30 Days of Gratitude – Day 26: Stay Thankful

Gratitude is an attitude. Some people have to work at it harder than others. No matter what your disposition gratitude is a key character trait to victorious living.

This was read during our sermon Sunday, it is from the book Get Dominion. I think it is worth printing out as a reminder to ourselves and to our children!

Those who are thankful are humble; those who are not are proud.

Those who are thankful live dependent on God; those who are not live independently from Him.

Those who are thankful live to serve others; those who are not live for themselves.

Those who are thankful can see the good in difficult situations; those who are not see only bad.

Those who are thankful trust God through hardships; those who are not chafe at every difficulty.

Those who are thankful are teachable when they’re wrong; those who are not are anxious to prove they’re right.

Those who are thankful are constantly growing; those who are not are stuck in their own assumptions.

Those who are thankful attract others to themselves; those who are not repel others.

Those who are thankful are satisfied with life; those who are not are full of discontent.

Those who are thankful are happy; those who are not like to complain.

Those who are thankful are able to walk into a situation and create something positive; those who aren’t thankful bring negativity wherever they go.

Those who are thankful recognize there is a Giver and are in a position to receive more; those who are not thankful see no need for a Giver and receive less.

The main distinction behind all these differences has to do with one’s orientation.

Those who are thankful are oriented toward God and others. Those who are not are oriented toward themselves.

The cumulative effect of these differences puts all who are thankful in a far better position to fulfill their God-given purpose than those who are ungrateful. That’s why it’s to your advantage to be thankful every day of the year.

Stay thankful. Your future depends on it.

~ David Bostrom

Do your kids a favor and tell them “no”, often!

It is human nature, the more you give the more they expect and even demand.

A child that is rarely told no will usually grow into an ungrateful and self-centered adult.

The road to maturity is paved with lessons of self-control.

In a way we live in a child-centered culture. Most people will only have a couple of kids so that they can give them everything they want…so they can be all that they can be.

All around us are people who lack self-control, who honestly believe that they deserve what they want, when they want it.

Do your kids a favor and tell them “no” often.

The sooner they can gracefully handle disappointment the better. The sooner they understand that they are here to serve and not be served the better.

At the core of being able to accept a no gracefully is self control.

A few things to keep in mind:

Teach children at a very early age not pout when they are told no.
Don’t always give reasons for why you are saying no.
Just because something is available does not mean they may have it.
Set limits.
Flexibility is important.

A man without self-control is like a city broken

into and left without walls.

Proverbs 25:28

Teaching your children that how they respond to situations is key to learning how to accept God’s will in a difficult and even painful provenience.

Whether it be with possessions, time, apatite, attitude or thoughts, self control, a denying of the flesh, is essential for a successful and victorious life.

Childhood is the training ground for adulthood.

Do You Worship the Golden Calf of “If Only”?

Over and over in Scripture we see where God’s people turned away from Him to worship idols because they wanted something, ‘someone’, tangible. You can read the stories and shake your head and say, “You foolish people”, yet we justify our own golden calves. When things are not as we think they should be we become anxious, discouraged and sometimes even angry, all of which steal our joy as we begin to bow down to what we want vs being content in Christ and understanding that He is sovereign.

Think on these situations and see if any of them apply:

Discontent with Spouse

Your spouse does not do things he or she should. Perhaps your husband does not lead as he should and is complacent. If only he’d ________. Perhaps your wife is contentious. If only she’d _______,

THEN, we’d have a happy marriage and I could be filled with contentment and joy!

Can’t Find a Spouse

You are waiting for God to bring that special someone, all your friends are getting married and having children. If only Mr. Right would come along. If only________,

THEN, I could be filled with contentment and joy!

Discontent with Children

Your children are rebellious. If only they would obey. If only they would be serious about their relationship with Christ. If only they would ________,

THEN, we’d have a peaceful home and I could be filled with contentment and joy!

Discontent with Health

You have health problems that hinder your life greatly. If only ________,

THEN, I could be filled with contentment and joy!

Discontent with Financial Situation

It is a constant struggle to make ends meet. If only I had more money coming in. If only I had a bigger house. If only ________,

THEN, I would have peace and I could be filled with contentment and joy!

