Tube Tuesday- Bow the Knee...

Don't judge October apples in June.

Question Forum from Missy at It's Almost Naptime:
What is the best advice about parenting you ever received?
Don't judge October apples in June.

I am often (okay, almost always) concerned with the willfulness of my toddlers. Okay, especially the one that looks like me, acts like me...yes, I refer to Curious Georgette! Although, I must say that Sweet Boobah is holding his stubborn own these days!

Don't judge October apples in June.

This advice shows the mark of my own maturing faith in God not to try to play Holy Spirit in the lives of my children. It helps me to remember that true repentance, genuine spiritual insight and real faith are the fruits of the Holy Spirit and not something I can control or will to happen.

Sometimes, the longing of my heart to see my kids, "turn out right" causes me to make mountains out of molehills about nearly everything. Every spilled cup, sneeze or childish sin is not an occasion for a mini sermon or spiritual lesson. It can be hard to just relax with my kids. It can be difficult to see the humor in their antics...even though I can easily laugh about my friend's kids with them.

Bottom line is that PARENTING IS STRESSFUL...and it is especially so if we take on God's job as well as our own. God's work is lasting, wise, patient and all-knowing...among a plethora of other good things.

We must trust Him.

Only He can see the "October apples" when it is only June!

Behold...Resurrection Sunday Approacheth!!!

Last year I made Resurrection cookies with Emma and it was wonderful! For ya'll interested...and planning for the very fast approaching day...

here's the recipe again....

Here's the link to our play by play experience 2008...

Here's the link to Easter morning 2008...

Make sure you teach your children the story that gives us hope--this is one awesome way!

Powerful Blogging Prayer

I like to think that blogging is way... way... WAY more than just a way to share with family and friends about my little everyday happenings...Just as with any relationships...the more you get to know people on blogs, read about them, write to them, etc....the more you feel connected...and when they struggle you PRAY for them...just as if you had physically met them!

There is a serious situation happening with MckMama at My Charming Kids....You can see Stellan (aka. MckMuffin) in my sidebar and you can click on the picture to be taken to her site where you can read all about Stellan's struggling little heart...

PRAYER IS POWERFUL...even via blog!

If you have time to read this story...this is real life people...see if God would have you stop and pray for this family! I'm praying for Stellan..for his family...for his doctors...

WW-Cuteness Personified...

Tube Tuesday- Sandart--Love...

One for the money...two for the show...

Okay, okay...I know the rule is only one blog, per blog, per day...but I just couldn't withhold funny goodness from ya'll on a Friday night...

We made bean bags...very creative use of old socks and old beans, no? Then we made faces (roar) and hearts (sigh) on them with Sharpies...and then we needed a game...

Notice...Curious Georgette does not like to let go of her bean bags...cuz then her sweet sweet brudder might get them! HA! It cracked me up...as I'm sure you can tell!

Happy Friday night...I'm going out with the MTO gals to my girlfriend's house...lattes and chatting...what could be better? Don't worry about LoverBrains...I won't leave til almost bedtime...and then he gets to do finances and work stuff (gag) and I get to come home late and happy! Yeah, yeah...and hopefully not too caffeinated.

Family Friday Funtimes!!

We've been saving our empty distilled water jugs because I want to make an outdoor game from them (don't worry it's a post to come) and the kids decided to have a "jug throwin' good time!" They were so hysterical that I just had to catch it on video!

Lovely Legs in the Morning Part II

This picture made me think of Lovely Legs in the Morning with Emma of the past. We were all dressed and ready for church on Sunday. So, Darren decided to take some pictures of the lovely ladies in his life...Emma didn't want to smile. She felt sleepy...and she was upset I made her wear black shoes when she wanted to wear the ratty pink ones. HA! Yes, I know the skirt looks really short...I promise that it's not ...it goes to my knee...it was just hitched up from sitting with a three year old lady!

WW-Sherbet Eaters

St. Patrick's Day Lunch...

Green food coloring in the Ramen noodles with Parley, peas, and chives!

For the allergy boy...chicken...yiphee!

Hey, I like chicken!!!

MomE also attempted green tater tots...not a true success but you'll have that!

Green apple juice...is so yummy!

TT-Happy St. Patty's Day!

Musical Good Morning...

