A Drink for Weary Moms

Isa. 55:1-3 - Come, everyone who thirsts come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear that your soul may live; and I will make with you and everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

As moms, our lives can and generally do spin into the daily monotony of screaming kids, diaper changes, spilled sticky fill in the blank, dirty dishes, mountains of laundry, cooking, cleaning, and more cleaning as the littles follow you around like an aura of dust and filth, undoing what you just did in 2.61 seconds. Add to that grocery shopping, homeschooling, discipling, gardening, miscellaneous activities, and oh yea, supporting hubby and making him happy too. When we finally get a breather, we are bombarded by picture perfect Pinterest and Instagram houses and families whose kids must not have hands because there is not a fingerprint to be found in their perfect white paradises. Girls, we are drained, exhausted, spinning plates and juggling, and there comes a time when we know we are at the end of our rope. We are out of gas and we're just ready to quit. We don't have the energy to shepherd our children, we'd rather parent from the couch. And romance???? Let's not even go there... LOL! So what do we do?

Our culture tells us that we need more "me time", a girls' night out, a retreat, a vacation, more shopping. While these things are nice and not inherently bad or wrong, they are not what you need. They are not going to sustain you and nourish you much more than a candy bar will. Sure, they may give you a quick burst of energy in the short term, but in the grand scheme of things you will still crash if you are not receiving true nourishment of your own personal time in the Word. What we really need is a change in perspective that comes from drinking from the well of living water found in the scriptures. You see, if we aren't abiding in the true vine (as beautifully illustrated in John 15), our focus gets all out of whack, and we begin to think and act like this life is all about us and our comfort, our ease, and our happiness. And when we come to verses like Luke 17:7-10, we aren't comforted. We look at that servant and think, "Of course I want to come in and relax at the table, but this servant doesn't get to." And ultimately, this servant displays an attitude of humility, recognizing his undeserved gift from the master and a willingness to persevere in serving.

So our first perspective shift comes by knowing WHO GOD IS and WHO WE ARE. It comes in realizing that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, (Westminster Shorter Catechism #1). Once we realize this by faith, then we also realize the truth and comfort of Matthew 11:28-30  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Now, as you take up the yoke of Jesus, it may be that you are convicted to simplify your schedule, extra activities, or maybe not. But what WILL happen, is that as you go throughout your day, you will realize that you are glorifying God by cleaning the toilet, changing diapers, picking up the toys, cooking the meals, etc.  Instead of these things seeming mundane, now you can realize that you are serving the God who created the universe, the God who sustains each star, the God who formed your inmost being, the God who converted your heart; something that you did not deserve and can never repay. How can you not love and gladly serve such an awesome Savior? The joy of the Lord becomes your strength throughout your day, because you have discovered and abide in your first love. From that joy, you now have strength to serve your husband, your children, your home, and your family in Christ. Because you are drinking from the vine, out of your heart are flowing rivers of living water. Do you see that? Your circumstances didn't change, but by letting the Lord change your perspective, the burden/load/work becomes more joyful, lighter, and you recognize there is a greater purpose which is bigger than you.

The other perspective/focus adjustment I want to address comes from Proverbs 14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. There are so many applications in this little nugget of Scripture. Our blessings generally come with responsibilities: no garden - no canning, no chickens - no cleaning the coop, no cattle - no feeding them in the winter, etc... You get the idea. But here's where it hits home to me EVERY TIME: I wouldn't have diapers to change if I didn't have a baby. I wouldn't have shoes laying all over the house if there were no feet to wear them, I wouldn't trip over toys if there were no kids to play with them, I wouldn't have fingerprints to clean up if I didn't have children, I wouldn't have a sink full of dirty dishes if we didn't have food, etc... Do you get the point, Sweet Mom? All of this is so worth the blessing of a home, food, and a family. So the next time you feel frustrated, remember this proverb and let the Spirit speak its truth into your life.  I'm thankful for the dirty diaper because it means I have an Elijah and he eats and is healthy. I'm thankful for the EIGHT pairs of shoes not put away because it means I have many healthy, active children who fill them.  I'm thankful for the sticky fingerprints on the fridge because it means my children have abundant healthy food to eat. I'm thankful for each of these blessings in disguise because by them, the Lord is sanctifying me (Romans 8:28-29).

