Starting Early

My other favorite parenting resource had a great article today I wanted to save. I question sometimes how much Matthew comprehends at this level. This was just the encouragement I needed!

I'm sharing a condensed version here with a main point and the scripture reference.

Top Ten Reasons Parents Should Start Early Making Disciples

The Bible reminds us of this fact, “and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:15. Here are ten reasons why you should start early:

10. You will develop in your children an appetite for Scripture.  John 1; “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God.”  If you wait until your children are older, you will meet some resistance.

9. Appetites developed early in life stay with you for life.  Cultivate an appetite for entertainment that is Christ honoring! You can make better choices for your children and give them lifelong God-glorifying appetites. Take full advantage of that opportunity.

8. Your appetite for God’s word will grow. As you begin to feed on the Bread of Life frequently, you will develop an appetite for God’s word. As you begin to share Scripture with your children, they will soon enjoy the traditions of godly living you establish by focusing on Christ and His Word.

7. Your child will develop a preference for the sound of your voice.There are many voices that will compete for your child’s attention. Will you train your children to love the messages on ungodly television programs and videos?  You are called by God to make disciples of your children. As you obey that calling early, your child will tune in to your voice and the voice of the Master. 

6. Your child will develop a heart for serving others. As you do what Jesus did in taking your disciples into the world to minister to others, your child will see in action the way Jesus impacted the world. As you pray for a sick friend, your child will learn to pray for others. As you share your testimony, your child will learn to be a witness.

5. Your relationship with your child will deepen early; that will pay lifelong dividends. Jesus was constantly with His disciples. He asked questions to know them better. He focused on each one. He taught them all day long. He showed them how to minister. He protected them. He laid down His life for them. In summary, He loved them. The result was deep relationships with His disciples, and they changed the world for Him. 

4. You will become better equipped now in making disciples. As you begin the task of making disciples, you will begin to grow. You will become a better teacher. You will seek out resources to help you improve. You will begin to impact your world around you. Then as your children reach their teen years, you will have grown into an excellent disciple-maker.

3. You will make better lifestyle choices earlier. When you respond to the Lord’s command to make disciples, you will begin to make better choices about the way you spend your time and other resources. Choices about your jobs, your debt, your possessions and your entertainment will be centered around your decision to make disciples. Your desire to glorify Christ will impact the way you live.

2. You will reduce or eliminate teen rebellion. Extra effort invested in young children will pay huge dividends as they become teens. In spite of the world’s message that teen rebellion is normal, many Christian families do not experience this modern-day phenomena. Instead of losing years or even decades to unproductive, harmful behavior your child will be more likely serve the Lord early in life.

1. Making disciples early will align your family with God’s priorities earlier. Jesus showed us how to make disciples and then commanded us to do what He did. The earlier we begin to take up the task of obeying Christ, the sooner we can experience the abundant life the Jesus promised;  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” John 10:10.

7 by Jen Hatmaker - Chapter One

7 by Jen Hatmaker - Chapter One 

It's 1 am. I can't sleep. I'm on mommy alert mode with the thunder and rain outside. I just finished cutting and laminating some activities for Matthew tomorrow and now I'm reading Chapter One of "7" by Jen Hatmaker.

These words are still resonating in my mind....

That critical perspective has to go, too. Cynicism wreaked some havoc on my gentleness, my humility. When God interrupted our lives a couple of years ago, He deconstructed some toxic paradigms and rebuilt them on a sturdier foundation. However, unwilling to address them, I left a few in rubble, never reconstructed or reimagined. The debris proved fertile soil for cynicism, as it always does for the obstinate.

So I repent today, acknowledging my reflection in the Scripture we studied: “You stiff-necked people . . . you always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51). That is not the legacy I want to leave. I want to live gratefully, humbly, hopefully. Clinging to criticism has not made me happier; it just made me cynical. It played a bit part when Jesus used discontentment to move me, but now it is simply baggage I must shed if I hope to carry on with integrity.

AND

Ironically, studies show that increased consumerism comes at a steep price. A rise in prosperity is not making people happier or healthier. Findings from a survey of life satisfaction in more than sixty-five countries indicate that income and happiness track well until about $13,000 of annual income per person. After that, additional income produces only modest increments in self-reported happiness. It’s no wonder. We are incurring debt and working longer hours to pay for the high-consumption lifestyle, consequently spending less time with family, friends, and community.

