moms Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Kristen Anne Glover

Happy Birth-Day Mama Giveaway

Are you an expectant mother? Then we want to honor you with this very special giveaway, just in time for Mother’s Day!

Angie Tolpin, author of Redeeming Childbirth, put together these amazing giveaways and asked if I’d like to participate. Of course, I said yes because

1) She did all the work, and

2) I love moms.

So for once, I’m NOT going to go on and on about the giveaway! Just scroll down and enter away!

You will notice there are TWO Rafflecopter entry forms in this post. The first is for a $100 Zulily maternity store gift certificate and the Ultimate Homemaker’s Resource Library of 97 books {exclusive}!

The other is for a bunch of awesome resources, which Angie talks about below. Be sure to enter both!

Now, here’s Angie with more details:

Package #1

We are very excited to bless an expectant mother with a $100 gift certificate to Zulily Maternity & 1 Ultimate Homemaker Ebook Bundle {which is no longer for sale}!

To see what is included in the Ultimate Homemaker Bundle read the descriptions here or here. This is an impressive collection of resources!

~The Zulily Gift certificate generously brought to you by the bloggers below.~

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Package #2

This giveaway package has it all! Something for any mom, whether this is your first baby or your tenth!

Lisa Jacobson of Club 31 Women donated her book How Did God Make Me?

Boys and girls love to know that they are special, and nothing instills a sense of uniqueness like the knowledge that they were known and loved before birth. Help your child develop feelings of understanding and closeness with the God who is intimately involved in our lives — even before we are born!

The Mission-Minded Child is a practical book to encourage Christian parents and teachers placed in the strategic position of impacting the next generation.

As a guide to world missions, The Mission-Minded Child is filled with facts, information, and tools for teaching. It focuses on the “why” of missions–including our Biblical basis, historical heritage, and the world’s need–and contains over 25 mini-missionary biographies, motivational mission stories, classic poems, hymns, and hundreds of easy-to-use ideas. The Mission-Minded Child will inspire teachers and parents to look for God’s potential in their child, “release” their little one to God for His purposes, and “raise” their child to fulfill God’s specific mission, whatever that might be. As a resource tool, this book will be referred to again and again.

Heidi St. John donated her eBook The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance. Heidi blogs at The Busy Mom.

Homeschooling offers parents the best opportunity to shepherd their children both academically and spiritually. Yes. It’s worth it. But do you ever feel as if your life is “all homeschool—all the time?” Do you ever wonder where the girl your husband married went? This book is for every mom who has collapsed into bed at the end of the day, looked into the eyes of her husband and promised “tomorrow” she’d have time for him. Trouble is, tomorrow finds her more exhausted than the day before. If you have ever felt caught between the demands of homeschooling your children and meeting the needs of your husband, you’re not alone. Read and discover how even a busy homeschool mom can make time to nurture her marriage. It’s not as hard as you think—and more important than you may realize.

Shoshanna Easling, owner of Bulk Herb Store donated their Making Babies set that includes the book and 3 DVDs.

Making Babies is a fun, informational, artistic, and colorful pregnancy book. Follow Shoshanna through her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter as she stays healthy and builds a baby. The book covers information that is in the DVDs volumes 1, 2, and 3, includes many deliciously healthy recipes, wonderful gluten-free recipes, grandma’s remedies, herbal concoctions, and need-to-know facts, and is packed with research about fertility, conception, morning sickness, pregnancy, birth, nursing, postpartum issues, losing weight, and more!

Source: Laura Newman Photography

Blessings God’s Way donated A Celebration of Pregnancy DVD Combo {DVD + Guide}

This set enables you to feel confident and sure about hosting a Blessing God’s Way gathering in your community! This DVD is 30 minutes long . Watch this prior to hosting your own gathering or pass it on, along with the book, to friends and family that you can share our message with. What a blessing to know there is a God-centered instructional DVD and book for celebrating birth! May God be glorified!

The Joyful Giraffe donated one large snack bag and one large sandwich bag.

These are two great reusable products that will save you money and are eco-friendly too!Both have a waterproof lining on the inside and a zipper closure, so whether it has grapes or a sandwich, all messes are contained! Bags are handmade by a work at home mom.

Angie Tolpin of Leaving a Legacy is donating a signed Redeeming Childbirth Package {Book & Growth & Study Guide}, $30 value.

“Childbirth is more than an event that makes a woman a mother. This journey was designed to be a spiritual milestone that draws every woman’s heart back to the only Deliverer.”

Bethany Learn of Fit to Be Us is donating a 6 Month Membership to her online exercise site, a $50 value.

Fit to Be Us films and streams workout routines that are fun, easy to access and non-threatening. We specialize in diastasis-aware and tummy safe moves!

Mission

Our mission is to make fitness safe, fun and accessible without intimidating you. We want to bring our living rooms to yours, inviting you into an intimate view of holistic wellness.

Company Overview

We are an online fitness studio featuring wholesome home workout videos that you watch on the web. We specialize in workouts that are safe and inspiring for those dealing with low back pain, diastasis, disabilities, stress incontinence, busy schedules, crazy kids, and more! No boot camps or x-rated stuff here. Just family friendly fitness at the click of a mouse! We blend Pilates and Yoga into beautiful, high-def, high quality sessions for everyone from beginners to advanced exercisers.

Juju Band is donating one Baby Belly Binder.

