Emily’s first stitches!

Staples, actually.....2 of them....in her HEAD!

This morning, my dad picked up Emily to spend the day/night at their place.   Less than an hour later, dad called and said "Emily fell and cut her head open. I need you to meet us at the hospital"

ACK! I was off!

Turns out, she was with him in his workshop and trying to watch something, so she was climbing up on a chair, it turned and she fell - and hit the back of her head on his LATHE machine!  OUCH!   She is his little apprentice in there, and always loves helping him work on something.

She's got about an inch and a half gash on the back of her head and had to get 2 staples in it. Of course it was bleeding all over the place, as head wounds do, so dad scooped her up to take her to the ER to see how bad it was.

I got to the hospital and she and dad were already in triage. She was so scared about what was going to happen to her, and also about whether or not she would still get to spend the night at their house (she wanted to!).

She was a TROOPER!!! The nurse looked at it, then the doctor looked at it. They gave me a cotton ball with some numbing medicine on it to hold on the wound. Then once it was numb, the doctor put a shot of more numbing medicine in the wound (YIKES!) - Thankfully Emily didn't see it OR feel it!  Then he used this little disposable staple gun (we got to keep it!!) and put 2 staples in as fast as you would staple paper and he was done!

Emily was more scared about what was going to happen next than she was worried about the pain. Makes sense, when you have nothing to compare it to, or don't know how all that stuff works. We assured her that I got to hold her the whole time, she wasn't going anywhere by herself, etc.

I told her I'd go get her popsicles or ice cream or whatever she wanted when we were done. She said "I just want some water".  Silly girl!  Poor thing, her tummy was upset (you know how you get a sick tummy when you get really hurt or upset?).

I didn't think to grab the camera to take with me (you know....when dad said head wound, I just went!), but Emily wanted pictures, so I took some with my phone. I'll take pictures of her staples better when she gets back home tomorrow.

After the hospital, dad took her home, and I went to the store. I got her some popsicles, ice cream, a coloring book (with an elephant on it!), and some stickers. Then I went to their house, rinsed out her hair and shirt (covered in blood!), and then left her in the care of my dad. She still wanted to spend the night, and once she was all done at the ER, she seems to be almost back to herself. She's tired, and her head is sore, but otherwise, she's doing great. I'm amazed really! God was really with her.  My sweet girl has cried for 2 hours over a paper cut before, so the fact that she bounced back from this so fast is a huge blessing!!

She asked me to "take a picture of me crying" - she's on my lap, that wasn't easy with the phone camera.

The wound

The staples  

 

Now, she gets to have a day of all the popsicles and ice cream she can eat at MeMe and Grandad’s house.  A great ending, I think!

Kindergarten – Month 1

What have we been doing for the last month? 

Having a great time!  

 

We officially started school on Sept. 8, right after Labor Day weekend.  The previous 2 weekends were huge “field trips” as we spent a weekend with my parents in Oklahoma, and then spent the next weekend at the Galveston beach with Rob’s mom!  Both weekends were filled with fun and learning about nature!

 

Each week we cover the following subjects:  Reading, Writing, History, Geography, Math, Bible, Science, Spelling, Home Economics, Arts & Crafts, & Physical Education.   The core of that is done in 2-3 hours a day!

We are having a great time!

 

Here are some of the highlights from the past month:

 

* Learning about Egypt and the fact that they used to shave off HALF of one eyebrow when their cat died to show they were mourning.

* Learning that the country of Italy looks like a boot on the map.

* Reading (Mommy read, she listened) to the first book in the Boxcar Children series.

* Checking the weather every day for our Weather Chart.

* Changing the days on our “Today is…” chart.

* Making fossils

* Making a weather vane

* Having a paper race to learn about wind

* Hearing my daughter ask if we can PLEASE “do more school!”

* Learning how to operate the “self-check” machine at the grocery store.

* Going to a local Greek festival after learning about Greece.

* Taking soil samples

* Building a rocket out of a cardboard box

 

Making a coracle and testing to see if it would float.

It did!

 

Fun at the Greek Festival:

 

 

 

Making Fossils

 

Soil Samples

 

Weathervane

 

Fun with Spelling

 

Egyptian Collar

 

Learning the difference between sedimentary & igneous rocks

 

Physical Education (aka: Getting the extra energy out!)

 

Whew! I can’t wait to see how October goes!

Kindergarten – Homeschool style!

I can’t believe it’s been an entire month already!  I am absolutely loving teaching Emily Kindergarten!  I admit, it took me a couple weeks to get in the groove with the new things to do each day, but we’ve got it now! 

I get so many questions about what we do and how we do it, that I really want to document it here to share.  This is one of the greatest things that we have ever decided to do and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!  Please, please ask any questions that you may have.  I know that a couple years ago, this was not even on our radar and we had NO clue how to go about it.  We have learned so much and love to share that with others that are interested.

Currently, we only have one child.  However, when I was teaching her preschool, we had anywhere from 1-4 children ages 5 and under in our home because we were foster parents.  Then I was dealing with school, plus therapy appointments, entertaining little ones while teaching Emily, etc.  I can answer questions about that too!

 

Let’s start with WHY we are doing this.

 

Our Reasons for Choosing to Homeschool

1) We want our children to learn about the world from a Christian perspective, with a Biblical view, and to make that the foundation of everything they learn.

2) We want to be able to teach our children in the way that they learn best, and with our daughter, the school system just would not cater to those needs appropriately.   We had no idea when we decided to homeschool that our daughter would be diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and ADHD, but now that she is, we are even more thankful to be able to work with that, not against it, and to treat it like it’s “who she is”, not a “problem she has”.   I’ll go into more detail later on how homeschooling has helped us meet her needs.

3) We want our children to learn hands-on about things like volunteering, serving others, grocery shopping, the post office, even doing laundry.

4) We don’t want to be penalized if we want to take our children on a vacation, or worry about missing too many days of school.   Going to see a memorial on Veteran’s Day, going to Washington D.C. for Memorial Day, going camping to learn about science in the woods, taking a road trip to the ocean to collect seashells or to the Grand Canyon, or Niagra Falls --- are all things we want to be able to do, WHEN we want to do them, and would provide incredible opportunities for education.

5) We love that with homeschooling, we complete all our work  (including ‘homework’) in less than half the time that public school kids are in school.  That provides us so much extra time to go do fun things as a family.

6) The flexibility in the schedule is priceless!  I use the term “schedule” loosely anyway, since we don’t have to follow one to the letter.  I have the lesson plans of what to read/teach on each day, and go from there.   We have so many options!! Do it all in the morning,  some in the morning/some in the evening,  double up on one day to get an extra day off,  save one of the days for the weekend with Daddy, etc.   If we need to visit a sick friend, babysit for someone, get some extra rest to ward off a cold – we have time!

Typically, we have a 4-day school week.  That gives us one day for a field trip, and then 2 weekend days in case we need an “off day” for whatever reason.  

 

7) I love to spend time with my daughter!!  I absolutely adore getting to see her learn and get excited about it.  I would be so sad to miss that.   I love doing the projects with her, taking her fun places to reinforce what she’s learned, and seeing her grow in so many ways.

 

8) We don’t want our children exposed to many of the things that are in public (and even private) schools.  We do not keep her in a bubble, but the truth is that kids are growing up way too fast, and if I can slow that down just a little for my children, it will be worth it.

 

9) We get to go to the zoo, museums, and other fun places when it’s less crowded because all the other kids are in school!

 

10) Voddie Baucham is very convicting :) 

Texas State Fair Discounts!

It’s almost fair time, and I can’t wait!! The Texas State Fair means it’s finally Autumn – my favorite time of year!   I love the sights at the fair, and look forward to a yummy corn on the cob!  Last year we spent the whole time running from building to building because it was pouring rain the whole time, so I’m even more excited to go this year for another chance :)

I think every child should get to have cotton candy at certain occasions and the fair is one of them!  Since we don’t eat any artificial food coloring, the typical stuff is off-limits, so I buy Emily’s cotton candy at NaturalCandyStore.com – it is kid-loved, and mom-approved around here!  If anyone in your family is following the Feingold diet too, then check out this awesome candy source for the upcoming holidays!

 

Also, anyone that knows me, knows I love to be FRUGAL! Which means, I don’t ever pay full price to go to the fair (and I take in a cooler of snacks to save even more $$).  

 

Here is the list of Discount Days for this year!

Advance purchase General Admission tickets are $13.50. A Season Pass is $29.95. They may be purchased at the check-out counter or at the service desk at your local Kroger.

Daily Deals
Opening Day: Sept. 25—Bring a full 20 oz. Coca-Cola product for donation to the North Texas Food Bank containers at Fair admission gates and enter the State Fair for $4 per donation per person.

Dr Pepper $3 Tuesdays: Every Tuesday, bring an empty Dr Pepper can and enter for $3. Most rides (excluding the Thrillway, Texas Star and selected other attractions) are 5 coupons.

Dr Pepper $5 after 5 pm: Bring an empty Dr Pepper can to any State Fair admission gate after 5 p.m. and enter for $5.

Kroger “Three for $1″ each Wednesday: Admission is $1 for each visitor bringing 3 cans of food for area food banks.

Coke $4 Thursday: Bring an empty 20 oz. bottle of a Coca-Cola product and enter the Fair for $4 admission.

FREE Thursdays for Senior Citizens: HealthSpring and Mature Texan Magazine sponsor of Seniors Day. Senior Citizens 60 years and older get in to the State Fair FREE each Thursday.

FREE Thursday admission with a Cinemark Theater ticket stub.

Any Day—McDonald’s offers $4 off General Admission: with one of their State Fair coupons (available on tray liner or bag stuffer) any day of the Fair. A free child ticket (with purchase of general admission) coupon is also distributed by McDonald’s. Offer may not be combined with any other offer.

The State Fair of Texas opens September 25 and goes to October 18.  ENJOY!

Looking for a diagnosis

In a recent post I talked about Emily’s recent diagnosis with Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, and giftedness.  