So weary sisters, come to the fountain of the pure word. Drink and be refreshed! Worship and abide in your creator. Let your focus be fine tuned to your Savior through the Word EACH DAY. There, and no where else and in no one else, you will find rest for your souls.

Our Unforgettable Journey - Grammie Eve

I’ve been mentally writing about this for the past 8 months, but haven’t gotten it on paper until now. (Actually I spent 3 hours writing it last night only to have my 6 year old accidently delete it… so here I am again, sharing our hearts about my grandma.)  Shortly after Zeke was born, I took all seven children to visit Great Grammie Eve. She was living at the assisted living facility in Holyrood and had recently recovered from a case of pneumonia. I had planned a rather lengthy visit, so the kids brought their Bibles to read to her and some school work to pass some time. Grandma was 103 and not the most communicative person anymore.  The visit went well, but the Lord used it as the beginning of a blessed journey that our family will never forget.

Grammie had progressed to the point of being beyond the level of care that the assisted living facility was licensed to provide. She had probably been past that “point” for some time. But none-the-less, plans had been made to move Grammie into a nursing home in April. As we sat in our family room the evening of our visit, the Spirit brought to our minds several scriptures concerning caring for the widows, honoring your father and mother, laying down your life, self sacrifice, storing up treasures where moths and rust cannot destroy, and loving your neighbor, etc… He also brought up Haggai 2:9 – “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts.  And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.” We prayed and continue to pray this verse throughout the building/remodeling process and for our (now finished) home. Our desire was/is that it be a gospel outpost and would be used to glorify His name through the raising of our kids, serving others, Bible studies, home groups, and whatever else He would place in our path.  It became quite clear that the LORD desired us to bring Grammie into our home to care for her.

We prayed for wisdom and discernment, but God didn’t really leave any room for doubt in our minds as to what He desired us to do. Our decision was easy to make. I sat on the couch and started writing out notes about the logistics of conforming our home into something more user friendly for Grammie. I looked around and I could imagine Grammie napping in her chair in our family room. I thought about what our office would look like with her bed in it. I did some internet research on products that would make our bathroom suitable for her. I also tried to think about every possible scenario that might come up. I made a list of pros and cons that would affect our family: what would we gain, what would we have to give up?  (Every “con” was a direct result of selfishness.) The verse from Haggai continued to fuel our preparations. What would glorify God more: a picture-perfect office and bathroom that look like they came right out of a magazine or a rearranged office with a hospital bed and a bathroom with a stool riser, transfer bench in the tub, and denture container sitting on the sink? After all, we value life and so does God. It doesn’t matter if that life is “pre-born” or 103 years old. If you are pro-life, you also must be pro-elderly.  At any age, we are still created in the image of God and He values life, whether or not that life is (by man’s definition) a productive member of society or not.

Move-in day!

On March 31, 2014, Grammie Eve became a permanent member of our household and took her place as our 8^th and oldest “child”.  Not every family can say that they have a 103 year age span between their oldest and youngest children!  Just like when you add a new baby to a family, there were a couple of weeks where we felt like we were juggling and spinning plates at the same time. Our family got a crash course on hearing aids, wheel chairs, dentures, depends, hospital beds, transfer benches, walkers, etc… But we soon figured out our new normal of having Grammie around.  We adapted to the routine of providing for the needs of an “adult-sized toddler”. We learned that we rarely could do spur-of-the-moment things without finding a “Grammie-sitter”.  But, in a way, it was kind of nice to be forced to simplify things, stay home, and really integrate her into our family.

She loved hearing the kids play their piano, having the toddler give her toys (which she sometimes didn’t give back), and listening to the kids read their Bibles and books.  She was a part of our school day too. This year we are studying modern history and the kids were always calculating how old Grammie was when: the Titantic sank, WWI happened, the Lusitania sank, the stock market crashed, WWII occurred, etc… She was a walking history lesson! We just wished that she could have told us stories!

