Thoughtful Motherhood

Twilight Obsession

Here are some Christian reviews of the Twilight series. One of the reviews is by a Cristian woman who was formerly deeply involved in the occult.

 

A Girl and Her Vampire: The Frenzy over Twilight

 

Twilight Obsession

 

Responses

 

Review of book New Moon

 

 

8:59 AM - Nov. 18, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment


Children's Books for Sale

Prices do not include shipping. All books in used condition.
There are a few more, but I can't finish uploading right now.

$1 per book or 3/$2



Troll Illustrated Classics -
*The Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett
*Peter Pan by James M. Barrie
*The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
*The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett



*The Twits by Roald Dahl
*Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary 



*Dear Mr.Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

 

***************I actually have four more Beverly Cleary,  I just don't have pictures.*********************



*Second Grade Ape by Daniel Pinkwater
*Alone in His Teacher's House by Marvin Redpost
*Horrible Harry and the Dungeon by Suzy Kline



*Don't Do That, Dexter! by Jodee Mcconnaughhay
*Rockin Reptiles, The Gator Girls bk.2 by Stephanie Calmenson
*Arthur's Underwear by Marc Brown



*3 copies of Green Wilma by Tedd Arnold



*Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London
*Froggy Eats Out by Jonathan London



*Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus
*Blabber Mouse by True Kelley
*Sherman Crunchley by Laura Numeroff
*Imogene's Antlers by David Small



*Amazing & Incredible Counting Stories by Max Grover
*Trashy Town by Andres Zimmerman



*Daniel's Dinosaur by Mary Carmine
*The Monster Bed by Jeanne Willis
*Dinorella by Pamela Duncan Edwards

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2775/4097787315_90e4695e4a.jpg[/img]

*Let's Go Home, Little Bear by Martin Waddell
*The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2450/4099063178_8abd0ba0f2.jpg[/img]

*A Pocketful of Stars: Poems about the Night by Nikki Siegen-Smith
*The Spring Rabbit by Joyce Dunbar

 

4:12 PM - Nov. 16, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment


$1 & $2 School Resources for Sale

Prices do not include shipping, but I will ship media mail, which is very cheap. I can take funded paypal or check/money order.

All items are in gently used condition.



*Comprehensive Reading and Writing Assesment - grade 3 - $2

*Scholastic Write Away! by Stephen Krensky - grade 3-6 - $2(One author's favorite acitivities that help ordinary writers become extraordinary writers)

*Nonfiction Reading Comprehension - grade 3 - $2



*Science Made Simple - grade 2 -$2

*The Jumbo Book of Short-N-Simple Science - grade 2 -$2

 
*Scholastic 5 Minute Math Problem of the Day for Young Learners - grades 1-2 $2  SOLD

*Scholastic Science Write & Read Books - grades k-2 $2 SOLD




*Art Today and Everyday: Classroom Activities for the Elementary School Year - $2

*Kids' Big Book of Games - $2



*Happy Fall & Winter: Reproducible Activity Sheets for Grades K-1 -$2

*Alteratives to Worksheets: Motivational Reading and Writing Activities Across the Curriculum - grades K-4 - $2  SOLD
 


* Themes from A to Z: 26 Cross-Curricular Theme Units - Preschool & K - $2

*September Patterns, Projects & Plans to Perk Up Early Learning Programs - $2



*Spectrum Test Prep grades 1-2 $2 SOLD

*Reasons for Reading: 28 Reproducible Pages and Teacher's Guides - grades 3-4 $2



*Holiday & Seasonal Celebrations -PK-3 $2

*Families Thematic Unit - Early Childhood - $2
*****************The following are workbooks for the kids to do. None are written in.**************



*Language Arts Step by Step Homework booklet - Level 2 $1 (vowels, blends, consonants, rhyming words, alphabetical order, sentences)

*Phonics Homework Helpers Book One - grade 2 $1
(consonants, blends, vowels - it seems more like grade 1 to me)

*Phonics Homework Helpers Book Two - grade 2 $1
(special vowels, consonant diagraphs)



*Activity Cards Stories to Finish - Middle grades - $1



*McGraw Hill Math K - $1

*McGraw Hill Math 1 - $1

*McGraw Hill Math Readiness ages 4-7 - $1

*McGraw Hill Phonices Readiness ages 4-7 - $1



*Scholastic Superskills K: Counting & Numbers $1

*Scholastic Superskills K: Shapes & Patterns $1



*Zoobooks set of 7 - $2 !!!SOLD

12:37 PM - Nov. 12, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment


Little Girl Decorating

I haven't really decorated Amy's room. Up until now she has shared with her brother, so I didn't do much. But, we're shuffling kids around in our 3 bedroom house, and pretty soon Amy will be all by herself in her room. The 11 year old is going to make a bedroom in the sunroom (we need to add a door) and the three little boys will be sharing the big bedroom. My prayer is that God will add another little girl to our family and then Amy won't be lonely!

