November | 2010 |

Fighting Sin

30. November 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Teach Me Jesus

Oftentimes it seems easier to confront a child with their sin, tell them they’ve disobeyed and give them their consequence than to also work with them on what “to do” or how to prevent the problem to begin with. At least that’s how it is for me. So many teaching moments pass me by during the day when I could have spent time teaching the boys how to battle their sin. I pray each night that God would reveal those teaching moments to me so that I won’t miss them.

We had one the other day. Ethan, being a perfectionist, often has trouble when he doesn’t win a game. People with high IQ’s expect a lot from themselves and perfection at games is a big one. Lately, when he has not won a game or not excelled at some challenge in his life, Ethan has been doing a lot of negative self-talk. “I’m terrible, I never do anything right.” “See, I told you I’m bad.” “I never win, I’ll never get it right.” You get the picture. A couple of days ago he had an emotional outburst following loosing a game to his little brother. I sent him to his room to calm down. While Ethan was in his room, Ian brought me some books to read to him. One of the books was: The Armor of God (My Favorite Verses). It’s a really cute book about putting on the armor of God and one of our favorites. God opened my eyes to realize that he was giving me a teaching moment.

Ethan came out to listen to me read and as I read, I related it to the negative self-talk he had just said and the emotional outburst. I pointed out to him that Satan was whispering those lies to him and wanted him to stumble into sin. We talked about how every day we need to put on the helmet of salvation and think God’s thoughts instead. God has provided us everything we need to battle sin and evil in our lives, we just have to use it. Since armor and knighthood is something the kids can relate to, it’s a great way to teach them how to battle their sin. Everytime a negative thought pops into our minds, we need to stop it with God’s word. We need to use our faith to repel the arrows of doubt that Satan flies at us.

Ethan will struggle with perfectionism his whole life but I believe it’s important that he knows where the power lies to fight that battle. As a parent, I also need to be suited up in my battle gear to fight the sin and evil in my own life and be in constant prayer that I will be always ready to take advantage of teaching moments so that I can ward off the arrows of evil that are constantly threatening the hearts of the kids.

Praise!

29. November 2010 · 1 comment · Categories: sinus/ear infections

We had anticipated Ian having to have surgery this fall. Certainly his adnoids removed, possibly tubes in his ears. The ENT told us to try a particular vaccine first before scheduling the surgery. The pneumo-vax vaccine often will help people who get frequent sinus infections. Coincidentally, my allergist also had me get the same vaccine. I didn’t hold much hope in it being effective because our oldest had the vaccine and still needed surgery. Well, Ian has had two colds this month and no infections! I don’t remember our kids ever having just a cold! And I have been healthy as well! I’m thinking maybe I should go on a speaking tour to promote the vaccine:) Seriously, this is a major praise for our family-I did not want my little Ian to undergo surgery. Thank you Lord!

Advent Box

28. November 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: Teach Me Jesus

The smell of a Christmas tree, the taste of gingerbread cookies, the joy of being with loved ones, these are some thoughts that often come to mind when thinking about the Christmas season. Like most parents, before I ever had kids, I had thought about the traditions I’d want our family to have. We generally pass on those traditions from our family of origin that meant the most to us. I too enjoy the scents and tastes that are associated with Christmas but I wanted to be intentional when it came to thinking about how to celebrate Christmas with my own children. I knew I didn’t want to focus on Santa but I wasn’t sure exactly what I would do to keep the focus on Christ. After I had my first child, I began thinking earnestly about how to celebrate Jesus’ birth without getting wrapped up in the commercialism of our culture. A friend introduced me to a book called Christmas Out of the Advent Box: Reclaiming Christmas for Fun, Faith and Family.