Grammie had her days where she was very interactive, and those where she wasn’t interactive at all. Sometimes she stood up, clapped, and told the kids to play their piano more.  Other times she just slept through her personal concert. When she was interactive, the kids enjoyed getting her to write and draw, fold clothes, and play with play-doh (though she kept trying to eat it).  We looked at books, photos, did pedicures, she watched us clean house, and she got lots and lots of baby holding time.  She and Zeke took many naps together.

She was a part of our daily family worship. We prayed for her and we prayed with her.  On my Sundays to stay home with her, we watched many sermons by Joe Morecraft.  I would sit her right in front of the ipad screen and crank up the volume to make sure she could hear. When we tucked her in bed, we said the Lord’s Prayer together and many times she said it right along with us. I would tell her I loved her each night as I tucked her in. Sometimes she said “Uh huh”, other times she said, “I love you too.”

As the weather warmed up she enjoyed seeing and smelling the fresh lilacs, irises, and wild flowers. We brought in the new chicks for her to hold (though I seriously thought she was going to pull one’s head off)! She held the kittens, saw the alpacas, and watched our tomato seedlings grow into strong, vibrant plants. We spent many evenings on the screened in porch watching the kids play. She watched me process and can dozens and dozens of quarts and pints of garden produce.

We came to appreciate that she was far more than just a “shell”.  Her personality would definitely shine through when she was feeling spry. She would tell the kids to get their shoes and socks on, and zip up their coats… typical things that Grandma would be concerned about. If the kids weren’t around, she missed them. I’m sure she came to appreciate the inherent noise level in a home with 7 kids… or maybe she thought that being hard of hearing was really a blessing!

A week before she passed, she had several really good days where she was chatty, getting around well, observant, and interactive. One morning I had been putting clothes in the dryer and I stopped by her bed to say good morning.  She grabbed my hands and said that they were cold.  She cupped her hands around mine and rubbed them, then she put my fingers to her mouth to blow on them to warm them up. (Just like any mom would do.)  Later that morning she said to me, “When are they coming to get me? I’m ready to go!”  I told her that we weren’t going anywhere that day. She asked me the question again.

We’ve been told that often people will rally right before their time is finished. That seemed to be the case with Grammie.  The next day she was a “rag doll”. She didn’t seem to know what was going on, she was weak, and not very interactive. The next few days continued on the same path where she became less and less responsive. She wasn’t sick at all, but just coasting through the last days that the good Lord had ordained for her. She died so peacefully while Keilah and I were holding her hand and caressing her head, telling her that we loved her and praying for her. In retrospect, I wonder if she had a much deeper meaning in asking me, “When are they coming to get me? I’m ready.”

When we took Grammie in, we did it in order to be a blessing to her. We knew it would help teach our children about true love, self sacrifice, honoring the elderly, and valuing life.  Although we knew she would be a blessing to us too, we had no idea how much of an impact she would have on our family.  She gave us far more than we gave her. What we would give to still have our “oldest child” with us again: to have an opportunity to serve her longer; to serve her better.  But we are so thankful that the Lord gave us the time He did. We are grieving, but are comforted by 1 Thes. 4:13: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”  We have hope.

We now sit in our home where 8 months ago we imagined what it would “look” like to move Grammie in with us.  Her chair is gone, her bed is gone, her wheel chair and walker are gone, her bathroom supplies are gone. And now we get to figure out what our “new” normal looks like since (as Keilah puts it), “Grammie Eve has gone to glory, and is clothed in white with a crown, worshiping Jesus.”

Fear of the Lord and the Attributes of God

For many months I have been meditating on and doing a Bible survey on the fear of the Lord. What is it exactly? How do you get it/do it? How do you teach it to your kids? How do you live it out in your life? Doing a Bible study on it by looking up each instance it is used (fear of God, fear of the Lord, etc.) is very helpful and I would recommend that you do that. I am a firm believer in letting scripture interpret scripture… and in letting the scriptures define fear of the Lord you will find such definitions as: wisdom (Job 28:28); is clean, enduring forever (Psalm 19:9); beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10, Prov. 9:10); the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7); the hatred of evil (Prov. 8:13); a fountain of life (Prov. 14:27); instruction in wisdom (Prov. 15:33); it turns you away from evil (Prov. 16:6); it leads to life (Prov. 19:23); etc… (Note that this is not an exhaustive list.)  Even more, you can walk in it, delight in it, know it, continue in it, it leads to life, riches (spiritual), and honor, it is better than treasure, it is Zion’s treasure, you can be taught it, it is clean….