 

Here's the nursery now:

 

 

So, I'm looking for inspiration to redo her room (for very little cash).

 

this is cute from Design Dazzle

 

 

and maybe a homemade rag rug (go here for tutorial)

 

 

 

12:16 PM - Oct. 9, 2009 - comments {3} - post comment


Scrapbooking Fun

I've been having fun playing around with photoshop and creating some digital scrapbook pages. I'd love to finish a book for each child each year, but...um...yeah. That may not happen, but I do have a goal. And they say having goals is important.

 

That way I can know exactly when I've failed, right?

 

 

Anyway, here's what I've accomplished the past two days. I also got the laundry done (almost), but that is not nearly as impressive.

 

If you like the images you see here, you can download all of the elements, lettering, backgrounds and many other page kits for FREE at www.shabbyprincess.com

 

9:31 PM - Sep. 27, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment


File Folder Games

Occupying three little boys so that I can do "big school" with my oldest and entertain my baby can be difficult. File folder games are fun, simple, and inexpensive ways for little ones to learn on their own. To make the games you can buy a book with reproducible pages or check online for free.

 

Here are my little guys enjoying file folder games:

 

 

This is my two year old. He is matching fruit to their silhouetted shape. He loves this one, and will do it over and over again. The gameboard is made by gluing shapes onto the folder and then laminating the whole thing. The pieces are stored in a plastic baggie that is placed in the folder when its put away.

 

 

How much fun is it to match the front of an animal to the backside of an animal? Just ask my three year old.

 

 

This game is quite versatile. For the younger kids it helps with matching colors, but for my five year old it is working on word recognition. It seems like a simple game, but it really works!

 

Here are a few sites that offer printable file folder games:

http://www.filefolderheaven.com/

http://www.filefolderfun.com/

 

Have fun adding file folder games to your homeschool!

10:49 PM - Sep. 22, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment


New Pics

We finally got a new camera and worked out all the glitches with uploading pictures. Its a cheapy digital camera, so the pictures aren't that great. We've lost two slightly more expensive cameras to gravity, and we didn't want to take a chance with that again.

 

 

 

 

8:55 AM - Sep. 16, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment


Awesome Faith of a Little Boy

A good homeschooling mom makes use of car rides by employeeing math songs, books on CD, or even well-timed sermons.

 

Today I used the drive time to catechize the kids. If you are Southern Baptist, like 85% of the people that we know, then you don’t know what that means. It isn’t a strange ritual involving felines. Rest assured. We only use dogs in our religious ceremonies, as they are tastier and more acceptable to the Lord.

 

If you aren’t acquainted with sarcasm, that was a little taste of it for ya. We don’t actually harm animals in our worship. Squirmy little kids may get a pinch or two, though.

 

Catechism is just asking children a series of questions and teaching them the answers. It’s used to teach basic spiritual concepts, such as who God is. I was asking the children question #7 of The Children’s Catechism (which we’ve had to edit in a few places to appropriately reflect our beliefs), which is “What are the three persons of God?” I explained about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We got to the point of me telling them that God sends the Holy Spirit to help us at the same time that He changes our hearts and gives us new ones.

 

At that point I was pretty intellectually exhausted at having to explain the trinity to preschoolers. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw my five-year old bow his head and cover it with his hands. When he looked up he was smiling.

 

I asked him, “What did you just do?”

 

He said, “I just asked God to give me a new heart.”

“Well, what did He say?” I asked him.

 

“He said ‘Yes’.  And He has my old one.”

 

The beautifully funny faith of a little child. Praise the Lord for His work in our home and the journey He started us on so many years ago that allowed me to witness a moment of His work in my child.

12:25 AM - Sep. 15, 2009 - comments {2} - post comment


The Poo-Filled Life of a Mother

Poop stories are popular with moms.