That book gave me great direction toward establishing traditions that instruct the hearts of my children in what Christmas is about. Since then I’ve collected other books, compiled ideas from each of them, and have come up with our family’s Christmas traditions. “Many of the special days that could be spiritual anchors in your children’s lives and hearts have had the spiritual content either secularized or commercialized right out of them. When you add the spiritual content back in, and take it further by showing the meaning, you are injecting spiritual life into those special times…Holidays were God’s idea. He created several for the Jews who apparently liked the idea so much that they created others. These were never simply recreational days as our holidays have become; they were first and foremost educational. Christianity has followed the same pattern in creating holidays around key biblical events. Christmas and Easter have no biblical mandate, but they are patterned after God’s use of holidays to commemorate His actions in history and in our lives. God is never opposed to traditions except when they become empty observances that serve no purpose for Him or require adherence to man-made rules over God’s requirements.” (Heartfelt Discipline: The Gentle Art of Training and Guiding Your Child)

My goal is to use the Advent season to point my kids to Christ, teach them the gospel and about the hope we have in our Savior. Instead of just focusing on his birth, we talk about the prophecies preceeding his birth, his life, death and resurrection. As John Donne put it “Christmas Day and his Good Friday are but the evening and the morning of one and the same day. Christmas only points forward to Good Friday and Easter. It can have no meaning apart from that, where the Son of God displayed his glory by his death.”

One of the main ways we do that in our house is with our Advent Box.

Each day the children open a door on the Advent box and inside they find an object. The object represents something related to what we are learning about Jesus and/or an activity we are doing that day. In addition, I have selected a number of bible passages including prophecies about Christ’s birth, the story surrounding his birth, some about his life, death, and resurrection as well as verses regarding his second Advent. We discuss the meaning of the object and read and discuss the selected passage for that day. Most days during Advent there is some activity, craft or story we are reading and I try to incorporate that into what we are learning. There are activities that we do every year such as baking cookies, going to our town’s Christmas parade, going through a live nativity, etc. For the days that we are doing a specific activity, I incorporate a scripture passage that relates to it. For baking cookies I might use the passages about Jesus being the bread of life or God’s words being sweet and we’ll talk about the story of Ruth. For attending a parade, I use the passages about Jesus’ second advent like 1 Thess. 4:14-18 (because of the school bands in the parade, I put a little trumpet in the box). Many of the small objects are little ornaments so as the month goes on, the kids put their little ornament on their own tree in their room.

Day number one has a little scroll inside the door. This represents the old testament and we will read about the promise of redemption in Gen. 3:15.

This little bow reprsents that we will be wrapping presents together that day. We will read John 3:16 and talk about the gift of eternal life through Jesus our Lord.

This little angel ornament represents the angel coming to Mary to announce that she will be with child. We’ll read from Luke 1:26-38

In case anyone is wondering, what do we do about Santa? He can’t be avoided because I’ve tried that:) Actually, I do have a book I read on St. Nicholas day that talks about the real Santa. This year we are going to be “Saint Nick’s” ourselves as we plan to put items in stockings for the homeless. Other than that, when they’ve asked about him, I’ve told them he’s a character in a story and in books. I tell them our family prefers not to celebrate Santa the way most people do and that we prefer to focus on Jesus’s birth. Last year, a child in the neighborhood asked Ethan what Santa brought him for Christmas. Ethan said, “We don’t celebrate Santa, we celebrate Jesus.” So far, no parent has put a contract out on me for anything my kids have said:)

While the Advent Box is a huge part of our traditions, I like to add new things to make things interesting. In January of this year, we met as a family to talk about what we would do this year to give back to God. I got an idea from something I read recently to instead incorporate the idea of giving back to God at Christmas time. So this year on Christmas Eve we will pretend we are wisemen searching for Jesus and will present him 3 gifts: a gift of service to someone in our family, a gift to him of something we want to grow and change in our spiritual walk, and a gift to some ministry.

If I am organized enough this Advent Season, I’ll try to post more of the scriptures we are reading each day.

For additonal resources:

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Thanks and Giving

27. November 2010 · 1 comment · Categories: Gratitude Community

Thanksgiving was at our house this year. My husbands family came in to town for the holiday and we invited two couples from church. I had made place cards for the grown up table and Ethan decided that the kids table deserved to look just as nice so he made place cards and decorated their table. I don’t cook whole turkey, usually we fry one. This year fried turkey was rejected so I compromised by baking stuffed turkey breasts (stuffed with cherry pie filling and stuffing mix with a cherry and pecan sauce). It turned out well, very tender. The older kids played with the little ones, taking them out on the zip line and playing Wii with them. So nice to sit at the grown up table and not have to jump up every 5 seconds to help a child!