Wow! Don’t you want this to the fullest extent? Don’t you want to teach it to your children? I do! I want to grasp it, to drink it in, to breath it out, to fully understand it more each day. One of the ways that our family immerses ourselves in God’s truth is daily reading and studying of the Word by reading the Bible chronologically through each year. Here is the reading plan we use. I get through it 2-3 times per year by just doubling up on the daily readings and this year, my 11 year old wanted to go through the Bible 2 times too. I teach our kids to read at the age of 3-4 so that by the January after they turn 5, they can join the family in the yearly Bible reading plan. In addition to the daily reading, we also read a chapter in Proverbs, going through the whole book once/month. (For example, if it is the 10^th, we read chapter 10 in Proverbs.)  This is very helpful in cultivating a good knowledge of God’s word throughout the years. In addition, we generally work our way through a more in depth study of a book of the Bible, a character study, a topical study, etc. for our morning devotions and we have a fantastic study guide on the book of Proverbs that we work through with Dad in the evenings.

So in an attempt to better understand the Fear of the Lord, we began an extensive study on the attributes of God. If we are going to fear God, we have to know WHO we are fearing. WHO IS THIS GOD??? What do we believe about Him and have we been taught RIGHTLY about who He is? Or is He just what I have constructed in my mind? Have I been taught rightly about Him? If what I believe about Him consists of what my fleshy mind comes up with, then “He” is just a fabricated idol. I want to believe correctly about Him based upon what He says about Himself in the scriptures and how He revealed Himself through His son. And, I want my children to do the same.

Paul Washer has a great, FREE, ebook/pdf file entitled The OneTrue God that the kids and I are working through together. (He also has a free ebook about man’s true nature that we will do when we are finished with The One True God.) In addition, Tozer’s book: The Knowledge of the Holy is an awesome reference. I have read and worked through it several times and each time I am richly blessed. I also started the Bible study, Behold Your God by John Snyder. It sure is amazing how the Lord brings so many resources into my life that all deal with the same thing! I guess He is really challenging me to study His attributes!

This journey continues to be a blessing to my soul as I “taste and see that the Lord is good”. I find myself striving evermore to behold the beauty of Christ and His sacrifice for me. As I see God for what He really is, and see myself and my sin for what I really am, I am forced into submission, humility, trembling, and thankfulness to my savior who would save a “wretch like me”.  I would encourage you to reflect and really study what scripture says about God: His holiness, eternality, sovereignty, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, love, justice, grace, mercy, faithfulness, truthfulness, righteousness, self-existence, immutability, etc… You will be highly blessed.

Encouraged, Inspired, and Gearing up for the Homeschool Year!!!

Our campsite at family camp...

 We just returned from the "Renewing the Family" camp late last night and I can't say enough great things about it! This was our first year attending and I'm sure it will now become an annual event. It was held at Maranatha Bible Camp in Maxwell, NE and that facility is just amazing. The activities were endless, the weather was beautiful, and the people were so encouraging! It was a breath of fresh air spiritually, emotionally... (not really physically, I think it will take a while to recover from family camp)!

Lets face it, when you have a parcel of kids and embrace intense home discipleship as a means of bringing them up in the training and instruction of the Lord, you are in the minority. When the days get hard, there isn't always another like-minded family around to pray with you and encourage you. It is always such a joy to meet others who have the same convictions (especially those who are further along and have survived the process)! That being said, we do have a great support in our current community, but not everybody is that fortunate. So meeting a lot of other people who have decided to walk this route through life is such a blessing. We realize that we are not as isolated as it seems at face value!