 

I was trying to figure out why when it hit me. For a short period of time, our lives as mothers are defined by the foul-smelling excrement of our itty bitty progeny.

 

We count the number of poops to make sure our milk supply is adequate. We equate the poo color with the health of our babies. Yellow grainy is good. Purple, not so good. Who fed the baby lavender play-dough? (true story)

 

A huge milestone in the life of a mother is when her little darling somehow manages to bypass the diaper and place his poopy into a potty.


We call daddy.

We call grandma.

We blog it.

We post it on Facebook.

We Tweet if we are really young and hip.

We take disgusting pictures and plan a two-page spread.

 

Little Johnny pooped in the potty!!!

 

What is life like without this constant concern for our child’s fecal matter?

 

I don’t know. I’m not there yet. I’m not sure I want to be there. Changing the first inky black diaper of a newborn, gently rebuking a wiggly six-month old who is threatening to get poo all over her own heels during a diaper change, passing out M&M’s to a victorious two-year who nailed the potty – these are the moments of motherhood. To rejoice in those days being over means rejoicing in the end of my motherhood.

 

My prayer is that I have a few many more poop-filled years left in this life.

8:04 AM - Sep. 11, 2009 - comments {4} - post comment


Get Out the Ranch Dressing, Folks...I'm Back to Blogging

You can start breathing again. Its okay. I'm back.

 

I know you were holding your breath, waiting for my reappearance.

 

For whatever reason, I just haven't felt like blogging lately. I'm pretty sure God gave Satan the go-ahead to beat the stuffing out of me. And instead of fighting him with my silver-coated Bible, I just sort of laid down and let him wallup me.

 

Enough, I say!

 

Plus our camera committed suicide and tried to take down Photoshop with it, so I don't have any nifty-cool images of my perfect...*cough*...family to show you. You will have to be satisfied with my words. Yeah, I know, its like eating a salad without dressing. Perhaps you can choke it down for a few more sentences.

 

Miss Darlin's birthday is coming up and I've been thinking of her amazing birth a lot lately. I've tried several times to write about what I learned and how I can apply those lessons to other areas of my life. In honor of that, and because I don't want to leave you with dry lettuce in your throat, I'll post the song that helped get me through her labor. To this day, I automatically relax my shoulders and breather slower when I hear this song. Good memories!

 

Enjoy.

 

 

12:39 AM - Sep. 11, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment


The Professionalization of Cultures Threatens Self-Reliance

At some point, all of us have been decieved into believing that certain tasks are best left to the professionals.

 

Got sick kids? Take them to a doctor.

Got an illiterate five year old. Take him to a teacher.

Got an unsaved friend or kid? Take him to a pastor or youth pastor.

 

In times past, mothers had a working knowledge of common illnesses and herbal or home treatments. Most sicknesses would be dealt with at home, only rare and serious illnesses needed the touch of a doctors.

 

Parents used to feel some confidence in their own knowledge and had a strong understanding of authority, so it wasn't seen as a huge challenge to impart that knowledge to their own children and guide their education.

 

Christians of the past were discipled strongly by older Christians, and when met with a friend or stranger who needed the gospel or godly advice could give it easily. They did not believe that the only way to get a friend saved was to take him to a church building. Parents knew that it was THEIR job to disciple their children and not the job of a youth pastor.

 

The effects of this dependance on so many outside entities is clear. It threatens our self-reliance. More importantly, dependance on outsiders erodes our confidence to do jobs ourselves. I am not saying that mothers and fathers never need to ask for help, but often we are asking for help too quickly, without tackling the problem on our own.

 

My second son has articulation problems and saw a speech therapist for three sessions before they told us that our insurance wouldn't pay for the therapy. While we could self-pay, that would be a bit of a financial burden at $80 a week. So, I did what I normally do when we are faced with a problem. I figure out how to handle it at home. I found resources and made a plan to work with him at home. I am not scared or worried that I may not be able to handle it or that I will somehow mess my child up. I don't believe that I have to a have a college degree to give my son speech therapy.

 

I don't write these things out of pride(believe me, I am NOT smarter nor naturally more competant than the general population), but out of concern that our society is so enthralled by certain 'professionals' that they don't take the time to become self-reliant. As teachers, doctors, and even pastors (especially youth pastors) became more prevalent and available, we assumed that their availability somehow negates our obligation to perform basic duties for ourselves, like parenting, discipling, healing, and even teaching. 

