Rhesa

VBS Pilgrim's Progress- Year 2 (Ch 6-8)

2010-03-15T13:19:00.002-05:00

VBS- Pilgrims Progress. Part 2, Chapters 6-9 (Four day VBS plan)

Day 1- Year one VBS (Ch. 1-5) review

*Memory Verse- Romans 12:21, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

*Skit of Year one review done by youth group members for introductory meeting.

Preschool would rotate between the reading room, craft room, play room, and snack room, and game time

*Review chapters 1-5 (edited version).

*Craft Room- (older children worked on a book, a section a day, correlation with the chapter. Preschool did a project a day.)

* Preschool for day 1- Work together on dangerous journey map for room. Each child make their own map afterwards. Roll up and tie with ribbon.

*Play room (jumpy blow up thing)

*Game time- Follow the leader

*Snack room

Day2- Vanity Fair (ch. 6)

*Memory Verse - Psalms 118:5-6, "Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

*Skit of Chapter 6 done by youth group members .

* Reading of A Dangerous Journey (ch 7)

* Craft Room- Magazine cut- out collage of things that we might be tempted to covet and desire in this world (stuff, toys, vacations to theme parks, cars, clothes, houses, etc.)

* Play room

* Game time- Freeze tag

* Snack room

Day 3- Doubting Castle (ch7)

*Memory Verse- 1 Chronicle 28:20 "...Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you..."

*Skit of Chapter 7 done by youth group members .

* Reading of A Dangerous Journey(ch 7)

* Craft Room- decorate plastic key with glitter and glue. Attach memory verse to 'key ring'.

* Play room

* Game time- duck duck goose

* Snack room

Day 4- The Dark River (ch 8)

*Memory Verse- 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

*Skit of Chapter 8 done by youth group members.

* Reading of A Dangerous Journey(ch 8)

* Craft Room- Snow Globe/Jar= baby food jars filled with water, glitter, glycerine, maybe some charms, and picture of child (laminated). Glue lid on tight with craft glue.

* Game time- Mother May I?

*Snack Room

VBS Pilgrim's Progress- Year 1 (Ch 1-5)

2010-03-08T10:00:00.007-06:00

In response to many about the Pilgrim's Progress VBS, here is a guideline that may be helpful. It's not thorough by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a good starting point. If you would like my edited version, email me at mamayebailey@gmail.com and I will send it to you.

Year 1- VBS Pilgrim's Progress (Chapters 1-5) for the younger children

Day 1- The Gate is Narrow

*Memory Verse- Matt. 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those that enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and those who find it are few." (underlined part is the memory verse for the younger children)

*Skit of Chapter 1 done by youth group members for introductory meeting.

Preschool would rotate between the reading room, craft room, play room, and snack room, and game time

*Reading of A Dangerous Journey(ch 1) (edited version).

*Craft Room- (older children worked on a book, a section a day, correlation with the chapter. Preschool did a project a day.)

Preschool for day 1, Gate craft. (white card stock, pop sickle sticks for gate, cut out of Christian to glue in the gate (wicket gate).

*Play room (jumpy blow up thing)

*Game time- obstacle course to the wicket gate

*Snack room

Day 2- Cast All Your Cares Upon Him

* 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all you cares upon Him, because He cares for you."

* Skit of Chapter 2 by youth group members

* Reading of A Dangerous Journey (ch2)

* Craft- make a 'burden' backpack (possibly with paper grocery bags and something heavy to put inside?)

*Play room

*Game time- Ring toss (cast your cares...) or bowling (burden rolling down the hill)

*Snack room-

Day 3- Your Word Is A Lamp To My Feet

* Psalm 119:105, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

*Skit of Chapter 3 by youth group members

*Reading of edited version of A Dangerous Journey (ch3)

*Craft- Make a parchment paper rolled up with the child's name on it and a ribbon (like the one given to Christian at the Interpreter's house)

*Play room

* Game time- Follow the leader in a dark room; leader has a flashlight., Simon says

* snack time

Day 4- Sword of the Spirit

* Ephesians 6:17 " and take the helmet of Salvation. and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God." (underlined part for younger children to memorize)

*Skit of Chapter 4 by youth group members

* Reading of edited version of A Dangerous Journey (ch4) (emphasize that OUR sword against evil in the Word of God)

*Craft- make swords out of cardboard and aluminum foil. Bible coloring sheet- our sword.

