Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Please Pray for Little Micah!

I have asked for prayer for little Micah before. He was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. His family has enjoyed his presence in their family so much and have rejoiced to care for this sweet little guy.

Micah is not doing so well right now. He hasn't been able to eat much at all for some weeks now, and has begun to vomit a lot. He is also dealing with a really terrible case of eczema that is driving him crazy!
Please pray for him & his family, pray that God would have mercy on them and allow them to get some rest. Pray that Micah would be made more comfortable. And pray that God would remove the tumor from his little body.

I'm praying every hour on the half hour for him, won't you try to join me when you think of it?
Thank you!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

What I wish I had known then...

This past Tuesday, I went to the first homeschool meeting that I have been to in several years.
The topic for discussion was "things I wish I knew when I started homeschooling". Here are some of the things mentioned:

That we should play with the kids occasionally.

Homeschool shouldn't look like institutional school.

Parent each child, individually...don't leave it up to the older siblings to parent the younger, and don't parent all of your children exactly alike.

(One of the Dads present) Dad needs to be involved, and as boys (especially) grow , they need to answer to Dad.

Make Dad the authority, and Dad needs to back Mom up completely.

Pray for them more!

Work on early maturity...it's not the same as worldiness.

Understand how hard life IS.

You are going to spend most of your time on character issues.

Give them the right things to read.

If you have a need - God will provide - be content with what He has provided.

Respect each other.

It's character, not academics that will stick with them.

Give them purpose, so that it will be easier for them to push ahead when things get tough.

Mine was that I wish I had known that even though we as a family chose to not have high academic goals (we weren't interested in making them fit for the Ivey League) that I had been more dilligent to do actual seat work more often. The other thing that goes along with that one, really is that I wish I had worked hard to develop my own study habits.

We had good discussion on each of these. Do you have any to add?

We plan to talk about life-changing books next time.

Update on me:
I have a surgery date for August 7th. Please pray that we will be able to stick to the plan we have for doing a laproscopic out-patient surgery to remove ovarian cysts and that nothing further will be needed.

For those of you who have been praying for me this week because of my regular headaches, this one was especially terrible, and long-lived, but is definitely gone now, Praise God! Thanks for your prayers.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

A Bible Bookmark for our kids.

While at the Home Educators of Virginia Conference, Conrad and I learned about a great idea for a devotional aid for our kids. We learned how to make this Bible bookmark at the workshop entitled “Raising Daughters for God” by Joy Moore of Daughters4God.
All you need is a 3x5 card for each child and a Bible and concordance (or For Instruction in Righteousness, if you have it).
On the blank side, holding the card vertically write a list of people that you would like your children to pray for on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. Start with Daddy, and Mommy, then go to church leaders, teachers and perhaps other relatives, listing them one at a time. Follow these with the President and other leaders who need our prayers regularly. Lastly, add any long term prayer requests, we have added Micah.

Next, turn the card over and holding horizontally, list a character trait that you think that this child needs to work on, and perhaps a short definition. Then on the lines of the card, write out a verse or passage of Scripture that go with the character trait that you would like them to read (and memorize) each day. For help with this, here’s a link to a list of Christian character traits.

Then, if you have non-readers and they are having their quiet times each morning, you should take at least a couple of mornings a week and “do quiet time” with them. This way they are being trained in how to have personal time with the Lord, and you can help them read and pray from their book marks.