Baby belly binding has long been used in various forms by many different cultures. The ancient art of binding has been made easy and quite cute by the Juju Band. Its design is simple and made to accommodate even the busiest of parents! The Juju Band has been a family tradition for over 100 years. It is a tradition still used today in our family. We hope that you will join our family tradition and try the Juju Band on your newborns and infants. Juju Bands are used for 2 different purposes. First, it is used on the Newborn as a shield to protect from constant contact of diapers and clothing. This helps reduce the likelihood of irritation and infection. The Newborn Navel Protector also helps give your baby the perfect “innie” belly button. Second, the Infant Belly Binder helps relieve colic and soothe fussy babies. The snug fit calms and comforts even the most finicky infants.

Jennifer Lambert of Royal Little Lambs donates a Gentle Babies book and Gentle Baby essential oil.

Combining two decades of professional knowledge with tried-and-true techniques and first-hand testimonials, the author Debra Raybern has compiled this insightful and easy-to-follow guide benefitting both experienced and first-time mothers. In addition, Gentle Babies book contains an introduction to therapeutic-grade essential oils and applications and provides safety information and a section on discerning the quality of essential oils. Every family taking proactive steps to better health should have this resource in their home library. Gentle Baby™ essential oil is a soft, fragrant combination of essential oils designed specifically for mothers and babies. It helps calm emotions during pregnancy and is useful for quieting troubled little ones. It is also soothing to tender skin. Many of the essential oils in this blend are used in elite cosmetics to enhance a youthful appearance.

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Reclaiming the Loo

Today, my friend Abbie invited me over to her place. She’s a mom of five just like me, including twins, just like me. Since Abbie is so much like me, I figured she would sympathize with one of my mom-problems: how to get the children to leave me alone when the bathroom door closes.

Am I the only one whose children think going to the bathroom is a group activity? I think not.

Mothers of the World, it’s time we reclaim the loo. Join me over at Five Days 5 Ways and find out my devious plan to help us do just that.

The Trouble with Rest

*100 Beautiful Days of Motherhood: 33

Two. That’s the number of times this week I set the tea kettle on to boil and walked away, only to return some time later to find it bone dry and smoking. The second time, the handle, which was made to be impervious to absentmindedness, melted off in slow agony and dropped onto the burner.

The children smelled the burning plastic and asked if I was making dinner.

I was not.

I stared at my tea kettle. The heat had caused the metal to swell abnormally. It was as fat as a little piggy and much more likely to explode. Black smoke drifted lazily up from the tar-like goo on the burner.

This was concerning to me, not just because of the fact that I very nearly gave my children an unplanned lesson on shrapnel, but because it said something about me that wasn’t good. A woman who burns her kettle dry two times in five days has issues.

My issue is this: I have trouble resting. I have so much trouble resting, I can’t even slow down long enough to brew a cup of “Quite Moments” tea. I run around like the house is on fire (which, ironically, was very nearly a reality) because I feel like I have to work my way to a place of rest.

But the work is never done and rest is always elusive because I live at work.

My “office” is strewn with socks and dirty dishes and way more Thomas the Tank Engine tracks than is professional. And while my coworker is cute and my boss is great, the subordinates tend to run around half naked and spill milk. Everywhere I turn, I see reminders of the things I have yet to do, have not done well, or have not done at all.

Sometimes, I just want to put on a pair of heels and commute. Preferably to Hawaii. Perhaps then I could find a way to be done at the end of the day.

But of course, being done is not the point and work is not the problem. The problem is not the dishes in the sink or the floor that needs mopped. The problem is I lack the faith to rest the way God commands. I lack the faith to be still, to be quiet, and to pursue the things that are more important than dusting the furniture.

I lack the faith to trust that my identity in Him is secure, even if my work is not done.

There will always be work. But here in the middle of the mess, I am commanded to rest. Rest, true rest, is what I need. Not like when I go to bed and dream about cleaning my kitchen. Not like when I finally get all the rooms straightened up on the same day and I collapse into the couch, exhausted. Not like when I finally check everything off the to-do list and feel like I’ve earned it.

True rest is a grace. It sees the work left to do and nourishes me anyway. It sees that I am not yet done and rewards me with strength for the course. It resets the priorities that have gotten scrambled and brings my focus up from the temporal to the eternal.

I forget that sometimes, and I fight against it. I act like God is punishing me, somehow, by calling me to a place of rest. I kind of think that if He wants me to rest, He should find a way to clean my kitchen first. But He doesn’t do that. He leaves the mess, and asks me to leave it too.

So I put the kettle on, but I struggle with the fear that if I take some time off, my entire world is going to descend deeper into chaos and disorder. Who is going to do the dishes while I sip my tea, God? I sneak off and try to put away some laundry while I wait for the water to boil and pretty soon, I find myself face-to-face with a charbroiled kettle.

The truth is, I can never work my way to rest because rest is an act of faith. It requires me to act on the promise of God that one day, the meaningless repetition of earthly work will end. All that is lacking in me will be filled up, and all that is undone will be completed. I will no longer live at work.

I will live at rest.

So tonight, I am putting the kettle on. It’s a little rusty now and I can’t quite pry the lid off because the knob burned off. I am not done with my work. I guess that’s why it’s the perfect time to act on the belief that even in my imperfection, God’s promises are true. Not being done is the best reason to practice being at rest.

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