*Game time-

*snack time

Day 5- I Will Fear No Evil . Chapter 5, "The Valley of the Shadow of Death"

*Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; your rod and staff comfort me."

*Skit of Chapter 4 by youth group members.

*Reading of edited version of A Dangerous Journey (ch 5)

*Craft- Possible ending day craft- canvas bags for children to sponge paint, decorate, put sticky letter on to spell their name, or at least have one or two letters for their initials.

* game time- relay races

* snack

Extras-

1. In our gym, we had a mock version of Christian's journey that the kids could go through. The journey was interactive. They would wear their burdens on the journey, get a parchment paper, fight Apollyon, etc.

2. Pictures of each child taken with their burden and sword and parchment paper. This was the picture on the front of their book that the older children were making.

3. Children could 'fight' Appolyon

The Tone of Voice

2010-02-27T08:31:00.004-06:00

It's not so much what you say

As the manner in which you say it;

It's not so much the language you use

As the tone in which you convey it.

"Come here!" I sharply said,

And the child cowered and wept.

"Come here!" I said-

He looked and smiled and

Straight to my lap he crept.

Words may be mild and fair

But the tone may pierce like a dart;

Words may be soft as the summer air

But the tone may break my heart;

For words come from the ind,

Grow by study and art-

But the tone leaps from the inner self,

Revealing the state of the heart.

Whether you know it or not,

Whether you mean or care,

Gentleness, kindness, love, and hate,

Envy, anger, are there.

Then, would you quarrels avoid

And peace and love rejoice?

Keep anger not only out of your

words-

Keep it out of your voice.

-Author Unknown

Robert Donald Bailey Jr. (Donnie, Dad, Paw Paw) February 1951-November 2008

2008-11-18T12:20:00.004-06:00

For those that don't know, Rob (my husband) lost his dad to cancer this month. He was a godly man who loved his Lord first, his wife and family second, others third... then hunting! We miss him greatly, but we also rest in the fact that he is with our Lord in heaven because he excepted the free gift of salvation given to us through Jesus Christ's completed work on the cross. (Eph. 2:8-9, Titus 3:5-7, 1 John 4:14-15, 1 Cor. 15:3-4)
Thank you to all who have served our family in any way this past year. We are overly and abundantly blessed by our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Happy 9th Birthday, Tessa!

2008-08-22T12:18:00.001-05:00

Pilgrim's Progress- VBS 2008

2008-08-06T08:52:00.009-05:00

Jude's VBS teacher, "Everyone line up. It's time to go hear Mrs. Bailey read to us!"
Jude, "But I thought my mommy was reading to us."

We just finished part 2 of Pilgrims Progress VBS. It went smooth and wonderful! Pilgrims Progress makes such a great VBS. The lessons taught through the story are life lessons for any believer! I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it to read it. We used Dangerous Journey (the story of Pilgrim's Progress) revised by Eerdmans because the origional 1676 John Bunyon version is very difficult to understand because it was written so long ago. Even Eerdman's version uses words hard for young children to understand, so I revised it even more.

To briefly highlight a little bit of the story, Christian has a burden and lives in the City of Destruction. The book that he's reading tells him that his city will be destroyed and he wants to know what he must do to be saved. No one else sees the danger or has a burden. His family and friends don't want him to leave, but Evangelist tells him to go to the wicket gate and there, he will discover how to be saved. He tells him not to leave the path, the Kings Highway. Through the wicket gate, he walks between the walls of salvation up to a cross where his burden rolls off into a tomb. The Shining ones appear an give him new clothes and a parchment which he must not loose or give away until he reaches the Celestial City.
In the story, he makes wise and unwise decisions. Sometimes he leaves the path, and sometimes he is wise and doesn't.
At one point, he must go through Vanity Fair, a fair that never closes and was put up by Apollyon, the prince of demons, in the town of Vanity. He put it there because he saw that all pilgrims must go through this city on their way to the Celestial City. He put it there to tempt them to love the things of this world more than the King. Christian must fight Appollyon at one point as well.
Another chapter is about Christian veering off the path, when he is weary and despairing, to Doubting Castle where he it tortured by Giant Despair until he remembers his Promise key which he uses to unlock the dungeon door and escape.
In the end, he is received in the Celestial City with trumpets and angels because he has his parchment paper with him which shows that he was invited and came on the right road through the wicket gate.

