Oct. 26, 2009 - Contest at Art of Eloquence

Jojo Tabares knows all about Communication and how to do it right.  She has written lots of curriculum to help us teach our children how to communicate effectively.  She is passionate about the need to communicate clearly to improve our lives, our witness, our effectiveness in general as a believer in Christ.  I would encourage you to check out her website at http://artofeloquence.com.  She is very funny, and her website is a lot of fun. 

She also has a fun show on TalkShoe on Thursday mornings that I have a button for on my sidebar.  You should check it out, too at CCN:  Communication Comedy Network on TalkShoe.

To find out more about the contest she has going on right now, go to:


http://artofeloquence.com/pages/Contest.php

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Oct. 12, 2009 - Why I Do What I Do and Why I'm So Passionate About Homeschooling

Homeschooling vs Christian school or homeschool co-op

I would choose homeschooling over any other option for the education of my children.  I wouldn’t send my children away from me or from my home for long periods of time for any kind of education.  Even if I had lots of money to afford Christian school or any type of education outside of the home, I wouldn’t send my children to it.  I believe the very best life for a Christian mother and her children is to live and learn together. 

And these are my reasons:

1.       God has called me to it.  My main goal in life is to obey God.  Above all else, I want to do God’s will.  I know that my ministry for this season of my life is to disciple my children.  It took several years for the Lord to convince me that this was enough; this was plenty; this was it! 

2.       Quantity time is more effective than quality time.  We should intentionally use our time with our children to teach, train and disciple them, but some time just hanging out with them is important, too.  We don’t know what they’re picking up from us just by being around us all day.  Of course, we don’t want to be grumpy or irritable with them.  We should treat them better than we treat our best friend or a stranger that we automatically act courteously toward.

3.       Children are influenced by the people with whom they spend the most time.  I want my children to be with mature people who believe the way I do.  I want to be the main influencer in the life of my children.  I believe the Holy Spirit directs me each day to teach them what He wants them to learn and to love them with His love.  I teach the older children in the ways of the Lord, and then they help me teach the younger children how to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. 

4.       I believe the Bible and spiritual training are the most important things for children to learn.  We spend a lot of time praying and reading the Bible together.  We have many discussions about spiritual subjects that we wouldn’t have time for if my children were gone most of the day each day.  I get to know my children very well, and I know better how to pray for them, because I’m with them so much of the time.

5.       I can raise my children to feel secure and confident and content with who they are.  Children feel secure knowing that their mother is home.  They know that home is a safe place where they are loved and protected.  They learn how to make their future homes secure, safe, happy places.  They know who they are in Christ because I have taught them the Word and I have treated them with dignity and respect.  They have been shielded from attacks on their self-image that often happen in groups of children.  They have been protected from conflicting teachings that could confuse them as they are learning the basic foundations of the biblical worldview.

6.       We can build our family into a close-knit unit to glorify God.  Our children are taught to honor their father and mother, and we model for them, to the best of our ability, the love of the Father for them. We pass onto them the importance of family and the roles of father and mother and each member of the family. The family is a microcosm of the Body of Christ, the Church.  As we learn how to get along with each other and handle conflict within our family, we prepare them for dealing with other people, especially fellow believers with whom they may fellowship and work together in ministry.

7.       There is no real need for socialized education.  Children do not need to be surrounded by other children while they are learning.  A classroom situation is not the optimal learning environment.  One-on-one is more efficient and makes it easier to track the progress of each child.  Children who are more sociable can find opportunities to interact with other children in a much more meaningful way outside of a public school classroom.

8.       Individualized education has many benefits.  The children are able to study subjects that they are really interested in and are gifted in.  They learn to be responsible and to take charge of their own education.  The learning really sticks because it is something they are really interested in and want to know more about.  They don’t just study for the test and promptly forget everything after the test is over.  My children are able to immerse themselves in a subject that they want to learn more about.  I make resources available to them and encourage them to explore them.  The learning is so thorough that they remember what they’ve learned long after they studied it.  They have good retention and good understanding, not just a surface knowledge that would enable them to do well on a multiple-choice test.  They would do well on an essay test!  I have to ask my children many things because I know they remember it even though I’ve forgotten or never really understood it.