Ethan baking a birthday cake with grandma.

My husband’s birthday is always around Thanksgiving so we celebrated as a family.

Thankful for friends.

Kids table

Grown up table

Turkey platter

The hosts

Yum, who made this?

So much to be thankful for:

181. Another year with my husband-happy birthday honey!

182. Friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving with.

183. My experiment with the turkey worked!

184. God blesses us in abundance everyday.

185. Yummy food: sweet potatoes, pineapple casserole, butternut squash…

186. How cute it is to see Ethan setting up the kids table.

187. Being woken up by Ian crawling in bed with us.

188. Getting to just sit around on Thanksgiving-so rare, so enjoyed.

189. Bear hugs.

190. Christmas music!

Should I keep doing this?

24. November 2010 · 3 comments · Categories: God's still working on me

I’ve really enjoyed this blog and the way it has helped me process my thoughts and feelings about being a mom. In recent months I’ve wondered if I should keep it going. I was brousing through older posts from a few years ago and found a time when I had more comments. Getting comments on a blog is not an indicator that it’s a “successful” blog but it is helpful to know if what you are writing about strikes a cord with someone else. Questions I’ve asked myself lately: Should I keep it going even if there are no comments or any way of knowing if a post is helpful to someone? Is it bringing glory to God in any way?Is it helping someone in some way? Is it a waste of time? Should I maybe change it to a closed blog so it’s just between God and myself?

I would like for God to use me to impact a reader’s life, bring hope and encouragement. I’d like to share how God has used the experiences in my life for good. However, that may not be what He wants me to do. Just because something may appear to be a good idea on the outside, it may not be God’s will. I’ve encountered this fact a hundred times in my life and I’m thinking this may one of those things.

Interestingly, I’ve found over the years that as my blog became more serious and less about photos of kids, stories of cute things they did and said, I received less and less comments. This makes me think that the things I am currently going through and thinking about are not relevant to the blog world and changing this to a closed blog or one with a password for just a few people might be an idea to consider.

In the end, the only reader that really counts is God. Now if He’d just leave a comment to tell me what I’m supposed to do…

My Heart Aflame

23. November 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: God's still working on me

We had date night last night. As we were wandering through a book store, I found a book about the Hubble Space Telescope. My oldest has always loved anything to do with space, so I’m always searching for a good book on space for him. Books I’ve gotten in the past are always oozing with references to the big bang theory and I’ve had to get rid of them. So I past on the first book I looked at. Then later, I found a book titled, The Heavens Proclaim His Glory: A Spectacular View of Creation Through the Lens of the NASA Hubble Telescope.

Looking through the pages of pictures of galaxies, nebula’s, planets, asteroids, etc. and reading the passages from scripture and as well as quotes from godly writers, my heart begins to worship. God speaks to my soul and draws me to himself. I remember years ago (back when projectors were used in churches) my pastor showed photos of our planet and it in relation to the solar system to point out how small we really are in the vastness of space and how amazing it is that God chose us to be his people.

Isn’t is amazing to think about how we are tiny specks compared to the wonder and vastness of space?

AND GOD MADE IT ALL.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4.

Lately, we have been so busy I have not slowed down to really worship God and being in awe of him. I get so caught up in the daily activities of life, some of which are even related to church, but in the midst of those activities I am thinking about myself rather than the one who created me. My “to do” lists govern my life, rather than the word of God. I worry whether I will remember everything I need to get for some church function rather than remember that the one who holds the world in his hands has everything under control. I get caught up in planning and preparing for the bible study I’m teaching rather than asking the one whom I am teaching about what he would like me to say. I run around town buying presents for family, hoping I’ve picked out just the right thing, rather than singing praises to the one whom I am supposed to be celebrating this Christmas season.

And at the end of the day I don’t feel like I’ve really connected with what God has called me to do. My heart has not connected with him. I am not living the life I have been created for. I long for sweet communion with my savior and my maker. And for my heart to be aflame with the fire of the one who spoke and revealed himself from a bush. I desire to be in the very presence of God. This is what I was made for.

