I just came across this article by Andrea Schwartz and it spoke to my exact feelings on this subject. (I can only dream of being asked to manage a political campaign, however.)

www.chalcedon.edu/hsblog/blog.php

It's entitled: "Looking Well to the Ways of Our Households" (Scroll down to the September 8, 2008 entry)

Just an update to let everyone know I am still here, though posting only sporadically. I've been convicted to concentrate on keeping my house in better order and it is taking most of my time (imagine that!) Anyway, in light of my recent convicitions and the current political climate I couldn't resist sharing the following article and subsequent discussion about the VP nomination of Sarah Palin. You can see it here:

http://74.255.56.30/blog/?p=171

My two cents is this:

I really like Sarah Palin as a candidate! (Her charm and enthusiasim are endearing). For 5 minutes I actually considered voting for the McCain ticket. However, I would not have considered voting for McCain before and cannot, in good conscience now. If she were running, maybe. I, like many others, can't shake the question "Who is going to take care of her kids?" I can say that her speech did inspire me to work harder in the sphere God has called me to at home. I don't buy the false dichotomy that the only choices we have for voting are Republican or Democrat. There are other good men running for president.  I do believe each of us must vote for who, through biblical study and Holy Spirit conviction, we feel to be the best candidate for the job, even if ,for some, that means not casting a vote at all. God is in control of the election and the whims of all of those voting, His choice will come to power no matter who wins (either for our blessing or judgement).  So, I will continue to watch the race and pray for the leaders of our country, those currently in office, and those who are to come into it. With God's grace, I will continue in the path He has laid out for me, in obedience, so that my prayers may not be hindered. It's a little fragmented, but there you have it. I hope you all are doing well!

     "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, that leads to righteousness?"     Romans 6:16

 It has recently come to my attention that I am a servant. I know, I'm pretty slow, after all, I have been a mother for 5 years now and the thought just came to me. (Maybe that's why it just occured to me, too busy being a mother to have a complete thought!) I have to confess I don't really like the job title. I mean, if we are to do all things to the glory of God, then I have to be the best servant that I can be. This was never an area to which I aspired. Nobody says they want to be a servant when they grow up. I sure didn't. To serve someone else as their servant means that I have to do what they want me to do. I don't get to decide. I'm not "free" to make my own decisions. This grates on my nature in every direction.

     But my recollection of the Bible's teaching on the subject doesn't allow for any alternative. A scanning of Strong's entries on the word "servant" reveals 4 pages of entries. I am a servant, either of sin or of God. No matter what my physical position in the world, I serve under God's authority.  Even if physically free, my soul was made to serve. Realizing this really changes my perspective. I have always been a servant.

     When I recall my days of serving my sin and myself (an inherently sinful being) I realize that my master was a cruel and harsh one. I remember the despair, darkness, feelings of helplessness when things didn't go my way. I remember the lack of pleasure in getting what I wanted when it went against God's law. Standing back and looking at my life, realizing my true position, I can see how awful it is to serve my sin.

     Somehow, I started believing that I was once free to do what I wanted and now I have to serve Christ. But that isn't true. I have always been a servant. I will always be a servant. But, thanks be to God, He has raised me to life in Christ and now I can choose who to serve. God is a much more benevolent master. When I realize the inevitabally of serving, I am much more motivated to serve the righteous master. The lie was that there was no master. The truth is that there is a good and gentle one. A master who is even willing to make me his child. A master who elevates his faithful servants to positions of honor (think of Joseph). And one who was even willing to die in my place.

Those of you who know me will understand the signifigance of the new look here at HomeOccupied. My original plan was to update way more often than I have, but "life happens". Anyway I'm going to be trying a few new things in upcoming spare moments (I pray there will be some ). I'm actually quite computer illiterate in regards to the intricacies of programs, so this is taking longer than I'd like. The push -buttons- until- you- get- it -to -do- what- you- want  method doesn't work so well with blog design, so I'm going to have to slow down and really figure things out. I appreciate your patience. In the mean time, check out my friends' sites and check back occasionally to see what's new. Feel free to leave comments on which look you like best!

Love ya!

I haven't posted in awhile, but came across an article I couldn't help sharing. http://deanabbott.typepad.com/notes_and_meditations/2007/07/a-caring-and-su.html

Let me know what you think!

My head has been swimming with so many things lately. These are a few of them.