I had a fabulous time at the ladies retreat this weekend. The first time I left DadE alone overnight with the kiddos...and he did great!!! The house was even picked up when I got home! He rocks...I may do that to him again!! He he he!
One of the greatest things for me this weekend was the music. I'm very moved by music..and always looking for something new to love. I'm not crazy about most of the "contemporary christian" stuff out there right now...gotta be honest. I find that it lacks depth, has fishy theology and doctrine, and is a little too fast and excited for my average day!

The Galkin Evangelistic Ministries were the musically blessed ladies singing/playing to our hearts at the retreat...and it was goosebumps gorgeous! Here are a few links to preview 99 cent songs...

I Will Sing of My Redeemer

Give Me Jesus

Pass Me Not

and links to the Steve Pettin group they were in before establishing their own ministry...and if you are really interested we sang some original music by a man named Greg Habegger...that if you are super interested I will send to you. I may type out the words for ya'll one of these days...or see if blogger will take a scan...hmmm...never tried that! Anyway, it was a blessing and I hope you're blessed by this great music too!

The long awaited girlie curtains...

I made Emma's curtains, finally! I've had the fabric ever since we moved and painted her room pink...but then I wimped out and bought a pair. They were awful...and I just couldn't re-hang them this spring...sooooo....I did it! It only took me about an hour...so why did I wait so long!?

I must say that her pink room doesn't photograph well. It never looks the right shades of pink and purple to me! Here's the best close up shot that I got of the fabric! I love it's "fresh springy-ness!"

WW-Relaxing in the fresh spring air!

TT- Charlie and Lola

Next to Angelina Ballerina, Charlie and Lola is the kids favorite cartoon. I find myself humming this odd musical tune all throughout the day and night! It drives Darren nuts! HA! Incidentally, Lola is my Mom's name. I love it...and still wish I'd named Emma after her. She, however, doesn't like her name and asked me not to...so there you have it! Neat, weird bit of info. on me! Yes, the song is dubbed Spanish..couldn't find it in English!

"And a little child shall lead them..."

I've been reading a really neat book called "Parenting in the Pew" by Robbie Castleman. I loved this section on teaching your children about prayer.

"Prayer that is specific, concrete and arising from real-life situations fosters an honesty with God that can lead to a lifetime of experiencing redemption and grace. This kind of praying by children can encourage the same kind of realness and honesty in the prayer life of our churches. Corporate prayer in the church is all too often superficial and filled with parrot like religious phrases.
"Dear God, don't let Tommy get killed in the war" was the prayer on all of our hearts but on none of our adult lips one Sunday--until a child said it for us. Sunday-school teachers and trusted friends need to pray with the child who blurts out one morning, "My daddy has a girlfriend and doesn't love us anymore." The honest prayers of children remind us that our Father knows all the details, all the struggle, all the answers."

Emma has been calling out in the night that she's scared. When I go in to her...and I ask her what she needs she says, "Pray with me." That's why I entitled this blog, "And a little child shall lead them..." because it really humbled me. I was ready to get her drink, a night light, anything...but that didn't occur to me...much to my shame. She's started praying at meals too...and that's really cute, as she pauses and opens her eyes to check who she's praying for... She sings one of her songs so sweetly, "When I am afraid I will trust in You, I will trust in You, I will trust in You..."

As Robbie points out later in the book,

"It all starts with the little things. Teaching very young children to fold their hands and close their eyes is a way to enhance their ability to concentrate on what they are doing. These gestures are not prayer in and of themselves, but a means to that end. They need to be taught, shown, retaught and explained in that context."

This has really challenged us to not just say rote prayers...for meals, etc. Do you really think about what you say at meal times? Do you explain to the kids why you are praying for so and so? Ever take the kids to visit someone sick? They remember to pray for them more than you do! It's a challenge to my heart!!

Angelina Craze!

Emma (and Caleb) are very in to Angelina Ballerina...as you can see by their cute dancing...I'll try to catch her with her tutu on soon! The dance teacher, Miss Lily, has a very intense Russian accent and says, "Angeleeena, Dahling..." and both Emma and Caleb can say it. His sounds like "Weena Dawing!" It's so stinkin' cute. I'm already looking into birthday ideas! Not sure how I'd do a ballerina cake...any ideas?

PRO LIFE Tube Tuesday!

I know this is a long one...but it is sooo worth it!

WOW!!! In case you are interested in learning more about this girl, Lia...here is the following I took from the news website...World Net Daily...