“Excess consumption can be counterproductive,” said Gary Gardner, director of research for Worldwatch. “The irony is that lower levels of consumption can actually cure some of these problems.”6 That makes sense: If we buy only what we need and can afford, debt becomes a moot point. When accumulation is not our bottom line, we are liberated to disperse our time and resources differently. I know working to pay off The Man and keep the house of cards intact has not made me a happy camper. A bunch of us are wondering if there is a better way.

AND

What I do know is that my “something” is a desire to look more like Jesus. I am pierced by Gandhi’s astute observation: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Would Jesus overindulge on garbage food while climbing out of a debt hole from buying things He couldn’t afford to keep up with neighbors He couldn’t impress? In so many ways I am the opposite of Jesus’ lifestyle. This keeps me up at night. I can’t have authentic communion with Him while mired in the trappings He begged me to avoid.

AND this....

Four of the top ten causes of death in America today are chronic diseases with well-established links to our industrialized diet: coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer. These health plagues remain rare in countries where people don’t eat like us, even if its local diet is high in fat or carbs, the two straw men America decided to fight. The basics of the Western diet include:

• The rise of highly processed foods and refined grains

• The use of chemicals to raise plants and animals in huge monocultures

• The abundance of cheap calories of sugar and fat

• The massive consumption of fast food

• The shrinking diversity of the human diet to a tiny handful of staple crops, notably wheat, corn, and soy (thanks to vigorous lobbying and strategic subsidization by our government)

• The conspicuous absence of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains

This bodes terribly for us, and it is downright disastrous for our children. In fact, U.S. life expectancy was projected to rise indefinitely, but a new data analysis from the New England Journal of Medicine suggests this trend is about to reverse itself due to the rapid rise in obesity, especially among children. Our kids are the first generation in the history of America that has a shorter life span than their parents.

'via Blog this'

Monthly Pinterest Craft

I have discovered the joy of Pinterest. Follow me if you'd like here. I've heard it called an inspiration and fun but also the words addictive and a time waster have been mentioned as well. I am drawn to the first two reasons and the second two bring up caution.

I want this resource to be in it's place of helpfulness and usefulness. So, I'm committing to complete ( not just start or get the materials or try- I know me, the distinction is very necessary) a craft, project or idea a month.

We do benefit greatly homeschool wise from the organization of resources for both now and in the future on individual subjects as well as organization, unit studies and monthly themes.

December I made a menu board.

I also found Advent ideas:

A book a day counting down to Christmas. Since finding this idea, I've added  21 books for next year
I have found great deals on the books, plus I think this tradition will last for years, so worth the investment to me.

Many ways to keep Christ the focus of our celebration:

  

Ways to display, preserve, pray over Christmas cards. I also entered the addresses and took pictures of the cards with photographs and now use them as their caller ID:

Happy Birthday Jesus printables:

Add caption

Just last week for January, I used a combination of ideas "For the Home" to complete a wreath for the front door.
I wrapped variegated yarn around a wreath form. I painted all the letters, then mod podged them. Hot glued the buttons on them. Bought silk flowers from the scrapbook section of Hobby Lobby and hot glued buttons to those as well. I'm pleased with the results and it hangs nicely on our front door effectively covering the scratch our Christmas wreath left behind :-)

I unsuccessfully have tried transferring a photograph to wood, so that's on the back burner. When I can get two boys to a copier machine, I'll get back around to that project. It looks like SUCH a great idea!

I must mention that today is my wonderful husband's birthday!!! Happy 37th Birthday honey. I'm so proud to be your wife. I was excited that the movie Courageous came out on Tuesday, just in time. He didn't know he was getting the movie. I bought him the shirt for Christmas.

Fun loving husband

On behalf of our amazing little boys who look up to and love their big daddy sooo much, Happy Birthday!!!

  I bought materials to complete a photograph on a colored wooden plaque for February.  Once a month at this season of life is appropriate for my family. Productive but not taking over :-) If I blog about, it's also more like to happen. Here's to not being a 90% completer!!!

10 on the 10th

Yeaaa, I finally did this :-) It was so much fun to see what we were doing at the top of the hour and capture it on camera. If you haven't heard of this, on the 10th of the month you take (at least) 10 pictures ideally no more frequently than one an hour a part.  Now that I've got the reminders inputted on my phone, I'll be MUCH more likely to continue :-D It's fast and easy. Here's a site to go to see lots more of these in action and probably a better worded explanation.