But now that family camp has come and gone, it is time to channel that excitement and energy into getting our school year jump started. Last year, after much prayer about the focus of our time, the Lord impressed 2 Peter 1:5-9 on our hearts and it became our theme. It was such a blessing to have such a great verse to constantly meditate on and strive toward. This year the Lord has given us another theme... it really has gotten a bit comical as to how often this same idea has repeatedly come up! Matthew 6:33 says: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."  For us, there are so many great things that we try to fit in each week that we end up rushing through stuff, eliminating others, or doing it all and barely surviving.  By the end of the week, we are all exhausted and burnt out! The Lord has been impressing upon me that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".  Fearing Him means obedience and also seeking Him first. If we are faithful to do that, then He is faithful to do His part. If I am teaching my kids to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength... then I am not failing even if the 6th page of the logic workbook didn't get completed! As we have put this into practice the past several weeks, I am in awe (but not surprised) at how much we are able to accomplish without the stress. God is faithful to His word!

Kezi doing Bible reading at camp.

So this morning, after several late nights, my "flesh" was quite ready to wake the kiddos up early and get a flying start on their studies... rushing through devotions so we could get on to "school". But the Spirit led me in a different manner. I let the kids have a good night's sleep and we had a great family worship time (minus Daddy who had to be to work).  Last year we focused on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and while we will continually be working and re-working through that book, our focus for the next couple of months is a little book called "The Child's Book on Repentance" by Thomas H. Gallandet (1834). We've been having great discussion times surrounding each chapter culminating with each child making a goal of how they will apply the discussed concept to their life that day. The kids are also working through a precept workbook on James and memorizing James at the same time.  We took time to re-discuss Psalm 110 (which was discussed at camp) and then we sang it. (Psalm singing has been a real treat for us after buying a psalter a year ago, but that is a whole different topic). Again, we didn't rush through this worship time. It was a blessing and the rest of the day has been blessed as a result.  Needless to say, it wasn't 8 a.m. when the kids were done with worship and ready to start daily Bible reading and the rest of their studies.... it is the middle of the afternoon and we are still plugging away on math, book reports, english, reading, etc... The kids are still joyous, diligent, and applying character concepts from our lesson this morning. Was the day successful? You bet it was... after all: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!

Kaser enjoying the beach. Happy birthday, he turned 1!

 It is amazing that after spending 5 days with a group of like minded families (of which 99.999% of them also homeschool), I only had ONE curriculum discussion! And that mom used the same thing that we are switching to! What a wonderful, sovereign God we serve who divinely crossed our paths! It was a blessing to get tips/tricks from her and get to share some of my own insights as well. Again, what a blessing family camp was.  I'm posting a few of our pictures... enjoy!!

Evening chapel was too much when Kyli skipped her nap!

 There was a cardboard and duct tape boat building contest that we did with another family. Who knew how fun that was going to be. Let me tell you, they built a GREAT boat and it floated for a LONG time, even with two 11 year olds in it!! In fact, it didn't even sink. But FYI... duct tape doesn't really like to stick to cardboard!

 Happy birthday, Kenan!!! He had a birthday at camp too!!

We all enjoyed the sweet shop, that was a fun little hangout (albeit loud)!

Kaser eating Daddy's shake.

Kaleb jumping on the blob.

Kyli having fun swimming!

Kezi on the rocket.

The Joys of Teaching, Working, Playing, Praying, and Serving with your Children

OK, that's a long title just to communicate some of the random things we have been up to lately! First of all, the kids have been studying the 13 original colonies, memorizing them, learning about early colonial life, strife and friendships with the native Americans, the Quakers, the Puritans, pirates, witch trials, etc... and reading some AWESOME living books to solidify their knowledge of this time period. They made a "map" of New England out of different materials and then painted the Atlantic Ocean... Here are some pictures of their work:

 So, we have been busy enjoying our "trial period" of a different curriculum. I'm thinking that we will be making the switch for sure come August.

Our Kezi just had a birthday last weekend (she turned 7). Keilah and Kaleb each made her a present: Kaleb built her a wooden airplane out of some scrap lumber. He sawed and nailed it together all by himself (he designed it too).  Keilah made her a little zippered, lined pouch for putting her toy horses in. I talked her through how to sew it, but she did the work all by herself. Here is a picture of their handiwork: I'm proud of the work that they both did... even though you can't see the fine details in this picture...!