The story allowed each day to have different themes and characters, which made it exciting for songs and crafts and games and Bible verses. We had a wonderful time.

So even though Jude didn't know who 'Mrs. Bailey' was, hopefully he learned a few lesson about the christian life!

Camping

2008-07-24T15:43:00.006-05:00

Ever been camping with a 1 week old baby? I have!!!

My parents came from Alabama to visit with us and the new baby- we decided to go camping!! My children were entertained while I recovered either in the rv or in a lounge chair. It was very refreshing and relaxing- I didn't have to stair at all the things that weren't getting done at home!

Our New Blessing!... And My Birthday Present!

2008-05-14T08:19:00.005-05:00

Solomon Booth Bailey, May 12, 6:42 PM, 8 lbs. 2 oz., 23 in. long

Work Out Your Salvation

2008-04-19T09:15:00.004-05:00

	"Whoever gives thought to the Word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord, " Proverbs 16:20.
	What does it mean to 'give thought to the Word', or as in Jude 17, 'Consider the Word of God'? It means that we need to be daily reading, meditating, and memorizing the Scripture! Jude 20 says that we need to be building ourselves up in holiness- Working out our salvation. This is what a believer does. Do we really believe this, or do we see these people as seminary students or missionaries or pastors or ministers? According to the Word, this is not a characteristic of some super/sub Christian (as Bruce Walker put it), it is the responsibility of everyone who has been saved by grace through Jesus Christ. We need to be renewing our minds with the Word of God. We need to know the books of the Bible, know the ideas of each book, know about salvation and how it works, and know about being a new creation (Col. 3). We need to be working out our salvation with the continuing grace of repentance. Unconfessed sin grieves God and clouds our discernment. It hinders our growth. We need to be in prayer. We need to be praying that God's will be done. To know God's will, however, means we need to know the Word. That is the way we know God's will. The revelation of His will was completed with Scripture. We must know it to know His will!! Be devoted to prayer- speak to our Creator. These were the truths taught out of Jude at the retreat. They are truths we should all be reminded of so that we don't become slothful Christians caught off guard by a catastrophic event or unable to answer an inquisitive non-believer or unable to discern unbiblical teaching that seeps into our church or home. We must be on guard and ready. This is not the job of a super, extraordinary Christian, but the job of all believers.

She's 2!

2008-04-03T18:55:00.011-05:00

Happy
April 1st birthday, Rose! You're 2 now!

Locks of Love

2008-04-01T16:13:00.009-05:00

Tessa has been asking me for about 3 months if she could give her hair to Locks of Love. This is an organization that makes wigs for children under 18 who loose their hair because of diseases. I gave her a little time to make sure it was a real desire, but after that long of asking, I told her she could- after Easter pictures. She is very excited about her decision and wrote to Locks of Love and told them that she hoped her hair would go to someone special.

He cares for you

2008-03-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

"While we have no right to walk around smacking our gum, likewise, we should not worry either. John Piper writes, 'Anxiety shows that we are too close to the world and too far from God. So don’t be anxious—the world has nothing eternal to offer, and your loving heavenly Father knows your needs now and forever.' The way I faced my last birth was this: I clung to Jesus. When my strategy failed and I proved ill-suited to face it, I would tell Him all about it. Those were some long nights before the birth.

... We will always be tempted to worry. It is my choice to coddle my worries or to hand them over."

