No Bragging, Big Brother!

Music lyrics, movie lines, video game strategies and most certainly commercials are all so easily memorized and internalized by our kids. Yet there are some Bible class teachers and children's church leaders who don't give them enough credit for being able to learn and process scripture. They need to play, do crafts, sing and dance. That's just how kids learn. Well, I beg to differ. We are creating another generation of kids with the inability to sit and think without having 5 different things to "stimulate" their senses. When will they learn scripture? When they are teens? Young adults? By then their hearts no longer belong to us and they most certainly do not belong to God because they have no real knowledge of him.

J and I do not rely on others to teach our children scripture. That is our job. Deuteronomy 6 tells us

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Why is this on my mind today? Well, yesterday IJ was doing a bit of bragging about getting something right. JJ recognized it for what it was and called him on it. Did he yell at him or tell him to stop? No, he attempted to read Proverbs 16:18 to his brother.

Pride goes before destruction,a haughty spirit before a fall.

Now it had been at least a month since he read this verse, yet he remembered it and knew how to apply it. My 7 year old did as Paul did to Peter in Galations 2. He confronted him with his clearly wrong behavior, in love. We need to give our children credit for wanting to know what's right and more importantly we need to give God's word credit for convicting them just like it does us.

Spring is upon us

I love the change of seasons. The weather here has been awesome which allows for a lot of outdoor time. Last Friday we spent the afternoon at a park with some friends. There were six ladies, a bunch of boys and one little girl. Those boys had a blast running through the woods hunting down frogs and lizards. Being the sweet boys that they are, all treasures were promptly brought back to share with the moms. And for our part, we ooh'd and aah'd over those creatures to let our little men know how proud we were. This little guy in IJ's hand jumped in the laps of at least 3 moms before he was taken back to his home in the woods.

Today was another great day for being outdoors so we headed to the stawberry fields for some berry pickin'.




The berries are sweet and juicy. All I could think of was strawberry pie, so on the way home we stopped to pick-up the ingredients for this yummy treat. I found a super easy recipe that took about 20 minutes. I'll let you know tomorrow how it tastes, and share the recipe.

Boys Being Boys

"Mom, hurry, it's an emergency. "JJ" is in a really high tree, you have to see". Ok, so there are two ways to respond to this: panic or calmly put on my shoes and grab the camera. I went for option 2. I followed my 9 year old outside to find my barely visible 6 year old waaaay up in a tree trying to reach his friends ball.









My husband has taught me well. If I want wimpy boys, then don't let them get dirty and don't let them be daring. I do not want wimps for sons, so I have to fight the natural instinct to go running everytime they do something that my girly nature tells me is too dangerous. I'm not raising any wimps! These will be strong men who are able to help a lady when she calls. They won't mind having dirt under their fingernails and they will know how to do something. I know I appreciate having one of those guys. Letting them explore like this is just the beginning. So moms, don't let you babies grow up to be wimps. Your future daughter-in-law will love you for it.