What do you believe you were made for? What do you see and feel when you look up to the heavens?

“This is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious.” Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

“Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!” Proverbs 30:4

I’ll end this post with a poem of worship I wrote last month:

In His Love

Long before the stars lit the night sky

and the planets danced around the sun;

before I made my very first cry

and learned about all your love had done

In your love, you planned for me.

Your crazy love stretches far beyond

the distance from the east to the west.

It is brighter than the morning dawn;

stronger than any empire’s conquest.

In your love, you chose me.

You rest your feet upon the planets

and are dressed in brilliant light.

The sun obeys when to rise and set

and by your breath the mountains ignite.

In your love, you draw me close.

You are the King without a shadow

and you invite me before your throne.

Ashamed and guilty of all you know;

yet you changed me and call me your own.

In your love, you saved me.

When I stumble and flee from you to hide,

your Spirit can always find me.

Even when I sin, you’re by my side.

Humbled, I delight in your mercy.

In your love, you heal me.

When I close my eyes in that final sleep,

and walk through the gates of gold.

The beauty of your Glory makes me weep,

for you are a wonder to behold.

Because of His love, I will live.

Sleepwalking

21. November 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: gifted education, night terrors

When Ethan was 8 months old, he started having night terrors. Since it’s very rare for babies to experience night terrors, it took us a while to figure out that’s what it was. (Night terrors are not nightmares and they occur when a person gets stuck between sleep cycles. Children usually scream and cry in a way that is different from their usual crying and they sound terrified. Often they can be kicking and screaming and will have their eyes opened, almost looking possessed. Around the time Ian was born, Ethan’s night terrors stopped. He has always experienced intense nightmares as well, though those aren’t quite as frequent as they were when he was 2 and 3yrs of age. I can still remember in vivid detail how scared I was the first few times Ethan experienced night terrors and how upset it made me.

A week or so ago, Ethan had two episodes of wetting his bed in the middle of the night. He hasn’t done that in well over a year so it came as a big suprise to both of us. Ethan told me that he thought he was using the bathroom and then woke up to find that he was in his bed and had wet it. I determined that he must have dreamt that he was in the bathroom.

Last night, he came into our room, got into the bed and just stared at me. I kept asking him “Ethan, what do you need? Why did you come in here?” He didn’t answer and just made noises and kept moving around. He finally got up and went back to his room. I realized after he left that he must have been sleepwalking. This morning I asked him about his coming into my room to see if maybe he had woken up at some point when I was talking with him last night but he said that he never came into my room. He was quite upset to learn about the sleepwalking.

I remember my sister sleepwalking when she was a child and I know that this can run in families. I had trouble going back to sleep last night because I started worrying that between the bed wetting and now the sleepwalking, he was developing a serious problem. When he was a baby and I read everything I could find about night terrors, I read about the bizarre and scary things that can happen to people while they are sleepwalking. I had to stop myself and confess to God my anxiety about it and ask him to protect Ethan.

In my research today, I’ve found that Sleep Terror Disorder and Sleepwalking Disorder are more prevelant in gifted children, and more so with boys. I haven’t found much advice on how to deal with it. A friend of mine has a gifted child who was a sleepwalker and she cautioned me to make sure that the doors are locked at night for safety. I’ve read that having a regular bedtime routine is important, which we’ve always had one, so there isn’t much to change there. I will be praying that God would keep Ethan from trying to go outside and that we would always wake up and hear him if this continues.

What’s your destiny?

18. November 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: God's still working on me

I’ve been teaching a study on the book of Jonah at church. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the reading and preparation involved. I’ve found a few commentary’s especially helpful. It may seem strange to be teaching a study on Jonah, after all isn’t that a child’s story? Since all of scripture is God breathed and useful for instruction, this little book actually contains deep truth that speaks to the heart of every Christian. We can all relate to Jonah’s running from God, after all aren’t we always running when we sin? God’s love and compassion for us in response to our running from him is a reminder of the gospel and how much we need Jesus.