How did we get this diagnosis?  What made us seek it out? Why did we even want a diagnosis?  What did the label matter?  I asked myself this many times, and had it asked of me many more. 

We already knew that Emily has SPD, even though it was not confirmed.  We had already been seeking out books & information to attempt to learn all we could about this and how to help her.   During this process, I learned about a local horse therapy program (a FREE one!) that I desperately wanted to get her involved in, but we needed a diagnosis first.   They needed something from a doctor/therapist that listed a diagnosis to be accepted into the program.

The other reason I wanted a label, was so I would know where to look for help.  There were so many things that her symptoms could have been, and I wanted to be researching the right ones so I could find the right solutions.  I couldn’t help her if I didn’t know what I was supposed to be expecting, or what her challenges were.   We had tried for a long time to “deal with it”, or to “fix it” through discipline or behavior charts, but nothing was working. 

 

Anyway, I could get her in to this free therapy if we just get a diagnosis, right?  Great, I thought, we’ll call the doctor! Well, her doctor didn’t diagnose this type of thing.  Neither did several other doctors I called.  Where do I turn, then?  Finally, someone on a local message board recommended I contact Our Children’s House at Baylor.   What a blessing!!!   All they needed, was a prescription from her pediatricians office, which they were happy to give.  We made an appointment with the neuropsychologist and were on our way!

 

Emily and I went one day to meet with the doctor at OCH.  There was a brief intro period where Emily played in the room while I talked to the doctor about our concerns.  Then, I went back to the waiting room with my stack of paperwork and evaluations to fill out while the doctor evaluated Emily on her own.  Several hours later we were done.

Rob and I went back a week later without Emily to get the report and talk to the doctor.

 

Honestly, when we made the appointment, we were trying to rule out  or confirm Asperger’s, which is why we wanted to see the Neuropsychologist first before the OT.   From the little we knew and had read, we thought she displayed many of the symptoms.  Well, the doctor said she didn’t quite qualify for it even though she scored “highly probable” for it on all the tests because there were a couple issues that Emily did NOT have, that in her opinion, all AS children have.

I honestly still think she probably has mild Aspergers, but she didn’t meet a couple of the “major” criteria that would have made the doctor give her that diagnosis.  The doctor also told me that she was very hesitant to give that diagnosis to someone so young because she was worried about her being “stuck” with it, so to speak, even if she outgrew it, so we’ll just continue to watch it. 

 

We also learned that she has multiple things going on that, when combined, display themselves in a variety of ways.  Often these issues displayed themselves in ways that appeared as though she had behavior problems.  From the outside, it would seem she was misbehaving or being defiant, when so much of the time, she was acting involuntarily.  

 

In addition to the ADHD, and Gifted diagnosis, the doctor recommended a full OT evaluation for Sensory Processing Disorder.  We were already certain she had SPD, but needed the diagnosis.  This doctor couldn’t give it because it wasn’t her specialty, so we needed to see the OT.  Makes sense.

 

To get the OT eval, we needed another prescription from Emily’s pediatrician’s office.  That took a couple days, but came quickly.  The OT eval was much shorter (a couple hours), and the OT was able to tell me a great deal of information right away! 

We started once-a-week OT therapy the next week, and that’s where we are now!  We’ve only had one session, but I’ve already received a wealth of information from the therapist and can’t wait to see her again this week to ask more questions.

 

In another post soon, I’ll talk about what we are doing at home to help.

The dangers of finger paint

You all know that due to our daughter’s SPD, we’ve avoided artificial coloring in our food for over 2 years now.  Now, we even have to be careful about non-edible things like finger paint because it soaks in through the skin. 

Tonight was just classic!  Rob was in with Emily while she was having her bath tonight and I was doing some other things, so I didn’t go in until near the end of her bath time.  I got there just in time for the show! 

I went in, just as Rob has given her the “2 minute warning” (she needs a lot of help with transitions), only to see her acting like a laughing hyena that just finished off a pot of coffee.   I truly thank my Heavenly Father she was *happy* hysterical this time, but YIKES, was it nuts in there!  She was  attempting to clean up her toys, but was bouncing & rolling around in the tub (as much as one can actually bounce in a tub) as the water was draining out and didn’t even stop when it was empty.  She was laughing hysterically and her body was just out of control.  She couldn’t stop herself, and I was beginning to think she was going to bust her head on the side of the tub with all that slipping, sliding, rolling, & bouncing! 

I had to bite my tongue not to laugh at her out loud, as I was so thankful that she was at least in a good mood for this one, instead of the opposite, which is common.

At some point, I looked over and saw the RED finger paint that she had been playing with in the tub, and turned to ask Rob, “How much of that got on her skin?”   He replied, “Umm, a HUGE amount!”.  Suddenly, we knew exactly what was going on.   Yes, *I* bought her the paints.   She’s a sensory seeker, and gets out of control with paint so I figured letting her paint in the tub was a no-brainer.  Obviously, it was a no-brainer as I wasn’t using my brain when I bought them :)   Rob confirmed that they had a similar reaction last time he had her use them in the tub. 

We had to literally pick her up out of the tub since she couldn’t focus enough to step out on her own.  She couldn’t even hear us talking to her.  We wrapped her in a towel, and I carried her to her room where I laid her down on the floor and prepared to give her a little massage in the hopes that it would calm her down a bit.  

WRONG!!!

Instead, the instant the lotion (the same one we’ve been using since she was a baby) touched her tummy, she screamed out that it was HURTING her belly button! 

Fine – wiped it off, tried the chest. 

Nope! That hurts too! 

Ok, I said, we’ll do a massage another night.  

She insisted she wanted a massage, so we rolled her over and tried her back/bottom/legs.  

“That hurts my butt!”  (We couldn’t help but laugh at this one)

We gave up and tried to move on to PJs.

She put her button down shirt on backwards, and tried to convince us that she should get to keep it like that.  We told her if she could get it on, and button it herself she could wear it like that.  She got 10 seconds.  Didn’t make it.  We finally convinced her we’d do a “backwards day” for homeschool one day and she could wear it all day long.   By the way, I don’t really care if she wears her PJs backwards, but I didn’t want to get woken up at 2 am with her screaming that she wanted it turned back around – something very likely to happen.

Ok, finally PJs on.  Check.  

Now, we need to get 2 stories written because if we stray from the routine, we’d be in even more trouble.   We picked out 2 of the shortest stories we could tonight, and attempted to sit down to read them.  She was all over the place, laughing, bouncing, still hysterical, so Rob and I each read our story as fast as we could.  I don’t even think she heard most of it since she was talking pretty much the entire time.  Normally, we would have stopped reading if she kept interrupting, but tonight she wasn’t even aware of it.

After the stories, we gave hugs and kisses and put her up in her top bunk.   At that moment, she proceeded to kick her legs hard and yell “I don’t want to go to bed! I’m not tired! I won’t go to bed!”

Excuse me?

She *never* fights us about bed when she’s sane.  Never.   She was given a choice of keeping her light on and having her usual reading time, or throwing a fit and losing her reading time.   We did manage to get an apology from her, so she got to keep the reading time.  

Secretly, we’re hoping the Melatonin kicks in soon and she won’t need much of the reading time anyway!

 

During this whole episode, I was reminded of that day in the department store over 2 years ago when we first saw her clearly react to food coloring.  It was scary!  Tonight, I just praise God that we were able to laugh during the whole thing.  No yelling, no tears, no frustration.

And somehow – by the grace of God – Emily actually had a brief moment of clarity when we asked her to say her prayers.  She thanked God for her day, for her family, and for JOY & LAUGHTER! 

Praise God for joy and laughter!  Even if it was chemically induced tonight. 

Praying about panties

Seems an odd title, don’t you think?  Not to me.  See, praying about panties is a very regular occurrence in our home.   Our daughter, Emily, just turned 5 a month and a half ago.   2 weeks ago, she was officially diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), although we had suspected it for quite some time now.   We also found out through this evaluation process (with a neuropsychologist and an occupational therapist) that she has ADHD, and she scored as “gifted” in her learning and verbal abilities.  These 3 things, all combined, make for some challenging times.  Unfortunately, to the outside world that doesn’t have all the facts, she sometimes appears to be misbehaving, not listening, ignoring instructions, or being defiant.  Truth is, so much of it is involuntary or simply her mind/body trying to make sense of things in her world.

 

I want to start publicly sharing about this in the hopes of helping others that might be going through this to feel like they aren’t alone.  I hope to educate people about SPD because it seems like many people, even physicians are not very familiar with it.  I also want to just share how God is using this in our lives.  I NEVER want to appear as though I’m complaining about my daughter, so please hold me accountable if it ever appears that way.   I ADORE my daughter, and consider her a true miracle gift from God.  If you don’t know the story of her miraculous birth, ask me! I love to share!  I’ll save that post for another time.  I am honored that our Creator trusts Rob and me enough to put this sweet girl in our care.  I just want to learn enough about her, so that I can do the job He gave me to do.   I want to learn about these conditions so that I can better help her cope with the difficulties she faces.  I want to be compassionate about her needs, while also teaching her to properly interact with others.    Most of all, I want to love and appreciate her right where she is!   I want to see her through HIS eyes, and I want to see the world through HER eyes, because that is what brings me closer to His love!

 

Looking back, we can see signs from infancy and toddlerhood that point to this.  We were first time parents though, and didn’t have much to compare her to, in order to know what was “normal”.   Normal.  I really dislike that word, anyway.  God made each of us unique, specially purposed for HIS plan.  Why would we want to be (or want our children to be) like everyone else?  Yet, we often do.   Thankfully, I’m learning to appreciate her differences and to embrace them.  I wish I could say I did that daily, but I’m learning. 

 

What made us seek professional help?  

Here are just 3 of the reasons that really stood out early on.  Many many more followed, and I will list those in a later post.

