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A Peek into Our Kids’ Futures

in Change· Faith in Action· Family· Parenting· Teens

As the sun slides behind the front range mountains of our Colorado town, my family of five slides into our seats for a late dinner at home. Over tasty Change Your Life Chicken, Ethan asks me to retell a story from his when-he-was-little years.

I set my fork down, run my paper napkin across my mouth before placing it next to my dinner plate.

“Let’s see,” I say, tapping my chin and looking at my twin sons. “Oh yes, I remember when you were both three-years-old and attended Mother’s Day Out.”

I glance right at Ethan.

“I would pick you up and cringe when the teacher beamed her laser eyes at me and said, ‘Mrs. Strong, we need to have a talk about Ethan’s behavior today.’”

I tell them how I would walk over to their teacher like a dog with its tail between its legs.

“She would then relay to me all the ways your orneriness showed up. For example, during story time you preferred rolling around on the ground with your friends and making up your own tale to sitting crisscross applesauce listening to hers.”

We all laugh because knowing Ethan, this isn’t hard to believe.

I swallow a drink of water then look at my other son.

“And do you remember that time, James, when I gave you a stern talkin’ to for not doing something you were supposed to do? That time when you, tired of being ‘bossed’ by your mama, bolted out the front door and sprinted like a jackrabbit down the street?”

We all cackle at this image.

“Yes,” I say as I pick up my fork, waving it in his direction. “When I finally caught up with you halfway down the street, I particularly enjoyed dragging you — barefoot and belligerent — all the way home. And then, then, I thought I’d die a hundred deaths when I realized your visiting grandparents saw the whole embarrassing event from our front porch.”

We break into fits of laughter once again. It’s a sign of redemption that as horrifying as those events were at the time, laughter shows up in the long run.

Those younger years of parenting littles were a hodgepodge of wearisome and wonderful, smooth and rocky. But with those two boys graduating high school in a month, I have a wider-angle view of their lives thus far. I can look back and see how so many of the challenges — the pull-my-hair-out moments — were ruts in the road needing time and taming. They were materials necessary for paving their futures.

We still have rough times, of course, but it’s interesting to see how the trying parts of their personalities during the little years served a purpose beyond keeping me humble before Jesus and the neighborhood. I didn’t realize it at the time, but God used them to unfold peeks into my kids’ futures.

The kid that had a hard time listening patiently in Mother’s Day Out is putting that active, creative mind toward an arts degree. The kid with an iron will that would make Mother Theresa cuss and cry is on track to become a leader in the United States Air Force.

So, I just want to encourage your dear heart, mamas in the trenches of parenting young children, those struggling to shape that wild will of iron or that unbox-able spirit. I believe God asks us to unfold our kids more than mold them, and in the process He asks us parents to unfold as well. We unfold our hands (and our own iron wills) to exchange our big ideas for His. Just as importantly, we unfold new layers of joy because we know that God will bring those embarrassing, horrifying encounters full circle to redemption.

Join me here for the rest?

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Filed Under: Change, Faith in Action, Family, Parenting, Teens

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Hey there, dearheart! I’m Kristen, and welcome t Hey there, dearheart! I’m Kristen, and welcome to my little corner of the world here in the Colorado woods outside Colorado Springs. 

I wondered if you’d want to go inside, pull up a chair ‘round the fire, and hang out a bit? 

If you’re newer, here's a little about me: 

I like: 
▫️Country and classical music. 
▫️Most hot teas and cocktails with bourbon. 
▫️The beach and the mountains. (Why must we pick one over the other?) 

I don’t like: 
▫️Muffins (They’re just sad cupcakes with no frosting.) 
▫️Long winters (God shows His sense of humor by placing me in CO!) 
▫️Cruises (In spite of being told otherwise, I did, indeed, feel the ship moving.🥴) 

👏🏻I’m a mighty fine encourager, and if you do/say/wear something I genuinely love, I’ll let you know it and/or tell others about it. 

🙁I sometimes let fear dictate what I do or don’t do, and that’s exacerbated by my bossy inner critic. 

🙅‍♀️I don’t like mean people. BUT I can be awfully sarcastic, and sarcasm is often just mean in cuter clothing. 

😢A friend and I talked recently about how raising teens and big kids has us tender to the touch, often with tears just below the surface. 

💙Speaking of kids, I’m mama to three hilarious, hard working, and big hearted kiddos—twin sons and a daughter—whom I adore. 

❤️I’m wife to a USAF veteran, David, (raising my Polish pottery mug of hot tea to the military spouses here!), who’s also an all around amazing, amazing fella. 

📚I wrote two books called #GirlMeetsChange and #BackRoadstoBelonging. I love to help folks see their change and lack of belonging it often brings in a more hopeful light—because difficult change is never the end of things. God’s grace and goodness are. 

☕Thank you for being here—I’m passing you a virtual cuppa your favorite hot beverage and a cupcake (sorry, no muffins). 

💬This is more than enough about me. Tell me something about you! 

📷 Photo by the gorgeous and gorgeously talented Jen Lints of @jenlintsphotography. 

#FridayIntroductions
The sun sets on a downright delightful month of ha The sun sets on a downright delightful month of having all the chicks back in the nest. We puzzled, Uno’d, and played a new game called Knope for President. (So fun!) We watched Mandalorian all together, and David and I started a Netflix show called Turn. We had tea (and coffee!) at 4:30 each afternoon like some kind of Brit wanna-be’s. I cooked like a crazy person because cooking is the most predictable Enneagram 2 thing I do. Pot roast, spaghetti, and baked casseroles, oh my! Plus, 21 year olds who’ve had a semester of fending for themselves on the food front are mighty appreciative when dinner magically comes out of the oven. 

Said 21 year olds are back at college now, but I’m thankful for the good memories that stay with the rest of us Strongs after they’ve left. This last month held hard stuff for many of us, I know, but I hope it left you with some good memories as well. 💛
If your life looks anything like mine, difficult c If your life looks anything like mine, difficult change that started in 2020 didn't give one whit about the new year and walked right with you into 2021. Your change could be more broadly felt like fallout from a lingering pandemic, or it could be more individual —marital, parenting, job, or relational struggles that refuse to let go. 

Or  it could be both, one worsening the other.

If you’re weary from the loneliness that change can bring OR tired of resenting change altogether (and seeing it only through a lens of anxiety and frustration), consider giving #GirlMeetsChange and #BackRoadstoBelonging a look.

Our difficult change may not be going anywhere, but our outlook on it can. 

With both books holding 200-ish reviews on Amazon and a 4.8 star rating, I still get the loveliest messages about how they’ve helped folks welcome a hopeful view of change and where they belong. 

Visit my profile for links to both! 
#fromthebookstack
#whereIbelong
#changemanagement
#anxietyreducer
#fearmanagement
#livingfaithfully
My daughter read that this past Christmas season, My daughter read that this past Christmas season, Christmas light sales were up 300% compared to years past. We may leave ours up for another week or two, and I’m 300% okay with that. 

In the wise words of @iamtabithabrown, it’s my business. 

It’s also my business how I choose to respond to something—indeed, it is a choice. Will I be thoughtful or defensive? Will I be someone who displays or douses the light of Christ? 

In our work to love our neighbor as ourselves, may we be a people who persevere and refuse to stop using our own unique God-given light to dispel the dark. People are desperate for it, and this work matters.
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