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Last week was awful!!! So busy and exhausting. Robert barely slept at all Saturday and Sunday night so both of us started the week off on slow feet. We had a late dinner at someone's house Monday night. (Can I just say, I love fellowship, but there is nothing easy about taking all four kids and several cooked dishes over to someone else's house), Tuesday morning, Robert wrecked his truck. Which is a long story that I won't get into on here but I will say no one was injured and we have full coverage. Wednesday night was AWANAS, Thursday night was a military ball....see below... The girls were unhappy with my choice in dress. Being as it was the same dress I wore to the ball in Georgia. They were cheering for an old prom dress that I labeled as "too prom-y for a homeschooling mom of four". On to Friday, was Bible study but not just your average bible study night! Darby was getting baptized! This is the only still I got of the baptism because our video camera ran out of battery so I had to video it with my phone. : 6 I will attempt to get the video on her eventually. That will have to be a post all it's own. : ) And then Saturday night Bryse had an award dinner to attend at the local library. The girls entered a bookmark designing contest this winter. They have winners in each grade level. Bryse won for kindergarten! Which means that she got what she is holding in the picture (her bookmark framed and a medal) and her bookmark will be published in order to be given out to library patrons for the summer reading program! : ) Yeay Bryse-y!! And, not only that, but they had gift baskets that you could enter to win. I bought ten entries and the kids chose which baskets to put their entry in for. Both Bryse and Darby's names were drawn! They were so excited! We had left the boys at home with a babysitter and they were asleep when we got home but the girls set the baskets out so that the boys would be surprised to find out that we actually won TWO! Darby's basket was filled with a lot of garage type(trust me, she had chosen it and was excited) stuff and Bryse's was a toy basket!
Robert was reading to the kids from 1st John the other day in our room and Bryse had stepped into our bathroom for a tissue and yelled back into the room, "Who wrote this? Is that John the Baptizer?" Hee hee! Robert told her it was not John the Baptizer but John, the brother of Jesus but I thought it was so funny that she thought to ask that! I've been thinking about what it must've been like to be Elizabeth and have the job of mothering John. The man that Jesus called the greatest man who ever lived! And what was he like? He lived in the wilderness, ate bugs and honey, and wore camel hair. We can guess that it had been a long while since he had put a brush through his hair and brushed his teeth! And you wanna talk about a rough preacher?! Just read Luke 3 and get a glimpse at how rude he was to his listeners! He held nothing back. He was fulfilling a prophesy so these were special circumstances, but still Jesus said this man that called his listeners "brood of vipers" was the greatest man to ever live!! We don't know when or how Elizabeth and Zachariah died. It could be that they died when John was quite young since they were older when he was born. But I'm going to assume for a bit that they didn't die when he was very young. Let us wonder what it would be like to raise a young man that would so dreadfully NOT fit in. Who would truly be in the world but not even close to being of that world. Luke 1:80 says about John that "he grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Isreal." Elizabeth never had a chance to brag about her son to her friends. To talk about his impressive career or how good he was at baseball or the violin. This guy was weird. She raised a weird son. And that was God's will! Think on that for a moment. When we were deciding wether or not we would homeschool our biggest concern was keeping our kids relevant in today's world. We felt a calling to homeschool but were terribly concerned that our children would be weird socially because of it. We did NOT want weird children. I wonder if Elizabeth struggled with that worry. I wonder if when her son became a man (usually around the age of 14 at that time), didn't pack a bag, but just left to be in the wilderness, if she felt embarrassed. I wonder if she tried to make him presentable clothes to take him so that he would take off that filthy camel hair. I wander if she tried to introduce him to nice young jewish girls in hopes that he would settle down and provide her with grandchildren like all the other women had. Or maybe the Lord prepared her heart for what He had called John to. Sometimes Robert imagines Cal's future. A future where Cal will be a famous golf player and Robert will be his caddy, giving him advice at the Masters. And that Cal will proclaim the Gospel while kicking everyone's tail at golf! He talks about this with me and finds such joy in it! Ha! But then he always reminds himself that even if that doesn't happen. If Cal grows up, gets married, has kids and ends up a pastor of a small church in some small town and his congregation never rises above 15 people (Gasp! American's christianity's worst nightmare) but all the while he is proclaiming the true gospel then he will be just as proud of him. We have to remind ourselves often of this. That we want what God wants for our children. Not what we want or what the world wants.