 

1) Her reaction to artificial food coloring.  We didn’t give her any sugar until she was 2, so we never noticed this reaction before then.   God had graciously allowed me to have “heard of” food colorings causing reactions in children through some various channels in the past, so when it came up in our house, I was vaguely familiar with it.  At least, enough to wonder if it was the culprit. 

One day, Rob and I were at the mall with Emily, having a great time….until we let her have a cookie with sprinkles on it!  We were walking around a department store, and within minutes of eating it, our child turned into some crazed, aggressive, mean person we’d never seen before.  She was literally yanking clothes off the hangers and throwing them on the ground left and right.  She was out of control….and we were scared.  This was not our child.  We strapped her in the stroller, and got out of there.   After what could have only been God’s urging, we thought to go get her some “real food” and see if that helped.  Finally, after what seemed like hours (but was probably 30 minutes), she calmed down.   But we knew something was wrong.  She never threw tantrums, and was truly a very easy going, well behaved child. 

We went on to “test” this theory about the food coloring under controlled circumstances at home 3 more times.  Each time, same reaction.   After that, we banned all artificial food coloring from our home and we haven’t looked back.  It’s been a couple years now.   Thankfully, we have been able to find substitutes for just about anything.  Whole Foods and NaturalCandyStore.com are my favorite resources for this!  We are thankful that Emily has adapted to this lifestyle without a fuss, and is perfectly comfortable telling people she’s “allergic” to food coloring and bringing her own snacks/treats everywhere we go.

 

2) Her reaction to having socks on her feet.  She has never liked socks.  Never.  Can’t say as I blame her, as I don’t either.  The difference is, when I don’t want them on my feet, I pull them off.   Emily, on the other hand, would scream bloody murder while slapping and punching her feet as if her socks were filled with fire ants.  Not a typical reaction, I’d say.  Thankfully, we are able to cope with this by simply avoiding socks.   She doesn’t wear them.  Ever.  Not with snow boots in Michigan in January.  Not with tennis shoes.  Not with cowboy boots.  I figure if it doesn’t bother her, it doesn’t bother me.   On a RARE occasion she has worn them in order to play somewhere on a play area that requires them, but 9 out of 10 times, she will ask to go somewhere else if she knows they require her to wear socks.

 

3) The panties.  The aforementioned panties.  For a while, she was fine, and then almost overnight, her panties “bothered her”.  Every single pair of them.  She’d put them on and say they bothered her.  I tried checking for things that might be poking her.  I checked to make sure they weren’t too tight, or too loose.  I made sure the elastic wasn’t crooked.  I checked everything.  This became a daily occurrence where we spent way too long picking out a pair of panties.  Then it happened.  One morning, she just melted down completely trying to find a pair that worked.  Poor thing, she was frustrated, discouraged and confused.  She melted in my arms sobbing, and I just prayed for her.   That evening, we went out and bought 50 pairs of panties.  Seriously!  Every brand, various patterns, fabrics, styles.  We even bought some “boy” underwear because she liked the dinosaurs on them.  Who knew….many days those were the ones that worked best…when on backwards!  Good thing no one would see them anyway, so who cares!

I still pray with her about this multiple times a week.  She’ll be getting dressed, and I hear it.  The sounds that tell me she’s tried on several pair and nothing is working right today.  So I go in and sit with her and pray over her, asking God to please allow us to find a pair of panties that will work for the day.   Every time, after we pray, we find a good pair within 1 or 2 tries.  Praise God!

 

Thank you for joining us on this journey!  I covet your prayers, and would love to hear from anyone that deals with this in their life as well.

Are you comfortable?

I am, all too often.  But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable.  He calls us to step out of our comfort zone and follow HIM.   No matter what. 

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

It’s scary sometimes to think “Where will I go?”,  “What will I eat?”,  “What kind of house would I live in?”,  “What would I have to give up or do without?”, “What will THEY think?”.

God’s word tells us not to be anxious about these things.  To let HIM be our PROVIDER!  One of my favorite group of verses is Matthew 6:25-37 (click to read) where He reminds us that we do not need to worry. 

What is God calling you to do? Something that seems impossible? Something that seems HUGE to you and way out of your comfort zone? Something that makes you think “No way! That’s crazy!”  No matter how big it seems to you, it is small in the hands of God.  He’s got it covered!

I wonder how Noah felt when he was told to build a huge ark…especially considering it had never rained before.   

What about Gideon when his army got cut down from 32,000 to 300?

Or Joshua, who was told to use marching, trumpets, and yelling to knock down the Jericho walls?

Think about little David, a young teenager, who was called by God to kill a GIANT with just a stone and a slingshot?

 

God calls us to do uncomfortable things! Things that require us to depend totally on HIM for our strength, courage, provisions.  

WHY?

Because HE did big things for us!! His only Son came to earth, suffered and died for our sins!  He was born in a stable and placed in an animal’s feeding trough for his bed.  He never lived in a palace, or even had his own home.  He didn’t travel around in the fanciest of chariots.  He was uncomfortable…for US!

You can do it for Him! 

Copywork from the Bible

The other night, Emily got in a little trouble.  She made a couple bad choices and was being disrespectful and disobedient.  I know, shocking from my sweet girl, but it happened.  :-)

Praise God! He was right there helping Rob and I, as we told Emily we would be back in 3 minutes after we’d had a chance to step away and talk as parents.   We calmly left her screaming to herself while we discussed what to do.  Boy, was she mad! These 2 offenses are directly addressed in scripture, so we focused on that. 

We explained to Emily (not for the first time) that these are not just our rules, but they are God’s rules.  We are just the people that God put in her life to teach her these rules so that she can grow up to obey Him!

Then, for the first time, we implemented “writing sentences”!  Remember those from when you were a kid?  I know I had to write “I will remember to bring home my spelling workbook” a few times, and probably a few other things!

Since she’s only 5 and still fairly new to writing, we only made her write 2 sentences, but they were great ones!

First, Ephesians 6:1, and then Leviticus 19:3.

Thank you, Lord, for being right there with us during all of that!  We were calm, we brought the whole lesson back to scripture, reinforced it in her mind by having her write it, and most of all – disciplined out of love, not punishment!  She even had fun doing it!  That’s when we have to remind ourselves as parents that discipline is about LEARNING, not about feeling miserable!

It’s official! We’re starting Kindergarten!

 

The Decision

Our only child, Emily, just turned 5!   Over the past year, Rob and I have been discussing whether or not to start homeschooling Emily in Kindergarten this fall, or wait until next.  We weighed several pros and cons, prayed about this decision, thought we had decided to wait…in fact, wanted to wait, but ultimately we ended up deciding to move forward with school.  God has a way of shaking us up like that, but that’s a whole other post another time!

So, this fall, we will be the parents of a Kindergartner!  WOW!

 

Changes at home

On one hand, not much will change.  Since we homeschool, I will still see her every day.  I don’t have to go drop her off anywhere.  I don’t have to get her up early, or pack a lunch the night before.  We will still read, do crafts, go on field trips…all very much like the last year.  I am so incredibly thankful that He has provided us with the opportunity for us to homeschool Emily and to ensure that God and His creation are the focus of all that she will be learning!  I am also thankful that I get to spend each and every day with her.  To watch her learn, to see her excitement, and to share in that with her….priceless!

 

On the other hand, things are changing!  This year, we will be focusing on a curriculum (My Father’s World), and will be supplementing with some extra things, like Rosetta Stone’s Spanish program.   We are setting goals and making lists of things we want to teach her this year.   I am a big fan of Charlotte Mason, and the fact that her methods are less structured than most.  However, we have come to terms with the fact that both Emily and Mommy need some structure, so we are doing the best of both worlds!  We will follow the curriculum as a guideline of what to do each day/week, but will also implement CM methods in order to keep us from getting too bogged down in the structure. 

 

Changes at church

Another big change for her will be at church.  This fall, she will move upstairs to the KDOG (Kids depending on God) program that is for K-6 grades.   On Sundays, she will attend her Sunday School class during the first hour, and then will join us in worship service during the second hour.   I am so excited about this!  We’ve been bringing Emily into worship with us from time to time for some time now and we all really enjoy being together during that precious time.   Emily is also excited!! The new Kindergartners get a special green tote bag to carry to church, and she has already seen so many of her older friends with these over the past year.  She is so excited to get her green bag!

I’m very much looking forward to the next year.  It will be amazing to see how God works in our family and how we grow together, and in Him.  Not only is my little girl growing up, but God is using her each and every day to help me grow up in Him!  It’s going to be a great, ever-changing, year in our family!

Best toy EVER!

I don’t know what took us so long to get this.  We should have had this 2 years ago!  We recently bought Emily an exercise trampoline, and it is the best thing we have ever given her! 

Emily is extremely high energy, and she is a sensory seeker! That just means she is always on the go – moving, touching, bouncing, taking it all in!  Sometimes it is hard to adequately meet those needs inside our home, and we just can’t always go outside and swing, to the park, or the pool. 

Now we have a perfect indoor tool to help meet her needs!  She uses it first thing in the morning, off and on all day long, and before bed.  Anytime she feels she has extra energy she needs to “get out”.   For many kids, this might wind them up too much at bedtime, but for Emily, it actually helps to get out some of the extra energy so she can settle down and relax. 

Who knows, maybe she will even give Mommy a few minutes to get some exercise on it!   Rob is enjoying it too!  Just watch my handsome hubby!  He is the most amazing dad ever!

 

Mommy Time

Over the years, I have read many books, often geared toward moms, that tell women that we need “me time”.  That our families shouldn’t expect our undivided attention.  That we need to think about ourselves and take care of ourselves first, so then we can take care of our families.  That if we don’t take care of ourselves, we can’t take care of them.   The whole “if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” line of thinking.  Unfortunately, I think many of these books go way overboard and the enemy can use these to make us into selfish, self-centered, resentful women.

 

On the other hand, I have also read some books that basically say we shouldn’t want time away from our family.  That we are to be devoted wives and mothers, with our entire focus being our family.  Some of these almost make it sound like you are sinning if you want to spend some time away from your husband or children from time to time.