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Sep. 16, 2009 - My Friend, Kristi, Translates the Gospel for Unreached Americans

I've always been very interested in missions.  While I was in college, I went to Mexico as a summer missionary and worked with a team that used puppet shows and clown skits to share the Gospel with Mexican children.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  I learned so much about myself and saw the unselfishness of some of the poorest people in Mexico City, which put me to shame.  I came back a changed person.  No matter what has happened to us, even homelessness and doing without things that everyone around us considers necessities, nothing has ever seemed so bad to me because of what I saw when I was in Mexico.  I know how well we have it in America, compared to most of the rest of the world, and I know how spoiled most Americans are.  I also know how unappreciative most of us are of the blessings God has bestowed on us. 

But I digress... the purpose of this post is to talk about my new mission field - America!  I live in America, but it feels like a foreign country.  I feel like a stranger and an alien here among regular American families who live their lives according to cultural norms.  We are politically and culturally incorrect, and we feel it every day.  The kids in this neighborhood ask my kids every day why they don't go to "regular" school.  They ask, "Have you ever even tried public school?" as if my kids just don't know what they're missing.  It seems like they're trying to evangelize my kids and convince them that public school is better than homeschool. 

(Our new mission field:  A subdivision in America)


Well, my kids want to share their faith with them, and I came across a tool tonight that I think will really help these neighborhood kids to understand the Bible.  My blogger friend, Kristi, has written a brief summary of the Bible in terms that biblically illiterate people should be able to understand and relate to - not just children, but adults.  I think she did a fantastic job.  She's sharing it freely, generous person that she is.  If you would like to read it and print it out, just click on the button on my sidebar that says, "God's Big Story".  I bet you'll enjoy reading "the Bible in a nutshell" yourself and want to share it with others.



(Video game outreach)

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Sep. 15, 2009 - Garrett Catches His First Fish

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Garrett catches his first fish!

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Sep. 15, 2009 - Picture of me and Emma

The eyes have it!

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Sep. 13, 2009 - Sporadic Homeschooling

Our homeschooling happens in spurts.  Sometimes I'll get great ideas at night, and I'll make all kinds of plans for the next day.  Then I gather the children together and we have a marathon session of notebooking, reading or whatever big idea I had the night before.  In the past, the Holy Spirit has inspired me with an idea for a play or something similar to go along with a topic we've been studying.  Sometimes the idea is for the big kids.  At other times, I get ideas for things to do with the younger kids.  Sometimes I think of ways to teach the younger ones lessons that tie in with what I'm teaching the older ones, but I seldom think of neat, exciting things for each age group to do in the same day.

We plod along some weeks.  Then suddenly I am struck by inspiration (sometimes from reading someone else's blog) and we do some really neat educational things. 


(One of my recent big ideas.  A lemonade stand the second week that we lived in this neighborhood.  More successful than I would have dreamed.  We met almost every kid on this street.  All public schooled.  Our mission field has been defined.)


Is it okay to be sporadic in our homeschooling?  I think so.  We have had to be for the better part of the last 5 years because of changes and trying circumstances (including losing our house and traveling across the country with no place to call home).  My children learned a lot of very important life lessons through all that we went through.

They learned that God is real and that He is our Provider.  He was so faithful to us throughout that whole time.  We were never hungry.  We always had a roof over our heads.  He provided for us miraculously.  He connected us to His people everywhere we went even though we didn't know a soul in the places that we visited.  And our basic needs were always met.

And they learned some skills that they wouldn't have learned nearly so well in our safe, secure little home.  Shawn was the navigator during our trip from Ohio to Arizona and back to Kansas City.  Before we took that trip, he hadn't paid much attention to maps or geography.  By the time we had crossed the country and headed back to the middle, he knew where a lot of the states were and some information about them and how to read road maps.  We all learned quite a bit of geography from that trip!

