My favorite motherhood resources

I am compiling a list of resources that I have found helpful to me as a mother for a women's event at my church coming up, so I thought I'd share it with my blog friends.

What resources have helped you the most in your motherhood journey?

1. Shepherding a Child's Heart, by Ted Tripp
This give a biblical perspective on parenting and puts the offense into perspective. What may seem trivial to us parents (i.e., fighting over a toy), is likened to a condition of the heart (selfishness). The Bible says, "from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks" so the entire book is dedicated to identifying the heart issue that is causing the words or actions of the child. Instructing and training is done using biblical examples. My only criticism of the book is that the author promotes spanking as the ONLY appropriate way to discipline (based on the proverb in the Bible that says "spare the rod, hate the child." I completely agree that discipline is completely necessary for a parent to adequately teach and instruct the child; however, I don't believe that spanking is the ONLY way to discipline. For example, one of my sons is autistic, and the spanking doesn't seem to get through to him. He is so hurt and shocked when I spank him that the whole lesson goes out the window. I have had to use other disipline techniques with him that have been more effective. Spankings seem to work fine on my other two boys. To make a long story short, each child is unique and must be disciplined, but spanking in my opinion should be an option among many discipline techniques, but not the only option. With that said, I still wholeheartedly believe the book is one of the most useful and practical parenting books out there.

2. A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Autism, stories of hope and everyday success, by Colleen Sell
This book is formatted like the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books, with short stories of real people who are dealing with autistic children. I read this when I need encouragement as a parent of an autistic child because I can identify with the situations, from the people making snippy comments in the grocery store when my child does not act the way they believe a child should act, to dealing with the anger and frustration that sometimes comes and goes. My son looks no different from his non-autistic peers, and does not wear a sign around his neck stating his is autistic, and as he grows older, the general public's expectation of his behavior grows, and I receive comments and glares from others that indicate I am somehow failing as a parent because my child is not acting his age.

3. Finding God in Autism, by Kathy Medina
This is a 40 day devotional for parents of autistic children. There is a main verse highlighted every day, with a discussion on how it can be applied in our situations.

4. www.mvelopes.com
This is an electonic way to do the financial budgting and planning using the tried and true "envelopes" system (where you cash your paycheck and put the cash into envelopes according to your budget such as utilities, entertainment, mortgage, etc.). With this system, you set up a budget into virtual envelopes on the web site. You link up your bank account and credit cards to electronically download to the system (and yes it is secure you can read about it on the web site). From there you categorize each line item according to the envelope in which it belongs, and it keeps a running total of how much is left over in each envelope. When your paycheck is deposited, you "fund" your envelopes according to your budget. This way, you can use your credit card and/or debit card to make electronic transactions rather than carrying cash everywhere you go, and helps you stick to your budget.

5. No Debt, No Sweat, by Steve Diggs
This is a book about how to get out of debt from a Christian perspective. I attended a two hour seminar at West Houston Church of Christ with Steve Diggs and he really made sense, so I bought the book. He was a business person who lost pretty much everything and had to rebuild his financial future from scratch. This is a very practical, easy to read book from a down-to-earth, realistic, Christian perspective.

6. www.starfall.com
This is a website that my toddlers LOVE to visit. There are fun, interactive games that teach everything from learning the letters and their sounds to reading short books. One of my sons learned to read at age 2 and I believe this web site was

7. www.hannah.org
This is a Christian web site and message board that I relied on heavily during the period of my life when we were trying to start a family. During this journey (one of the darkest times in my Christian walk), we experienced a miscarriage, a year and a half of infertility, fertility treatments, miscarriage of a triplet, and giving birth to twins three months before their due date. This message board allowed me to see that I was not alone in the journey and the feelings I was having were felt by others in similar situations. Fertility challenges and miscarriages are not easy topics to discuss in person, but through the message board I found comfort in the anonymity. Here is an excerpt from their web site:

Hannah's Prayer Ministries provides Christian-based support and encouragement to married women around the world who are struggling with the pain of fertility challenges, including primary and secondary infertility, pregnancy loss, early infant death, and adoption loss. Our outreach extends to those who become mothers of living children through pregnancy, adoption, and/or foster care.

"...Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord...'I have been praying here out of my great anguish...'" ~ 1 Samuel 1:10, 16 (NIV)

Using the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1-2 as our encouragement, we at Hannah's Prayer attempt to help meet the emotional and spiritual needs of married couples experiencing fertility-related difficulties through prayer, understanding, friendship, shared information, and biblical counsel.


8. www.facebook.com
As a mother of three, wife of a football coach, and full time employee, I don't have much time to do girls night out or meet up with my friends. Most of my interaction with my friends came in the form of short phone conversations in the car to and from the grocery store or school, until Facebook came along. I know it is more preferable to meet together with friends to develop the relationship, but my other friends are busy moms as well, and our schedules often don't allow the face-to-face interaction. With Facebook, I can keep up with what is going on in their lives, see pictures of their kids, etc. in between our visits.