My heart is both heavy and proud today. Our dear friend Sergeant Gabriel Morse has left for training before being deployed to Iraq. Gabe is a father of five small children and is like a second father to our own three. (He and his sweet wife Ellen are set to be our children’s guardians should anything ever happen to Todd and me.)

He left this week and Kenzie took some pictures of the departure. This development in their dear family will also mean a change in our own as well. Kenzie will be staying with Ellen a few days a week to give her a break and help to homeschool the older kids and run them to their music and art lessons.

Please pray for the Morse family. And, while you are at it, enjoy your own. It is at times like this that you realize just what is important in life. It is the blessed ordinary days; the things Sergeant Morse will miss the most—roughhousing with the boys, giving the girls piggy back rides, tucking in times and bedtime prayers, grilled cheese kisses and muddy boots. What kings and queens can buy these pleasures? Yet they are ours for the taking–daily. Blessed. Ordinary.

Enjoy the blessed ordinary with your family.

Blessings,

Karen

Today I am going to be taking some time to answer a few questions that have been tossed my way by Proverbs 31 Ministries president Lysa TerKeurst. She has been hosting a discussion this weekend about the She Speaks Conference that we at Proverbs 31 hold each summer. Many gals are curious about what this conference is or have tossed around the idea of writing or speaking before. What about you? Have you ever dreamed of being a writer or a speaker? Have you longed for God to use you in women’s ministry in some capacity? Have these desires been in your mind and on your heart but you simply had no idea how to get started? Well…have I got some wonderful news for you!

At Proverbs 31 Ministries we hold an annual conference every summer called She Speaks. It is based on Proverbs 31 verse 26 “She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue.” Our desire is to have women come together to learn about answering God’s call on their life in the area of ministry. And this involves many aspects including discerning the call, being prepared through prayer and spiritual growth as well as very practical aspects such as how to write a book proposal, how to find speaking topics that fit, audiences that want to listen and organizing your piles and files. We also have a complete women’s ministry track that covers even more specific topics such as successful event planning.

I’ll be answering the following questions about this topic today on my blog as I have time. (Right now I am headed into town for an appointment but will be back soon!) If you have any other questions that you’d like answered, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try my best to respond!

Here are the questions I’ll be addressing today:

• How do you get started writing or speaking?
• What about marketing yourself? Doesn’t that seem self-promoting? Shouldn’t you just let God open the doors?
• How can you tell if you have a message that others will listen to?
• How do you find balance between being a wife and mother and having a writing or speaking ministry?

Well…..I’ll be back soon to answer these questions and any others that may come in. In the mean time, hop on over to Lysa’s site to learn more about this summer’s She Speaks Conference! I’d love to see you there!

Cyber Blessings,

Karen

Well…..I’m back…….And now……here are my answers!!!

• How do you get started writing or speaking?

If God has laid a message on your heart or has taught you an important life lesson that He wants you to share with others, He will make a way!. You don’t need to start big by writing a book or speaking to audiences of thousands. You just need to start simple. Tell your story. To anyone who will listen. You can offer to speak at your local youth group or ladies Bible study. Write an article for your church’s newsletter or website. Post comments on someone else’s blog or website. Also, If it is a particular subject you desire to speak or write on, begin to fill your files. Save all quotes, articles, statistics and material from your own life that you can get on the subject. You’ll begin to build a pool of information that will help to round out your talk or your writings. Remember, it is God’s job to broaden your platform. It is your job to be faithful to tell your story.

• What about marketing yourself? Doesn’t that seem self-promoting? Shouldn’t you just let God open the doors?

Coming up with a strategies for marketing is not wrong. If God wants to get your message out, you will need to do your part. I was very concerned about this 15 years ago when I started. Because I am a persuasive person, I feared that I would be able to talk people into publishing my articles, hiring me to speak, etc… So I was cautious. I wanted to be sure that it was God bringing me exposure. So for over 10 years, I never marketed myself. I let God open all the doors–doors that included being on Focus on the Family, several national television shows and writing four books. However, eventually I did get a website and began to do a little marketing. All of this to say, seek God on this topic. You know your personality and what is over the line for you. It is alright to knock on some doors. I just don’t recommend going around and trying to kick them down. It usually turns out horribly.

