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It is my delight to share The Dinner Habit with anyone who will listen!
As a mom of young children, I was horrible at many domestic duties, including planning meals. Day after day, I would go through the same loop of suffering... around 4:30pm, I'd feel the pressure and the certainty that these little people were going to get hungry AGAIN.
I'd open the refrigerator... searching... as if the open door would release the answer to the question, "what's for dinner"?
The loop would end shortly after it started with me either last-minute throwing together a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, opening a can of soup, pouring cold cereal from a box, microwaving something frozen, boiling water for quick pasta, or asking my husband to pick up drive-thru on the way home from work.
Every. Single. Day. The. Loop. Repeated.
All I had to look forward to was the inevitable late afternoon distress, day after day. I had no peace.
With life just flying by, I never took the time necessary to develop a system for planning dinners.
In fact, it seemed that meal planning was really easy for others I knew.
Was there something wrong with me?
Why was it so easy for them... and so hard for me!?
I tried many meal planning solutions but nothing ever really worked for me long-term. I always felt like a failure.
If you can relate, you're in the right place!
If you feel defeated in the dinner department, be encouraged! If I can do it, that means you can too!
You're going to need to make this a priority.
What you need is to develop some good habits that will provide a foundation to build on.
And you need some tools.
You can't afford to let this go any longer.
The Dinner Habit framework is just a starting place to learn a meal planning method that will keep on working for a lifetime like it's done for me for 12+ years.
You don't have to dread dinnertime. Imagine not having to stress about dinners anymore.
Commit to doing the work that only you can do.
And you'll enjoy peace at dinnertime!
The rewards are priceless.
Some backstory...
When we started homeschooling our children, all our relational dysfunction rose to the surface.
I didn't really know that's what it was, I just thought my kids were resistant to learning from me.
It caused a deep desperation which drove me to search the internet for "homeschool help".
Jim Carson
The search led me to Marilyn Howshall.
And when I discovered that she lived about an hour from me, I attended a mom’s day out that she was hosting.
That day was October 9, 2010. It was a turning point for me.
Marilyn taught that day about how God is such a good parent and how He parents me is how I ought to parent my children (with loving instruction and correction).
I could see I was falling short of the Christian parent I wanted to be. I was so convicted that I wept a lot during the presentation and beyond.
That marked the beginning of receiving from Marilyn and her ministry that significantly changed my life and the life of my family.
It was at a future workshop that I realized I needed a method for meal planning that worked for me.
She encouraged participants to engage in self-education, spending time daily and inviting God into the learning process.
It was out of that season that I developed a new mindset and new habits that resulted in perfecting the method I still use today. That's where The Dinner Habit originated.
If you're a Christian parent and would like to learn more about Marilyn's ministry, you can find her book, "Empowered - Healing the Heartbeat of Your Family", on Amazon. And her ministry website at MarilynHowshall.com.