Local control of government has been a strength of America since it's inception, however, that strength is being undermined. The house has passed a bill, "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes prevention Act of 2007" that in spite of it's benign sounding name attempts to take away local jurisdiction of certain crimes against certain individuals. There's more to it than that, but you can read it for yourself at http://thomas.loc.gov/ . (Type in H.R. 1592 when searching by bill #.) Another bill with the same goal is pending a vote in the Senate, S.B. 1105 so it's not too late to oppose that one. And if you want another frightening read, see the Patriot Act (H.R. 3162). I'm sorry to say I didn't give it much thought of it when debate about it was going on, but, upon a cursory reading, I wish I had opposed it. Now it's law.

If you homeschool, you are probabaly aware of the work of HSLDA (www.hslda.org )on a state by state basis to secure the right of parents to educate their children how they see fit. However, it the trend toward a stronger more centralized government continues to the point where the governance of education is completely overseen by Washington, all of the state laws could be overturned by one act of Congress or court case. So the loss of local control is important. The farther away from us the people who make decisions for us are, the less influence we have in those decisions.

No leaders have their office unless it is granted to them by God and so we can rest in His soverignty. However, judgement does begin in the house of God so we should first confess our sin before Him and pray for our leaders and for mercy on our beloved country.

OK, back to life with preschoolers. Mine are dirty. The days have been warm and sunny and lasting longer and longer. By the time the sun sets and we finally corral them all up for the night, we're too tired to give them baths. I actually smelled four year old B.O. last night before bed. Of course, he thought that was hilarious and danced his stinky self  around so I could smell him better. Baths tonight!

And you know you live with preschoolers when:

Sparklers aren't just for the 4th of July.

Hoodie towels are the superhero cape of choice. (Nevermind there's never a clean one for the baby)

Soap is one of your baby's favorite flavors, Blah!

Ranch Dressing (the modern day equivalent of ketchup) is requested as a dip for cookies.

"Butt-weiner" is the curse word of choice. (Although not acceptable, I guess in some strange way I can be thankful.)

Your son sees spilled apple juice and immediately asks, "Is this pee?" (yes, his sister is potty training.)

You are way too familiar with gross bodily functions and their "euphamistic" terms.

Blessings,

Julie

I love taking pictures of my children and this one is so sweet. But you know, it's rarely a planned event at my house. It seems that I capture their best expressions in the foreground of a mess. (Notice the basket of laundry in this pict.) I usually get the camera out on days when the schedule has gone kaput and we're all still in our pj's at 11:30, or 1:30 or later! So, I have an album full of charming children with messy hair in a messy house. And really, it's not always like this. It just seems that if I do get all of the work done and everything put away, there's no time left to enjoy it (since it's probabaly past bedtime). I am whining a little here. I still have a long way to go in learning to be scheduled and organized so I suppose when I get better at it I will have more free time for the "fun" stuff.

Or will I? There seems to be such a fragile balance in deciding the most important priority. There is work that has to be done to care for the family, but there is still a family that needs attention and care. Little by little I'm teaching the children to help and little by little I work through my To Do list, but the work is always there. The children, however, will not be.  I would be heartsick if they were grown and gone and I hadn't savoured the precious times we spent together.

The times I cherish from my own childhood have nothing to do with how spotless the carpets were or how brightly the windows shown. They do bring back the comfort of my mother's lap while she read aloud to my brother and me. (I still picture the sunbeams breaking through the curtains, the sun still low in the sky and a feeling that the day would go on forever.) I remember chewing giant wads of bubble gum while Mom entertained us by blowing big, sweeet, pink bubbles. I remember the laughter and excitement of planning for a fun afternoon with friends or a vacation to the lake.  Even though, in the midst of the mundane, there is not always a lot of time for those types of things, I do not want to relocate them to the superfluous. Father guide me minute by minute!

"It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them." Ecclesiastes 7:18 NASB

I actually wrote "post blog entry" on my to do list for this week. This completely undermines the whole reason I started a blog in the first place. And, for Pete's sake, in my first entry, I dedicated it to my Grandpa Bill, who was NOT a stuffy guy. So, in the interest of taking some of the pressure off myself and in making this a tad more interesting for my three readers, today I'm not going to write about anything philosophical or theological. I am going to write about my children.

You know you live with preschoolers when:

While shaking the wrinkles from dryer fresh clothes, peanuts fall onto the floor.

Your baby's first non-milk protien comes from the pizza her sister decides to feed her while she stands in her crib. (They were both supposed to be napping.)

Pizza is about as close to serving all four food groups together for lunch as you get for days at a time. (Well, if you don't count peanuts as part of the meat group.)

You're not suprised to find your kitchen tongs behind the TV in the toyroom.

The first place you look for anything lost is behind the TV in the toyroom.

"Name that smell" is everyone's favorite game when getting into the van.

You know that the most putrid smell in the world is a forgotten sippy cup full of GREEN chocolate milk. (I shudder as I type the words!)