Here's our day today :-D

8 am- I woke up had my yogurt and quiet time. 
The boys started stirring very soon after

9 am- After getting dressed, we did our Bible reading
 to the boys while they ate breakfast

10 am- Leaves (window clings, silk and gel ones) 
sensory bin for the Letter L this week with Matthew

11am-  after spending an hour unsuccessfully trying to get
Daniel to nap with out the swing, Matthew and I made a tracing
 bag for letter and number fine motor practice

12 pm- Both boys were sleeping so I made brownies

1 pm- I ate lunch of left over deer steak, mashed potatoes and 
edemame and got some computer time

2 pm- I was nursing Daniel while watching a little Cosby Show

3 pm- Mattew was still napping so Daniel
and I played

4 pm- Getting back in the car after filling up. $3.23 not too bad for gas these days.
It was 43 degrees though, brr brrr br

5 pm- Leaving Hobby Lobby with materials for a front door wreath.
Sweet lady saw me struggling to get the boys in the car and helped.

6 pm- Taco Dinner is prepped. I was nursing Daniel ,
Matthew watching Leap Frog Numbers Ahoy video
 waiting for daddy to come home

7 pm- Dinner eaten, daddy doing the dishes.
I love my fun loving husband :-D

8 pm- Matthew in bed, Daniel play time

9 pm- Nursing Daniel while watching tv with Billy

Bonus: Daddy and Daniel play time

At 10 I was rocking Daniel to sleep

11 pm, I'm hitting post on here and going to bed :-)

I also have been doing a project called Photo365 that I'm posting to facebook daily through 2012. I'll post the monthly screen shot to here as well. As our life changes, so does the way I document it. Oh, the third way it's changing is that I also signed up for daily emails from OhLife, that I journal about our day and send the email. They compile it for me. 

I really enjoy doing a day in the life.... looking forward to doing this next month!!

Daniel - 7 months

Daniel turns 7 months old today :-) 

Here's some pictures with family during his first Christmas!:

 

Sleep:

He sleeps about 9 hours at night from about 10 pm to 7 am. He takes two naps. The morning one is a couple of hours long. The afternoon one is maybe 45 minutes. He sleeps in his bed at night, but I do confess he takes his naps in a swing. I was just thinking this morning that I need to transition that, but it works sooo well. He really does not require or really respond well to a schedule. He's so laid back.




Clothes:
He's been in 6-9 clothes for three months now because of his length. He's in size 3 diapers.









Food:
He nurses on average 4 times a day for about 20-30 minutes. When in a growth spurt, that usually hits 1-2 times a month, he'll add a feeding.  He will consume an entire stage 2 food.   


Meal #1- Nursing and rice cereal. He prefers the fruit flavored to the regular.  
Meal #2-nursing and a stage 2 fruit. He has tried and likes bananas, pears, pineapple, apple and apricot. The only fruit we won't be repeating is peaches because he threw up fives time within 12 hours after eating it for the first time. 
Meal #3- stage 2 veggie (prunes, carrots, squash, peas, green beans or mixed veggies) and nurse.
When growing he'll do a snack and feed himself a baby mum mum or squashed softened bananas. We look forward to adding foods to this list. Daniel really enjoys feeding himself.
Meal #4- Last nursing for the night. Sometimes we'll want an fruit or cereal as well.
I started giving him a sippy cup a couple of weeks ago and he is great with drinking from it!

Personality/ Socially:
He's sooo happy.
He laughs very easily.
He will go to anyone.
New places, situations and people are fascinating to him.
He's very interested in people's faces.
He's very touchy feely.


Developmentally:
He will sit up for as long as he wants. We have to place him in that position right now.
Daniel started army crawling a couple of weeks age and now gets everywhere he wants to go well.
Rotates 360 degrees on his tummy.
Everything goes in the mouth
Drools lots and has had some teething episodes but nothing has erupted yet.
He happily picks things up, plays with them for quite some time turning it around in his hands and putting it in his mouth.
He enjoys being sung to.
He soaks up attention, smiles so easily, interacts, giggles over and over at the same thing. 
He is just starting to object when we take an item away. He's okay as long as we replace it with a safe alternative.
We really enjoys playing peek a boo and does the best belly laughs. If I play peek a boo and change from where I pop out from a different direction say over daddy's shoulder, we he will start looking in the last place he saw us. If we do it every other one, he anticipates the change then.
 He does stand holding on to the furniture.