4:12 PM - Aug. 12, 2009 - comments {4} - post comment


Why We Homeschool

 

     I recently had the opportunity to set up a homeschool information booth at our church's Family Fun Night. It was so much fun to talk to the few ladies who came to me. I handed out packets of information and in them I included the reasons why our family homeschools. The reasons a family chooses to homeschool vary greatly, and what follows is why our family continues to homeschool, even when it is tough.

 

1. Greater opportunity to teach my children about God.

In Deuteronomy 6:7, God charges parents to teach their children His word as they sit at home, as they walk on the road, when they lie down and when they get up. We choose to keep our children home with us so that we have more time to teach them about God and His word.

 

2. Greater opportunity for family togetherness and unity.

Being together during the day provides a great opportunity for us to truly get to know each other without the outside time-stressors of school, teachers, jobs, etc. We are not all going off in our own direction with some family-time thrown in after homework. We are truly living, learning, and working together.

 

3. Protection of children from unsupervised exposure to unbiblical ideas and thinking.

When a child is in school all day, the parent is not there to guide him as he is exposed to ideas that contradict the Bible. It is very easy for a child to become confused about what is right and wrong with this kind of exposure. Homeschooling helps us to respond to wrong thinking and unbiblical ideas that enter our child’s line of sight by guiding them in right thinking and making known the Biblical proof for that thinking. This tends to leads to children who are stronger in their faith and more able to defend their faith.

 

4. Protection of children from negative peer interactions and influences

Who did you learn cuss words from? What about dirty jokes? When did you start questioning how your parents lived or what they believed? Unsupervised peer interaction with children from different belief systems can weaken a child’s view of right and wrong, his appreciation for the God-given institute of family, and undermine the values we try to teach at home.

See article, “What About Socialization?”

 

 

5. Personalized education

This is a very common reason for parents to choose homeschooling. At home, we are not confined to giving our children a cookie-cutter education. We can personalize it however the Lord leads. We can use lots of hands-on activities for the younger students and even allow our wild boys to spend more time outside actually touching frogs rather than just looking at pictures of them. The pace of study is entirely up to us, and each child can receive an education that is perfectly suited for him.

 

6. Greatest opportunity for parental growth

When we are with our children all day and solely responsible for their upbringing and training, we sometimes bring out the worst in each other. This is okay; it’s not something to shy away from. These times expose our own and our children’s weaknesses. When these weaknesses come to light we have the greatest opportunity for growth and change. Plus, we learn right alongside our children all the history, math, and grammar that we either forgot or never knew in the first place.

 

7. Freedom

Homeschooling is incredibly freeing. We are not tied down to anyone else’s schedule. We don’t have an arbitrary teacher deciding how our child will spend the evening by assigning hours of homework. The Board of Education doesn’t declare when we can go on vacation. We are completely in charge of our children and our lives to live as the Lord leads.

9:20 AM - Jul. 31, 2009 - comments {3} - post comment


Contentment, the Internet, and Marriage

The internet has been a huge problem for me for quite awhile. Sure, I was able to hide all the time I spent idly roaming the internet by doing mad cleaning dashes before my husband came home. Or by sending the kids out to play so I could get my facebook and forum time without any little witnesses to tattle on me.

 

Not only was the internet a huge time waster that took me away from duties as a wife and mother, but it also robbed me of my contentment . As I hopped from blog to blog, and inserted myself into the virtual lives of other people, I began to compare my family to other families.  As I saw what other large, homeschooling families were doing, I started becoming bitter against my husband. Why can’t he take us to Argentina and we can live in tents and preach the gospel to the natives? He must not love God enough.  I would ask myself. Why can’t we live on a farm and make our own soap and wear calico dresses and sell vegetables on the side of the road? He just isn’t adventurous enough.

 

Homemakers of today have to deal very strongly with the temptation of the internet. In 1 Timothy 5, when Paul is talking of young widows, I believe these verses can be aptly applied to us homemakers:

 

 

“Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. 14So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan."

 

 

With the instant access of the internet, we can go “from house to house” without ever leaving our chair. We can become idle as we live life through other people. Notice, that this is not a ‘small’ sin. Paul says that women who do those things have “already turned away to follow Satan.” That should be enough to get the attention of any woman who claims to love the Lord.