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. I Peter 5:6-7
The quote above was taken from Amy's Humble Musings March 17, 2008 post. How timely these words of wisdom are for me. With my 6th baby coming in May, I have been full of fear. I was not fearful of my first birth at all (had no idea of what birth was like). My last two were home births. The first home birth, I was totally out of control and in a panic. Everything that I had prepared to do to help the pain went out the window. With the 2nd home birth, I felt I was wiser. I knew what I did wrong the first time and was prepared, mentally, the second time. Yes, I did manage the pain better and was in control of my panic, but the pain was the same or worse. With the 3rd home birth right around the corner, I have let the fear of what will ensue in a little more than a month take control of me. I need to rest in my God and his provision for me. James 1:3 tells us to count it all joy when we face our trials. It promises me that this trial will produce steadfastness in me. If my savior, the founder and perfecter of our faith, could endure the cross for the joy set before him (Heb 12:2), I can surely endure child birth. And more than that, I am to lean on Him who has endured pain.
With all this said, however, look at the blessings, in the picture above, that God has given me! I would go through it all again if I had to for those sweet babies of mine. A short time period of pain is worth it, in the end; when you hold that warm, soft, helpless babe who knows your voice and your feel right away.
In summary, Cast all your cares upon Him because HE CARES FOR YOU!

Easter 2008

2008-03-24T18:38:00.023-05:00

2008-03-19T17:38:00.004-05:00

Sunday, Lance preached on Proverbs 22. Being a mom, I was drawn to verse 6; "train up a child in the way he should go..." Am I doing all I can? I can always improve. Thinking of this, I came upon this Spurgeon quote from the Spurgeon Archives;

Children in grace have to grow, rising to greater capacity in knowing, being, doing, and feeling, and to greater power from God; therefore above all things they must be fed. They must be well fed or instructed, because they are in danger of having their cravings perversely satisfied with error. Youth is susceptible to evil doctrine. Whether we teach young Christians truth or not, the devil will be sure to teach them error. They will hear of it somehow, even if they are watched by the most careful guardians. The only way to keep chaff out of the child's little measure is to fill it brimful with good wheat. Oh, that the Spirit of God may help us to do this! The more the young are taught the better; it will keep them from being misled.

Let's make sure that we fill their measures to the brim with God's Word so that that they will, prayerfully, be kept from being misled!

Missionary to Ireland

2008-03-17T16:36:00.007-05:00

To most of the protestant world, St. Patrick is viewed as a Catholic saint that we don't pay much attention to. St. Patrick, however, was a missionary to Ireland who preached salvation through grace alone and was not thought of very highly by the Catholic church. Check out my husband's blog for a look into his faith and confessions.

Homeschooling during Missions Week

2008-03-15T17:20:00.004-05:00

For school during missions week, I found an uncolored map of the world on the internet and printed a copy out for each child (thanks Becky for the map idea!). Each day, we learned about one or two of the missionaries from our church. We discussed where they are in the world and what they do there. Then, we colored their country in with a chosen color and made a key to the side of our map that included the missionaries and a little box showing what color their country is. We also looked up their country on Google Earth and 'zoomed' to where they live (I have a link for Google Earth on my 'Link' side bar). To make it a little more involved for my 3rd grader, she also wrote a paper on each missionary. Then, she made a book out of them with the map as the front page. Each paper had to answer the questions: Where are they? What is their mission? Why did they leave their families, home, friends, and personal comforts to go there? How can I specifically pray for them?
Here's one of her papers,
The Parrettes
The Parettes are a missionary family in China. They are there so they can teach people about Jesus and take care of orphans. The Parettes are in China because they love Jesus more and want to serve God! I can pray that the orphans will get adopted. I can also pray that the people will have an opportunity to open their hearts and listen to God's word! I can also pray that the Parettes will be safe.

Now, she has a book to refer to which will make her prayers for these people more in depth, specific, and informed.