12-year-old steals day with pro-life speech

Teachers threaten disqualification, but girl chooses to speak against abortion
Posted: February 16, 20098:36 pm Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Despite facing threats of disqualification, a 12-year-old girl took first place in a speech contest when she eloquently argued for the rights of unborn children – after an offended judge quit.
"What if I told you that right now, someone was choosing if you were going to live or die?" the seventh-grader begins in a video recording
of her speech on YouTube. "What if I told you that this choice wasn't based on what you could or couldn't do, what you'd done in the past or what you would do in the future? And what if I told you, you could do nothing about it?"
The girl, a student at a Toronto school identified only as "Lia," continued:
"Fellow students and teachers, thousands of children are right now in that very situation. Someone is choosing without even knowing them whether they are going to live or die.
"That someone is their mother. And that choice is abortion."

Despite Lia's enthusiasm for her topic, her teacher "strongly encouraged" her to select a different one for her class presentation or she would be considered ineligible for an upcoming speech contest.
"[S]everal teachers discouraged her from picking the topic of abortion; she was told it was 'too big,' 'too mature' and 'too controversial,'" her mother wrote. "She was also told that if she went ahead with that topic, she would not be allowed to continue on in the speech competition."
Lia's mother continued, "Initially, I tried helping her find other topics to speak on, but, in the end, she was adamant. She just felt she wanted to continue with the topic of abortion. So she forfeited her chance to compete in order to speak on something she was passionate about."
Lia's teacher was so impressed by the speech that she allowed her student to advance as the winner. Lia presented her speech to judges in front of her entire school on Feb. 10.
The school principal and teachers called Lia's presentation the "obvious winner" – but the judges suddenly disqualified her the following day "because of the topic and her position on abortion," her mother said.
Lia's father later revealed that the judges had a "big disagreement." One was offended by the speech and voluntarily stepped down while the others reversed their earlier decision – declaring her the winner.
Now Lia plans to take her message of life to a regional speech competition, and more than 130,000 visitors have viewed her presentation online.
"Why do we think that just because a fetus can't talk or do what we do, it isn't a human being yet?" She asks in the video. "Some babies are born after only five months. Is this baby not human?
"We would never say that. Yet abortions are performed on 5-month-old fetuses all the time. Or do we only call them humans if they're wanted?"
She continues, "No, fetuses are definitely humans – knit together in their mother's womb by their wonderful Creator who knows them all by name."

Train up a child...

As many of you know I'm a rather driven person...
so it stands to reason I'd attempt to be a very purposeful parent...

I've been thinking I'd like to do several crafty educational things I've been seeing on blogs, in magazines, etc. So, I created a mini schedule to make sure I start doing some of these things with my kiddos. I thought maybe there are others of you out there who would enjoy them as well...so I'll share!

March
Week 1- Tissue Week 1-7
M-Puppet Show (elastic hair holder, pencil and tissues)
T- Marker Patterns (fold in half and bleed marker through, open to see pattern)
W- Box Decor (cover box with paint and stickers)
R-Tumble Bugs (family fun may 07)
F- Tissue Flowers (lots of patterns out there...google it)
Snack- cheese crackers (on a tissue napkin?)

Week 2- Pi Week 8-14
M-Value of Pi activity
T- Pi-ku poems
W- Pecan Pi
R- Pumpkin Pi
F- Pizza Pi (a lot of cooking instruction this week)
Snack- Pi-neapple

Week 3- St. Patrick's Week 15-21
M-Bottle Music (empty water bottles, rice, coins, etc.)
T- Green gathering (cut out cardboard shamrock and collect all the green things in the house to tack on.)
W- Suessville.com
R-Lava Hop (Parenting, March 07)
F-Pencil Pets (I'll put a pic on...from my book)
Snack-green pepper shamrocks with green dip

Week 4-God's Eye Week 22-28
M-God's Eyes (also known as dream catchers) (family fun, june 07 inspiration)
T-Pictures to include
W-Objects to include (feathers, leaves, etc.)
R-Egg carton eyes
F- Letter to God
Snack Cinnamon apples (Dt. 32:10, "Keep me as the apple of your eye...")

Week 5-Lion/Lamb Week 29-4
M-Lion Lamb holders (familyfun.com recipes and crafts)
T-Lion paper plate
W-Lamb paper plate
R-Egg carton flowers
F-Get Wells (from my book will try to post pictures)
Snack-Decor cupcakes

Ideas from Parenting may 2007, march 2007, april 2007 Family Fun May 2007, june 2007, familyfun.com recipes, Highlights Creative Craft Series book. Ask me if you need something specific...I'll try to take pictures of the cute stuff along the way!