I simply adore my husband and my daughter.  I absolutely love spending time with them!  My husband is truly my best friend, and we can have fun doing anything together.  My daughter is a true blessing to me, and I honestly love spending time with her.  She makes me laugh, she renews my childlike spirit, and she notices many of the things in life that I take for granted.    I love our family times! Our vacations, camping trips, game nights, and lazy weekends! 

However, I feel there is also an incredibly healthy balance that can be found.  

 

I enjoy time with just myself.  I love curling up with a cup of coffee, a good book, and quiet.   I love sitting at Starbucks with my iced tea, maybe a sweet treat, and my laptop with nothing but time to write.

I also love time with just my friends.  I work with a very special group of leaders in my discipleship group and I cherish the times that we meet together to help each other grow in the Lord.    I love getting a chance to meet a friend one-on-one for a cup of coffee and to catch up.   I enjoy getting away once a year to hang out with some special mommy friends of mine from all over the country.

I also love times when our family gets together with other families.   Sometimes we have a couple over for dinner – some with kids, some without.   It’s so nice when we can sit and chat as adults while the kids play together.   I also often meet with another mom and her kids for play dates.  We chat, the kids play, and it’s a glorious time!

 

I think the important distinction is our motives.  I don’t spend time with my friends because I want to spend time away from my husband.  I spend time with my friends because I cherish the friendships God has given me and I want to deepen them.  This means that I am careful about who I spend this focused time with, and I look to God to direct this.  I don’t spend time alone because I want to get away from everyone.  I spend time alone so I can meet with God, or do things He is calling me to do – sometimes write, sometimes rest. 

I also work with my husband, not against him, in planning these times.   My family comes first.  If Rob or Emily need me, I will be there.  My true friends understand that and feel the same way.   When I have a meeting and will not be home for dinner, I make sure that dinner is planned and/or prepared for my husband before I leave.   When I am going to be away, I make sure that the timing is acceptable to Rob’s schedule and that he approves of what I am doing. 

Right now, I am out of town for 5 days to spend some annual time with some mommy friends.  This was planned with Rob’s approval and encouragement.   Before I left, I made sure his clothes were all clean (and almost all put away!).  I also created a meal plan for him for the days I’m gone, and made sure most of the food he would need is already purchased and at home.   He is perfectly capable of planning and cooking his meals, but this is something he likes that helps him, so I do it.  He likes to know what is for dinner, even if it means he’s cooking it, without having to think about it when he gets home.  He wants to spend the time playing with Emily while I’m gone, so I do what I can to make that easier for him. 

So, my focus is still first on God, then on my family.  When my priorities are in order, I can also make time for myself and my friends.  God uses all of these times – alone, with family, with friends….to grow me closer to Him, and I pray that He uses me to bring others closer to Him as well.

Teaching good stewardship to children

I’ve answered a few different people recently about how we do “chores” and “allowance” at home, so I thought I’d write a post about what we do in our home.

Earning Money

First, we don’t do allowance. You don’t get paid for doing nothing in our family. Instead, Emily (age 5), has JOBS that she is responsible for, and for which she can earn money.

We started this when she turned 4, so we gave her 4 jobs. I’m sure we’ll add another soon since she just turned 5. She is responsible for:

* Making her bed each morning.

* Keeping toilet paper on the roll in her/guest bathroom.

* Setting the meal table with napkins, utensils, and her plate/cup.

* Cleaning up her own toys each night before bed.

For those 4 jobs, she gets paid $4/week. It’s a lot for a child her age, I’m sure, but we also teach tithing and saving, so we wanted to make sure she had enough left over to actually save to buy something in a reasonable amount of time.

Where does the money go?

$1 goes in her God bank, $1 goes in the Saving bank, and $1 in her Spending bank. Then, she has $1 left over to choose which bank she wants it to go in. 9 times out of 10 she puts it in the God bank. She’s our little giver! All of her “God money” goes to church with us each week where she gives it to the benevolence fund because she wants to “help the church buy food and clothes for people that need it”.

Yes, I realize she is tithing 25% or more, but it was easier to split into quarters when we started. As she gets older and we do more math, we’ll allow her to tithe 10% or more.

Extra Money

In addition to her regular jobs, she has a list of extra jobs that she can ask to do anytime to earn extra money. This rarely happens because she doesn’t care much about earning money to buy things, but it’s available. One day she did all of them in one day as she was saving for a horse toy! For those jobs (mop floor, sweep patio, wash sliding glass door), she does them for a certain amount of time (5-10 min) and earns $1 (which gets split out among the banks).

She also gets money for birthdays & Christmas from some relatives. She must tithe on this money, but we don’t make her save from it.

Just because you live here!

Day to day, Emily is also expected to do some things just because she is a member of our family and needs to learn to contribute and someday run her own household. She often helps me empty the dishwasher by putting away the silverware, all her dishes, and anything else she can reach.

She is also responsible for putting her dirty laundry in the laundry room, and then once I wash and dry her clothes, she puts them all away. I put her clean clothes in a basket, then she hangs up her shirts, folds, and puts away everything else. She has a low hanging rod in her room so she can reach everything she needs.

How do you teach good stewardship with money in your home?

Emily’s Birthday Weekend!

 

Friday night, we had dinner at “560”, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant inside Reunion Tower.   Emily saw Reunion Tower a little over 6 months ago when we were out driving one day, and she asked me about it.  “What is that ball on a stick?”, she said.  When she found out there was a restaurant in it, she decided right then and there she wanted to go there for her “5 birthday”. 

I’d been there before, and while it wasn’t super cheap, it wasn’t bad.   What I didn’t know, when I said “sure!”, was that it had been remade into a fine dining restaurant! With “fancy” food!  Good thing my little girl loves SUSHI!

So, we gave her the choice – a birthday party with friends, or dinner at the restaurant with family.  She chose the restaurant and never changed her mind.  

I’m so glad she did! She had the best time! We celebrated with my parents, Rob’s mom, and Rob’s grandmother.  She ate tons of sushi, some samples of everyone else’s food, and an entire apple crumble dessert all by herself!  Such a big girl!

 

 

The next day, Saturday, we had the family back over, along with our dear family friend, Aunt Chelle.  We had cake & ice cream, opened presents, and mostly played with Emily in the little pools in the backyard.  It was a fun, relaxing day!

 

 

Now, my little girl has been 5 for 2 days, and she’s growing up before my eyes.  All I can do is pray that this next year goes by a little slower than the last, and that I cherish each and every moment with her!  I am so blessed to be her Mommy!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

 

My precious baby girl is 5 years old today.  It’s hard to believe how fast the time has gone.  We’ve had an amazing few days celebrating her birthday!  I’ll do my best to get those pictures and update up tomorrow.

I love you, Bugaboo! You are an incredible blessing from God, and I am so thankful to be your Mommy!

A summer safety reminder

This summer, as you are taking your kids to the pool, or letting others take them – please, please, take a moment to read this!

I followed a link to this blog from this blog, and I thought it was so well written and so important, that I wanted to post it here.   I can’t tell you how many times I’ve already seen moms doing some of the things mentioned in this post. 

We have to be careful!

Please read: “Drowning in Sorrow”.

Happy Father’s Day!

What an awesome weekend!!

I am incredibly blessed to be married to my best friend.  He is not only a wonderful husband and partner, he is also an amazing Daddy!  He truly loves being a daddy, and loves spending time with his little girl any chance he gets!

This weekend, we had a special Father’s Day camping trip…right in our living room!  It’s Texas, and it’s hot, so we thought it would be fun to bring it all indoors.  It was a super fun time (and still is, since we’re leaving it up till the end of the day)!  

 

BEFORE & AFTER:

 

It was interrupted for a few hours in the middle of the night Friday night/Saturday morning when we had to take Emily to the ER because she was having trouble breathing and we were afraid her throat was closing up.  Turns out, she has croup!  A steroid shot in the bottom (OUCH!), and a cool mist breathing treatment later – she’s much better!  Still a bit sick and tired, but better!  Thankfully, I guess, we gave her Benadryl before heading to the hospital in case it was a weird allergic reaction, so she ended up sleeping through a lot of it and was able to remain calm the majority of the time.  That was a huge blessing!!

Back to the camping trip…

We played games, did some reading, worked on a wooden puzzle, had fun with glow-in-the-dark sticks, and just enjoyed time as a family!  We ate all our meals in the tent, cooked Pop-Tarts over a camping stove, ate watermelon, and even had our own version of SMORES!  The smores were ‘fondue’ style – dip the marshmallow in melted chocolate chips, then dip in crushed graham crackers – Yum!  All while enjoying the conveniences of air-conditioning, indoor plumbing, and the microwave :) 

 

 

Rob even got to sneak in some quiet reading time while Emily and I made breakfast for him.  Chocolate waffles, scrambled eggs and bacon!

 

 

And of course – PRESENTS!  We did them a day early because Emily insisted it was Father’s Day already :) 

First, an Emily Baugh original drawing of Daddy’s favorite animal!

Then, from Mommy & Emily, a framed collage (click to see it enlarged!)

Rob,

You are an amazing man, and I am so honored and blessed to call you my husband.  I love looking at our little girl and seeing so much of you in her.  I love seeing how much she loves her Daddy, and I hope and pray that when she grows up she marries someone just like you.  Thank you for loving God, and for loving us, with all your heart!  Thank you for working so hard to care for and provide for our family.  Thank you for always making time for us.  Thank you for working together with me to be the best parents we can be, and always working with me to learn more about how to do so.  Thank you for allowing God to be the 3rd strand in our marriage and for always leading our family in learning more about Him and looking to HIM for guidance. 

I look forward to raising Emily with you, to all the experiences & adventures that God will bring us, and to being married to you for the rest of my life!

I love you with all my heart!  Happy Father’s Day, my love!