Weeks like this give us the opportunity to corporately pray and be more informed about our missionaries. Home is a great place for us as parents to inform our kids. My prayer for my children (besides their own salvation) is that they will grow up with a passion to reach the unheard people of the world with the gospel of Christ. Remember, we are God's slaves commissioned to do his will. His commission to us before returning to heaven was to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. (Mark 16:15)

Mission Week in Summary

2008-03-10T20:35:00.003-05:00

For Mission Week at our church, we had a guest pastor/missionary from India named Chris Williams. He is a man with a passion for Christ. My husband said, "I never met Paul, but now I've come as close to knowing what he was like as I ever will". Chris spoke 3 or 4 times, but I will try to sum up a few of his points.
He started out by encouraging us to find, seek, and search God's face (Psalms 63, 27:4). We should not love this world, but seek God. Moses asked God to show him His glory (Ex.33:12-13, 18). David was a man after God's own heart and desired to know God's heart and to seek it. THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST IS FUNDAMENTAL TO CHRISTIANITY! Galations 4 tells us that we were once enslaved to the elementary principles of the world, but when we were redeemed, we were no longer slaves of the world, but a son to God! So we should not but our passions and loves into the things of this world.

Don't turn back to the world! We should study, study, study and have an intense longing for a relationship with Him.
The next talk was about where God's heart is and where our hearts should be. The nearer we get to God, the more missionary we become. God's heart beat is evangelism. Let your heart be broken for the world. The question became, "are you spending time or investing your life?"
Are we willing to suffer for Him (Rom 5:1-5)? Are our minds set on the things of the Spirit, which is life and peace, or on the things of the flesh, which is death and hostile to God (Rom 8)? We should have the same heart as God- a desire to reach the lost world with the gospel.
Romans 15:17-21 says, "In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written,
“Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”
Be proud of the work of the Lord! Do you know your work for the Lord? Verse 19, speaks of signs and wonders. The greatest sign and wonder is transformation! The transforming work of God is changing a sinner into a saint. We need to get a world map and start praying for the world. We need to be ambassadors for Christ!
What's the greatest thing we can do for missions? Matthew 9:35-38, PRAY FOR THE WORLD TO BE REACHED! He is sovereign over the harvest.
Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
We need to be informed about what our missionaries are doing and what is going on in the world to be a better prayer, then we will get involved! Arthur Pink said that real prayer is communion with God so we will have a common desire with God. So we will have the mind of Christ. Prayer is an act of dependency upon God. It is more of an attitude than an act.
Colossians 4:2-4 tells us how to pray and what to pray for. We should pray continuously and steadfastly in prayer, be watchful (alert and informed), and with thanksgiving. We should pray for our missionaries and ourselves to declare and preach the mystery of Christ, that we make it clear and simple to understand, and that doors of opportunity will open for people to hear.
As Pat Howell said, America is evangelized! Turn on any radio, go in any book store, go in a good church (hopefully reformed), and you can learn of Christ. 27% of the world is not evangelized- not reached AT ALL. That means no Bibles, no churches, no radio, no literature.
Missionaries and money for missions are going down in America. What money is given, 74% of that money goes to already evangelized places. Of the fifteen thousand, five hundred billion dollars raised for church related ministries in America, 300 billion goes to church related causes. 17 billion goes to foreign missions. 18 billion is swindled.
The local churches are the keys to world missions. They are God's ordained vehicle to evangelize the world. 3 TO 4 BILLION PEOPLE HAVEN'T HEARD THE GOSPEL!
My friends, pray and plead with God for good and faithful shepherds and that God will raise up shepherds. Go or pray and give! The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

March snow in Arkansas? Well, we had fun!

2008-03-10T10:10:00.012-05:00

It's official...

2008-03-02T22:07:00.004-06:00

It's official... My 3 1/2 year old son, Jude, has named the new baby for us and is spreading the word- Baby Jesus. Yes, he is spreading the word to family, church, and Wal-Mart. His new baby 'brover' will be named Baby Jesus Bailey (according to him). He is getting a lot of negative responses from older siblings who tell him that he can't name the baby that, but this doesn't phase him. He still spreads the word. To him, it's the most endearing name he can think of, and I just don't have the heart to disappoint him- yet.

The Poor Burmese Children?