• How can you tell if you have a message that others will listen to?

Take a look around. Are there other articles or books written on the topic? Do an Internet search. Are there resources out there on it? Test it out on some friends or in some chat rooms. Do other women seem interested in it? If so, move forward.

• How do you find balance between being a wife and mother and having a writing or speaking ministry?

Again, this was a huge concern for me. I have come to the conclusion that it is all a matter of priorities. Are you making your family your main ministry and tucking your writing or speaking in around the edges? Or, are you focusing so much on your ministry that your husband and kids get all of your leftover time and energy? Only you (and your family) can answer that. Also, get creative! In my early days when I was still having babies, I only took speaking engagements at MOPS groups during the day when my husband, who got to pick his one day a week off, could watch the kids for a few hours. My first three books were written in the summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day between the hours of 5:00-9:00 a.m. This way it did not interfere with my homeschooling schedule nor did my kids resent my always being at the computer. Now that they are older, (ages 10-16) I can be more flexible. My 16 year old daughter often accompanies me on speaking trips as my assistant and many times I take the whole family. The boys hang out at the hotel with their dad and swim and eat pizza. They help inventory my books and count money from my book table. It really is our whole family’s ministry! I’ve also asked God to bless my family as a result of my saying yes to His call to me to speak and write. They have gotten to travel to some fun places, meet wonderful people and even were granted backstage passes to meet their favorite Christian singer Tobymac! It has been a wonderful, faith-filled family adventure.

Again, I would encourage you to prayerfully consider attending this year’s She Speaks Conference. You’ll be blessed and offered direction! It is a fabulous starting point. Good luck!!!

Calling all moms! This Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, I will be conducting a teleseminar for The Urban Homemaker, a ministry of Duane and Marilyn Moll. This fabulous site has many helpful tools for those wishing to live a healthy, old fashioned life while existing in today’s urban world. Based on Titus 2:3-5, they believe in the older women teaching the younger ones to love and serve their husbands and children and be godly keepers of the home. Then, they seek to provide resources for you to do just that! I myself have benefited from their wonderful selection of books, their bread pans and cookware and I even bought a grain mill for myself with my Christmas money last year. Now we have wonderful, soft and delicious homemade 100 % whole wheat bread that does not taste like cardboard!!!! Because Marilyn’s famous whole wheat bread recipe makes several loaves and doesn’t have to rise twice, it is a snap to bake and I don’t have to make it very often. The only trouble is that it is now very hard to get my family to eat store bought bread!!!

The teleseminar will be on the topic of my new book The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized. So if you are getting the spring cleaning itch or just want to learn to spend your time more wisely, dial in! We’ll be talking about managing our time as well as organizing our home and tackling the tasks of homemaking. If you’d like to participate, dial in at 1-605-475-4150. Then you’ll need to enter the participant’s code which is 754074. I look forward to hearing from you!

Happy homemaking!!!

Karen

Hi all and thanks to those of you who posted comments after reading the interview with Trish Berg, author of the new book Rattled- Surviving Your Baby’s First Year Without Losing Your Cool. For the two winners of a copy of this great book, I decided to give one to an expecting mom and one to a seasoned mom.

   So…..the first one goes to Samantha who is not a mom yet but wrote of her fear of developing pregnancy brain like many of her mommy friends have. Yes Samantha…there is such a thing! And the second book goes to Van who is putting together some baby shower gifts and wants to give the gift that keeps on giving. I LOVE giving and getting books for gifts too. Great idea! So you ladies email me at karen@karenehman.com and give me your contact info so I can ship your prize out to you right away. Congrats!!

