fun-filled summer. By the way, be sure to give your kids the gift of your smile throughout the summer days.
Check out my book, The Power of a Positive Mom, for more ideas and encouragement.
Why I Write
How often do you consider the motivation behind what you do? When I consider my compelling motives for writing books, blogs, and posts, I keep coming back to the same answer. It is a part of the way God made me. He compels me to put my thoughts on paper. There is a God-push inside of me that makes me want to share insights, truths, and encouragement with others.
This desire to write brings me back to my personal mission statement. Do you have one? Years ago, I observed my dad’s written statement, which inspired me to create my own. Prayerfully and thoughtfully, I wrote what I sensed to be my purpose on this earth. Although I may tweak it here and there over time, it essentially stays the same. Here it is:
My mission is to encourage men and women around the world to experience a deeper faith in Christ
and to live positive and productive lives.
My mission statement informs my motivation in writing. The reason I write is:
- To encourage readers’ hearts
- To inspire deeper faith in Christ
- To point to God’s truth founded in His word
What about you? Why do you do what you do? Ponder and consider what your mission is in this world and how God wants you to use it for His glory.
Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash
Positive Life Principles 