Discontent with Church

Your church is not perfect…far from it. If only we had a better pastor. If only we had better leadership. If only the music were better. If only _______,

THEN, I could really enjoy church and be filled with contentment and joy!

We all get discouraged, life is full of struggle, but let us be careful that our JOY and our contentment hinge on nothing but who we are in Christ. If we are looking to our circumstances to bring us fulfillment and worth, then we too are bowing down to our own golden calf.

Struggle can be good, there may be things we need to repent of, perhaps get our focus back where it needs to be. Struggle can also push us to higher ground.

All these struggles we have are for our good, to sanctify us, to purge us of our selfishness and pride. They are to drive us to our utter dependency on Christ alone. And when Christ alone is all we truly desire then the peace comes, and the JOY… and only then does God receive the glory!

Are you worshiping your family? Your spouse? Your marital status? Your career? Your bank account? Your house? Your comfort? Your _______?

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

Everyone wants it…then they get it…then they complain about it…

*Everyone wants to be in love and be married

- until they get it and realize it takes work and sacrifice.

*People want ‘a baby’

-then they get one and realize it is a TON of work and sacrifice.

*People want to ‘do ministry’

-then they are slapped with the reality that it is a lot of work that is mostly unrecognized.

The old saying “be careful what you ask for” is so true.

Oh, the people who complain about the car payment and repairs after they got the car they wanted so badly.

Oh, the parents that complain about their child, or the lack of sleep, all the puke, poop, laundry, rebellion, etc… after they get what they asked God for.

And dare we ‘go there’ when talking about marriage? Remember the early days, begging God that ‘he/she’ would be the one only to find out there are days that he/she dives you crazy!

Life is hard work, the things worth having are worth working for.

Teach your children to embrace work, to be diligent and YOU have set the pace!

A full life is one that is filled with sacrifice!

Just as Christ set the example before us,

‘My life for your life’.

This Recession

…and how to work!

Make Them Remember

I use to do scrapbooking, now I just do Facebook. Someday I WILL get all my digital pictures into photo books.

When the children came to stay with us last January I had to throw together our curriculum rather quickly.

For our morning lessons I made each of us a binder with page protectors.

In the binder I put the words to the songs we were learning; each month we learn a new one.

I include our memory work (we started out with the 10 Commandments) and our catechism questions…

and a list of the 21 Rules for the House. These were really good in the beginning as the children had to get use to a new way of life. We now review them maybe once or twice a month.

Each month I add a new character trait, we go over this 2-3 times a week and review the previous traits once or twice a month.

All these things, the memory verses, the character traits, the 21 Rules, the catechism questions and the hymns are GREAT to have ready to use as copywork too!

And what binder would be complete without a chore chart?

For older kids it would be great to add a list of goals too!

But this is their favorite part:

In the back of the binder I let the kids scrapbook, which for them was just gluing pictures in. Remember, everything is in page protectors.

We are big picture-takers around here, so from day one we have LOTS of pictures… we’re kind of like first time parents again!

One thing I noticed quickly was something that I’ve noticed in my grown kids, they “remember” more based on the pictures in their scrapbooks than they do the actual memory it’s self.

The new kiddos are constantly going through their binders and studying the pictures, ‘remembering’ the day they came here, remembering when Olivia built fairy houses with them, remembering when we made cupcakes while it was storming outside, etc…

This forces them to think on the happy memories, to ‘remember’ the good times!

I’ve also used our binders to show our social worker and lawyers a little of what our life looks like. The kids LOVE showing them to everyone that comes to visit!

We are almost 7 months post the kid’s arrival and their binders are getting full.I hope to be able to start fresh binders at their 1 year mark and put these on the shelf as their keepsakes!

I also figured if they had to leave us they would have plenty of pictures to take with them…to remember their time with us.

In this age of everything being digital let’s be sure to give our kids some physical things to look at, to touch…to remember by!

Take LOTS of pictures, even of trivial things, make sure people are smiling…even laughing. They WILL remember these things, but you may have to help them. YOU are writing history… YOU are documenting it!