Love,

Stacy

The loss of a pet

Emily’s first pet died this past weekend.  It was a tadpole.  My cousin had given us a habitat for it at Christmas, and then we ordered our tadpole from Ribbits Galore.  We actually ordered 2, but one didn’t make it in the mail.  The second one, Emily promptly named “Green Bean”.  It was supposed to turn into a frog within 90 days, but despite our best effort and instruction following - 6 months later we were just looking at an extra large tadpole.  It was still fun to watch and Emily enjoyed talking to it.

Well, Friday night Rob and I noticed it had finally given up.  Saturday morning, we broke the news to Emily.  To say she was devastated would be an understatement.  She was heartbroken!  I’m very thankful we got the kitties a week before so she at least already had another pet to attach to!

We held a burial service in the backyard, where Rob buried him in the back corner and Emily completed it with tongue depressor headstones.

She was very sad, but seems to have moved on now.  Maybe we’ll try again if we get our hands on some real tadpoles rather than the mail order ones.  I’ve since read that there is a high death rate among them.

 

 

“Green Bean our family loves you”

What a night!

Last night, we spent about an hour hunkered down in the bathroom because there were TORNADO warnings (meaning they saw one!) near us for quite a while. A rotation had been spotted in our city, so we took shelter.

We threw pillows in the tub, and Emily and I got in there together, while Rob sat next to us, using the toilet as a desk for the laptop and checking the weather constantly. We got one kitty in with us, but the other refused to come out from under the bed, so we figured she was as safe there as anywhere else.

Here is what that looked like: (excuse the bad photos, I was using my cell phone)

 

We gave her the Leappad and headphones because when she has something to listen to like that she's much calmer and less talkative, which helped as we were trying to listen to the news reports.

 

As you can tell, she was really stressed (not!)  In fact, she prayed to God and said “Dear God, please keep us safe from the tornado and if it is close to us, please move it somewhere far, far away”.   Complete, total, faith and trust in HIM!  Love it!

 

 

Weatherman Rob, and our not-so-thrilled kitty:

 

We got out of the bathroom around 8:45, got Emily put to bed and then Rob and I went in the living room to hang out. The storm seemed to have passed by at this point.    Immediately after we said it was all gone, Emily (and we) prayed to God and thanked him for providing our safety!

THEN.....
Our power went out at 10:00pm! No rain, no storm, nothing....and BAM! Lights out! Thankfully it was just about bedtime anyway, but not quite. Oh well, off we went to bed.

 

I knew it would be a loooooooooooooong night because none of us sleep well HOT, and Emily and I don't sleep well when it's too quiet (I use white noise, she uses music)

So, about midnight, Emily woke up crying that she couldn't sleep.  I knew this would happen since it was hot and her music went off with the power (note to self: get her a jambox cd player with battery backup)

We gave her a flashlight and told her she could read for a little bit until she was able to fall back asleep, which turned out to be 2 hours later! Poor thing!

FINALLY, after a lot of off and on sleep, the power came back on at 5:30am!  Nice, cool, air! WHEW!!!  PRAISE GOD for air conditioning!  Something we take for granted all too often.  I’m also thankful this happened at night when it was bedtime anyway.  So much to be thankful for!  Our Father truly calms storms in our lives – in so many ways!

 

Today, we are taking it easy at home to try to make up for missing most of our sleep last night!

Oh be careful little ears what you hear!

* This is the 2nd post in the “Oh be careful!” series.   Read the first post here.  Sorry these first two were so far apart, I didn’t get it done as quickly as I had hoped.

----------------------------------------------- 

What are you listening to?  

For me, a couple things came to mind.   The first was music.  What music do you listen to?  Not the type of music, but rather, the lyrics.  Are the words edifying?  How do they make you feel about yourself? About others? About God?

This isn’t always easy for me.  I like my 80’s music.  I like Jimmy Buffett.  I like country music.  However, when I sing the words aloud, I often find myself stumbling over words or phrases and thinking that it just is not helping me grow closer to Christ.   I am also realizing that if I don’t feel comfortable explaining to my daughter what the lyrics mean (and she will ask!), then I probably don’t need to be listening to it myself.

There are a lot of great Christian artists out there with all types of music, even “hard rock”.  I’m all for listening to, and exposing our children to a wide variety of genres that include classical, rock, jazz, etc.  You can find the music you appreciate, while still listening to words that glorify God. 

 

The other area that came to mind as I prepared for this post is gossip, or godless chatter”.  I admit, this is an area where I am often tempted.   It’s so easy to listen in on gossip, or bad-mouthing, even if you don’t join in.  Sometimes it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable to walk away.  It is these times that I find it incredibly helpful to pray to God and ask Him to change the situation.  Another tool that helps is to recite memorized scripture verses in your head until you can change the topic of conversation. 

“Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.”  (1 Tim 6: 20-21)

 

“Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” (2 Tim 2:16)

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So, what should we be listening to?

The Word of God! We should be listening for His voice.  Filling our ears with His Word.  Listen to the Bible on CD.  Listen to sermons that teach you about Him.  Listen to music that sings His praises.  Read your bible, and be still so you can listen for Him to speak to you.

 

Joshua 3:9 says, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God”.

So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' " (1 Sam 3:9)

We adopted!

No, not a child (yet!). This weekend, our landlord finally agreed to let us have pets! So, we adopted 2 kitties from the SPCA! They are each around 3 years old and just adorable! They are settling in and both seem to be perfectly comfortable with us, but not quite yet with each other (they were at different shelters). They aren’t fighting, just avoiding each other, so hopefully they’ll be friends before long.

We went with older kitties, instead of kittens, for a few reasons. 1) Their temperament is known, as is if they lived with other cats or children before. 2) They often have a harder time getting adopted. and 3) The fee for adopting them is much cheaper if they’ve been at the shelter for over 30 days (as each of these had!)

Introducing……..

~ Emmy ~

Our daughter Emily picked out this kitty from a list we showed her because of her name. Emily used to call herself “Emmy” when she was little, and still does from time to time, so she latched onto this one right away and insisted we get her! Thankfully, we agreed!

and

~ Angel ~

This little sweetie picked us out! She started rubbing on us and talking to us when we first walked in. Then, I set down my backpack for a minute and she immediately walked over to it, sniffed it, kneaded it, then made it a bed and fell asleep! Rob and I looked at each other and said “We’ve been adopted!” and brought her home!

Please sign this petition & boycott this movie!

 

If you have adopted a child, know anyone that has, or has ever considered it, I pray you will see the devastating effects a movie like this could bring to the adoption community.   It’s up to us to stand up to Hollywood and make it known that this is not acceptable.

Sign this petition!

To be like a child

 

The Bible tells us that unless we become like a child, we will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ~ Matt 18:3

I learn so much from my little girl each day!  God uses her to teach me about His character, and the qualities He wants in each of us.  I find that I do much better when I strive to be more like her, than when I focus on trying to make her more like me.

 

Yesterday, I talked to Emily about her play kitchen she’s had since she was 2.  She played with it for a couple years and thoroughly enjoyed it!  However, now it just sits in our kitchen taking up space and she never plays with it anymore.  Her interests have taken her elsewhere, and she prefers to help Mommy cook in the real kitchen than to pretend to cook in a pretend kitchen.

So, I gave her some choices. 

1) She could move it outside and see if she played with it outside differently. 

2) She could sell it and use the money to buy something else. 

3) She could give it away.

She chose option #4 – “I want to sell it and give all the money to God because helping other people is more important than toys.”

WOW.

Why is it that my first (sinful) reaction in my mind is “Are you sure?? You don’t want the money for something else? You could tithe on it, but then buy something else, you know. “  Thankfully my brain-to-mouth filter was turned on, and I didn’t say any of that out loud.    Instead, I told her how proud I was of her choice and of her generosity.

 

Right now, I’m spending my quiet time in Psalm 119.  This morning, I picked up where I left off yesterday and read verses 36-37,

“Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.  Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”

 

We don’t need to raise our kids to be grownups who seek to “have it all”.  We need to cherish our children, and look to them as examples of what God wants us to be like.

Trust in the Lord

We teach Emily a new memory verse each week.  It is awesome to see her hiding His Word in her heart, and learning more about Him in the process.  We introduce a new verse on Sunday night, and then say it each night before bed.  She usually has it memorized after a couple times, but we continue with one verse for an entire week to really meditate on it, and what it means.

A couple weeks ago, our verse was Proverbs 3:5-6.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight”.  

This week our verse is Proverbs 18:10. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower.  The righteous run to it and are safe”.   We explained that this meant she should call on His name anytime and He will be there for her.  If she’s worried, scared, needs help, etc. That calling on His name is like running into a tower for protection.

 

As a mom, I can think of no better reward here on earth than to hear my child calling on the name of the Lord.   This weekend, she was climbing on a play structure in our yard, and I heard her say “Dear God, please help me to balance”.    Then, just yesterday, she was climbing our big oak tree for the first time, and she said “Dear God, please help me to not fall and to be safe”.

 

I love that she knows she can call on Him anytime, anywhere, and that He is always listening to her, because she knows Him.

 

“Those who know your name will trust in you, for you Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” ~ Psalm 9:10

“If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him in His right hand.” ~ Psalm 37:23-24

A, B, C, D, E, F, G….

Emily was so excited to show me what she had written in her “fort”!  She was halfway done when she asked for help spelling “next”, “time”, “won’t”, “sing” & “with”, but she did all the writing herself!

What a fun “schoolhouse”!

 

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U

 

V, W, X, Y, Z – NOW I KNOW MY ABC’S

 

NEXT TIME WON’T YOU

 

SING WITH ME

Death is not dying

I imagine many of you have already seen this video.  I’ve seen links to it several times, but finally took the time to sit down and watch it.  As always, God’s timing is perfect, and He spoke to me through this woman with what I needed to hear today.  This is a 37 year old woman, a wife, a mom of little ones, a daughter of the King, a woman who knows God, and sees herself through His eyes.  She is dying of cancer, and will likely not be here on her 38th birthday.

