A few years ago, it became clear my husband’s parents (who were almost as old as my grandparents) would no longer be able to live in their home out-of-state. That was the beginning of a couple of extremely difficult years trying to homeschool our daughter, while my husband tried to work a demanding job – all while caring for his parents who we had moved into a nearby assisted living facility.
We had no guidebook. My husband was an only child and my parents had not had this experience with my grandparents. We were exhausted and clueless. It never felt like we were making the right choices. And we were blessed that my in-laws could even afford assisted living! I can’t imagine how we would have managed those first two years without the help of assisted living and then Hospice.
If you have recently found yourself in this position, do yourself a favor and read the new book The Caregiving Season by Jane Daly. I know you don’t think you have the time or energy, but I urge you to make the time. Daly has obviously walked this road herself. I found myself identifying with almost every scenario in the book. Because she has been there, she gives you the permission to feel natural emotions, while still encouraging you to act and react in godly ways.
Continue reading Great New Resource for “Sandwich” Generation Moms
I’m not sure when it happened, but over the last several decades parenting has changed drastically. Not all of these changes are bad. Unfortunately though, some parenting “experts” are ignoring basic truths that also undermine Christian parenting. The church has changed too. Sin is rarely mentioned. Consequences are almost never discussed. The focus is only on celebrating God’s love for us.
How many Bible stories have your children heard? If they are like most regular church attendees, they probably hear between 20 and 30 Bible stories during their childhood. If you don’t have regular family devotionals, they may never hear many more than that. When we started Teach One Reach One (our parent ministry), we counted the Bible stories we thought were appropriate for children (we skipped a couple involving rapes) and came up with 207. Now one could probably group them differently and come up with a slightly changed number, but you see the gap.
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