Does she really believe what she is saying? Do people really believe that they won't have to pay their mortgages? (Man, that would be great! I hate my mortgage.) I wonder what kind of car she will be driving? Maybe she thinks he is going to give her an electric car for her birthday. HA!

I sure wouldn't want to be Obama (if he gets elected) when these folks realize the truth. 

Tough words from Mark Driscoll. (Hat tip to Generation Cedar. Don't forget to scroll down and turn off the music first.)

1.  Elisabeth’s favorite movie is “Because of Winn-Dixie”.  She is two. I know! You too have a bewildered look on your face. It’s beyond my understanding as well. I guess this is what happens when one has three older siblings…Veggie Tales goes out the window and movies like Cats and Dogs and Because of Winn-Dixie become their favorites.  (And I know, you are thinking “What a horrible mom she is for letting her two year old baby watch a big kid show. I know. I agree. But at least they sing a few hymns in the movie.)

2.  About my photos…have you been wondering what happened to them? Well, maybe not…but I’m going to tell you…Shutterfly changed formats! Did you know? You too huh?  You have my sympathies. Almost all of my pictures were attached via Shutterfly and now with their new format (the white background thingy) all my pictures are a mess.  I wish they would return to the old way of doing things or tell me how to fix this problem cause now my blog looks…not so good. And in order to add pictures I have to use Photobucket. Which is fine, except that all my pictures are already on Shutterfly.

3.  The podcasts disappeared. Yes, I know…and you were waiting with baited breath for the next installment…so sorry. No, Mark didn’t stop teaching, I stopped posting. Here is my lame excuse…first there were technical difficulties, then Mark had a week off, then I just didn’t catch up and post and, well that’s it… I’ve decided that I probably won’t post them unless someone is just dying to hear them.  (Sorry, Hon.)

4.  This has been my teacher in-service week (still in progress). This means, yep, you guessed it, school starts next week. So my next post will be something to do with scheduling…probably Ben’s schedule.

5.  If you are looking for some neat organizational tools to help you get a grip on your out of control life check out www.getbuttonedup.com. I bought the Nothingelse.pad and the Shopping.pad and I love them. And yes, you can buy them at Target. (Wahoo!)

6.  Bess (Elisabeth) is watching “Because of Winn-Dixie” right now and they are singing “Glory, glory, hallelujah…since I lay my burden down…”  I love that!  Don’t we all need to lay our burdens down. Hand them over to the Lord and let Him carry them.

GLORY, GLORY (HALLELUJAH) (SINCE I LAID MY BURDEN DOWN)
Traditional Negro Spiritual

REFRAIN:
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Since I lay my burden down
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Since I lay my burden down
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Since I lay my burden down
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Since I lay my burden down

All my sickness will be over
When I lay my burden down
All my sickness will be over
When I lay my burden down

All my troubles will be over
When I lay my burden down
All my troubles will be over
When I lay my burden down

Lord, I'm feeling so much better
Since I lay my burden down
Lord, I'm feeling so much better
Since I lay my burden down

Amen.

One of the reasons I like Nancy Leigh DeMoss (Revive Our Hearts) is because she isn’t afraid of the tough issues: today’s broadcast – “Embracing God’s Gift of Children/A Full Quiver”.

You can read/listen to the broadcast here.

I have to get busy doing something useful…but I thought I’d post this thought before I forget.

I apologize in advance if it doesn’t make much sense.

I’ve been pondering whether or not I am partially to blame (at fault) when a fellow Christian falls into sin. What I mean is…am I just as guilty as they are because I didn’t pray for them when I should have? As in -- before they fell into sin.

Especially if:

a. I knew they were young Christians that were started (encouraged) into ministry or jumped into ministry too soon.

b. I saw or discerned a certain spiritual immaturity that showed little or no growth over time.

c. I knew they had the potential to fall due to visible anger problems, pride, marital issues, lack of love, a greater love for theology than for the person and people of God, etc.

So, is it a sin not to pray before the fall?

I confess that I don’t always pray. I often think about it and even mention it to Mark…I even know that it will help..but for some reason (pride, selfishness, laziness) I still don’t follow through.

So does this mean that I am I just as guilty as they are? Complicit? Does my “lack” of words bind them (Matthew 16:19) instead of freeing them through prayer?