The other thing we have been up to is running! We love being active together as a family, but I thought it would be fun to train for a 5K (the older 3 kiddos and myself). I don't know if we will do an actual, organized race, but we will be trained up for one none-the-less.  Sometimes we train with all of the kids (3 runners and 3 in strollers which means I push the double stroller and Kaleb gets to push the single). Sometimes we go 3.1 miles, sometimes we go 5 miles. Sometimes we run on the road. Sometimes we run trails in the pasture on the hills. At any rate, I'm quite proud of their endurance and heart (even and especially when we are pushing the strollers on the dirt). The best part is sitting down with our water after we are done and talking to each other. I usually tell people that I hate running, but I LOVE how I feel after I run: thankful, refreshed, energized, strong... It is fun to share that feeling with my kids. They are so encouraging to each other during and afterward; it is almost as if running wards off strife! We will probably be ready in a week or two. I'm surprised how quickly the kids have built up their endurance! I would encourage you to get active with your kids: walk, run, bike ride, hike, geocache.... whatever... it is an awesome experience to share and a great way to enjoy God through His creation.  Truth be told, I tried to get my husband to train with us.... He said "no". But he happily volunteered to ride the 4 wheeler with the 3 little ones and carry water for the runners. Isn't he a great husband?

The Passover... Why We Celebrate...

I did not grow up celebrating Passover, so this is a relatively new idea for our family. I have read about the Passover numerous times over my life, but I never thought about the rich symbolism, meaning, and memories celebrating it would bring to our family. I never thought about how celebrating the Passover would really make the scriptures come alive... both for our children, and for us.  (Gee, I wonder if that is what God had in mind when He ordained the feast in the first place.....)

We love traditions. We love thinking back on annual gatherings with fondness and looking forward to the next event with anticipation. We try to recreate our own childhood events for our children so that they have similar memories (just think of your Christmas traditions... we usually celebrate the same way with our kids as we celebrated when we were kids). This builds a sense of family heritage. And it is awesome.  But what about our spiritual heritage? Are we intentionally building family traditions focusing our attention God-ward?

Focusing on the Biblical feasts allows us to concentrate on what the Lord has done for us without the distractions of our commercially driven culture. I mean, I don't go to Wal-Mart and get bombarded by the "Passover Bunny", the "Shavouth Claus", or the "Omer Fairy". At least in this part of the Kansas, the rich meanings of the Biblical feasts have not been raped by retail predators trying to make a buck off of a holiday.

So why can't we just incorporate our family's spiritual heritage into one of the holidays that we already celebrate? Well, you can. And I hope you do. But it didn't work so well for us. Nearly every major holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) we are gathered together with extended family from both sides. Other than the prayer before the meal, there is very little talking about the Lord, or to the Lord. We have tried to intentionally steer the conversation towards spiritual matters and personal stories of God's deliverance... but it was not to be. We have some strong believers in our extended family, but there are others who are not interested in such conversations. So as much as we love and adore our relatives and spending holidays with them, these events weren't creating a heritage of spiritual traditions that we feel are important for our children. Enter in.... Passover.

Exodus 12:14 tells us that God instituted the Passover feast to be done as a memorial. A memorial of what? Of His deliverance of His people from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. He provided protection to them (by the blood of a lamb) from the angel of death. Each family had to make sure they were under the protection of the blood of the innocent lamb by applying the blood to their doorposts. The Passover was to be celebrated each year with their children. Exodus 12:24 says, "And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever". It was a means of making sure your children (and each generation) would remember what the Lord has done for His people. God wants us to share about His faithfulness with our children. We are not to forget what He has done and what He continues to do. During trials, it is great comfort to draw on His past and present steadfast love and faithfulness! But I can't draw on this if I don't know the history of His character.

