Scripture Memorization System
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Real Food Link Up – You don’t weed just once….
Gardening is so much like parenting. With our little ones right now we are weeding...a lot! This morning I was thinking about how much WORK weeding is. The planting of new seeds, new ideas in them is pretty easy and their heart soil is rich and workable. It's fun to plant, especially when the
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Early Morning Snuggling
Just now, at 5:30 am, a sleepy 3 year old comes stumbling out of her room and says, "Will you rock me?" She is here with me, snuggled under my arm while I type as she fights sleepiness. It's way too early for her to be up and I know I'll pay for it later when the grumpies set in; but I know it
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Sons – Strong and Well-Rooted
From C.H. Spurgeon concerning sons and Psalm 144:12: "That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth. Our sons are of first importance to the state, since men take a leading part in its affairs; and that the young men are the older men will be. He desires that they may be like strong, wel
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Daughters – Polished Pillars or a Pile of Ruins?
"When our daughters are graceful and beautiful both in body and mind are then polished after the likeness of a beautiful palace. When we see our daughters well-established and stayed with wisdom and discretion, as cornerstones are fastened in the building - when we see them by faith united to C
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Education and Real Life- Part 1, Seeking Knowledge …Naturally
"...‘How will they learn to read?’ you ask, and my answer is ‘Remember the lessons of Massachusetts.’ When children are given whole lives instead of age-graded ones in cellblocks, they learn to read, write, and do arithmetic with ease, if those things make sense in the kind of li
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Are you snacking on poisioned fruit?
"It should come as no huge surprise that the secular world is confused and off-base about the identity and calling of women. But what I find distressing is the extent to which (this) has taken hold even within the evangelical world. We see the fruit of that revolution as prominent Christian spea
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We’ve been slimed!
Some of you may have noticed that the blog updates have tapered off some and the truth is we're living what we 'preach'... and some days it is hard. Shifting gears from a 'grown-up' household to one with 3 young children is taking almost all of my waking moments. I am NOT complaining and I am so VE
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How to Preserve Your Marriage with Children
A family should be first and foremost Christ centered, with an emphasis on the MARRIAGE. Too many families, especially homeschool families, are child centered. Their schedules and budgets are made to fit the children's activities. The message that this sends to the children is that they are t
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24-7 In Your Face- Real Life Stuff!
Our life has become so VERY hectic over the last 6 weeks when we welcomed 3 little ones into our home. It has been incredibly busy, as we are all adjusting to each other, learning likes and dislikes, character weaknesses (in the children and ourselves), figuring out where they are
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Where REAL Change Begins
"The answer to changing the future does not begin at the White House, it begins in *your* house. It begins in the hearts of the families in the nation...the real solution comes when we start training our little ones around the table and preparing them to take on the future. But this all comes from
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Ever want to give up on motherhood?
Some days are down right hard...some weeks are miserable. Many of us do not have family that helps to hold up our arms in the battle. I am so VERY GRATEFUL that the Lord has placed me, my family, in the midst of a covenant believing community. At any moment of the day I can call a friend and s
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Man Up to Love and Protect Life
This little guy that is staying with us LOVES to wrestle with "Poppy". Almost every night he says, "Come on Poppy, don't worry, I won't hurt you!" Friday night has become our big wrestling night...followed by a popcorn party and a movie. Boys need to know how to wrestle, how to be tough! They
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Training Your Children for Heaven
“A true Christian must not be a slave to what’s currently ‘in-fashion,’ if he wants to train his child for heaven. He must not be content to teach them and instruct them in certain ways, merely because it is customary, or to allow them to read books of a questionable sort, merely because eve
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The Duty of ‘the Least of These’
“A family is a haven of rest, a sanctuary of peace and most of all a harbor of love.” -Manny Feldman Two weeks ago the Lord opened the door for us to take in 3 children (2, 6, 8), and we even had their mom for a few days. We did not know any of them and it is a long complic
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Work Ethic Challenged?
Having a good work ethic does not come naturally for most of us, and this is even more true for children. There are families where one parent is a bit carefree or even lazy, while then the other parent is a 'get-r-done' kind of person. This can often cause problems between husband and wife which
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The Curse of Busyness
Being productive is one of the drums I beat all the time, but there is a huge difference between being productive and being busy. We cannot be busy for the sake of activity, our busyness must have a purpose. Busyness: 1. the quality or condition of being busy. 2. lively but meaningl
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What kind of mom will they say you are?
