EVERY MOMent COUNTS!
I’m Susan Yates and I think I’m one of the oldest of the bloggers, but in my imagination, I’m really 38! When I take care of my daughter’s five little ones it feels like it’s me all over again. My husband and I had five kids in seven years (including twins) and we still feel the effects of 10 years of not sleeping through the night. Today our five are all married and we have 21 grandchildren. I love being a pastor’s wife, hanging out with the next generation, writing (especially with fellow blogger Barbara), speaking, dogs, horses, hiking, Tarheel basketball, cooking less, and eating more chocolate.
“You stupid, big fat ugly Mommy.” “You are so mean. I wish you weren’t my Mom.” “You are the worst Mom in the world.” Or: “No! I won’t!” If you haven’t heard these phrases or ones like these in your home, you must not have kids! Backtalk in a home with young children is a common, [...]
Recently I went for a walk in the woods. It was one of those days when the temperature hovered at 32 degrees. Thick mist had settled into the trees intent on reaching the lowest ground. The humidity was nearly 100 percent. Would there be rain, sleet, or snow? There was no way to know. It [...]
It’s enough to drive us parents crazy, especially when we’ve just come through Christmas and the kids have presents galore, have been entertained nonstop by others, and have enjoyed many special events in the last few weeks! Add to this tension the exhausted parents. Come on, we need a break! Coming out of Christmas and into bleak winter days [...]
I grew up the eldest of four kids. We had plenty but there was not a lot of excess. My parents were very careful with their finances. Christmas was wonderful but gifts were carefully chosen, not overdone, and sometimes purchased with creativity. I still remember one particularly moving Christmas. My younger brother had begged and [...]
“I’m the worst mother in the world. I think I’m ruining my kids,” I exclaimed as tears began to cloud my vision. Once again “Miz Edith,” my elderly next-door neighbor, wrapped her arms around me and replied, “Susan, you are not the worst mother in the world. You are just in a hard season and [...]
When our kids were young we had an old pickup truck. This silly truck had a love for ice cream which seemed to hit at the oddest times. Most often it happened when my husband, John, was driving the kids some place. All of a sudden he would pretend to jerk the steering wheel [...]
At each season of my life I’ve found myself falling into two traps–mental traps–which are not helpful. One is the “what if” syndrome and the other is the “if only” syndrome. The “if only” might express itself like this: If only my child would sleep through the night … if only I had more money [...]
If you have just taken a child to college or married one this summer or even sent your last one out the door for his senior year you are probably a bit of an emotional mess. The empty nest hits us in different ways at different times and often when we least expect it! How [...]
Summer’s almost over and school is about to start. A new year is fast approaching. Yes, most of us think of the start of school rather than January 1st as the beginning of a new year. But are we ready? In many ways we’re looking forward to a regular schedule but in other ways we’re sad [...]
Exhausting, exhilarating, bonding, hysterical and oh yeah, did I mention exhausting?? Yes! We just had our annual “Yates Family Reunion.” We have 5 kids, all married and 21 grandchildren- 14 of which are 5 or under! So there were 33 of us gathered for five days at our little farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains [...]