I encourage you, I strongly encourage you to please set aside an hour to watch her video.   At the very least, you can download the MP3 file from her website, so take it with you to the gym, the car ride, or wherever you can find 55 minutes to listen to this.

IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Oh, be careful little eyes what you see!

**NOTE: Each post in this series is likely to be quite long.  Please don’t run away!  I know most people like short & sweet blog posts, but I feel this is a very important series of issues to discuss.  I welcome your comments, stories, and opinions.

In addition, if you have not read the previous post and watched the videos, I highly encourage you to go back and do so. ***

 

 Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.  For the Father up above is looking down with love, so be careful little eyes what you see!

It is getting harder and harder to filter what our eyes see, and to filter what our children see.  My mom used to always tell me “garbage in, garbage out” and I understand that more than ever as a parent.  What we see influences, even dictates, what we think, say & do.

You can’t tell me that it doesn’t influence you.   That you can watch that show, or look at those pictures without it affecting you.  That’s what the enemy wants you to think.  Satan rarely hits us over the head with sin.  Rather, he introduces it to us a little at a time, so that we get used to a little more, a little more, until we are desensitized and it doesn’t faze us at all.   However, when you look at things through your children’s innocent eyes (which are most like God’s), then it’s easy to see how things have gone so wrong.  

I think it’s critical that we as Christian parents stand up for our beliefs and for the innocence of our children by avoiding certain things and explaining why we do so to our kids.   Sure, it might mean your child isn’t familiar with the latest cartoon or movie.  So what?  We are called to be set apart, not to follow the crowd.  We are accountable only to Our Father in Heaven, not to our friends or the latest fad.  A sin is a sin, whether it is popular or not.

 

Ads/Commercials/Previews: 

It’s a slippery slope, people!  Think back just 20-40 years at the programs we watched.   Foul language wasn’t allowed, nudity wasn’t allowed.  They didn’t have commercials filled so full with sex that you can’t even tell what product they sell.  Programs were safe for families to watch together.   Then, bad words, innuendo, and glimpses were allowed a little at a time, until line after line was crossed and now we can’t even see the line because it’s been erased completely.

 

We choose not to have TV service in our home, so thankfully Emily doesn’t watch live TV in our home.  I have had to, however, not allow her to go to the homes of some friends without me because they choose to leave the TV on all day long and the kids see various types of programming targeted for adults.

We also don’t allow her to watch the previews before a DVD movie.  Just because I approve of the movie we bought/rented, does not mean I approve of the previews.  I have learned time and time again that the previews are not always as wholesome as the movie itself, so until *Mommy & Daddy* have previewed the previews, we skip them.

 

Movies

We are very particular with the movies we allow Emily to watch.  Don’t just look at the rating, as all G-rated movies are not created equal.  Ask yourself some questions. 

Do the characters display edifying behavior, and use edifying language?

Do they speak to their friends and family the way I want my child to talk?  Or are they rude, sarcastic, disrespectful, and whining?

Are there scary parts that I insist my child “get over”?  Do you tell them to “grow up”?

Do the characters have parents?  If so, where are they, and how do they act? 

Does this teach my child about God, His characteristics, or His creation?

Sure, we “shelter” our daughter from many movies & cartoons, but I suspect that is a decision I will never regret.   I would rather become more like her, than to have her become more like me.

“And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” ~ Matt 18:3

Some of our favorites include: Veggie Tales, Signing Time, Diego, Franklin, Berenstain Bears, Little Einsteins (great music and art), and she even still loves Baby Einstein for the pictures and music!  

Shut off the cable!  Save money! Read your news online. Rent DVDs from Netflix, or watch old TV shows (including many awesome NOVA shows) on sites like hulu.com

 

Books

We are regulars at the local library, and often have 30-50 books checked out at any given time.  I used to just let Emily run around and pick books that “looked good”, because she was still reading board books, or gravitated toward books I already knew I approved of.   Now that she’s older, and can read a lot, I have to be so careful!  I usually choose several books ahead of time and put them on “hold” at the library (LOVE that feature!),  and then let her pick out a few extra just for fun.  However, I take the time to sit down and preview them before we check them out, or at the very least, before she reads them (or us to her).  

I am not a fan of banning books because I do respect our freedom of speech.  However, there are many that I wish had never been written and/or targeted to such a young audience!

I encourage you to preview the book before you read it to your child or let them read it!  Ask yourself the same questions I mentioned in regards to movies.

 

When you remove these obstacles from your home and your life, you will find that you grow closer to God.  As you watch shows that express His glory, wonder, and creation you will learn more about HIM.  As you forgo the trash fiction for Biblically based reading, you will grow closer to Him.  When you turn off the TV or the movie because you know it’s not pleasing to Him,  you will be inviting Him to fill that time with something much more pleasing and rewarding.

 

There is one other subject that I want to address because it is so very visual, and so very prevalent.

 

Clothing, or lack of

We can’t stay locked in our house all day, every day, so we and our children are constantly exposed to the choices made by other people.  I can’t go up and put a robe on everyone that is missing some clothing, but I can teach my daughter about modesty and respect for the body God gave us, as well as respect for others. 

In 1 Cor 8, we are told not to cause our brother to stumble. With all of the sexual sin that exists, do we really need to increase that temptation by dressing ourselves, and our children, in a way that makes others lust at them? 

My daughter is only 4.5, but it is never too early to teach this value, in my opinion.  It is much easier to get her in the habit now than to wait until she’s 13 to try to change her habits.   For example, when we go to the mall we discuss some of the things we see.  We see bathing suits that seem to be missing most of the fabric, and get a chance to talk about modesty from God’s perspective.  I cringe when we walk by Abercrombie, and even Emily now knows to turn and look at something other than the half naked guy when we walk by that store.  This is a company known for sexual exploitation, yet you don’t even have to go IN the store in order for your eyes to be invaded.  Unfortunately, these outfits aren’t limited to the mall.  They are in restaurants, parks, and even church!

Modesty shorts are a wonderful thing! Little girls in dresses are adorable and precious.  Little girls that are climbing on monkey bars and hanging upside down however, need some shorts or leggings on under their dress!  I love the bike shorts from sports stores just for this occasion.

It’s not just the little girls either!  Big kids, teenagers, and adults need to consider if what they are wearing is pleasing to God, or only to others?  

Galations 1:10 says, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

 

Other Related Scripture:

Matt 6:22-23

Matt 7:17-21

Luke 6:45

Matt 5:29

Be careful! You don’t want to gain the whole world!

I’m starting a “Be Careful” series on here, that will contain at least 7 parts for you to look forward to.  Consider this the “intro”, and please take the time to watch, listen, and read the lyrics to these incredible songs.   I think the message is clear, but I’m not stopping there.  God has been telling me for a while now to write about these things, so I am doing it.  I pray that He will speak to you through the words granted to me.  I share this with you so you can see Him, not me.

 

 

Casting Crowns – Slow Fade (Lyrics)

Be careful little eyes what you see
It’s the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it’s the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It’s a slow fade, it’s a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day

The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you’re thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking

It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

Oh be careful little eyes what see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little eyes what you see

 

TobyMac – Lose my soul

Man I wanna tell ya’ll something, Man.
Man I’m not gonna let these material thing’s, get in my way, ya’ll.
I’m trying to get somewhere.
I’m trying to get somewhere,
Thats real and pure and true and eternal.

Father God, I am clay in your hands,
Help me to stay that way through all life’s demands,
‘Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me,
And every little thing I make up my mind to be,
Like I’m gonna be a daddy whose in the mix,
And I’m gonna be a husband who stays legit,
And I pray that I’m an artist who rises above,
The road that is wide and filled with self love,
Everything that I see draws me,
Though it’s only in You that I can truly see that its a feast for the eyes- a low blow to purpose.
And I’m a little kid at a three ring circus.

I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.

(Mr. Franklin, Step up to the mic sir)

The paparazzi flashes, and that they think that it’s you,
But they don’t know that who you are is not what you do,
True, we get it twisted when we peak at the charts,
Yo before we part from the start,
Where’s your heart?
You a pimp, hustler?
Tell me what’s your title,
America has no more stars, now we call them idols,
You sit idle, While we teach prosperity,
The first thing to prosper should be inside of me.
We’re free…
Not because of 22’s on the range,
But Christ came in range, we said yes now we changed,
Not the same, even though I made a fall,
Since I got that call, no more Saul, now I’m Paul.
(YEP!)

I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
Don’t wanna walk away,
Don’t wanna walk away

How do I sense the tide that’s rising?
De-sensitizing me from living in light of eternity,
How do I sense the tide that’s rising?
It’s hypnotizing me from living in light of eternity,
How do I sense the tide that’s rising?
De-sensitizing me from living in light of eternity.

(Lord what we gon do,We’re relying on you,
all eyes are on you Lord,
all eyes are on you, all eyes are on you Jesus.)

I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
(Don’t let me lose my soul, my soul.)
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
(This is my honesty, Father, won’t you cover me.)
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
(Don’t wanna walk away, and all those people say)
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
(Don’t wanna lose, I don’t wanna lose my soul.)

Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world,
That fight for our love, and our passion,
As our eyes are open wide and on you.
Grant us the privilege of your world view,
And may your kingdom be, what wakes us up, and lays us down.

(Hallelujah, Don’t wanna lose our soul,
No, Don’t wanna lose my soul.)

 

Next Up:  “Be careful little eyes what you see"

Memorial Day

I don’t know why I was blessed to be born in America, but I am so thankful to God that I was.  Yesterday, we had the honor to go see a traveling replica of the Vietnam Wall that was displayed here in Dallas.   Rob and I had been to see the “real” one in Washington D.C several years ago, but this time we were able to take our almost 5 year old, Emily with us and explain just a little about what Memorial Day means.

We told her it was a special day that we all remember the people that served in the Armed Forces (we said Army because that’s the one she knows well), and served to protect our country’s freedom as well as the freedom of other countries….but have now died.  Some killed while they were working, and others years later.