Our life is way more settled now than it was during that time.  But life is still pretty unpredictable.  My mind is kind of unpredictable, truth be told.  I was blaming it on Mommy-brain, but now I think it's just too many changes too close together.  I know that God covers me and teaches my kids what He really wants them to know.  I pray that all the time.  Sometimes He uses me to read certain books to them or discuss certain topics with them.  At other times He finds other ways to teach them what He wants them to learn.  They know how to research, and they each pray on their own about what the Lord wants them to learn. 

So, honestly, it is not all on my shoulders.  I am responsible to do my best with what I've been given.  But some days, I am just not enough.  But God always is. 


(Another big idea.  Let's go fishing for Patrick's birthday!  What did they learn?  Garrett learned that Anna's a nice sister.  She was holding his pole when he caught the fish, but she handed it back to him so that he got the credit for catching it.  They learned about bass and blue gill and a little about catfish.  They learned about safety near the water.  I don't know what all they learned, but I'm sure it was good!)


(Patrick caught a nice big fish for his birthday.  He actually caught about 5 fish.  His love for fishing has been restored!  Patrick studied all about fishing a couple of years ago.  He knows what he's doing.  Shawn followed him around because he wanted to catch some, too.  And he did!)

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Jul. 28, 2009 - My Twellow bio for Twitter

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Jul. 28, 2009 - A Tribute to All of Us Moms

A Tribute to Mom - One Heartbeat at a Time

by Stephen Curtis Chapman


Remember, your Heavenly Father is always watching and smiling and loving you.  He appreciates the love and care you give to His precious little ones.

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Jul. 20, 2009 - Am I a Mirror or a Sponge?

I had a revelation a while back.  I saw how I have been like a hard, reflective surface when people throw hatred, anger, scoffing, jealousy, derision, unloving thoughts, lack of mercy and understanding at me.  Like a mirror, I have reflected those thoughts and emotions right back at them.  God does not want me to be cold and hard like a mirror, reflecting back on them what they threw at me.

He wants me to be more like a sponge full of His love.  He desires for me to be so full of His love that I absorb the negative words or attitudes that have been aimed at me without being affected at all.  The volume of His love in me should be so massive that I'm saturated with it and when I'm squeezed, the only thing that comes out is love.  Those potentially harmful or deadly darts that the enemy launches at me through human agents should be overwhelmed and made totally ineffective by the all-encompassing love of God that I'm full of.  His love in me should be so overflowing and powerful that, just like cancer cells, those negative thoughts, words, actions and emotions should be engulfed by the healthy white blood cells of God's love and destroyed without any impact on my soul or spirit whatsoever.

Lord, make me a sponge. 

Change my heart from that cold, hard mirror.

Saturate me with Your love.

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Jul. 18, 2009 - Who's Learning More Here? Me or the Kids?

I've been studying History for a long time.  I studied it in school because I had to.  I made good grades, and I even got a good score in History on the ACT test.  It seemed like I had a lot of knowledge of History.  The more I've been reading children's books on History that I get from the library for my kids, the more I realize I don't know nothin'!  I don't know how I was able to do so well in this subject in school or on the ACT test. 

I am constantly learning new things and making new connections and finding out how little I understood or cared about even the History that was happening around me during the '70's and '80's.  I thought I was so mature and responsible when I was in high school.  I'm realizing how clueless and out of touch with reality I was. 

I'm trying to do things differently with my kids.  I know they have to reach a certain stage of development before History really means anything to them, but I want it to be interesting and exciting to them, so that when they are ready for it to make sense, it will be something they're curious about and want to learn all they can about.  I believe that we really do need to know history or we'll be doomed to repeat it. 

I want my children to learn the lessons from past mistakes and past successes.  I want them to benefit from seeing the fruits of different systems of government and economic models.  I want them to be aware of the differences in worldviews and to be able to line things up scripturally so that they know what God thinks about the issues that are viewed so differently by societies and cultures based on their belief systems. 