My 87 year old grandmother has been here visiting us since November. She is a very soft spoken, tiny woman, and her mind is still pretty sharp! I know our time together is getting shorter and there are moments I want everything to just stand still and let me savor all I
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The Most CRITICAL, PETTY, DISCONTENT People are…
Almost always it is those that serve (give, work, sacrifice, love) the least that will be the most CRITICAL, PETTY, DISCONTENT people in the crowd whether it be in the family, voters, church, occupation or group. Do you have one in your family who avoids work? He will be the one that compl
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My Favorite Christmas Memory -2011
As I told you yesterday we had a really nice Christmas weekend. For those of you that have been here a while you know that life here is not perfect. We've experienced rebellion and our son leaving home on not-so-good terms at 18. I don't want to share the details of this publicly because it is als
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Life Lessons of Working Along Side Your Children
If you want to know someone, to see what they are made of, roll up your sleeves and work along side them. Nowhere is this more true than with your family, especially your children! Whether doing daily chores or working for pay outside the home it is your duty to train your children to work
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Girls!!! LIVE 31!!!
Having 2 girls in our home that are of marrying 'age', courtship, romance and marriage is the topic of conversation quite often. As we keep our eyes open and wait for the right ones to come calling...and wondering where they are...we have to keep our focus. Our focus is on: Doing Today's Work- T
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Entitlement Makes You Full of Self-pity and Anger
Are you ever around people that feel sorry for themselves a lot? They complain about their circumstances, act as if everyone is out to get them? Do you know people who get angry because they feel like they have been given a raw deal in life? The problem here is PRIDE. Why do we think we
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A Great Book for Parenting Teens
Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens Here is an excellent resource for parenting teens. You can get it for under $3 (plus shipping) at Amazon. Shepherding a Child's Heart This one is great if you are trying to win the heart of a younger child.
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Teach Them to Be Problem Solvers
I've been working on my new book (I still haven't decided on a title), and I wanted to share a part of one of the chapters. I'd love to hear some feedback in the comment section. :) Teach Them to Be Problem Solvers I am convinced that we expect too little from our children. It hasn’t been that
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A Minimalist Attitude Just Won’t Fly Here!
For the most part I'm all for living simply, now not too simple. ;o) I'm pretty frugal and I don't mind having less to make life more simple. I think it is very easy to get caught up in owning so much stuff that it can eventually own you. I mean really, do we need 4 frying pans? Do we
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The Most Skilled Deficient Generation …EVER!
Although this is an article about Canada, the United States is in the same boat, and they are both sinking! It’s hard not to laugh when Barry Smith starts telling stories about the hapless young workers he has to deal with. Smith, who runs Toronto-area roofing company RoofSmith Canada, tells
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Learning to Do Man Work!
I met Allison a few weeks ago at a party we catered. She and her family were there not only as guests, but she was also the photographer for the party. She has a really neat family which is partly birthed through adoption. You can read more about her family at Five Lewis Crew. When I w
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The Summer of My Life – Parenting
If the Lord allows me to live to be 80 or so I guess I'd call this season of my life the latter part of summer. The labor intensive part of parenting is mostly past, you know, the part of constantly planting, watering and weeding. All those years of work, wondering if the fruit would ever come,
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Rushdoony on Self-Righteousness
Last week our girls were at the Student World View Conference. The speakers were fantastic and the girls came home with so many nuggets of truth! After dealing with rebellion from our older two I do not take for granted that any of our children have a desire to grow spiritually, it is a beautiful th
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It’s Worth All the Gnashing of Teeth!
I popped in on Olivia's blog and saw this sweet, sweet post she wrote about her little sister. It has to be one of my favorite things she has written, I also love that this picture is not staged, she really took it while Emma was still asleep. As I reflected on her writings I thought abou
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Be Able to Jump into Action with Confidence!
