"Study the Past"

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

Ann’s writing often moves me, telling me truth in poetic words that sink deep into me, convicting me and pointing me to The Savior.
Read today’s post at A Holy Experience.
I was convicted by this phrase: “So I do it. I grab the angriest, messiest heart and hold it close.”
How often I want to push away the angriest, messiest heart in our home! How often I let that one turn me into the one who is the angriest, leaving a bigger mess that is so much harder to clean up than the one left by one littler, simpler… “take the log out of your own eye…”

We are memorizing a passage of Scripture as a family. We desperately need to renew our minds with the truth of God, I need it most of all.

Here is what we are working on.

“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:12-16

Little Ones in Church, a link.

One of the things our church has sought to do is include the little ones in the service. We treat them as though they belong with us, because they do. We used to have a full-fledged Sunday school or children’s church during the “adult” service way back when, but over the years it has fallen out of use. The parents wanted to keep the children with them rather than send them off to their own service.
Read the rest at Nancy Wilson's blog Femina

Busy, Busy, Busy!

What is it about summer months that make everyday life so busy? We planned to continue school as we always do right on through the summer but the last couple of weeks have been crazy and we are doing well if we get the basic seat work in!

The big news is that our oldest son has gotten engaged to the most lovely young lady. We are all very excited and are working on making a wedding happen the last weekend in October.
I have been putting off posting because I wanted to write something brilliant about courtship and about young ladies who are dedicating their lives to serving others...what a blessing they are. But I'm so busy that words fail me.

Meanwhile, let me just say that it is an amazing blessing to have the two of them continue to seek counsel from their parents and to ask us to do a study on marriage with them! I'm amazed at God's goodness to us, when we have so often been so unfaithful!
The Garden from Doug Wilson's book Her Hand in Marriage

That Ol' Moloch Box!

Television

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER
letThem near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotized by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULLAND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!'you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ!
They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more.
Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start --
oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts.
They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
Roald Dahl

Why Family Revival and Discipleship Is A Critical Tool in God-Blessed Evangelism

Unrighteousness is always the result of ungodliness, and the only hope of getting back any measure of righteousness into life is to have a revival of godliness. That is precisely what the apostle is saying to the Ephesians and to ourselves. The best and the most moral periods in the history of this country, and every other country, have always been those periods which have followed mighty religious awakenings. This problem of lawlessness and lack of discipline, the problem of children and of youth, was just not present 50 years ago as it is today. Why? Because the great tradition of the Evangelical Awakening of the 18th century was still operating. But as that has gone, these terrible moral and social problems are coming back, as the apostle teaches us, and as they have always come back throughout the running centuries.

Present conditions therefore demand that we should look at the apostle’s statement. I believe that Christian parents and children, Christian families, have a unique opportunity of witnessing to the world at this present time by just being different. We can be true evangelists by showing this discipline, this law and order, this true relationship between parents and children. We may be the means under God’s hand of bringing many to a knowledge of the Truth. Let us therefore think of it in that way.

-David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Prayer #1: That the Lord would save the souls of all of our children early in life, and that none would be lost.
Prayer #2: That our children would be faithful covenant-keepers with the God of their fathers.
Prayer #3: That God would send blessed, well-suited, Christ-loving spouses to our progeny, and that there would be no divorce for 200 years.
Prayer #4: That our children would continue to home educate their own children, following the Biblical/Hebrew model for discipleship.
Prayer #5: That God would bless the wombs of our daughters and daughters-in-law, with a multitude of covenant-keeping children, who will be mighty in the land.
Prayer #6: That God would bless and make fruitful the dominion labors of the family in all of its generations.
Prayer #7: That our children will honor their fathers and mothers, and be faithful to the godly and applicable visions their fathers give to them.

From Strategic Insights into A Multi-Generational Vision of Victory, Presented by Doug Phillips at the 200 Year Plan: A Practicum on Multi-Generational Faithfulness

Taken from Doug's Blog

A friend and I were just talking about this on Monday. We were discussing "goals" that we have for our families. I specifically mentioned that I pray that my children would have a "generational vision of faithfulness" and that they would continue to homeschool and be open to having as many children as the Lord would bless them with. I realized I sounded like good ol' Doug Philips and well, there you go!

(I've started my Estrogen Replacement Therapy and though I'm excited to be working to get rid of all of the symptoms I've been experiencing, my headaches are back in full force. My Dr. said that since I'm apparently very sensitive to the hormone levels in my body it may take some time before we have the right balance to be headache free and lesson my other symptoms. Thank you for your prayers.)

Another "I knew that!" article

Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
by Alix Spiegel

"Clearly the way that children spend their time has changed. Here's the issue: A growing number of psychologists believe that these changes in what children do has also changed kids' cognitive and emotional development."

Read the article here. Thank you to Julia for the heads up on this article.

We've tried really hard to raise children who weren't all about "things". But of course, we struggle with materialism ourselves. It is very hard to live a middle-class life in America and not accumulate tons of unecessary stuff. It has been easier to not accumulate lots of toys one of the reasons being that we have understood that the best kind of play is the play a child makes himself.

So, I was thinking, in the reality of modern life in America, which toys have we had around for all of our children and just wouldn't like to do without? Books, though not toys, comes to mind, first. We like building materials of some sort...the ones which have stayed and continue to be played with are the Duplos - the large sized legos that even a grown-up will get down on the floor and build with. Dolls, especially dollhouse sized ones are also great. Though we do have a collection of lightsabers which keep little boys immensly entertained outside, that is about it for the toys that we have always had and wouldn't like to do without. So, what are the necessary toys in your home?