So our study of History is done using living books and the Bible and books about the Bible.  We've read lots of missionary biographies and well-written stories based on the Bible.  These stories draw us in and make an impression on us.  I find books that have good plot and character development, and the kids never want me to stop reading.  They care about the characters and they're eager to know what's going to happen next.  We've read books about many different eras and countries.  And they remember the stories later.  Hence, they remember History.  But it was never called History.  In a way, they're living History vicariously, and they're being taught by a teacher who loves it - me!

My children are learning a lot through our History studies, but the person who's learning the most is me.

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Jun. 7, 2009 - Giveaway of adorable soft-soled baby/toddler shoes

There's a great contest going on at Kitchen Stewardship.  She's coming out of the kitchen to bring us these cute baby shoes.  I don't normally do much with baby shoes, but since Abby is already walking, I might splurge.

Oh, okay, I'll be honest.   Abby's early walking is really just an excuse to get some of these cute shoes.  I can't resist!  I would like to get her a pair for now and a pair for later.  I think I'll get the Kitten or Duck shoes for now and the Blue Bird shoes for later.

Go on over to Kitchen Stewardship and check out this contest.  If you win, let me know.  I'll rejoice with you, and I promise not to get jealous.  I don't do that any more.  At least, with God's help, I get over it real quick!

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Jun. 6, 2009 - From My Devotional

Loving relationships are a family's best protection against the challenges of the world.

--Bernie Wiebe

My family has faced many challenges in the last 9 years.  Unemployment, legal problems, poverty, lack, foreclosure, losing our house, wandering around the country with seemingly no destination - these are just a few of the trials that we endured together.  But through it all, we had each other.  When one of us was down, the others could lift him up.  When life seemed unbearable, I knew I could have my children pray for me, and I would be all right again. 


These terrible, Job-like trials were actually answers to some dangerous prayers I had prayed.  I prayed that my children would know that God is real, that He would reveal Himself to them.  I also prayed that we would be made into a family that would be a model for Christian families of how God wants His people to live together as families.  I knew we had a long way to go, but I longed for it to become a reality in our lives.  I even prayed for a Baptism of Fire.  I really wanted God to make us into the vessels that He wanted us to be - vessels that He could trust to fill with His power and glory.  I knew that I was praying for some big things, and I think I knew that purging and purifying would have to happen, but I had no idea how hard the trials would be or how long they would last.


But through all of the circumstances and situations, Gary and I stayed in unity.  The children felt secure and cared for.  They had no idea the stress and anxiety we felt as parents responsible for taking care of their needs when we had no money and no way of getting any.  We felt like children ourselves who were completely helpless to take care of ourselves, let alone 8 children.  But God proved Himself faithful time and time again.  He never let us even feel hungry.  He always gave us shelter, food, and proper clothing.  Our basic needs were always met.


And through it all, we had joy and peace.  Our relationships stayed sweet and strong.  We came to know what really matters in life.  My children care about each other.  Their family is important to them.  They know that, no matter what, we will always be there for each other.  I could not have engineered the experiences that caused us to bond together so strongly.  I wouldn't have had the toughness to make my children do without so many things that other children have.  But the choice was taken out of my hands when I gave our lives completely to God and told Him to have His way with us.  Gary and I prayed that together.  It was very difficult, but we're both glad we did it. 


The family we are now because of what we've been through is a very unusual, different-thinking family.  I like to say that we are no longer spoiled American brats.  We don't fit in very well, even in churches.  We just try to live in the Kingdom of God instead of the kingdom of this world.  Our priorities are different from most of the people around us.  But we know that we are making a difference wherever we go, and even just by being present in a certain place.  People have told us that we are affecting a neighborhood just by living in it, even if we don't interact much with the neighbors.  I don't say this in a prideful way.  It's just that God has done something in us through the trials and suffering.  He used what we went through as intercession, and now we can pray with authority for people and situations around us. 

People may think we're strange and wonder why we don't act like they do.  But it's okay.  We know who we are in Christ.  And our loving relationships continue to protect us against the challenges of the world.

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May. 23, 2009 - Happy Memorial Day!

Feeling Patriotic In Spite of It All

We're just hanging around enjoying the feeling of patriotism and Gary being home on Monday.  He's relaxing trying out the new steering wheel the boys got for their X-Box.  It's like really driving a car.  Wow, how thrilling that must be for him.  Patrick thinks he already knows how to drive because of all the driving games he has played.  I wonder how he will do in Driver's Ed. in a couple of years.


