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THE PARENTING DARE BLOGI love, love, love mothers.
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I got up early last week so I could finish reading a book. It was a surprisingly good book and after I finished it, I sat and cried from a place deep inside me.
Now, here’s the deal. I didn’t cry because of the book. I wept because I am going to be teaching middle school English/Language Arts at Church of the Holy Spirit this school year. If you know anything about me, you know how much I love to read and write. While reading that book, I realized that I will be able to talk about books and writing all day every day. And that thought brought a cascade of unexpected but very welcome emotions. It almost felt sacred. Friends....I know that the audio quality for this particular podcast is not the best, but it will have to do.
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Imagine that you had to create a new social media account for yourself, on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest. And as part of that media campaign, you needed to share who you were in a very authentic way. So you were told to pick the five categories in your life that you were most passionate about; those areas would be highlighted on that platform.
What five things/people/groups/activities would make it into your top five?
If you are an older mom and if you could go back to when your first child was a newborn and do it all over again, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? If you are like me, you have a list. A very long list.
If you had to hone it down to the THREE things you would do differently, what would those three things be? (And yes, I would love love love to hear your answers!!) So, how did this post idea originate? I credit Ashley Kreutzer out of Buffalo, New York, for this one. She is a young mom of many littles.
It is summer!! Yeah! Here’s to new schedules and bike rides and swimming pools!
I hope you are able to enter into summer, especially since it is JUNE. I don’t know how your May was this year, but ours was pretty loud, with many parties, graduations and ordinations. We loved it all but truth be told, June (with all of its open spaces on our calendar) was a welcome change. To LISTEN to this post via podcast, press the play button below! HAPPY SUMMER!! I love mothers! I also know that summer poses a bunch of new challenges for all of us.
One of the ways I have been supporting mothers is by giving specialized retreats in my home.
In the last email I sent out I made mention that I will not be giving retreats from my home anymore. And I had a lot more to say about that but I didn’t make the time to go into the details of that decision.
After I sent the email, I received some very nice messages and emails and comments from women, saying things like, “Hey, I am disappointed you are stopping those retreats. I wanted to invite some friends to your next one,” etc. I wanted to clarify what’s really going on. Note: if you have never LISTENED to one of my blog posts, I highly recommend you try it today. Why? Well, I added a TON of details as I podcasted this particular post, which simply means that it is close to my heart. I gave backstories and side stories (which I did not write out, but that more or less flowed from my heart). If you like to know The Whole Picture, then give this a listen!
If you think about it, we give our children many gifts. Yes, physical gifts, but more importantly, we teach them Bigger Truths and Ways to Navigate Life. What is the very best gift that you've given to your children?
Such a great question to ponder. While you are at it, think about how you were parented; what's the best gift that your parents gave to you? Now, for those of you that don't me, I am an older mom. I have 8 kids and I certainly don't have all of the answers but I do love thinking about questions like those.
I’m very excited for this post today. Why? Well, I stumbled upon something that shifted something important with me. And I wanna share it with you.
Okay, in the last several posts, I have been talking about the concept of Parenting Below the Line, which means that we meet our children where they are at and we love them there. We guide them. We build into them. We create a family culture where our children don’t have to hide from us. And when they hide from us, we still meet them in their sin and muck and misery and we love them. We give them the undeserved gift of grace.
Parenting is such a rollercoaster, isn’t it? There are highs and lows and everything in between. When I was a young mom, I thought it would ONLY be about teaching my children how to be polite, responsible and respectful. I didn’t understand that part of my parental duties were to teach and equip them how to handle the “underworld” of our life.
Today I’m going to tackle this topic: what to do when your child gets sucked into that underworld. (Our podcast player looks a little different this week...they changed some things.)
Lent is sort of like January 1st.
It’s that natural time where we can take stock of our entire lives: spiritual, emotional, social, familial, physical, intellectual and see what needs help. What needs more attention? What needs less attention? In my last three podcasts/blogs, I’ve discussed the concept of Parenting Below the Line; kids hide things from us that they don’t want us to see. Parenting them “below the line” is about acknowledging exactly where your children are and showing up for them. |
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I'm Lori Doerneman Wife. Mom. Catholic. Idealist with 8 kids, keeping it real. 
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November 2023
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