Some gifts arrive in surprising packages. I hope you find yours, friend.

If you are downcast and wondering how ON EARTH to be a great mother, look no further because I am wearing my cape of excellent motherhood for you!

(I will also write about humility, but that’s not till next week, so we are safe for now!)

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

How can I assert myself as a great mother so you will listen to my advice? Good question! As I have recently learned, we have to find a way to convince others that we are experts before we tell them what to do, with enough confidence that they MAY even listen to us!

Well, here is some proof:

My kids drew these pictures for me over ten years ago!

Note the following close-up details:

One child wrote, “I wanna [sic] to be like you when I grow up.” Should I remind you all that perhaps the 10th item on my list of nine reasons to homeschool is that if you keep them at home with the curtains drawn and doors locked all the time1, your children MAY actually find that if there are no other adults in your children’s lives to look up to, so the adult they look up to is surprisingly . . .YOU!

Also, in the details of these pictures my children drew, you can see that one child wrote “Power” on her drawing of me! This comment is proof of my gentle assertiveness, I can assume! I don’t think she is talking about being afraid of me, like she said here, as that would be unhealthy, and the point of these introductory paragraphs is for you to realize that I am an expert.

However, unlike my usual writing, today I DO ACTUALLY have ONE piece of advice that can help you, so before you slam your laptop shut, you may want to stick around for that tasty candy I’ll soon toss your way.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Wait for it . . . (Building suspense)

Fifteen years ago, I was at the women’s retreat, and my tears surprised me.

Something a woman said at the conference echoed and clarified something God seemed to be whispering to my soul.

One wise woman figured there was probably a lesson for me in these surprising tears, so she patiently sat down to listen and to help me find the message after handing me the box of Kleenex.

And this message within my tears became one of the important anchors that helped to salvage my parenting from shipwreck.

Sometimes the message within our tears and prayers frees us.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to discuss this next time because this newsletter is getting too long – I think it’s your attention span is too short, by the way, not mine.2

However, you’re in luck because I have no idea what topics I’m even writing about,3 and so I accidentally posted two articles out of order! So this month, I ALREADY posted that amazing advice I found in my tears HERE!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

Photo Credits – Woman Weeping Holding Hope by engin akyurt on Unsplash, Drawings And Notes by Two Incredible Children

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1 That statement was a trick because homeschoolers are out doing stuff WAY more often than they should be if they were actually serious about meeting every Learning Objective the teachers tell us is essential (They are not essential). For definitive proof that we homeschoolers are home much less than we “should” be, watch this funny video on homeschooling myths.

2 Just sayin’. Wait – What were we talking about?

3 (Or why – But that’s another topic!)