And to the rest of you….Happy President’s Day. I’m a sucker for celebrating anything so I’m giving the boys the day off of school except for a little history that we need to get caught up on. We’ll have something for supper made from cherries in honor of George and the legendary tree. I’d like to make a cherry crisp, but the family will surely vote for dried tart cherry-white chocolate-cashew bars. (Recipe below taken from our book Homespun Gifts from the Heart)

I’ll also quiz the boys on their geography of the 50 states and see how many presidents they can remember from our flip chart. They learned them last year so I’m sure they’ve forgotten a bunch. However Mitchell never forgets his favorite– Rutherford B. Hayes. When Kenzie was a fourth grader seven years ago and learning her presidents, Mitch was a kindergartener and often watched me practice with her. When I would get to the card with President Hayes on it, Mitch would blurt out “Rougher”ford B. Hayes!! He said he liked him best because he thought he had a cool beard!

Smiles,

Karen

Michigan Dried Cherry-Cashew Bars

These won me the blue ribbon rosette at the 1998 Clinton County Fair. You can use another kind of dried fruit like cranberries or a different nut like walnuts or pecans or even substitute milk chocolate chips for the white ones. Anything goes!

In a large bowl, cream:

3/4 C. butter-flavored shortening

1/3 C. white sugar

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 large egg

1 t. vanilla

Add to it:

1 1/2 C. all-purpose or unbleached flour

1/2 t. baking soda

Mix well and then lightly stir in the following:

1/2 C. white chocolate chips

3/4 C. dried tart cherries

1/3 C. chopped cashews

Spread in an ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden. Do not over bake. Cool and cut into bars. Store covered. Enjoy!

Hey all…..

Today I am hosting an interview with my new cyber friend Trish Berg about her newest book release. I was asked several months back if I would read the manuscript for it and possibly offer endorsement. I read it and LOVED it! Sure wish I’d had it 17 years ago! And Trish has a way of writing that makes you feel like you are sharing a cup of coffee with a dear friend. Well, now I will get to meet Trish next month when we at Hearts at Home invited her to speak at our National Conference in Illinois. It will be her first time. I’ll be appearing on main stage that weekend at the Friday night Moms Night Out doing our famous “Hats” skit about the many hats a mom wears during the day and I’ll also be speaking in the morning keynote session. Then, later in the day, Trish and I will each do two breakout workshop sessions. Mine on my new book The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized where I’ll split the book into two workshops; managing your time and organizing your “stuff”. Trish will present talks on this new release as well as her Great American Supper Swap. Fun!

Well, if you’d like to win one of two copies of Rattled that I’ll be giving away this weekend, just post a comment by Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. EST. Tell us about what was the greatest challenge for you when you first became a mom. Or if no one calls you mommy yet, what is your greatest fear of being a new mom? I’ll announce the winners on Monday. Good enough? Here is the interview with Trish:

Rattled: Surviving Your Baby’s First Year Without Losing Your Cool

Can you change a diaper faster than a rodeo cowboy ropes a calf? Need more sleep,
more laughter, and ten minutes in the bathroom – alone?

You must be a mom….Don’t let the clutter, chaos, exhaustion and Cheerio-dust get you Rattled.
With practical advice and scriptural reminders, author Trish Berg can help you not only survive the chaos and clutter of motherhood, but get back to the simple joy of being a mom.

I am excited to welcome Trish Berg, joining us today to talk about her new mom book, Rattled, Surviving Your Baby’s First Year without Losing Your Cool!

Trish is author of The Great American Supper Swap and Rattled. She has been published in Today’s Christian Woman, MOMSense, CBN.com, P31 WOMAN, and numerous regional and national publications.

Trish earned her MBA before leaving the workforce for motherhood, then earned her Doctorate in Diaper Changing in Ohio where she and her husband, Mike, keep busy raising their four children on their family cattle farm.

Trish, welcome. Thanks for taking time to be with us today.

Thanks for having me.

So why is it so easy for moms to get rattled during their baby’s first year?

Motherhood is simply draining and exhausting. Hands down the toughest job I have ever had.

But moms are not alone, and I want moms to know that God walks with them through these exhausting years.

What stresses moms out the most?

I think moms put a lot of pressure on themselves to do it all by themselves, and to do it all the right way. They need to simplify, let go of many details, and ask for help, from their husbands, and from neighbors and friends.

Rattled actually begins by looking at the months of pregnancy. How can moms use this time to prepare to survive baby’s first year?