 

So, I’ve chosen to bite the bullet and get rid of that which causes me to stumble. Perhaps in a year or so, I can come back, a better wife and mom and blog all about it. But not today.

1:36 PM - Jun. 30, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment


Summer Meals

Did you know that people in the south are shiny? We are. Its called sweat, and it makes us glisten. Southerners are just shiny, happy people. Summer in the south is HOT! Because of that  I try not to turn my oven on the summer, it adds to the heat in the kitchen and makes an already long, hot day even more miserable.  I like to plan meals that don't require heat or that I cook in the crockpot or on the grill.

 

Here's my menu for the summer. Its pretty basic, and I'll try to just repeat it every week. Obviously, something always comes up and we don't follow it exactly, but its a start.

 

Meal

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Brekky

Biscuits & egg casserole

Oatmeal & toast

Toast & boiled eggs

Oatmeal & toast

Scrambled eggs & toast

Oatmeal & toast

Pancakes & bacon

Lunch

BBQ Chicken & Baked Potato, green beans

Veggie burger & buns, cucumbers w/ dip

Lentils & Rice

w/ tortillas

Cheese Quesadillas & Beans

Black bean burger & buns,

Salmon Patty & fruit salad

Grilled hot dogs, chili & pasta salad

Dinner

Deli Sandwich & Chips

Chicken Hamburger, Corn Salad

Chef Salad (Ham, Turkey)

Deli Sandwhich & garden salad

 

Grilled Chicken, & corn on the cob Tortillas, cheese & rice

Pizza & Cinnamon Rolls

Taco Salad w/ beef, chips, rice &

Snack

cookies

Apples & peanut butter

Bananas

Oranges

Veggie tray w/ hummus?

Apples & peanut butter

Fruit salad

3:20 PM - Jun. 23, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment


"We Don't Eat Poop"

“We don’t eat poop.”

 

It’s a common phrase in our house. Often followed by “Only food.” As in “We don’t eat poop - only food.”

 

It is so common that the disgusting little phrase has even shown up in our prayers for loved ones. Don’t ask me why.

 

The origin of the phrase is a bit sketchy, as, you know, I have five kids and that does nothing for my ability to remember important facts, such as when the whole family started saying “We don’t eat poop – only food.” But I’m fairly sure it came out of my mouth first when our little dog wolfed down a hunk of my three year old’s fecal matter. We won’t get into the gag reflex that I still have when I think of it.

 

Today was by far the worst moment involving poop that I’ve had as a mother. Which is quite amazing, as I’ve had many poop moments to speak of with my four crazy boys.

 

But it wasn’t one of my rowdy boys that disgusted me so badly. It was my beautiful, delicate little Miss Darlin that catapulted herself into the poop-eating hall of fame. I know you are thinking, “What could she have possibly done that was so bad.” Well, it involves poop. And it involves eating. Of course, you knew that.

 

I was giving her a bath when the two year old decided that he wanted one too. As I was taking his clothes off, I realized he had a dirty diaper. He brought me some wipes and I began to clean him up in preparation for bath time, which doesn’t exactly make sense, but we wouldn’t want poop floating in the bathtub, would we? I wiped him up, shoved the dirty wipes in the diaper, but didn’t fold it over and close it up. Mistake #1. I laid the diaper on the side of the tub, because our trashcan was sitting in the kitchen with powerful cleansers working magic to get some gross smell out of it. Mistake #2.

 

I finish cleaning and drying the kids off and I take both of them into the bedroom to diaper and dress. As I was chasing the two year old around…ok…I wasn’t actually chasing him around. I was sitting on my fat, lazy butt in the middle of the floor, trying to grab the little booger without getting up. I digress.

 

The sguirmy little thing came close enough to grab, so I dressed him and diapered him (but not in that order.) Before I could finish with Miss Darlin, one of the other boys needed something, so I ran off to see what was going on. I mentally told myself that I shouldn’t let Miss Darlin wander into the bathroom because she might fall into the toilet. But, since I’ve had four boys who never managed to fall into the toilet, I ignored my ‘inner voice’. Mistake #3.

 

I got done with whatever had taken my attention away from dressing the kids and began to look for a naked child crawling around in the house. Perhaps I should have sent my husband to look for her. When I found her, she had pulled herself up to the side of the tub, stuck her tiny fist into her brother’s diaper, retrieved a great big, blob of black poop, and was licking it like it was lollipop.

