PJ Jonas

Category: Parent Intentionally

  • Growing Up

    Growing Up

    I know that it’s my job as a parent to help my children grow up and reach their full potential. As much as I love holding and snuggling them, I’m not doing them any favors by trying to keep them little. But sometimes it makes me a little sad to see them grow. Don’t get…

  • Christmas Cookies

    Christmas Cookies

    One thing that I have discovered is that there is never enough time to get done everything that I want to get done. So if something “non-essential” is going to happen, I have to stop what I’m doing to make it happen. Christmas cookies are definitely a “non-essential” thing that is essential to our family’s…

  • Don’t Underestimate Them!

    Don’t Underestimate Them!

    People are often really surprised at how much we accomplish.  I’m always getting asked how I manage to do it all.  My standard reply is, “I don’t do it all.” Sometimes, I’m tempted to reply, “My kids do it all.” But that’s not exactly true either.  Jim does a lot.  And I do a lot.  And there’s…

  • Making Use of the Space Update

    Making Use of the Space Update

    I wrote a post several months ago about making use of the space.  It came from a quote I read in the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families* by Stephen Covey. Stephen Covey didn’t write the quote, he stumbled upon it in a book and it meant a lot to him. So he shared…

  • Stirring the Soup (I Mean Sauce)

    Stirring the Soup (I Mean Sauce)

    I’ve talked many times about my Youngest Person Rule. It basically says that the youngest person capable of doing a job does it. The corollary is that when you’ve taught one of your younger siblings how to do your job, they can take it over and you can get a new job. One of the…

  • Prevention is Key

    Prevention is Key

    When it comes to raising kids (both human and goat), the key to success (and sleeping well) is preventing the bad things from happening, not trying to fix them once they have occurred. With human children, teaching them is much easier when they’re four than when they’re fourteen.  For example, It’s super difficult to teach…

  • Alone Time

    Alone Time

    I had an interview yesterday with Jeff Sherman, and he made a comment toward the end of the interview that got me thinking. He basically said, that with the business and homeschooling, I don’t get much alone time. I pretty much agreed with him. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I actually…

  • Circle of Influence

    Circle of Influence

    One of the questions I’m asked all the time is, “How do you do everything?” I wish there was an easy answer for that. But there isn’t. There are a lot of pieces that make me able to run my family & my business while still enjoying them both. One of the things that I learned…

  • A Good Back Rub

    A Good Back Rub

    I recently ordered the Five Love Languages of Teenagers by Gary Chapman. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I read the original Love Languages book years ago. It really helped my relationships with Jim, my children, and my family. I decided to order this book because I’ve entered the teenager phase…

  • Do You Make Use of the Space?

    Do You Make Use of the Space?

    I’ve been re-reading a book that I haven’t read in a decade. It’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families* by Stephen Covey. I read something that struck me this time that I don’t remember striking me the last time I read the book. Maybe it’s because I’m older and wiser?? Either that or it’s…

  • I Can’t Walk

    I Can’t Walk

    Most of you know that we’re selling soap at the Pennsylvania Christmas Show: Across the aisle from us, we get to stare at this: Actually, Hewitt spends most of his time staring at it like this:   Well, the first day we were at the show, half way through the day, Hewitt comes “crying” to…

  • Prayer Time

    Prayer Time

    During the air show, one of my nephews got upset about something (I think it was a quarrel over the soccer ball). He decided to walk off. I sent Greyden after him to go check on him. A little while later Emery joined them and I stopped paying attention. When I looked back over there…

  • More Hewitt Stories

    More Hewitt Stories

    We were at the Kentucky State Fair today selling soap and demonstrating soapmaking. Brett was also demonstrating making bath bombs. We wanted to show the people how bath bombs work, so Jim took Hewitt to go get some water. The family bathroom was closest so the two of them went in there, got their water,…

  • Good and Bad of Youngest Rule

    Good and Bad of Youngest Rule

    Jim hates long hair, especially in the summer when it’s so hot. He also hates it when the boys get scruffy looking. But haircuts would be on his list for weeks before he finally got around to them (he’s a tad bit busy). So he invoked the youngest person rule (the youngest person capable of doing…

  • The Youngest Person Rule

    The Youngest Person Rule

    Most of the moms that I talk to are overwhelmed and exhausted.  They feel like they are always behind and always rushing to try and catch up.  As a result of this, many mothers feel like failures. I think it’s because of these feelings that the one question I am most frequently asked is,  “How…