2008-03-01T08:59:00.010-06:00

During Mission Week at our church, Rob was asked to give a presentation on Myanmar (former Burma) to the children, grades K-6, while the ladies had a luncheon. To start the part about the orphans and the poor children that need care and help, he showed these pictures of our children in the mud. My girls were with me at the luncheon, but my Kindergarten and 3 year old boys were with Rob. As Rob continued to play on the emotions of the kids and the teen workers with these pictures, my boys didn't realize that they were pictures of themselves! The kids and workers had this "poor muddy children!" look on their faces, horrified at the conditions of the children until FINALLY Robert said, "Hey! That's Jude and I!!!". Then, everyone laughed and thought it was so funny. To me, the funny thing was my boys not recognizing themselves!!
As a side note, this muddy fiasco happened 2 years ago when I was recovering from having our fifth child, Rose, and Dad was in charge. No telling what will happen when May 3 comes!

The other picture on this post is a picture Rob took in Myanmar of a t-shirt for sale in the market. He showed this on the power point and first asked a new K or 1st grade reader to read it for them. They couldn't figure it out. So, then he asked a quick learning, avid reading 5 th grade boy to read it. He kept pressuring him saying, "Please explain this shirt to us-'girs for good, hong shang everyone box on opening times to'. Tell us what it means!" The poor guy was very confused and finally said, "Mr. Rob, I don't know what that means!" Then, Rob assured him that it was a joke, there was no meaning! The Burmese just think it is great to have a shirt with English written on it; even if they can't read it and don't know what it means! Everyone laughed then. His point was to show that the Burmese are so excited to speak with someone who speaks English and what a great opportunity this can give you to tell them about the living God who sent his Son as a sacrifice for our sin.
The children left very excited about missions. I wish I could have been there to here my wonderful husband who is on fire for Christ and excited about missions. He has a wonderful gift of communication that inspires others as well. I'm going to write more about Missions Week soon, but tomorrow is the last day, and I want to wait until it is all said and done to write anymore.

Mission week idea

2008-02-25T10:02:00.006-06:00

A great way to pray for the missionaries with your family is to go to Google Earth. There, you can look up all the places where our missionaries are and the world will spin to those locations. You can also mark them for later observation

A great article about giving birth.

2008-02-23T16:43:00.003-06:00

Read it here.

If everything would just go the way I planned, I would be happy!

2008-02-21T11:51:00.007-06:00

If everything would just go the way I planned, I would be happy!- Or so we think...
Proverbs 3:5-8 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones." Wait a minute, what?- this verse tell us NOT to rely on our own understanding- and it says that THAT will make me happy. Our understanding is not strong enough to lean on or put the whole weight of our life upon like we think. It will bend and break. When we lean on our own understanding, we lean to what suits us and our particular circumstances. We lean towards selfishness. We lean toward the easy way out.
Obedience to God's ways, even when we feel they don't suit us and it is contrary to everything we want to do, will always lead us to the ultimate blessing. Proverbs 28:26 says, "He that trusts in his own heart is a fool." and Isaiah 5:21 says, "Woe to them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"
It's easy for us to rely on earthly benefits because they come easy and our temporal. We can feel them or see them. It would be like if I asked my 3 year boy (the one not happy in the picture above) if he would rather have an ice cream cone now, or $100,000 dollars at the time of his graduation. As adults, we know what he should choose, but we also know what he would choose.
Even our best intentions are contrary to God's ways. We belong to a king and a higher calling. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
So, the question is, whose way are we going to choose? Deuteronomy 10:12 says, "What does the Lord thy God require of me... but to walk in all his ways." His ways are the only ways that bring peace. They are the only ways that lead to success. They are the only ways that will accomplish God's purpose.
This makes me think of a phrase from one of my favorite hymns:
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
So, back to the picture posted above, Robert was choosing to obey Mommy for the picture while Jude decided that his way of being in that picture was best and if it didn't go his way he wouldn't be happy. What will we decide to do- lean on our own understanding (cry in the picture, take the ice cream now) or trust and obey our King?

Father in Heaven...