 

Yeah, they don’t sell those at the candy store.

 

I tried not to throw up all over my daughter, further adding to her absolute disgustingness and I sat that child back in the bathtub and scrubbed the fire poop out of her.

 

All of my children have eaten poop, they get it from their father, but up until now it has only been their own poop that has made its way into their mouths.  What? You have perfect, little robot children who don’t pull their dirty diapers off in the middle night and paint poop murals on their wall (while taking a few tastes?) Well, I feel sorry for you. Life just isn’t exciting until you have witnessed poop-eating. Come to my house, I can probably arrange a showing.

8:56 PM - Jun. 18, 2009 - comments {8} - post comment


Sunday School Part 2

If you read my post about Sunday school, you probably thought that I don't send my kids to SS...right? I tend to write (or speak, if I'm with someone that I know well) in a very black & white, idealistic way, and I have a hard time bringing ideals down to real life and vice versa.

 

We actually do send our kids to Sunday school. Can you believe it? There I go, revealing our horrid secrets to everyone.  For me, the ideal is to attend an age-integrated church that focuses on discipling mom and dad so that they can better disciple their children. But then the ideal meets reality and it doesn't always work out that way. There are no family-integrated churches in our area, and its highly unlikely that we will ever attend one. We could always move to Texas and go to Voddie Bauchum's church!

 

The church we attend is one my husband grew up in and God has not called us to leave. So, we send the kids to Sunday school with the very cynical notion that they are there for basic childcare. Unlike most moms, I don't really care if they learn about Jesus, specifically the youngest children. I just want the workers to not hurt my children, to come and get me if my kid is causing problems or crying too much. I don't have very high standards, do I?

 

I know it seems weird, but its MY job to disciple my kids, so I don't really expect anybody else to do it.  What they get at church is just gravy. And gravy without meat is just plain gross.

4:22 PM - Jun. 18, 2009 - comments {2} - post comment


Is Sunday School Bad for Kids?

The best way to insure our kids grow up to love the Lord is to get them to the church everytime its open, right? I don't think so. Especially if that means that once the family enters the church, they all go their seperate ways, each to his own age-segregated classroom, never learning together or ministering together.

 

Ken Ham, a well-known creationist and founder of Answers in Gensis, has co-written a new book,"Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do about it", that explores why so many young people are leaving the church. One of his findings, after commissioning an in depth study, was as follows:

 

The survey found, much to Ham's surprise, a "Sunday School syndrome," indicating children who faithfully attend Bible classes in their church over the years actually are more likely to question the authority of Scripture.

"This is a brutal wake-up call for the church, showing how our programs and our approaches to Christian education are failing dismally," Ham writes in the book.

 

As a young adult, I remember being very upset when I read Genesis 7 for myself and found that Noah actually took 7 of the clean animals and only 2 of the unclean. I just remember feeling jipped, as if every Sunday School lesson and BIble storybook I'd every read was a big lie. The way the Sunday school lessons are taught, focusing on the big "characters" and "morality" instead of hard-hitting doctrine and apologetics is one reason why church kids usually leave church.

 

Honestly, I've been much more in favor of the age-integrated system of worship for a long time, and this article by World Net Daily just confirms the wisdom in keeping our children with us in church, rather than shirking their bible-teaching onto someone else. Here's the whole article:  Why Are Young People Leaving the Church

 

I do tend to have a fairly negative view of Sunday School. In the younger years especially, I see it as glorified daycare system so that parents can enjoy their 'break' from the kids. While the older kids do get more learning, the negative peer influence is enough to undo years of parenting in one hour.  Obviously, every church is different and every family has to decide its own way, but I think we do need to be aware that sometimes church and Sunday School can do more harm than good.

 

Perhaps, I'll post a history of the Sunday School movement later.

12:38 PM - Jun. 15, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment


Good Mother

I did what any good mother would do after finding my kitchen floor had been fingerpainted with four different dipping sauces, sprinkled with an entire box of baking cocoa, and topped off with a bag of chocolate chips...I invited the boys who weren't involved in making the mess to finish off the chocolate chips while the offending little boy watched.

 

That's what you would have done, right?

4:14 PM - Jun. 11, 2009 - comments {2} - post comment


My Husband

Today is my husband's 33rd birthday. Happy birthday, BC!