I Won Even Though I Didn't Win the Contest

I went ahead and bought the Jesus Bible Storybook I wrote about earlier.  I didn't win it, but it's okay.  It was definitely worth the price.  I read the first couple of stories to the twins and then Fiona took it upstairs and asked Anna to read it to her each night at bedtime.  It is very nicely done.  Anna enjoys reading it to her.

Wrap-Up of 40 Days for Life Spring Campaign

The 40 Days for Life campaign went so well that it is going to the next level.  They are going to be able to do much more, thanks to much new funding.  The number of babies saved through the spring campaign ended up being 433!  Since they started 40 Days for Life 2 years ago, there have been 1,561 babies saved!  There's a really good video that shows many prominent people in the pro-life movement endorsing 40 Days for Life.  You can watch it here:

vimeo.com/4651969

They are gearing up for their fall campaign which will take place Sept. 23 - Nov. 1.  I hope that even more people will participate and that eyes will be opened and hearts changed by God's transforming love.

I Love My Life

Though it is far from perfect, I wouldn't have my life any other way.  I struggle with wishing I was like other people, especially when it comes to organizational skills, but I am thankful for the ways that God made my heart soft toward Him and made me with a desire to serve Him and love Him with all my heart.  I feel that He has taught me so much in the last several years. 

It would take long, uninterrupted hours to write everything I would like to write, but I don't have them right now.  For now, I will say trusting God is the best way to live.  He's a wonderful Daddy.  He provides all that we need.  He takes care of us emotionally when we go to Him with our needs.  He makes us strong when we need to be strong, and He removes us from the fray when He knows we're too weak.  I have come to know Him as my Daddy through trial and loss in the last few years.  My walk with Him is closer.  My heart for Him is purer.  I've loved Him and trusted Him even when I couldn't understand why He was letting hard things happen to me.  Sometimes I didn't feel very well taken care of.  But God was always taking very good care of me and my family.  There were times when it felt like we were drifting around without a plan, without a purpose and without hope, but that was not true.  We kept putting our hope in Him and He kept providing the next thing that we needed. 

We are in another season of transition.  We are praying more specifically than ever now.  We are all tired of drifting around without a place to call home.  We really want God to plant us in the place that He wants us to take root and to help establish His Kingdom in the earth.  As I write this, Emma is crying at my knee for no good reason.  She woke Abby up from a nap, so I disciplined her, and now she thinks she has a right to cry and get on my lap.  I can't hold her while I type.  I will when I get this done.  No, my life is not perfect, but that's okay.  What in this life is???

    I love my life.

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Apr. 6, 2009 - An Easter Giveaway You Won't Want to Miss

This book looks so good.  I want it!  I had never heard of it before, but I read a fantastic review of it at Run the Earth, Watch the Sky, and now I want it.  It is very well-written.  Here's part of what she says in her review:

From the creation and fall to Revelation (yes, this kids' Bible talks about Revelation!), each story points to God's plan to rescue His lost children through Christ - the promised Rescuer, the one who would conquer God's enemy and make all the sad things come untrue.

I think this is a great Easter giveaway, as this book really makes a BIG deal about the coming of Christ - the whole Old Testament builds toward it, as it should!

I agree.  I'm trying to turn things around here in my family so that we celebrate Easter with more excitement and anticipation than we do Christmas, because it really is the most exciting, life-changing event in all of history that we are celebrating. 

The Lord has inspired me to explain the Gospel to my little ones like this:  He sent Jesus to rescue us.  This is a new way of explaining it that I had never thought of before.  So I'm very excited about this Story Bible.  The concepts are made simple yet the language is interesting and the story enjoyable.  If I don't win it, I will buy it.  

She is giving 5 copies away, so run over there and enter to win!