Nine months is not nearly enough time to fully prepare for motherhood. I am not sure there is enough time to fully prepare.

I remember when our first child, Hannah, was born, I felt that my world had been turned upside down. Hannah did not like to sleep, and so we spent many nights walking the floor, bouncing her up and down, trying desperately to settle her down. My husband, Mike, and I took turns walking laps around the house, like the Indy 500 with a lot more bouncing.

I am not sure I could have prepared for that.

But during your pregnancy, you can prepare in other ways. Like arranging for help. Ask your mom or mother-in-law if they can spend one day with you each week during the first few months. Just knowing someone is coming in the morning to help with the baby can make the being up all night not seem so terrible.

You talk about surviving motherhood. How do you help moms do that?

In Rattled, I talk about a mom’s survival kit. If you were thrown out into the wilderness, you would need FOOD, SHELTER, FIRE and WATER to survive.

Well, moms have been thrown out into the wilderness of motherhood, and to survive, they will need:

Water from the word (2 Samuel 22:3a) –To be in God’s Word.

A fire like desire for prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17) – Moms can pray their way through their day.

Nourishment body, mind and spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13) – Love on all levels nourishes us.

Shelter from life’s storms (Proverbs 17:17)-Friends to lean on, trust, and support us.

In Rattled, I spend some time talking about how moms can use that survival kit to get back to the joy of mothering.

You spent a lot of time listening to what other mothers had to say. Share with us your best advice for new moms.

I would tell moms to relax. No one does it right all the time. Let the laundry pile up. Leave the dishes in the sink, and just enjoy holding your baby today.

Don’t worry about doing “it” right, just enjoy the moments you have.

That is sound advice…

But what aboud dads? Give us a few tips into what dad is going through during the first year.

Dads are just as insecure as moms are about parenthood. Even more so in many cases.

Moms do much of the baby feeding, diaper changing, and baby care. So dads can sometimes feel left out, and incapable of caring for their own baby.

One thing moms can do is encourage dad to be involved. But in doing so, moms must let go of “their way” of doing things, and let dad discover his own way.

For example. When Hannah was a baby, every time Mike would change her diaper, I would criticize the way he changed it. I tried to teach him how to put his fingers under the leg elastic and make sure it wasn’t bunched up, preventing a future leak.

But every time I criticized him, he stepped back and became less involved. And you know what? Even when I did the diapers the “right way” they still sometimes leaked.

So I had to learn to let Mike change her diaper his own way. I let him put her to bed his way, bathe her his way, and be the dad God wanted him to be.

That can be difficult for moms who can tend to be slight control freaks when it comes to baby care.

But let me just encourage you that the help you will get from dad if you can let go of those details will bless you in more ways than you can imagine!

In Rattled you’re very open about the loss of your own pregnancy in 2002. How has that loss changed your outlook on motherhood?

I in the 2nd trimester of my fourth pregnancy when I went in for a regular check up. I was not having any problems at all, and went in alone.

My OB/GYN performed an ultrasound just to check for twins, and suddenly my world turned upside down when he could not find a heart beat.

I was completely devastated. Mike and I had two weeks of further testing before we had assurance that our baby had died. And through it all, I prayed for a miracle, my miracle, that my baby would be alive again.

But in the end, God’s miracle was not that my baby survived. God’s miracle was the reassurance that He used me as a vessel to bring a tiny soul to Heaven.

A year later, I lost another child to miscarriage.

Today, I have a greater sense of love and appreciation for my four children here on earth whom I hug with my arms, and a closer tie to Heaven where my two babies are waiting for me, whom I can only hug with my heart for now.

Today you’re the mom of 4 happy and healthy children. What do you see as the greatest blessing about being a mom?

I would say learning patience, but my husband would laugh out loud at that…since I am probably one of the most impatient people there is.

So I guess I would have to say enjoying the journey. I live Psalm 118:24 every day of my life.

“This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Life is messy. Things break. Kids get sick. But moms need to remember to enjoy the journey no matter where the journey leads.

Today at the Berg house, our washing machine is broken. Our mini van needs new tires. We are hanging onto Mike’s 1986 Jeep on a wing and a prayer, hoping it makes it another year or so.

