If You Know Where July Went, Could You Tell It to Come Back?

I do this to myself every year! May becomes insanely busy and I begin dreaming of LABS, that’s “Life After Bible School”. In my distorted reality, the boys and I will relax, read lots of books, make Jesse Tree ornaments, play lots of games, blah, blah, blah. In all my spare time I will reorganize and purge throughout the entire house, catch up on my severely neglected scrapbooks, write on my own blog and read a few others, sit down and read books without guilt, get crafty and make a few things, blah, blah, blah.

Well, here I am, on the last day of my summer, looking at that list and shaking my head! (It’s my last day of summer because it’s time for teachers to head back to work, so that means I do too! Macho Man and Miss E come back tomorrow.) Let’s see, we relaxed some, read a few books (not enough), we made no ornaments, I purged and reorganized about ¼ of the house, my scrapbooks are still severely neglected – and so is my blog. I’m pretty sure no one caught me sitting down with a book in my hand during the day. But, oh, I did get crafty yesterday!

Getting crafty has its own challenges when you live in the middle of nowhere, 75 miles from the center of all things crafty! I bought the paper and letters last week while visiting my sister. The only problem is I forgot to get the decoupage solution. Come to find out, you can’t buy that stuff anywhere in our county, even at the Alco 12 miles away. I know, because I drove over there expecting to find some. They had 17 kinds of craft glue, but no mod podge. I was beginning to wonder if it was banned in our dry county, like alcohol is! If you want a six pack you have to drive over to Goree. Maybe there’s a little stand outside the liquor store where all other banned substances are sold – like mod podge! Would I need to call one of my Goree girlfriends to swing by there and pick up a stash for me? We’d have to start coordinating decoupage runs to feed our crafting habits! Does it sound like I know too much about obtaining banned substances in Knox County? LOL! Don’t worry. This little Baptist preacher’s wife is only going by things she’s been told!

So, what now? Wait until the next trip to the big city? Absolutely not! I googled the stuff and discovered I could make it myself with my own craft glue! So I whipped up my own stuff and got to crafting. It was so much fun! I ignored everything around me, except the kids, and had a ball. Now I just need to find some ribbon and I'm done.


Whew, what a productive summer!

Actually, between the reading of a few books, the playing of many games, the reorganizing/purging of way too much stuff, and the one and only craft project, we experienced an amazing VBS, went on a life-changing mission trip, visited family and friends, agonized over a major decision (more of that to come), and really enjoyed ourselves.

So now it’s time to get dressed and get busy. I’ve got lots of reading, scrapbooking, crafting and purging to do!

G-man Says, Part 4

As is the case with most 4 year olds, G-man has a problem with whining. We've tried several things to train him to quit this annoying habit. I'm seriously considering this method:

Mom: "What do you think I should do if I hear you whine again?"
G-man: "Throw me out the window?"

He is his father's child.

Walking down the sidewalk this morning, G-man and I heard a bird make a noise in a tree. It was certainly more a squawk/screech than a chirp. G-man, in his very matter-of-fact way, says,

"I think I just heard a monkey!"

Where does he get this stuff? Oh, yeah, he's his father's child!

Seriously, I just went in to check on him one more time as he falls asleep. He was doing that thing he's done since he could control his own movements - sucking his thumb and gently touching his ear lobe with the first 2 fingers of his other hand (like a pair of scissors). Through these 4 years it has made me giggle and has flooded my heart with joy. He sucks him thumb only occasionally now, and I'm always strangely happy to catch him doing it, especially if he's doing the ear thing!

It's a strange and wonderful age. He's big enough to recognize a monkey's call when he hears one, but still baby enough to need that thumb sometimes.

Just as long as he still needs his momma, too!

This One Made Me Think

Lately I've been reading a blog that I've seen here and there for a while. Yesterday, I read this post and it really has me thinking. If you have a few minutes, check out what she has to say. She uses a quote from George Barna that I found quite convicting. Since reading her post, I've found a few more of his quotes that are worth pondering. These quotes are found in different parts of his book:

Having devoted more than two decades of my life and all of my professional skills to studying and working with ministries of all types, I am now convinced that the greatest hope for the local church lies in raising godly children.

Various studies have confirmed the results of some of our data: By the age of nine, most of the moral and spiritual foundations of a child are in place. From the time a child is born until he or she is in the early primary grades, the child is voraciously consuming cues and lessons related to each of the developmental dimensions. It seems that by the time he or she is nine; the child shifts mental gears and begins to use the cues he or she receives from that point forward to either confirm or challenge an existing perspective. It also appears that by the time the child has reached this age, it is much more difficult to change an existing view than to form a new view.

Our national surveys have shown that while more than 4 out of 5 parents (85 percent) believe they have the primary responsibility for the moral and spiritual development of their children, more than two out of three of them abdicate that responsibility to their church.



One of the lessons that wiser parents than I have learned is to remember that God cares a lot less about what we achieve that draws applause from the world, how many consecutive profitable quarters we led the corporation to amass, how clean and organized we kept our home or how many educational degrees we piled up than how we raise our children.

I feel convicted on so many levels! Why am I not more intentional about teaching my children those things that are my responsiblity to teach them? What kind of example am I setting for them regarding disciplines of my faith - prayer, Bible study, solitude, etc? Do they see me "practicing my faith"? How intentional am I about raising godly children? Am I more focused on managing our home than training their hearts?

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 (New Living Translation)

5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

What about you? Please tell me how you are intentionally training your children. Are you leaving spiritual training to the church? What are God's standards for parenting as defined by the Bible? How are you practicing the passage above in your home? Are you making decisions in your home based on what Scripture says or what society will think? What are we teaching our children if we give them everything society tells them they need? Are you mimicking the world, but in a cleaned-up format?

Lots to think about.