She was interested in her own way, and asked a lot of questions.  We welcome any opportunity to instill patriotism and honor in our children.   She knows that Daddy was in the Army, and that he is an “alive veteran”.  I am so proud and honored to be married to a man that was willing to serve his country.

Last night, just like every single other night since he’s been gone, she prayed for our dear friend “Mr. Brian” to be safe as he serves our country.  I hope someday she realizes what a sacrifice he, and so many others are making….and have made.

 

 

Rainy Day Activity – Hand Painting

Emily found this activity in a “Rainy Day Activity” book, and just couldn’t wait to have her hand painted like an ELEPHANT!! (Her all time favorite animal!)

It would have worked better had our face paint not been so old, but I look forward to many more creations!

Rainy Day Activity – Rain Gauge

The forecast called for rain.  It was dark, thundering, and sprinkling, so Emily and I got busy on a couple rainy day activities.  Wouldn’t you know, it cleared right up immediately afterward and now it’s bright and sunny outside!

Oh well, we had fun anyway!

Rain Gauge

Start with an empty water bottle, and cut off the top third or so.

 

Place the top of the bottle upside down in the bottom part of the bottle.

 

I also put packing tape around the top edge so it wouldn’t be too sharp from the hard plastic.

 

Add a few drops of blue food coloring (so the water will show up better), then insist on being in the picture :)

Add a few pebbles or marbles (to weigh it down), and set it outside to collect rain!

 

Then decorate a wooden spoon to be the Weather Man (or Woman!) and measuring stick!  The lines are marking every half-inch.  Just stick down in the hole of the bottle, and measure!  (Yes, I know the measurement changes because of the stones we put in there….I’m not worried about being *that* accurate!)

 

Then wait for rain! Or set aside for another day in our case.

Book Reviews

Here are a few great books I’ve read lately, that I wanted to share.

Raising your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

This book is AMAZING! I so wish I had read this 3 years ago or more! This has to be, hands down, the best parenting book I have ever read (next to the Bible of course!). I know nothing about the author’s faith, even after reading the book, so I encourage you to read it prayerfully and let God speak to you about what He wants you to get out of it.

Our daughter is definitely “spirited”, and honestly some days that can be quite challenging for us. This book reminds us to use POSITIVE terms when referring to our children, rather than the negative ones that tend to fall off our lips. “Perceptive”, rather than “distracted” for example. “Persistant”, rather than “stubborn”. This book also gives so many great suggestions on how to handle those trying moments, and more importantly, how to actually prevent many of them! She’s real in letting us know we can’t do away with the hard times, but we can prevent many of them and keep the ones that we do have much shorter. She also addresses how to handle it when we as parents have some of these same qualities, as well as covering introvert/extrovert and how to to make those traits work for our children.

God gave our children each and every trait that they have, and He will use them for HIS good, in HIS timing. That is something that I don’t always remember from day to day.

If you have a child that is intense, full of energy, perceptive, persistent, and/or sensitive….then PLEASE read this book! If you even plan to have more kids, then read this book! Better to be prepared ahead of time! :)

The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible by Paul S. Taylor

My daughter is just one of many children that is fascinated with dinosaurs. As a Christian family, this has been difficult to know exactly what to tell her about them. Did they exist? How long ago? What about what “that book”, or “that museum” said about it?

I stumbled across this book in the library one day, and brought it home for myself and Rob to read. I love it! This one is written from a Christian point of view and I think does a great job of explaining how dinosaurs fit in to Creation, what happened to them, and how accurate the scientists reports of them are. It discusses for example, how they often find one bone and have to create a drawing of an entire dinosaur based off that one bone, so often the majority of the information is imagination and speculation.

If you have a little one that likes dinosaurs, or if you are a big kids that likes them, I highly encourage you to read this! As always, I always encourage you to read any book prayerfully, and determine what is right for you and your family. I’m not stating that this book is the final answer on any of this, but it will definitely help me be able to answer my daughter’s questions in a way that lines up with our Christian faith. For that, it’s worth it!

Master your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels

I’ve read my share of “diet” books. I’ve read several books specifically on the subject of PCOS, hormones, and insulin resistance because those pertain to me. This one is the best one I’ve read yet! If you have hormone issues, diabetes / insulin resistance, PCOS, or just want to be as healthy as you can – read this book!

I’m a fan of Jillian from The Biggest Loser anyway, so when my mom brought this to me, I was eager to see what she had to say “off the show”.

I love that it’s not a “fad” diet (can’t stand those!). It’s real information, about real food. What chemicals and toxins are hurting your body, your blood sugar, and your hormones. What foods HELP your body restore proper balance. How to make changes in your body and environment to help your hormones. Simple meal plans with real foods. Why “going organic” is so important.

Toxins are bad. Artificial coloring/sweeteners are bad. Trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils) are evil. Carbs are good (the right ones). Fat is good (the right kind). There isn’t a single thing that is a real food that she says not to eat. In fact, she says, “If it had a mother, or grows in the ground – eat it”.

For me, I’d love to lose the weight and get back to my goal weight that I haven’t seen in years. But even more importantly, I need to balance my hormones (I’m in menopause), avoid diabetes (in my family), be healthy, and live long enough to set this example for my children.

Catching up with the Baughs

I haven’t posted about our life much lately and thought I would do a little “catch up”.

 

Foster Parenting & Adoption

We do not have any foster children at the  moment.  Our last placement went home earlier this month to be with relatives.   We are now on a break until we return from a family vacation this month.  Once we get back, we will begin the process of transferring our license to an agency closer to home, and then our plan is to focus on adoption for a while.

When we have more than 1 foster child in our home, we are considered “full” (because we can only have 3-4 total children in this house due to size…hope to change that in a year or 2).  That means that even if a suitable adoption placement came available, we can not be submitted for consideration.   It also means we can’t even try to adopt any of the children we find on the Texas “waiting children” website. 

While we feel very blessed to be able to provide a temporary home for children, we also desire greatly to grow our own forever family.  So, with much prayer and consideration, we’ve decided to focus on adoption for a while and see if God chooses to provide our forever kids during this time, or if we will need to wait.   In the meantime, we will be open as a respite provider which means we will be able to provide a needed break to other foster families by “babysitting” their children for 1-14 days.

 

Vacation

The 3 of us are heading out this Friday for a family vacation!  We are driving to Florida to spend a week at the beach.  A 17 hour (one way, but stopping overnight in the middle) road trip!  I can’t wait!  Great conversation with my husband, singing songs with Emily, and great quality family time.  Then, a week of relaxing, reading, swimming, family games, and very little time with the cell phone/internet/tv!

While we are there, we are going to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch! I am so excited about this.  The shuttle is scheduled to be retired in 2010, so we are looking forward to experiencing a launch up close and personal before that happens.  And the launch is now scheduled on my birthday! WOOO!!!

We splurged and got the VIP tickets for this considering it’s pretty much a once (maybe twice) in a lifetime opportunity. 

This is what we got:

Your Launch Transportation Ticket provides:
1.)Transportation to a restricted area viewing site on Kennedy Space Center property approximately 6 miles away from the space shuttle launch pad.
2.) Launch countdown on public-address system.
3.) Vehicle placard for entrance into Kennedy Space Center on launch day.

 

Those are the 2 major things going on in our lives at the moment that are shareable.  God is definitely working in our lives in some other ways, and we will share more on that when we can.

Now, I’ve got to get some pictures off my camera and onto the computer so I can post those!

The supremacy of Christ

I really want to put an "intro" to this, but I just can't think of something worthy of the words that God spoke through Voddie Baucham in this video.

Listen with open ears. Watch with an open heart. Grab the tissues. Prepare to be humbled. God is SOVEREIGN.

 

 

________________________________________________

When you are done with that, I want to introduce you to Donna Stuart.  She’s a singer/songwriter I met at a women's retreat back in February. This one particular song prompted me to buy her entire CD (I never buy a CD for one song!), and this song pierced my heart.  I can’t legally post her song here, so I'm going to ask that you follow this link to her myspace webpage, and listen to her song, Help Me Believe. You have to hear this song!

 

Here are the lyrics so you can follow along. But really, don't just read them. You have to HEAR her sing it!

 

All that I've done and all that's been done to me

Drove nails through Your hands hard and fast to the tree

and the lies that I live and the shame in my story

You covered with blood for Your name and Your glory, Lord

 

CHORUS:

Jesus help me believe

Jesus help me receive

This girl You've created You have redeemed

Lord help me believe this Lord help me receive

This daughter You rescued You have washed her clean

 

So I raise outstretched arms with my knees to the earth

and I bow low my heart for in You is my worth

and I SHOUT from this mountain great joy in my soul

HALLELUJAH KING JESUS in You I am whole

 

CHORUS

And when I am tempted to believe something less

I run to Your Word... embracing forgiveness

Thank You for loving and thank You for healing me

CHORUS

Do not be anxious

I wanted to do a post about fear and the Swine Flu, but I read this post on a blog I follow, and thought it summed it up quite well, so I’ll just link to it.

Graceful Threads: Swine Flu

______________________________________

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Phil 4:6)

______________________________________

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess 5:16-18)

______________________________________

And one of my favorite passages in the Bible:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

(Matt 6:25-34)

______________________________________

Man of his word?

"Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, `YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.' "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. "But let your statement be, `Yes, yes' or `No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil. (Matt 5:33-37)

Disney Earth

Rob & I saw Disney Earth this past weekend.  I rarely find a Disney movie that I feel is appropriate for our children, especially young ones.  However, I loved this one!!  

Of course, it’s actually from  British producer/director Alastair Fothergill, whose credits include the Emmy and Peabody award-winning "Planet Earth" series (BBC and The Discovery Channel) and "The Blue Planet."

Gorgeous views of God’s magnificent creation! Waterfalls, rain forests, desert landscapes, icebergs.  Awesome examples of His sovereignty & power! Elephants, directed only by their creator miles away to find water, and knowing just what path to take.   Incredible views into God’s beauty & craftsmanship as we look at birds of paradise, humpback whales, mountains, the lynx, and so much more!