There is mud on my kitchen floor, crumbs on my carpet, and I can honestly say that I love my life. Just as it is.

Now, I certainly have moments where I get stressed and discouraged, and can even lose my temper (just ask my kids), but I am also learning to enjoy each moment of every day as a gift from God.

And thorough it all, my simple hope and prayer is that I can be the mom that God wants me to be.

Where can readers learn more about you, Rattled, your other books, and your ministry to moms?

My website at www.TrishBerg.com offers tons of FREE resources, links and downloads for moms, as well as more information on my books and ministry.

Moms can also purchase their own copy of Rattled by clicking here.

And I will be speaking at all 3 Hearts at Home Conferences in 2008, I would LOVE for you to join me there. The National conference is in March in Illinois, and in the fall there is a conference in Michigan and Minnesota. You can get more information and register at http://www.hearts-at-home.org/

Thanks, Trish, for joining us today. What a joy to meet you and learn more about your new mom book Rattled.

Thanks for having me. Blessings to you.

You can catch up with Trish all weekend long on her BLAST OUT BLOG TOUR by going to the following sites. There will be FREE book prizes, and great moms to connect with at each blog.

BLAST OUT BLOG TOUR for RATTLED

2/15/08
www.keriwyattkent.blogspot.com

http://ramblinroadstoeverywhere.blogspot.com

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cappuccinosmom

www.mommycomelately.blogspot.com

http://www.cornhuskeracademy.blogspot.com

www.karenehman.com

2/16/08
http://zyphe.blogspot.com/

http://carasmusings.blogspot.com

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/martha

2/17/08
www.marybethwhalen.com

www.bookjunkieconfessions.blogspot.com

2/18/08
http://www.terragarden.blogspot.com

For those of you who enjoy reading blogs, my friend and Hearts at Home publications director Megan Kaeb has posted an interview with me today. Leave a comment at her site by going to http://whadusay2.blogspot.com.

You might just win a copy of my new book The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!!!

Sweet Dark Chocolate Blessings,

Karen

 I just had one of the craziest and best weekends of my life! I was scheduled to speak at Westlake Bible Church in Austin, Texas to a great group of ladies. I knew little about Austin and have only been to Texas once on a quick 24 hour whirlwind trip to be on a cable TV show five years ago. A quick Internet search told me that Austin is home to many things including the O’Henry Pun Off World Championships, and the Spamarama Cook Off where–you guessed it–contestants enter various categories by cooking with Spam. There is even a Spam Cram where people compete for the title by cramming a 12 ounce can of the tasty treat into their mouths and down the hatch as fast as they can. The record? 6.6 seconds!! I also knew that they say everything is big in Texas and it is! The buildings, the roads, the jewlery but most of all, the women’s hearts.

I was all packed with notes in hand. My family was adequately set for 48 hours without mom–food in the fridge, clean clothes, brownies and peanut butter cookies cooling on the counter. (They just may eat better when I’m gone!) Kenzie was ready to drop me off at the airport at 6:30 a.m. Friday when the airline called to say my first flight to snow covered Chicago had been canceled and I’d need to take a later one. I freaked out and then emailed my prayer team and the other gals on the speaker team at Proverbs 31. (My usual pattern.) I instantly calmed down. I trusted that God would get me there in His way and in His time and tried not to think of the possibility that I wouldn’t make it there at all. (I live near a very small airport and there are only a few flights out each day to Detroit, Chicago and Cincinnati.)

Anyhow… the first flight was canceled to Chicago. The second flight was canceled to Chicago. There was only one more left. The agent didn’t seem too certain it would go out either due to weather. So I said, “Look, sir. I HAVE to get to Austin, Texas TODAY! Let’s just pretend I am your mother and have to get somewhere for life saving treatment and I have to arrive by midnight” (It was now early afternoon, not 6:30 am like when I was supposed to start my trip.)Then I added “How would you get me there in a way you would be most certain wouldn’t be delayed or canceled due to weather.” So he switched me from United to Delta so I wouldn’t have to go through Chicago and the snow and I ran to catch the plane that was soon to take off.