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Apr. 3, 2009 - Saving Lives - One Baby at a Time

40 Days for Life has been extremely successful.  It's day 38 and 325 babies have been saved.  So many women have changed their minds and decided to keep their precious gifts from God instead of destroying them.  Our Heavenly Father must be dancing for joy.  There are 2 more days.  Sunday is the last day.  Teams in some cities are going to continue longer.  Please lift up the volunteers that are finishing out these 40 days and the ones who are going to keep on praying in front of the clinics.  It's working!  Let's pray for strength and wisdom and revelation knowledge to pour through the volunteers to the women who think they really have no choice. 

Pray for these women to see the Truth that the Giver of Life will give each of them the ability to take care of her baby.  Pray that each woman will have the courage to stand up to the ones who are pressuring her and to society's low standards and expectations. That she will bring that baby that God gave her into this world and into her arms and her heart to enrich her life in a way that she never dreamed possible. Pray that each woman will value and love her baby from the moment of conception.

For anyone facing this situation, I have a word for you.  We don't know what God may do.  Things may look impossible.  It may look like another child will just be too much.  Maybe circumstances are really bad, and you feel all alone.  But God will never leave you nor forsake you.  You are never alone.  God is always there for you.  I know what people say, but they're wrong.  Children are not expensive.  They are a gift from God.  God supplies all of our needs according to His riches in glory.  He gives us these gifts and He provides for their care.  I see so many people treating their pets like people these days.  If they can afford to pamper their pets like that, why can't they afford to have more children.  If God only gave them a few children, that's one thing.  But to intentionally cut off your ability to produce children because you don't think you can afford them, or to destroy a life that has been planted in your womb by our Creator in the name of being a responsible global citizen or wanting more stuff for your existing children or whatever reason you could have for doing such a thing is unconscionable. 

We need to ask our Creator what His will is in these matters.  Creating people is His business, not ours.  He's the only One Who can do it.  I can't decide to have a child and make it happen any more than I can decide I need another arm and just grow another one.  I put that whole area in His hands long ago.  I trust Him to give me the children I am supposed to have, the people that are supposed to be in my family that will complete our family and make us who we're supposed to be.  How could I reject a gift that God wants to give to me? 

I didn't know that He would give me 10 children when I committed my womb to Him.  He has expanded my heart since the time I had 3 children.  Maybe I couldn't have handled 10 children back then.  But obviously, I can now.  A lot of things have changed in that time.  My husband has been encountered by the Lord and shown that he needs to help me a lot since we have so many children and we always have at least one baby, usually two at a time.  The older kids have grown up and become very helpful and capable of doing most of the housekeeping and some of the baby and child care.  I have changed immensely in ways that I'm probably not even aware of.  I feel totally and completely blessed.  I don't feel any more stressed than anybody else I know.  I believe I feel less stressed than most, but I don't get out much, so I can't say that for sure!   

I know that we are a happy family that lives our lives together.  We know each other and love each other, and we're discipling each other.  Young and old have relationships with God and are encouraged to share what the Lord is saying to them.  We pray together.  We pray for each other, and we get healed.  We talk about conflicts and pray together about them, and God gives us resolution. 

I know I made the right decision when I decided to let Him have His way in our reproductive life.  My husband has been in agreement with me, though at times the money has been a concern for him.  He believes that we can trust God to take care of us when we honor and obey Him.  So he prays and gives this area to the Lord and opens his heart to each little child that God blesses us with.  We make more money now and live in a nicer home than we ever have before.  God is taking us from glory to glory.  You don't know today what God has planned for you tomorrow.  But you can be sure it's good.  Because He is good.

I pray that each woman who considers abortion can find someone who will tell her this.  God will take care of you for the sake of your children.  Draw near to the One who can help you.  Don't turn from Him and reject the gift that He is offering you.

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Mar. 11, 2009 - Update on 40 Days for Life

The total lives saved so far is up to 99!!!

I am very pro-life.  My family size is my pro-life statement.  I am so glad that people are standing up for the unborn babies.  Even as plans are being made by our government leaders to make abortion more accessible and to use our tax dollars to fund it, it seems that people on the street are showing that they know that abortion is bad news for everyone.  Please go to http://40daysforlife.com and see the reports that are coming in.  It looks to me like God is changing the hearts and minds of Americans just like we have been praying that He would.