Just so you can be prepared - some animals get killed by others in the course of the food chain, but nothing graphic is shown. 

The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God. (Psalm 104:21)

There is also another animal that dies from the natural course of life.  If this would bother you or your children, you might want to hold off.  I’m planning to take Emily (age 4 1/2) to see it though.  She loves animals more than any kid I’ve met, but is completely content knowing that the bacon she’s eating came from a pig, so I think she’ll be fine!

 

Unfortunately, all that was missing was giving the glory to Our Creator for His holiness!

 

The earth is the LORD's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. (Psalm 24:1-2)

How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. (Psalm 104:24)

You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (Neh 9:6)

So incredibly sad!

Two different articles yesterday just made me grieve for where our society has gone.   This is why I don’t like the news websites, but I do want to know what’s going on in the world.

 

The first, “FDA OK’s ‘morning after’ pill for 17-year-olds”. 

This is over the counter, people! No prescription needed.  No parent involvement.  Just a driver’s license (or a fake one, I’m sure) and you can “forget” all about last night’s romp with no consequences other than a slightly lighter wallet for the drugs. 

Even worse, the article says: “He  [U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ] also is ordering the agency to evaluate whether all age restrictions should be lifted.”

So, this would be available to whom? 13 year olds? 12? 10?

Just makes me SICK.  Instead of teaching our children abstinence and values, we offer them a way to avoid responsibility or consequences.

 

The other article was titled, “Recession linked to more abortions, vasectomies”.   It starts of with the following,

The pregnancy was unexpected, and for one 32-year-old single mother in Syracuse, New York, the ailing economy became a factor in her decision to have an abortion.

"More so now that we are in a recession ... I felt I had to go through with the procedure because I cannot afford another child," said the woman, a registered nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

She’s a NURSE, and the only way she can think to avoid having another child is to KILL the baby?  Don’t they teach nurses what causes pregnancy? If she wasn’t ready for a baby, then don’t have sex!   What about adoption?  Or trusting God to help you provide for this new life?

 

Lord, come quickly!

How she grows!

I was digging through some old pics online, and just had to share these. We've had this caterpillar since right after Emily was born, and it's still a favorite. 

2 months old

2 years old

 

4.5 years old

 

Every day, every stage, every year…I fall more and more in love with you, little one!

Keep the memory, not the clutter

What do you do with all the many, many creations that your children make?  Or the trinkets they bring home, then hardly touch until the second you go to toss it when suddenly you hear “But it’s my favorite!!!”.

I am not a packrat, and I’m constantly trying to declutter our home.  Our solution for this is the digital camera! I am a photo-holic, since they don’t take up much space.

 

Emily likes to make things with Tinker Toys or blocks but then thinks we should keep it intact for DAYS!  This is a problem because a) I don’t want it laying around, and b) other children want to play with the toys.  So, now we take a picture of the amazing creation, and then everyone has permission to take it apart and move on to the next one.

 

 

I’ve started doing this with craft projects too.  I have 2 small boxes I keep things in, but when they get full, it’s time to line up the favorites, snap a picture and make room for more.

 

I used it again earlier this week when we dwindled down her stuffed animal collection.  She posed with each and every animal that she was saying goodbye to.  I will put them in an album for her to remember always.  We both win.

Muffin Tin Meals

This isn’t a unique idea, but I wanted to share it anyway since I’ve been using it for quite a while.  I had seen it on several blogs & in magazines and thought it was a cute idea.   My daughter, Emily LOVES samples, and will eat almost anything on a toothpick.  Often she even requests for me to make her a “sample lunch” (lots of bite size items and toothpicks for utensils).   So, when I saw this idea, I knew she would love it! 

Turns out, I love it too!   In fact, I now do it at least twice a week.  I love it even more when our house is full of kids, because I like to keep lunches simple, healthy, and interesting.  I line up the muffin tins and in pure assembly-line style, prepare lunch for everyone.   Grapes…some here, some here, some here, some there.  Cut up cheese….same routine.  And on it goes.

If I include sandwiches, I only have to make 1 or 2 because everyone just gets part of one.  If I heat something up, I just heat up one bowl and everyone gets a small serving in one of the tins.  That’s another bonus for anyone paying attention to portion sizes – each muffin tin is approx. 1/2 cup.  Good way to make sure they get their fruits & veggies if that’s a problem in your house.

 

You can Google “muffin tin meals” and get a tons of ideas, but here are a few of my examples.

 

 

From top-left:  Apples, ranch dressing, quiche muffins, peanut butter, celery, carrots

 

These had frozen peas (my kids love them), apples, 1 gumdrop (made with natural coloring!), cheese & crackers, & 2 spots of plain yogurt w/applesauce mixed in.

 

From top-left: apples, cheese, candied ginger, homemade jello (gelatin & no-sugar-added juice), crackers, & hummus

 

Another take on the idea for snack time: peanuts, raisins, & mini PB crackers.

 

From top-left: a piece of whole wheat biscotti, green bean casserole, chicken breast, grapes, veggies, ranch dressing

 

Another reason I love it is because it makes my daughter do fun, creative things like dip her grapes in ranch dressing (ewww!), or make a “sandwich” with celery, carrot, green pea, and a piece of chicken.  LOL

 

 

Schooling at the Zoo

I’ve been going to the Dallas Zoo for a long time, but only recently realized what a great resource they have at their Nature Exchange! It’s in the Children’s Zoo area, right near the bathrooms.

You can read the details on their webpage, but to sum it up:

* Children bring in items from nature. Up to 5 items per visit. Things like shells, rocks, bones, animal cast-offs, animal homes (cocoons), seeds, leaves, pressed flowers, fossils, dead bugs.

* They share with the staff what they know about the item.

* The staff then awards points to the child based on what the item is, how unique it is, and how much they know about it. The more they know about it, the more points they earn. The staff there is extremely knowledgeable and takes time with each item and child to teach them more about what they brought in.

* After getting their points, the kids can go “shopping” in the Nature Exchange to “buy” other pieces of nature. Many choices exist including seashells, animal bones, crystals, shark teeth, all shapes & sizes of rocks, and much more!

There are also many things in the exchange that are for ‘display only’, but very interesting to look at and learn about!

Here are some pictures of our last visit to the Nature Exchange with some friends!

Listening to Gerald teach them about their objects

Investigating a grub worm!

Items for display & trade

Testing a rock to see if it’s limestone (it wasn’t)

Emily answering questions about her acorn, bark, and leaves

Emily just loves it, and was already planning her next visit before we left! An incredible learning opportunity for child or adult – I know I learned a lot right along with the kids! It’s also a definite plus for homeschoolers, or any fans of Charlotte Mason! You get points for bringing in a Nature Journal too!

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:7-10)

The earth is the LORD's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. (Psalm 24:1-2)

How do I love thee?

If a perfect stranger were to overhear the way you talk to or about your spouse, what would be their impression of your marriage? Of a Christian marriage? What if no words were heard, but one was left to judge your marriage on what they saw instead?


Today I was at the zoo with Ginger, and we saw a married couple with their toddler son in the children's play area. After one simple look at them, our hearts broke for this woman. The husband was wearing a t-shirt that displayed such a sad and disrespectful image of marriage. I can't find it online, and I admit after trying and seeing all the others out there, I gave up looking.

On the left was "Before", along with a stick figure man and woman looking very happy. On the right was "After", complete with the sad face on the man and a drawing that resembled a woman nagging/talking/yelling at the man.



It was along the same lines as this one (notice the ball & chain, and the poor sad face on the man).



That simple shirt the man wore spoke volumes about the lack of respect this man must have for his wife, and for marriage. How is his young son going to learn respect for his mother, for his future wife, when this is what is displayed when they go out in public?

Worldview would have us believe that we are too sensitive if that bothers us or we are offended by that. That it's only a joke. That's what the enemy wants you to think. He wants you to enjoy that type of humor a little at a time until he wears you down and you start believing that it's normal. What it is, is sad.


I am so incredibly thankful each and every day to have a husband that truly loves and respects me. I only hope that he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt how much admiration I have for him. I am married to my best friend. He is my partner in life, finances, parenting - everything! He works hard at his job to provide for us. He has an amazing work ethic, and practices his values at work as much as home. He is constantly trying to better himself spiritually, and as he learns new things for work. He absolutely adores being a daddy! He *never* "babysits" our daughter, but rather plans special daddy-daughter dates just because he wants to. He welcomes my opinion, but stands firm in leading us when God directs him. He prays with us, and for us. He helps around the house, is a great cook, and doesn't mind (too much) if his clean underwear is still in the basket because I was out all day spending time with our daughter. He isn't afraid to ask for help, but is also amazingly talented at figuring out a way to do something. He does without extra things, so that we can do more for our daughter, for our friends, and for the needy that God calls us to help. He is trusting. He is faithful. He is compassionate. He is supportive. He loves my family. He loves me. He loves the Lord! I could not ask for a better husband! God put us together in an amazing way that only He could do, and I hope that I can continue to grow and be the wife that he needs and deserves.



Love your spouse! Compliment them in front of others. Build them up and encourage them. Find out their love language, and use it. The best gift you can give your children is to love your spouse.

Make God the third strand in your marriage!!

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecc 4:12)

Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. (Prov 31:10-12)

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Eph 5:22-33)

Remember, wives are not called to submit ONLY IF the husband leads. Husbands are not called to lead ONLY IF the wife submits. God is giving us each a commandment here and we are each responsible for obeying our Father.

Starting Fresh

I'm moving my blog over to blogspot for several reasons. I regret that I can't easily bring over all my previous posts from my previous blog, but I have decided it is worth the cost to move over here. I'll probably do some copying & pasting to bring over some of my favorites from time to time, but for now I am starting fresh!

So, welcome! I hope you'll grab your own cup of coffee (or tea, or whatever) and follow along!