 

 

God has indeed blessed me with a marvelous man. He turned a sinful woman and an innocent baby into a large happy family through His grace and the willingness of a young man who loved Him. When my husband met me, I already had a baby and he never shied away from me because of that. In fact, he'll tell you that he fell in love with my son before he fell in love with me. He wanted that child as he own, so he adopted him and gave him his name, one that had been passed down for four generations.

 

My husband is a great father, selfless and giving, and totally unafraid of his children. There are plenty of times where he has all of the kids by himself and he doesn't complain or get upset about it. He encourages me to take time for myself and he always puts his family first.

 

He if a good provider, a strong leader, and a caring partner. His acts of love constantly amaze me. He deserves a much better wife than me. Happy birthday, hubby.

2:22 PM - Jun. 4, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment


Weight Watchers

A month ago a slightly nervous friend approached me at church to ask if I would be her weight loss buddy. We both knew we wanted to approach weight loss in a God-honoring way. Meaning, mostly, that rather than just focusing on worldy goals of looking better, buying new clothes, or even being healthy, we wanted our goal to be glorifying God and getting freedom from the sin of gluttony.  Now, lest you think we be spiritual giants, we spent our first meeting at Weight Watchers together being very "inspired" by the awesome outfit our skinny leader was wearing. Her skirt was to die for, or at least to lose a hundred pounds for.

 

 

I am so very thankful for this friend. Had she not approached me a month ago, I would never have joined Weight Watchers. I've been a member in the past, but always quit after having a bad week or looking around and realizing that most of the women there had very little weight to lose and being overwhelmed by the amount that I had to lose.

 

Joining Weight Watchers was hard because of the cost and the time involved. We don't live on a super- tight budget, but I feel incredibly guilty asking my husband to forfeit $40 of his hard-earned dollars each month just to pay for my needs. Then there's the time that I have to take away from the family to attend the meetings, which is about an hour an half including travel time each week. After the first week, I almost quit because of the guilt I was feeling about the time and money involved.

 

 

Then I reminded myself of my recent VBA3C (Vaginal Birth After 3 Cesareans). At 36 weeks I switched care providers to one who was two hours away right in the middle of the $4/gallon gas hike of last summer. Each week my husband had to take an entire day off of work to drive me to my doctor. Some of the weeks, we had to ask grandparents to take time off of work to watch the kids. The gas alone cost us $50 each week. We lost money that we had paid the original doctor. We lived on the edge not knowing how labor would occur and wether we would make it to the hospital in time. My whole family sacrificed time and money so that I could experience my VBA3C.

 

Was it worth it? YES!! Both my husband and my mother, who attended the birth, will testify to the miraculous nature of the experience. I remind myself of this whenever I start feeling guilty about the time and money involved in Weight Watchers. Yes, I will have to take time away from my family for meetings and for exercise, but in the end my whole family will be blessed by my obedience to the Lord and my good health. And no matter how much time, money, hard work, and inconvenience it takes to get freedom from the sin of gluttony, it will be worth it.

 

So, thanks my dear weight loss buddy. Thank you for listening to the Lord and approaching me, even though you thought I might be offended.

 

*** the pics you see are my Weight Watchers record book. It started as plain grey, and I figured that if I had to look at it for the next year or more, it needed to be pretty.

1:34 PM - Jun. 2, 2009 - comments {3} - post comment


Last Page Next Page

Description
The sometimes poignant and almost-never popular thoughts of a mother trying to survive the poo and other pleasantries that go along with parenting.
Home
User Profile
Archives
Stuff I Blog About
- Cake Decorating
- Christian Life
- Depression
- Homemaking
- Homeschooling
- Life With Boys
- Life with Girl
- Marriage
- Medical & Health
- Parenting
- Politics
- Prayer Requests
- Pregnancy and Childbirth
- Public School
- Random Dailies
- Recipes and Cooking
- Scrapbooking
- Thirty Before Thirty
- Thoughtful Stuff for Moms
- Weight Loss
- Women (or Anti Feminism)
- Writing

Recent Entries
- Twilight Obsession
- Children's Books for Sale
- $1 & $2 School Resources for Sale
- Little Girl Decorating
- Scrapbooking Fun
- File Folder Games
- New Pics
- Awesome Faith of a Little Boy
- The Poo-Filled Life of a Mother
- Get Out the Ranch Dressing, Folks...I'm Back to Blogging