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Mar. 3, 2009 - 39 Babies Saved So Far

40 Days for Life is making an impact and making the news.  In many different cities in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Northern Ireland, groups of people are gathering in front of abortion clinics and praying for a change in abortion laws.  They're holding prayer vigils, not protesting.  They're talking with people who want to talk to them, but the main objective is to pray. 

An amazing part of this is that they are getting favorable coverage from the media.  Newspapers and TV stations have run stories that show this event in a positive light.  One newspaper reported about a woman who changed her mind about getting an abortion while the reporter was there interviewing one of the counselors.  The reporter then interviewed the woman who changed her mind, and the paper actually ran the story.  This is a big change from the way the media has handled pro-life coverage in the past!  This is so exciting! 

For more information about this event go to 40daysforlife.com

You can see updates on how many lives have been saved so far during this campaign at the top right corner of their home page.

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Feb. 25, 2009 - Those We Love Best

This poem was taken from a devotional my mother and father-in-law gave me for Christmas called Time Apart for Mothers - Hearing God in a Busy World

It is published by Access Publishing


There's one sad truth in life I've found,
While journeying east to west;
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.

We flatter those we scarcely know;
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.

-Author Unknown

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Feb. 22, 2009 - A Review of Rick Osborne's Parenting at the Speed of Life

This little book was published by Focus on the Family.  It is small, but it is packed with lots of great, practical ideas for getting closer to your children and drawing their hearts close to you. He made the book small on purpose.  It contains 60 short essays about good parenting tips so that it only takes a few minutes to read each one. 

He believes that we can make a difference in the "minutes" that we spend with our children intentionally focusing on them and showing them how much we love them and how special they are to us. He calls it "moment parenting". 

 One idea that I had never thought about concerns hugging.  It's essay number 26 in the book.  It's entitled "If It Breathes, Hug It!" 

He quotes a much-quoted marriage and family therapist (unknown to me) who said, "For human beings, you need two (2) hugs a day to survive, four (4) hugs for maintenance, six (6) hugs to grow."  He goes on to talk about some personal examples of how keeping this quote in mind has improved his relationships with his children.  He has made a habit of hugging all of his children every time he passes them in the house or whenever they come into hugging range.  He says he feels more loved by his children and that they feel more loved by him.

Now, this is a tip that I can apply easily in my life.  It doesn't take much time at all, and it's easy to do.  I know that this has been a weak area in my parenting, showing physical affection.  If I can remember that therapist's quote, I'm sure I will dispense hugs more liberally throughout the day, even to my big kids.  It will be good for them and for me.

There are a lot more great ideas in this book by Rick Osborne.  I read several at a time, because it really is a page-turner.  Rick has such an engaging style.  He's very friendly and open and makes you feel like you know him.  The ideas he shares are sure to improve your parenting if you do them.  They are so do-able because of their simplicity and how little time they take or how they can be done while you're doing something else that you would have to do anyway. 

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Feb. 20, 2009 - The Ticket

One of the scheduled passengers on the Titanic was J. Stuart Holden, the eloquent preacher of St. Paul's Church in London.  He had crossed the Atlantic many times to preach in the United States, often for the Bible conferences hosted by D. L. Moody.

Less than 24 hours before the Titanic sailed, Holden's wife needed emergency surgery.  The dilemma Holden faced was whether to fulfill his commitment to preach in the United States or to cancel his trip and remain with his wife.

Trusting God's Word concerning his responsibility to his wife, he telegraphed the hosts of the conference that he would not be coming.  Holden's Titanic ticket hung framed on his study wall for the rest of his life, as a testimony to God's faithfulness and guidance. 

J. Stuart Holden had 22 more years of influential ministry, including being chairman for many years of the famous Keswick Convention.  His leadership in the convention introduced the strong missions emphasis which resulted in many missionaries reaching the lost around the world.

The promise is sure:  "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

- David Winslow

Taken from Time Apart for Mothers - Hearing God in a Busy World by Access Publishing

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