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.” Jonah 1:1-3

One commentary I have been reading points out that Jonah, being a prophet, had a special calling. He was privileged to hear from God and see into God’s will for his people. Yet in running away, he was running from his “destiny.” The name Jonah means “dove” and we often use the image of a dove for “peace” or “love.” Even by his very name, Jonah was called to bring peace and love to those who did not have it, in this case the Ninevites. Sinclair Ferguson in Man Overboard!: The Story of Jonah says, “To be a true prophet of God, and to be made aware that God has a destiny for one’s life, were almost synonymous in the thinking of the Old Testament. In every age those who have been of service to God’s kingdom, whether publicly or privately, known or unknown, have been conscious of this sense of destiny.” All of us who are in Christ have a destiny, a calling, that God has prepared for us in advance. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10). Over and over again in scripture we see God’s people were sustained during difficult times because of this understanding of their destiny. “Few things are more important for the Christian than to have a conscious sense of God’s destiny.” (Ferguson) When we are in God’s will and fulfilling that destiny, there is true peace and joy in our hearts. When we run from that destiny and go our own way, (as Jonah did) God will pull us back to himself and remind us of what “we are for” or what our destiny is in God’s plan.
“There appears to be a direct relationship between our usefulness in the service of God and the sense of destiny we have that, whatever happens, we are doing the work to which God has called us.” (Ferguson) How am I resisting my destiny today? Have I turned my back to God’s calling, saying in effect “I know you’re the creator and you know all things, but in this situation, I have a better plan”?

What is the Nineveh you are fleeing from?

Boudreaux’s Butt Paste

17. November 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

I recently hosted a baby shower for a friend who was having her second baby. I decided to get her gift collection of basic necessities. As I went down the aisle’s choosing items, I came across Boudreaux’s Butt Paste and bought some to add to the gift. I remember well using this product with my kids. We all have skin allergies in our family and I needed to use a product that was effective yet not too harsh on the kids skin. After trying all the different brands, Boudreaux’s Butt Paste was the one we settled on and one I felt confident in buying for my friend.

I received this opportunity to write a post about the butt paste and in reading more about it, I learned that it was formulated by a pharmacist with guidance from an esteemed pediatrician to provide effective diaper rash care. I also learned that if you visit their website, you can get a free sample to try out for yourself. Additional pluses: it really works to treat diaper rash and soothe irriated skin, it goes on and comes off easily, has a flip top cap, comes in travel size as well as a number of other sizes, and has a pleasant scent. Boudreaux’s Butt Paste is made of 16% zinc oxide and Peruvian Balsam. anan I , comes in ,

Children and the Kingdom of God

16. November 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: God's still working on me

My boys rediscovered some marbles they had gotten for their birthday recently and had a blast discovering what they could do. As I observed them going around the house looking for objects that their magnetic marbles would attach to, I was struck by their wonder and excitment. They ended up deciding the bathtub was the best source for adventure and spent quite some time spinning the marbles around the tub, making sculptures, and other inventive things with the marbles.

It reminded me of Jesus’ reference to children when he said that unless we become like little children, we can never enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 18:3). Usually I see that verse and think about the faith that children have in things that don’t seem real to adults. Children aren’t concerned about scientific proof, they just believe. When I read Jesus’ words I think he means that we need to believe our heavenly father the way young children believe and trust their parents. And that is all true. Yet today I’ve been thinking more about how children become so obsessed with something they are interested in and so unrestrained in their joy about it. How simple a magnetic marble is yet how awe inspiring to a child. I wonder if Jesus may have also been referring to the passion children have for life and could this also be what he says we need to have to enter the kingdom of heaven?

God doesn’t only want our verbal assent that we believe in him. He’s not selling life insurance. He doesn’t want godly actions that come from a heart that doesn’t love him. What does it mean to “love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind?” I think Jesus wants us to fall in love with him, to be willing to sell all we have to buy that eternal treasure, to be so obsessed with him that nothing else matters. He wants us to take joy in the things he has made, to spend time thinking about him, talking with him, learning from him. He wants us to have no inhibitions in running straight into his arms and calling him “Abba.”

When my kids spend all afternoon thoroughly enjoying life, I think that God wants me to learn from them. God wants me to have that same passion for him— to have the heart of a child.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44

“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. I lie awak thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.” Psalm 63: 1-8