For the last couple years I have prayed that my children (remember they are older teens and 20 now) would see real heart ache, to see suffering, not that I wanted it to happen to them, but to see that there are so many in need. I wanted them (and myself) moved to deeper levels of compassion for othe
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The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World
Moms and future moms, know that you ARE building the future, one day at a time, one cup of water at a time. Make sure you are influencing the future for the Kingdom, in a way that truly pleases God. Don't worry about keeping up with the Jones. Don't worry about what friends and family members think
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Our children are…
Our children are God's gift to us. If we are Christians, they are God's; and it is our responsibility to hide them in Christ. It is our responsibility to say 'No' to the world, which in every subtle way would put it's stamps upon their minds and hearts. Our children are given to us to raise for
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Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty of Life!
Before we had kids I was an expert on children! Yep...it's true! THEN God gave me some and I repent and confess I know very little! I think part of my ignorance was because I had two siblings growing up and I was at a baby sitter or at school for the majority of my childhood. Both my parents worked
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The Practical Kingdom of God -Guest Post
I would like introduce all of you to my friend Leah Smith. She just released her first e-book, Diapers, Dishes & Dominion-How Christian Housewives Could Change the World. If you are a stay at home mom and feeling like you are not accomplishing anything important I encourage you to get her book
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Staying Home to Make Home
I wonder what our homes would be like if we stayed home more often? I wonder how many relationship issues could be resolved... if we created an atmosphere of peace and a place for true hospitality? I wonder how many skills could be learned... and how many stories could be told and retold..
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Ya Gotta Laugh
If you can learn to laugh at yourself, and the foolishness of others, it will help you get through some tough times, especially while you are in the trenches of parenthood! I'm all about diligence, training and consistency, but there are days you just have to breath and laugh, remembering you are
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Boys and Frustrated Moms
Kelly asked: "My question would be how to find a balance between wanting your teens (mine are 13 & 17) to respect you and like you? I want them to obey, but they, especially the boy, challenges me. I am thankful to have a great husband who really interacts with all of us……but, I just
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Rasing Up Daughters – More about Chores
Here are a couple questions that were asked last week concerning raising up daughters. Darcy asked: How do I make sure I am training my girls for all God created them to be?! I was raised with strong feminist tendencies so I’m not sure how it looks to raise my girls differently (although I
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Reader’s Questions about Chores
I had some great questions left last week, I'm trying to group them together. Today's questions are about chores and attitude, can anyone relate? Sharon asked: How do you get your children to have a desire to help? Because every family is different, and each child is different, there is no concre
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If only…if only…if only…
If only we had been taught this stuff when our family was younger. We were not even taught Biblical principles for the family after we were saved and in church EVERY Sunday and Wednesday! Yes, we did have the Bible, but good, solid teaching is also important! Say what you will about the evils of
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Choosing Friends and Learning How to Love
Fellowship is important! No matter how old you are, who you choose for friends makes a difference in your life. Who you choose to get advice from not only affects you, but it affects your marriage and your children. Ladies, if you choose friends that are critical and contentious, if they gossip
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Family Life Makes Good Cents
A couple weeks ago I posted why I believe older kids should have to help pay their own way. Today I'd like to break down how we do a few things and the benefits of living as a family. It is COST effective to live together and share: Auto Insurance - Our adult children can be on our auto insuranc
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Should Older Kids Help Pay?
Diana left this comment in the comment section of The Two Most Important Things in Education: As our kids are getting into the higher teens and they are getting income from various places we have struggled with what to require of them (for example a friend our ours has her children contribute hal
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Teaching Gratitude and a Challenge!
As we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving this month it is a good time to really focus on the character trait of gratitude. Little irks me more than an ungrateful person! It seems that for most people the more they are given the more ungrateful they become and act as if they 'deserve' more. Children th
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A Whine Free Home!
"Do everything without complaining or arguing..." Philippians 2:14 Whining children grow up to be adults that complain about everyone and everything! For some reason (selfishness...pride...covetousness) they think they deserve more. Make your home a whine free zone...starting with Mom. Moms ma
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Our Greatest Resource – TIME! Anyone else struggle with time management?
Our greatest resource, and possibly the most abused, is TIME! One of the lessons that were taught to me early on in my homeschooling days (almost 18 years ago!) was because of our freedom, and not being limited to someone else's agenda, that it was easy to get over committed and overwhelmed w
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