🤍 Our First Newsletter | Motherhood Snapshot | Child Body Safety

👩‍👧‍👦Motherhood Snapshot Series

^{Short features on moms and how they mother. The ladies highlighted here are in all seasons of motherhood, so we can all glean a little something. We’d love to feature you; please reach out!}

Background: Sandra grew up in Tallahassee and moved to Knoxville after getting engaged to her husband. She home schools her 10 year old twin boys and 13 year old daughter. The move to Knoxville wasn’t easy; “I grew up in Florida, I was part of an amazing church community, had my parents somewhat near by…but we knew we were being called to Knoxville for a wonderful career opportunity for my husband, and only for a season, but it wasn’t an easy adjustment at first”.

How do you make friends as a busy homeschool mom?: “100% church! When we moved our #1 priority was to find a church with solid teaching and community. For us that means a thriving children’s ministry and small groups! And a good mix of ages in the congregation. We also keep our home open, especially now that we have a teenager, we want to become the house other teens and their parents come to. And listen you have to be vulnerable and open to create friendships. I also used work PT in the “birth community” as a doula, and even though I don’t anymore, it has also opened up great opportunity for friendships. It’s a tight knit community”.

How did you handle sleep with the twins? “It helped that I was a second time mom, I will say that. My husband and I were so much more relaxed about this. We kept them in the same crib together for a while, maybe until they were 8-9 months, then switched to a floor bed (BEST decision ever). We also took them out of their swaddles as fast as we could, I want to say by 4-6 weeks. We wanted them to have their hands available to self-sooth. From there, we used bottles for bed time. So my husband and I could handle them together. So I nursed during the day—until they turned 1, I was so proud of that—but for bedtime we used bottles with either pumped milk or formula or both. It worked for us!”

How do you handle technology with your teen? “She doesn’t have a cell phone. Plain and simple. Maybe later in high school she will. There’s just not emotional maturity there for it. She hates it. So many of her friends have them. My mom was so lenient with me growing up. I’m sad to admit I was exposed to so many things prematurely because of it. I don’t want the same for my daughter. I very much take the “I’m not your friend, I’m your mother” approach to parenting and I think this has helped me hold the line.””

What’s you mom dress and/or beauty uniform: “I love to fully dress up every day. It just helps me stay motivated, focused, ready for the day. To me, this means jeans or even trousers some days, a button down, maybe a nice top, loafers or tevas. But it wasn’t like this when my kids were little. For beauty…I’m a mascara and lipstick girl. I hate foundation, so I just moisturize. I love the Ilia Beauty mascara, it’s the only clean mascara that doesn’t irritate my super sensitive eyes.”

What natural approaches do you bring to your motherhood? “For us food is a big one. We invest a lot of money on healthy food and the way I justify it is, I don’t spend barely any money on skin care, clothes, nail or hair product, etc. We buy half a cow of grass fed beef (we split it with another family from church) and pasture raised chickens. I buy most of my porous vegetables organic and we are huge on avoiding the dyes. My mom thinks I’m crazy!”.

Short Reads, Big Gains

^{Quick write ups highlighting valuable content, habits, approaches, products, etc that can make a big impact when applied to our life.}

🙏Struggling With Mornings? Try This: The A.C.T.S. Prayer Model…set your phone timer for 5 minutes this morning (or tomorrow, start fresh) and pray using A.C.T.S. (even if your kids are awake, even if they’re playing and shouting, even if the bed isn’t made yet).

Adoration

Confession

Thanksgiving

Supplication

He is worthy of your time ❤️

🔔A Solid Child Body Safety Card…that you can purchase as a magnet and hang on the fridge, maybe stick on the back page of your children’s schools book or to bring to your co-op. Find it here.

💻️ Remote Job Posting

Company: Christian Broadcasting Network (the makers of Superbook)

Role: Remote Call Center Rep (PT) / $15/hr

Hiring in: AL, FL, GA, KS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX & VA

“This work from home position will communicate and connect with established and prospective CBN partners through ministering prayer using accepted biblical doctrine, sharing information about CBN and its affiliated ministries and encouraging financial support.”

Apply here. Note: the role is available as FT and as a bilingual role for fluent Spanish speakers.

Useful Things on the Internet

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👉️ Next Week: on mothering 5 boys, sibling conflict, and access to free audio books.

^{Please note: links don’t equal endorsements. We’ll always aim to link to wholesome sites, but we can’t control their ads, which frequently change. At the moment, none of our links are affiliate links.}