Prayer

I grew up in a Christian household. I knew Bible stories and Sunday School songs, but a prayer life wasn't necessarily encouraged. It wasn't discouraged, but it wasn't modeled in the exact denomination I grew up in.

We prayed for people when they were sick, hurting or in need of help, but the concept of being in prayer for someone - serving as a prayer warrior - wasn't something I knew about until fairly recently.

It actually hit me in one of my first adult Bible studies. Heath and I had just gotten married and joined a church together. I joined a women's Bible study with a couple of girls from our class. A lady who I knew to have two young boys casually mentioned that she kept a prayer journal for her future daughters-in-law.

I was confused (my first thoughts actually had ideas of pre-arranged marriage in them) and luckily she blessed us by explaining more. She was not only praying daily over her sons, she was praying for two little girls that it would be decades before she even met. What a blessing of a mother AND mother-in-law!

Recently, I stumbled upon Brooke McGlothlin's blog. She's a mom of boys who wrote a book about praying over boys and specifically praying God's word over them. The book (actually an E-book) is wonderful.

And today, sweet Brooke is giving it away for free!

Will you join me in praying for your children? The gift of being prayed for through your life is great and the lessons it teaches your children, the paths it provides for them, has the potential to turn them into great warriors of God!

My how things change - chaos turned into blessing

Three years ago today we thought we'd been dealt a pretty awful hand.  I was 20 weeks pregnant, had a 18-month old, and a tree decided to come crashing through our house in the middle of the night.  It was a total mess.  We didn't have extra money, having just finished up paying all of the lawyers from Stone's adoption, and our house had a gaping hole in the back... that flooded every time it rained.

Sounds great, huh?

It actually was.  It really, really was.

Now that we have the benefit of hindsight, I see the huge blessing God sent in the form of a tree, falling on our house the morning of April 10.  We didn't know it at the time, but his plans for our family were so big that the house we were living in couldn't functionally hold them.  He crashed us with a tree and we got a functional house, with the help of insurance money.  What a blessing!

You see, on April 10, 2008, we didn't know about Cash.  Didn't know that he would become a part of our family.  Had no idea that God planned for us to have THREE BOYS!

Thank you God for your steadfast love of us and your constant provisions for our family.  You have blessed us beyond belief!

Horrified

Those of you who have read my blog for any length of time have probably come to the conclusion that my kids are pretty sheltered. You're right, and I won't say it's something I'm ashamed to admit.

I'm not a big fan of the movies that are marketed to kids, I find most of them have quite inappropriate content. We don't have toys that make noise or take batteries. My television is hardly ever on, and when it is I strictly monitor what the kids watch and the amount they can. I never watch the news or keep daytime television running in the background, I can't even begin to imagine what they'd pick up on if I did. We recently discovered some games on the computer and my iPhone that the kids play, but they are purely educational and contain no marketed characters.

I'm a prude.

That's probably why I was so shocked when Cash noticed a sign containing the following character:



"Look Daddy! It's Veggie Tales!"

Except it wasn't. At all. And, judging by this article, my son wasn't the first to make a connection and notice the billboard.

I was horrified, and so thankful that my kids aren't proficient readers yet.

I know I'm fighting a losing battle. I know what I'm up against. I want to guard their little hearts and minds for as long as I can, but when it's front and center on a billboard it's hard.

My kids, of course, are still really young, and Heath was so good at just changing the subject and moving the conversation along yesterday that nobody knew anything weird had happened. But...I think I lost some of my innocence for my children. I think I realized how big the world was and what a battle I was up against. I'm not thrilled about it and I know that raising counter-cultural kids isn't an easy road, but it's the road we want to walk.

But there is hope. Hope that at least a smidgen of what I want for my kids is sneaking through:



"Mom! Look at that funny square guy!"

Yup, we've successfully cleared one hurdle in the cartoon world... My kids have no clue who Sponge Bob is.

Praise God!

Lent

I didn't give up anything for Lent this year. I grew up Methodist and went to Catholic school, so not giving something up is a bit of a foreign concept.



I decided that I would strive to be more present for my family during Lent. To try to say "yes" more and "no" or "in a minute" a lot less. In effect, I guess I really am giving things up, or pushing certain things and ideals to the side, to make the extra time.

My email inbox has a million unread messages and I've totally let my blogging go by the wayside, but today I read close to 100 books with the kids and played long into the afternoon at a local park. I ran through the maze, went down the slide and saved a princess from a tall tower. I love the reward of giving my undivided attention away, but I have to admit that it's hard for me to do.

I keep myself a bit too busy. I can't turn my mind off. The whole time I'm running around the park (really enjoying myself, mind you) I'm thinking, "oh, they're really playing well together, I should pull out my phone and answer some emails." I really struggle with turning it all off to enjoy life, but I'm trying to pull that back in.

The delight on my kids' faces when I told them yes, that we could read one more book, was worth all of my inner struggle to turn my brain off. And 100 books later I can list almost every dinosaur ever identified by man, which has to be worth so much more than answered emails and a clean house, right?

On nagging and self reflection...

Proverbs 25:24: "It is better to live on a corner of the housetop than in a house in company with a quarrelsome wife."

<sup>Yipes!


This scripture has really been pulling at me lately.  The English Standard Version reads... "than with a nagging wife."  I'm a nagger. 


My children nag too.  Drives me crazy.  I wonder where they get that?</sup>


Heath does an amazing job at recognizing where I need help.  And he often performs the task without my asking.  And I often have to bite my tongue and resist the urge to tell him how he should have done it.  Or often I just go ahead and tell him how he should have done it.  Why? Why? Why?


I'm slowly learning that it doesn't all have to be perfect all the time.  I struggle with trying to make it that way. I get angry when its not, or when it's not done the exact way I want it.  Little things like water left on the counter after the dishes are done have the ability to wreck my whole day.


But I'm changing that.


I'm learning to find my peace, I'm learning to not let the little things invade my joy, I'm learning to be patient and through all of this I'm becoming more faithful and exercise self control.  I will fail and many will hold me accountable, but I'm working on it... and I know I will be a much better wife, mother and child of God because of it!


Gal 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit  is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control..."

Quiet Time

One of my goals for this year was to get in The Word. It's an area of my life that has really been lacking.  When I just had Stone I was actually good at carving out the time for myself, but as more kids were added I quickly struck it from my daily to-do list.  As the boys got older, and I found myself with little pockets of time, I was so out of the habit that I never added it back into the routine.  I'm so sad I missed out on this time!

I recently started a new Beth Moore study, Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit.  I've done several Disciple studies, but I'd never done a Beth Moore.  It's been such a good way to get back into The Word and prioritize my life.    I see changes in my attitude and behavior that can only come from being in God's word, and I hope others do too.

If you aren't in a study now, or have gotten out of the habit, I urge you to get back in.  It takes commitment, but you'll be so glad you did!