Handbooks & Playbooks

Hi Friends! I am so excited to share with you one of my favorite resources! It's taken some time to assemble, and is still a work in progress, but I think you will really enjoy it!

A lot of the parenting books (and advice from friends) I got as a new mom all said the same thing... "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6. Now, I remember thinking to myself early on, "Um, yeah. I know I am supposed to teach them the way that they should go, but WHAT exactly is it that, and HOW do I teach it?"

Over time through prayer, reading my bible, parenting classes, and trial & error, I would come to find some answers to those questions... and here's a little secret - the answers are different for each family.

My husband is a sports man. He loves all things athletics and something I've noticed is that all sports have a handbook and a play book. Marriage & Parenting in a Christian home is much the same. Each individual sport has a handbook that teaches you how to play the game. It's the guide. We have a handbook (the Bible) that has everything we need to know about life. While the handbook is the same for every home, the play books will be different, and developed along the way. Each family's goals are different, and how they get there will also vary. My notes, have become the playbook for our individual home. What works for my family, may be different from what works for yours.

My family playbook kind of just happened naturally. When my oldest child was still just a baby, I got invited to participate in a class about motherhood that was taught by my pastor's wife. I remember thinking to myself that her daughters had turned out well, she probably knew what she was talking about, and would be a good person to take advice from. So, I accepted the invitation. The first night I attended, I took a cute notebook that I'd recently bought to take notes in. That notebook would eventually evolve into my playbook.

It is the place where I kept all of my notes from that class, and subsequent ideas & notes that I've wanted to save. Over the next few years, as I heard or read things that I wanted to implement into our home, I began adding those notes to that same notebook so that it would all be in one place. It housed the scriptures that I wanted to remember, the goals for our family, the handouts from conferences, resources I printed, and so on. It's beginning to get a bit chunky at this point.

Some of my notes from that first class...

Just a few of the handouts that are tucked in the pockets. There's a pocket in the marriage section, one in the parenting/family section, and a third pocket in the back.

When I had all those questions of what and how (and still do), God began to show me just what that was. He had been answering my prayer all along without me even realizing it. Recently, I realized that over the last few years, God had given me a "playbook" of sorts for our family. See I am a detailed person, and I don't do well with ambiguity. I need things to be straightforward and in my face. God is pretty awesome! He knew that I was going to need that and He provided.

Maybe you don't have children yet, but you love the concept of a playbook for your home... You could have a play book for things like your personal/spiritual life, or your marriage, friendships, or family. It really depends on the area where you feel like you need to set some goals and work toward improvements.

Do you and your family do something similar to keep up with ideas of things you want to implement in your home?

I want to challenge you! Find a notebook and begin keeping the notes on things you'd like to change or implement in your home.

Recommended Family Resources:

If you are looking for some good books or resources to get you started, then stop by my links page for some of my favorites, and check back often for updates! Enjoy!

Finding Contentment through the ebbs and flows of family life,

Kimberly