1 Way Grown Stay-at-Home Daughters Make Money

Olivia has decided to make coupon/deal shopping for our family her part time job. The thing about a job is that you have to be committed, you have to do it even if you don’t ‘feel’ like it. I have shopped the deals from time to time, and there really is no excuse for why I don’t do it now, other than TIME. But if I were on Facebook less and surf the deals more I could make it work (there is today’s confession).

Anyway, Olivia is committed to adding to our family’s economy by shopping the deals. She spent about 4 hours making list, clipping and printing coupons, devising her shopping trip. You can’t save or make money without a good plan!

For us it is about a 45 minute drive to the good stores (which is another reason why I quit the deals). So Olivia and Emma decided to make a day of it. The two of them set out for a day of adventure, deal shopping and memory making!

You can read more about their adventure and memory making at Olivia’s blog.

She bought $191.00 worth of stuff for $41.00!!!

They make money by saving us money! This is the real stuff of life, this is what they will use when they marry!

People are always asking our daughters (21 and 18) what they do now that they are “graduated”. I want to say, “How much time do you have?” They do things just like this. Things like this free me up to spend more time with the younger children and not be so frazzled when my husband comes in from his work. Working together as a family is not easy, but it sure is good when everyone is on the same page.

I’ve written about how Family Life Makes Good Cents and this is one way to prove that!

Prove Your Maturity

Tattoos nor piercings will cause you to go to hell.

That being said, it is so frustrating to go out in public and encounter people, young and old, who are all marked up and pierced everywhere, who appear to walk around in their own little world, never making eye contact or giving a civil “hello”.

Our culture is so rude, so individualistic… so many looking to express themselves. The key word here is SELF!

Maturity is not about what one *can* do but rather what one *should* do.

How should we be spending our time, our money, our bodies? How can you encourage your children to make wise choices even while they are still young?

We should be proving who we are by how we live out our lives. It’s about self control, work and serving others.

After spending a day at the local water park yesterday I am appalled at the nudity, tattoos, piercings and RUDENESS!

“Even a child is known by his doings,

whether his work be pure,

and whether it be right.”

Proverbs 20:11

Fiber Arts Monday – Simple Basics, looking for some ideas

With having little girls in my house again I am looking for ideas to help them learn the basics of sewing and easy projects that will encourage them to keep their hands busy.

Cherish, who is 8, is working on a printed plastic canvas project that we picked up at Hobby Lobby. Just learning the simple basics of how to hold a needle and which direction to stitch in has been a challenge, but plastic canvas , a big plastic needle and yarn are perfect to learn these simple things.

She will work on it for about 10 minutes, get frustrated and then have to put it down. I’m OK with that, I want her to enjoy it. The key right now is mechanics.

But the best part of doing this is that it forces time to be still with us, even when I may not want to. I have to sit with her and help her untangle her knots, or show her AGAIN what direction to go in. It gives me a perfect opportunity to teach her patience and the importance of details and diligence. I am learning just as much as she is, not in the skill of sewing but rather in patience and diligence in my parenting, in nurturing our relationship.

I even started my little Peach on these.

I used Styrofoam trays and poked holes in them.

Then I taped the yarn to the foam to be used as a knot.

We use a single thread so they can be used over and over again…

and un-knoted easily.

She thinks she is making something great! She is learning the same things, just bigger and slower. If she messes up the trays it’s no big deal, I’ll just make more. These are also great to keep her busy while we do school work. I even numbered her holes so we count as we go.

Boys like them too, but sometimes they find other things to do with the string!

Here are some other easy beginner projects:

Cloth Napkins

Tea Towels

Hair Scrunchie

Fiber art is anything that includes stitching, weaving, quilting, sewing, rug making, crocheting, knitting, spinning, etc…

Each Monday we can share ideas, patterns, finished projects and ask questions about fiber arts in the comment section.

You can also link up to your blog post or photo account that is related to fiber arts, I just ask that you link back to the most current Fiber Arts Monday post. Just leave your post link in the comment section and tell us what it is.

Liberty

“Yes, we did produce a near perfect Republic, but will they keep it? Or will they in their enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of their freedom? Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction. I tremble for my country when I realize that God is just.” ~Thomas Jefferson

All LIBERTY comes with the heavy price tag of RESPONSIBILITY.

Whether concerning your liberty as a citizen or as a parent, if you are not willing to fight for and preserve your liberty then you don’t deserve it.