I pray for the eyes of Jesus. I can't even express how hard it is to get that stupid world vision out of my head! Jesus did not fit in either! And He called a bunch of misfits to follow Him! The world looked at the Pharisees and saw perfection. And they killed the perfect son of God. How can we expect any different reaction from the world when we seek His righteousness? Is our family pointing toward Christ? As John did, consistently and completely. He pointed toward Christ, preparing the way. Are we preparing ourselves for His return and pointing other's to Him with our words and actions? If so, then why in the world would it matter if my kids are dressed trendy, if we do all the popular sports, or if my girls' hair is always combed perfectly? I am constantly praying for the Lord to help me to not worship the world but to worship Him. Picturing what it must've been like to raise John the Baptist helps me with that. What you see above is a picture of Robert yesterday with his license to practice Psychology in the state of Kansas! After two months of trying to get them to help him he finally got together everything he needed and decided to drive to the office instead of mail it. That way he would be sure to get the woman to talk to him and hopefully speed up the process. The office is in Topeka which is only about an hour drive. He got there, they took all of his things that he brought to contribute to getting the license complete asap. And then made his license for him right then and there! It was amazing!! Robert said he almost did a happy dance in that office! He did offer to buy them a pizza or something to which they declined. But I believe the speed in which he received this license yesterday is due to a gracious God who responds to prayers! Praise God and thank you to any of y'all that prayed for us after I posted that update two days ago.
Well, today marks the end of Robert's block leave and the beginning of getting back to real life. I'm grateful because it's hard to homeschool and manage the home while there isn't a set routine and our Daddy sets that routine with his work! Block leave was good. Although, half of it we were pretty sick. I got Robert on a detox after a full month of him being ill almost constantly. He has been much better! We did not go on our vacation just the two of us because we were not feeling well enough and we felt that we needed the time just resting at home. We did go to the homeschooling convention this last weekend and that was busy but good. I picked out a curriculum for math and writing for the girls. They both have a great interest in writing so I thought we would focus on that for a bit. As for everything else we are just using our Bible, the internet, and the library. But that is another post all together. ; )
Robert is feeling a bit better and ready to get back to counseling. Meanwhile he is wrestling with the Kansas Department of whatever, where he is suppose to renew his Psychologist license. The woman there is being very difficult and if she doesn't do her job then we will be out of a lot of money and Robert won't be able to work until the license is taken care of. Please join the children and I in praying that the Lord will pour out His grace on this problem. Robert doesn't need this worry. In addition, he is officially done with the military in August. He is looking for a job. There was one that looked very promising but it fell through. For now we are planning on staying here. And if at all possible Robert does not want to work on base as a civilian. So that is an area in which we are praying about. He did kill his first turkey with a bow and arrow a few days ago. So that was fun! Darby is doing well. She is very excited because she is getting baptized on April 19th! I suppose her testimony is a post for anther time as well. She is finishing up her third grade year in a couple of months. Bryse is up to her normal craziness. Stalking around the yard with a net hoping to catch a bird. Filling empty juice bottles with water and food coloring in hopes of tricking someone. Throwing raw eggs off of our upstairs porch into the yard. Tying everything to everything! I took the girls roller skating recently and after 30 minutes of holding her hand while her legs flew out from underneath her in every direction so fast it was blurry (much like a cartoon character) and inching around the rink, she looked up at me as serious as could be and asked if I was having a hard time keeping up with her! She makes me laugh until I hurt and makes me so mad I tell her fire is going to come out of my ears!! Cal is doing well. He went through a transitional period after Robert got back that seems to have subsided. He still worries about him going back to war, but overall is doing much better. He and Robert went on a Father/son camping trip with a church group a couple weekends ago and had a blast! This kid loves learning about the Lord and praying. He prays all the time. In the evening when we sing together he belts it out with his speech impediment and all! Which reminds me, we got his hearing checked a couple weeks ago and he hears very well. I still have to call and set up speech therapy for him but at least we know he doesn't have hearing problems. Deakin is here! He is about the same. Wild and woolly and as his Memaw calls him, A bull! He runs around and climbs everything and plays "bad guy" with Bryse and Cal. He wields