But why single out a special event to share this? Shouldn't this be done in our everyday lives? Well, yes.... and yes! Absolutely, we need to be teaching about God's character and deliverance each day: Deut. 6:4-9. But isn't it exciting to look forward to a special day? A day where we do things a bit differently than normal days? A day to dress up, bring out the fine china, cook a special meal, and plan extra special activities? My kids have been anticipating this event all year! They remember much of the symbolism of the Seder plate and matzo from the previous year's celebration. They are excited to search for pieces of leavened bread by candle light (symbolizing searching for the sin in our lives), to drink from the 4 cups, to wait in anticipation of Elijah to come, to taste the parsley dipped in salt water (symbolizing God bringing His people forth from bondage and crossing the Red Sea.... but also the bringing us forth from the bondage of sin), etc... This isn't meant to be an exegesis of the symbolic nature of the Passover, so I won't talk about every detail... but you get the picture. But we also remember, that about 2000ish years ago, during the Passover feast, our Messiah came and was sacrificed as the innocent lamb of God. He broke us out of the bondage of OUR sin... if we have come to faith in Him. He drank the bitter cup of God's wrath and came out victorious over death and the grave. This is worth remembering... it is worth remembering in a symbolic way.

I recommend this book if you are interested in finding out how to celebrate the various Biblical feasts with your family. Celebrating Biblical Feasts does a great job explaining the symbolism and telling you how to participate in these exciting feasts. Are we 100% kosher in our celebrating? No, we are not... but you can be if you want to. Our position has been that we want to teach principles and concepts.... not regulations.

I hope that you take time this weekend to truely meditate on what was at stake at Calvary. To examine yourself to see if you are truly in the faith, and to worship our risen Lord. May you have a blessed Passover (which was last Tuesday) and Resurrection day.  He is risen.... He is risen indeed!

Have you celebrated Passover or any of the other Biblical feasts? What is your favorite part?

Family Time Picks for January and February

A.W. Pink once said: "The Bible is not designed for lazy people.  Truth has to be bought (Prov. 23:23), but the slothful and worldly minded are not willing to pay the price required. That "price" is intimated in Proverbs 2:1-5: there must be a diligent applying of the heart, a crying after knowledge, a seeking for an apprehension of spiritual things with the ardour and determination that men employ when seeking for silver; and a searching for a deeper and fuller knowledge of the truth such as men put forth when searching for hid treasures - persevering until their quest is successful - if we would really understand the things of God.  Those who complain that these articles are "too difficult" or "too deep" for them, do but betray the sad state of their souls and reveal how little they really value the truth; otherwise they would ask God to enable them to concentrate, and reread these pages perseveringly until they made their contents their own.  People are willing to work and study hard and long to master one of the arts or sciences, but where spiritual and eternal things are concerned it is usually otherwise."

How true his words were and very much still are today. How many times have I been told: "I've gone as deep as I want to go," or "I don't have time to read the Bible," or "I have other things I have to do," or "Look at all the ministry things I do and how I serve at church... that is how I serve God", or how many people simply read the Bible without meditating on its truths or even think about what it means to apply it to their life? Today's culture has lost the love of simply being alone with God and seeking Him.

Does it take time? Yes. Does it take discipline and determination? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Is the wisdom gained worth as much as gold and silver? It is worth much more!  Sadly, convincing others of that truth is not easy. Even though (as the western church) we say we are christians, where we we prioritize our time paints a much different picture. Statistically we are spending 40+ hours a week watching TV (and that doesn't include the time spent on the web, playing video games, reading novels, sports, etc...). Jesus takes a back seat to our other priorities. Where our time and money is... there is where our hearts are.

We want our children to grow up with the mind of Christ, with a insatiable love for the Word of God, with a love FOR God which translates into habitually spending time with Him, meditating on and memorizing His word. We want them to see the world how God sees it, to love people how Christ loves people, and to humbly serve Him with their lives. We want them to know about and study the great minds and missionaries of the past (Baxter, Bunyan, Bradford, and the puritans, Edwards, Calvin, Waldo, McCheyne, Murray, Augustine, Brother Andrew, Brother Yun, Mueller, and countless more). We want to teach them to work hard, study hard, and to be men and women of virtue. We want to pass the truths of the faith on to them through a lifestyle of discipleship which is what we see illustrated in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Home schooling Discipleship allows us to pour our time into our children, molding them, training them, teaching them, and demonstrating the love of Christ to them.