2008-02-21T11:16:00.006-06:00

It's the practice of our family to pray together whenever we get in the van. Last night in the van, when it was Rose's turn to pray, she said, "Our Father in heaven, twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are, Amen." Not quite from the Valley of Vision Prayer Book, but it sure was clute! (Rose has the habit of adding extra 'l's' to her words. ex: cute= clute, hungry= hungly, etc.)

The Scoop on the Cooked Cookies and the One Still in the Oven

2008-02-19T20:45:00.006-06:00

My sweet husband is always wanting me to have time to do stuff I enjoy like having time to put photo albums together, write memorable things about our precious 'batch', and enjoy other godly women. So, today he came home and handed me his laptop with a 'blog spot ' of my own on the screen and told me this would satisfy for all those things I enjoy! The tough part for me is getting started and figuring it all out. I decided to start with a family update.
Tessa is our first born. She is our 8 1/2 (going on 13) year old third grader. She is an easy, yet hard child to homeschool. Easy in the sense that she is a quick learner, fast reader, and excellent writer. Hard in the sense that she is more focused on everything else in the entire world more than her school work most of the time. She works at it, however, and this is our best year yet.
She is involved in a choir called Servants and Singers this year. She is learning hymns and has had opportunities to minister to the elderly in an assisted living home through this program. She is a wonderful help to me with the family. She loves her little siblings and is a 'second mom' to them. She also helps me with household chores.
Fern is our second child and all the boys are lined up to marry her. She is a fun loving, gift giving, beautiful, clumsy, random mood first grader. She just turned 7 this December, but is the same height as her 3rd grade sister. She is an excellent student. She focuses well and is wonderful in math. She is a big help with the little ones as well. Her main family job is taking care of our little 3 pound Maltese named Jasmine. The smaller the animal, the smaller the bladder, so this is a full time job for her. She is learning gentleness, patience, and perseverance (on cold days) by having this job.
Robert. Robert. Robert- it's a good thing I had girls first-WOW. He is our self- proclaimed handsome 5 year old Kindergartner/super hero/ firefighter in training/ grown man/ violin virtuoso/ duck hunter/ cave man/ protector of the younger siblings middle child. He can be the sweetest, wildest, most dangerous, gentlest little boy. My prayer is that all this energy in him will be channeled into a godly leader some day. He is the reason I pray Galations 6:1 for myself everyday. He is excellent at school, but is a challenge sometimes to teach. He tests my patience, but warms my heart. Watch out girls.
Jude is our 3 1/2 year old sweetie. He is IN LOVE with his little sister- to the point that she gets mad and pushes him away after the 30th kiss. He is our more gentle boy who never harms anyone. His downfall, however is whining and complaining- which he is working on (with the help of discipline). He loves to sing and listen to music. If you ever see him, ask him about the poor old dirt farmer.
Rose (Rosie-Posie) is our youngest child. Her picture is the one you saw when you first came to this page. She will be 2 on April 1, but she acts like a 3 year old. She loves babies, cooking, snuggling, laughing, kissing, and playing with her siblings. Her best friend is her 'lovie' which is a ragged purple blanket with a hippo face for a head. This, however must always be accompanied by a pacifier. She speaks like a 3 or 4 year old and pronounces her words better than our boys. Everyone loves her and she knows it. Her Paw Paw calls her his little Dixie Bell and she loves it. Pretty soon, however, her limelight will be gone because #6 is cooking in the oven.
On May 3, we are expecting boy number three. I am excited about having a little baby around again, but terrified about bringing him into this world. Pray for me in that area, for I have home births and huge babies (Rose was a 10 pounder). Any suggestions for names would be welcomed.
A few more tidbits that include more than one child. The older three are involved in Awana at our church, which helps them memorize scripture on a regular basis. Its like Boy Scouts, except instead of tying knots, they memorize verses. The older three have also begun violin lesson this year. We are thankful for that opportunity for them.
Well, if you've read this far, your probably a grandparent. Otherwise, you know way more about us than you probably want to know. If, however, you are interested, we would love your prayers for our little family. Pray for our children to grow in wisdom and favor with God and man and pray for Rob and I as we disciple these little ones.