a toy gun like the best of them! When we have Family worship he raises his hand to answer questions and then jabbers uncomprehendingly, which of course sets the kids into giggles. I don't really have much new either. We have a military ball in a couple of weeks and I'm trying to lose the few pounds that I gained when Robert got back. I have been working on the fall education plans for the girls for a few months now. Praying and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and teach me how to teach them. It has taught me how to lean on Him even more and not on my (very limited) understanding. We started a large garden with another family and I have been busy learning how to do that. We are planting a LOT! So far; broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots, spinach, lettuce, blackberries, asparagus, raspberries, strawberries, brussel sprouts, and onions. I still have to plant potatoes for our spring planting. Otherwise, I am still plucking away. Praying for the grace I need to do everything I need to do. And He is faithful. : ) We were asked to do a family reading at a Sunrise Service to celebrate the Resurrection! Bryse recited 1 Peter 2:24, Darby recited 1 Peter 1:3-5, I recited Matthew 28:1-9, and Robert read 1 Corinthians 15. Cal didn't recite anything because he has issues with people staring at him, he does not like it! It was held at a friend's house that overlooks the Flint Hills and I must say, I've never been to such a beautiful sunrise service. You know, where you could actually see the sun rising! It was lovely. There was a cross put up with the sun rising right behind it and Cal loved that cross! That is where the top picture came from. Below is just a picture of our family afterward. We recently went to a family's house for dinner and learned a lot. This family is further along on their walk through salvation than us. They are a bit older, have twice the amount of children and have been seeking the Lord a bit longer than us. So it was an awesome opportunity to learn from them! As the Bible teaches about letting the older woman and man teach the younger. We are trying to learn to do this ourselves and were soooo thankful to a family willing to do it for us in such a purposeful way. : ) So they gave us some ideas for discipling our children and we have been implementing some of what they advised along with what we were already doing. So I thought I would share what we do in regards to discipling our children just in case some of those reading this are looking for ideas. Obviously, this is just what we have been doing in the last couple of months, depending on where our children are and how old they are and such. So each family is different and needs different things.
We like to watch a movie that is called the Gospel of Matthew. It is word for word the book of Matthew from the Bible. One of my favorite things about it is how the disciples and Jesus are portrayed. They are joyous. They push each other around playfully, they laugh at their amazement over the works that Jesus does, Jesus douses Peter with water for fun. It is very similar to watching some of the husbands at our Bible study tease each other. The kids love it and I'm amazed at how much they have memorized just from watching this movie so much. Robert has started leading Family Worship daily. It is amazing what we have seen as a result! Our children are really changing, like a heart change. Softer words are being used and more interest in the Bible is cropping up. Every evening we sit down in the living room and we pray, sing a song (right now we are working on learning Nothing but the Blood), and read a page out of our The Gospel Story Bible. This is a great book! We went through Jesus Storybook Bible until I feared the girls would memorize it and then we moved on to this book. It's a little more mature. Then we talk about the lesson we learned from that book. Then the three older kids take turns standing up and practicing the verses they are working on memorizing. All the while Deakin is working on his "sitting quietly" skills. Which are limited, to say the least. ; ) In the mornings we read a chapter from Matthew while eating breakfast. Then we write down prayer requests into our "Prayer Book" (It's just a notebook) and pray before we begin the day in earnest. I keep two columns going in the book so that when a prayer request is answered we can go back and write it down. We have also started something called "The Question Box". It is a kleenex box that we decorated and made a pocket on the side for slips of paper and pen. The kids are able to put questions about the bible and God into it any time they feel like it. And then during dinner Daddy will take a question out of the box and answer it for them. This is so handy because the kids sometimes can think of the most inopportune time to ask these deep questions! And we say, "We'll talk about it later!" But then we forget and it never gets answered! So this gives us a specific time to answer these hard questions and gives the children a chance to write out their question right when it crops up. So that is where we are at this season in life! What works for you in discipling your children? "You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Deuteronomy 11:19 |
LindseyI'm the mama and wife. Updating you on our life! Archives
January 2022
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