Do we struggle and fail? Epically and every day. We constantly have to repent and seek forgiveness from our children and our Lord as He sheds light on our shortcomings. We constantly "examine ourselves" to make sure we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). But is that an excuse to give up? No. Is it hard? Yes. Is it exhausting? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes! Do we have it all figured out? No we do not. With much prayer we seek to know how to raise our children in this manner as we plow through this unbroken ground hoping to pave a family legacy for generations to come. We read books and follow blogs by others who had this vision. We seek other families and listen to teachings from Godly men who are leading their families, pouring into their children, and washing their wives with the water of the word. But we also thank God for the resources that are available to us. Especially, because in the eyes of this culture (and EVEN in the eyes of the typical western church) we are extremists who "take the Word too far.."  Our "friends", family members, acquaintances, and even those within the typical church see us as that family: You know, the weird, unsocialized homeschoolers who eat weird, take the Bible too seriously, have a ba-jillion kids, reject dating and encourage courtship, make-people-want-to-sin, etc... you know.... we are THAT family. So to have a community of believers who have the same vision is invaluable!

But while we are serious about God's Word and giving them a Biblical worldview, it does not mean that it is a "dry" and super-serious undertaking that bores our kids to death... quite the opposite. There is so much wonderful, biblically-founded media out there and we are always looking for more things to learn from. But finding a place to start can be overwhelming, so I wanted to share some things that have blessed our family time so far this year! We are fortunate to have resources available to help immerse our family in the truth of God's Word and the application of it to everyday life! These resources have been so fun the last several weeks, and while we don't do them ALL EVERYDAY, we have routinely used all of them the past couple of months.

Balancing the Sword - This is a 2 volume set that gives questions/answers for every chapter of the Bible. It is filled with awesome illustrations and quotations from a variety of Christ followers of old. We use it to ask the kids questions about their daily Bible readings from their chronological reading plan and their monthly Proverbs reading plan.

Trial and Triumph - This is a book with several biographies of people in church history. It has been a great family read-a-long spurring many great discussions. From Peter Waldo, Augustine, Anselm, Bunyan, St. Patrick, etc. there are 46 biographies and you are sure to learn a lot!


Dangerous Journey - This is a great retelling of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress with AWESOME illustrations! Another great read-a-long stirring great family discussions!

How A Spider Saved A Man's Life and 51 Other Spurgeon Stories - We love C. H. Spurgeon and this little, fun book of children's stories is just great! They are concise, interesting, and keep our kids wanting us to read several at a sitting. There are great lessons to be learned from each story.  There is also a 2nd volume by the same author that we will definitely be getting!

The Peleg Chronicles - This series of 3 books is set in post-Babel times where paganism abounds. But there are some who still believe in Noah's God! The Bible speaks of huge beasts and giant people... what would it have been like to live back then??? Join us in reading about dwarfs, dragons, giants, and the faithfulness of a few in this series. These novels are packed with scripture and action. My 10 year old and I are reading them now. My 7 year old will begin soon. We are loving this series!

How to Disciple Your Family - a 200 Year Plan - I got my husband this DVD series for Christmas and we are carefully working through it. It has been great in giving us a model for family discipleship, prayer points for our kids and generations to come, a family catechism, etc... Doug Phillips and Geoffry Botkin are the presenters on the DVD's. Both of them are great teachers and examples of fathers who are raising godly children. I would definitely recommend this series (and almost anything that Vision Forum sells)!

The Kingdom Series - Wow... what can I even say about this series to do it justice? This is a series of 6 books (we purchased the audiobook version) that is a medieval parallel to the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Be sure to click on the link to read more about the plot... but I highly recommend this! The audio (drama) books are SOOOOOO well done! Because our family tends to spend a lot of time on the road, we listen to it in the truck during our hour long trips between here and out west. The story has ALL of us captivated and sitting on the edge of our seats! It is really worth the money! I love how the audiobook allows us all to enjoy it together! Even our 2 year old begs us to turn it on!

Well, there you have it! These are the resources that are blessing us at the moment! What are your family's favorites????