Just pondering. This could be totally unscriptural, but I’m wondering. The bible says that we will be held accountable for every careless word we speak (Matthew 12:36-37). Will we be also be held accountable for every prayer we didn’t pray?

Just something I'm pondering.

“After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal Claims.” 

Wow!

Read the rest of this article by David Kirby HERE.

Today I’m thinking about what it means to be a servant mother.  

Servant motherhood...hmmm...               

I’ve realized that over the last eight months I’ve forgotten or conveniently put aside the idea of servant motherhood. I’m not sure how or when this happened, but it has and over the last few months I’ve allowed myself to become irritated by all the little interruptions in my day.  I’ve allowed one small (large) “lie” to roll around in my head and become my mantra.

It goes something like this, “I’m tired. I just don’t want to deal with that (kids, house, cleaning, problems, etc.) right now. I’m pregnant and I deserve a rest. This is my fifth child…surely I should be able to rest a little now?!” (LOL)

How often do we say things like this and believe them? How many magazines could I open up and find this “lie” in?

Taking a break once in awhile to rest and refresh myself is fine and necessary, but allowing this “lie” to roll around in my head is not. Maybe you don’t think it is a lie, I won’t argue with you, but I would challenge you to ponder it carefully.

Recently, the kids and I learned this bible verse “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28.

This is a wonderful verse to ponder in light of our roles as mothers. We are not here in our role as mothers (and wives) to be served, but to serve…and to give our lives as Christ did.

Do we? In thought and action? I haven’t been.

Sally Clarkson puts it best when she writes, “Choosing to be a servant-mother means willingly giving up myself, my expectations, and my time to the task of mothering—and choosing to believe that doing so is the best use of my time at that moment.  It means that, by faith, I have already made a decision to make myself available in the routine tasks and myriad interruptions of daily life because I believe it is God’s will for me to serve my family through them. Making this choice ahead of time means I will expect problems and needs to arise and be ready to deal with them in peace instead of impatience and resentment.” (The Mission of Motherhood, pg. 66-67, bolding mine.)

In peace instead of impatience and resentment.

Do you hand your children off to your hubby the minute he comes in from slaying dragons and fighting bad guys? Do you demand “time” for yourself? Are you “tired” of your children? Are you angry when your “needs” aren’t met?

“…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…”

Todd the Family Man put it well yesterday in the TOS Homeschool Minute (sorry I'm not sure how to link to the TOS Minute or his column) when he said that one of the best things we can do for our children is to always greet them with a smile. Amen to that.

So far I’ve had to get up four times since I started writing this.

1.  To take Bess to the potty. Smile

2. To take Bess back to the potty. Smile

3. To change Bess’ diaper, because she didn’t use the potty. Smile.

4.  To help Aaron get his breakfast (even though he is old enough to get his own breakfast). Smile.

“…we mothers need to recognize what a powerful effect our attitude has on our children.  Laying down our lives for them can indeed mean giving up, for their sakes, our right to wallow in our negative feelings.  And choosing the path of servant leadership certainly means making the effort to respond in faith to our circumstances and our feelings, turning to the Lord for help in maintaining a hopeful attitude.  The beauty of such an effort, of course is that it has the power to lift us up even as it sustains our children’s spirits.” –Sally Clarkson

Happy Valentine's Day!

This morning this phase kept repeating itself in my mind, “disruptions are normal, a life without disruptions is not.”  I knew that I’d read this yesterday, but I couldn’t remember where and I couldn’t remember the whole quote.

Well, the words were floating around in my mind driving me crazy so I backtracked everything I’d read yesterday until I finally figured out who said this. (I’m amazed that I actually found it considering the little bits of this and that that I read yesterday.) I don’t have the quote right, but the idea is the same. You can read the whole thing here. Susan Wise Bauer talks about how sickness (disruption) is a normal part of life and how we tend to view it as something out of the norm and she questions whether we should view our “normal” days as not the norm.

I wonder why we think disruptions are not the norm? Life is certainly full of them and they usually come right on the wing of our getting our life “in order”. HA! LOL.

Guess that shows us Who is really in control!

Maybe if we viewed our disrupted days as the norm we would appreciate our “normal” days more.

Just a some crazy thinking from my very disrupted mind. I’m ready for a little “normal”. LOL. Guess I need a paradigm shift.

 Lord, change the way I think.