The medical assistant at the doctor's office compliments you on the cute stickers you have on your back.

You find cute stickers on the inside of the cabinet doors.

You find cute stickers on your underwear.

You find your two year old putting cute stickers on the van. ("The baby wanted to look at them." she says.)

You vow not to let anyone have any more cute stickers. (Until the checkout lady at Kroger offers your cute cartful of children stickers for being so well behaved, sigh...)

You love the wet, sloppy baby kisses your nine month old smears across your cheek.

You love to see your baby giving wet sloppy baby kisses to her big brother while he gently plays with her. (Never mind that she's got a cold-ugh!, he's being gentle.)

Well, gotta go, someone wants to give baby kisses.

More later...

     Sorry, this blog is not going to give you any advice, solve your child's discipline issues or simplify your life as a parent. It is my reflection on the parenting advice I've recieved and often eagerly sought in the past five years since having children.

     I have come to the conclusion that (as in all things) to really get the best advice for raising children, you must first pray. Sounds simple, doesn't it? But in my zeal to do everything right, according to "biblical" principles I rushed out and read everything in print (O.K., not everything, but a lot) that touted itself Christian and for the purpose of raising Godly kids. I forgot to pray. I forgot that discernment comes from the Holy Spriit and that God gives freely to those who ask. I forgot to ask. The result? Turmoil. In many cases, the more I followed the advice, the worse my children behaved and the more stressed out I felt.

     I learned that my children don't need a formua or a program to learn, they need a relationship with their teacher (me). Although there are many older, wiser parents out there who can serve as encouragers, there is no shortcut to the wisdom that comes from God. God knows me, He knows my children. He knows my shortcomings and the purposes He has for our lives. I've learned that I still have much to learn and that it will take the rest of my life to learn it. I will not be perfect, I will make many mistakes. But if I walk beside Him and ask, I will be given all I need to complete this task He has graciously given me.

Some of the best advice my mother ever gave me was, "Julie, you can do anything, but you can't do everything." This, mind you, was coming from the lips of a woman who knows me well. She has seen my enthusiasm cyclically wax and wane over a new idea or project since I was old enough to articulate what I was excited about. She wisely knew that my chief temptation in life would be to "do it all" but not do anything particularly well or even to completion. I'm trying to take her advice. Even though I have an insatiatible hunger to learn more about anything and everything (no pun intended) that interests me, God is helping me see that I need to finish well those projects He has given me and not go running off in another direction whenever something new catches my fancy. Aren't children the perfect cure for this? They aren't going anywhere for a long time. I think mine were given to me to teach me (among a plethora of other things) perserverance. And because of our commitment to homeschool, training them up takes on a whole new level of commitment. Thankfully, homeschooling brings with it new challenges (projects?) regularly so on some level I'm still getting  to try new things. But if I'm going to do anything that contributes to my children's education I'm going to need lots of my mother's encouragement, God's grace, and the perserverance to complete everthing from the math curriculum to cleaning the kitchen, which, by the way, is something I'm never interested in doing.

I've been reading the Psalms. 22-33 to be exact. Over and over David admonishes (himself?) to wait on the Lord. He cries out for deliverance from his enemies. He asks the Lord to teach him. As I read, I wondered who my enemies were. I mean, I live here in America in safety and comfort. Do I have any enemies? Who are they? Then I was reminded of the spiritual battles it seems like I have been losing on every front. In Ephesians  Paul reminds us that we are in a battle and tells us to put on our spirutual armor to fight our enemies, which are not flesh and blood, but "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Eph. 5:12) As a Christian I know God has saved me to do good works. As a wife and mother of preschoolers, most of those good works will be the physical acts of serving and caring for my family. So it follows that whatever is keeping me from doing those good works is the likely field of my spiritual battles. I have been so blind. Instead of putting on my armor, standing firm, and waiting on the Lord for the victory, I've been wandering around the battlefield, naked. Or worse, trying to arm myself with shields of my own choosing (idols), then wondering why I'm getting pummeled. I've been decieved by those spiritual enemies. Thank the Lord that he opens the eyes of His children and preserves us even when we fall. And mostly, I thank Him that the outcome of the battle does not depend on me.

On October 22 of this year my grandfather died. I'm saddened. I'm sorry I didn't write something he would have the chance to read. He's the one who told me I should write.

 In the year leading up to his death, each of our meetings left me wondering if it would be our last. So I asked him things I wouldn't have if he hadn't been ill and spoke more freely with him than I had in my entire life. It was during one of those conversations, over lunch, that he told me with a tear in his eye that I should write my thoughts down. I was flattered by his request. So now, I'm taking his advice. Here goes...