Well……. I flew from Lansing to Cincinnati to Atlanta to Austin and got in at nearly 9:00 p.m. that night instead of 12:45 in the afternoon as originally planned!!!! I prayed that God would give me confirmation that he wanted me on all those flights and in all those airports. I know for certain that he wanted me to sit by one grandma from Atlanta to Austin. She was going to visit her busy daughter who has a toddler and is giving birth to twins any day. I am going to send her a copy of my new book on organization for busy moms. We had a wonderful visit and the time seemed to pass much quicker than it had all day. It was certainly a God appointment. And……to top it all off, when I reached Atlanta….tired, cranky and hungry– with lots of Weight Watchers points left…. I walked off of the plane, turned right and there before me was……..A CHIC-FIL-A Restaurant !!!!!! We don’t have these in Michigan and the first time I had any of this heavenly food was at the Proverbs 31 She Speaks conference two years ago in North Carolina. I ordered a sandwich and called Kenzie to rub it in!

The retreat was fabulous. The women’s ministry director found my book by one of those Amazon “If you like this….then you may like this too….” ads. She had Keri Wyatt Kent’s book Oxygen on the screen (She was their Christmas event speaker.) And my Life that Says Welcome book popped up. She ordered it, opened it and read one sentence. It was almost verbatim the theme of their ladies retreat so she hopped on the Internet to find me.

Long story short….it was the most incredible event I have done!. All of the ladies including Marilyn, women’s ministry director, Christa, the event coordinator and helpers Margaret and Lupita were wonderful!!! They wrote and performed a skit based on hospitality and the theme of my book and also created a video showing four women in their church who are living lives that say welcome. (One segment featured a lady whose ‘hospitality on the road’ idea is to take a few other church women and give free manicures once a week at the nursing home nearby.) I stayed in the guest house of one of the church members. It was one a gorgeous estate and was like an Italian villa bed and breakfast. Yes, Miss LeAnne and Mr. Monty made me feel pampered. They and the steering team had stocked the pantry with all kinds of goodies from salmon to fruit to grilled chicken and artichoke pasta to dark raspberry chocolate–my favorite!!! God really moved in the hearts of the women. Especially after the talk where I bare my soul and tell some not so pretty stories about myself as I discuss envy and forgiveness. I had a lot of women say that God had been working in their hearts for a while on these issues, but they had been resisting Him until now. Needless to say, it was a great weekend.

Now here is the part where I’m supposed to post pictures of the event for you to see, but all did not go well once I left Texas. I got stuck in the Chicago airport for nearly 5 hours and none of the pictures the gals from the church sent me am I able to upload!!! Just a crazy ending to a crazy, but wonderful weekend!

Watch my blog for a fun giveaway later this week. I’ll be giving away two copies of Trish Berg’s new book Rattle; Surviving Your Babies First Year Without Losing Your Cool.

Sweet Blessings,

Karen

 

I had a mommy moment the other day. You know, one of those times that you take a deep breath and realize how short the days really are with your children. I had taken Spencer, our nine year old, to the doctor for an allergic reaction. The appointment was uneventful. Take some Allegra and use a little hydrocortisone cream. All will be fine. It wasn’t until we had paid and were on our way out that “the moment” happened. When Spencer was asked the infamous doctor’s office question, “Would you like a sucker or a sticker young man?”, he, after a hint of hesitation, matter-of-factly replied, “No thank you.”

It was then that it hit me! After nearly 17 years of parenting, I no longer have any children who will leave the doctor’s office with Scooby or Sponge Bob attached by decal to their shirt. Nor will they lick a Dum Dum sucker to help ease the pain. Nope, it is a fact. My babies are growing up.

I drank in the moment, recalling the many stickers and suckers that my offspring have consumed over the years. Then I took my man-child out for a tall latte with caramel. His new favorite, grown up drink.

Speaking of growing up. Spencer turns ten on Monday. Oh yes….finally he will hit double digits!

Kenzie and Spencer sharing a sibling moment

Now stop reading this blog, moms. Go love on your babies. They’ll be gone in an instant!

Sweet Blessings,

Karen