Friday, January 9, 2009

Raising Our Precious Daughters...the Corner Stones...


"that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace."
Psalm 144:12

For you Mom's out there with daughters...I would like to humbly share something with you...
When I set out to raise my daughter, my thoughts were to give her everything I never had...and so, I began to buy her things, dress her up etc...I wanted her to have the perfect childhood.
This was such a mistake. Thankfully, over time, I yielded myself over to the Lord and His leading, and got a brand new direction--a biblical one.
We had our bumps in the road, but God has been gracious, and has shown us mercy!

In the day and age that we live in, we have to raise our dear daughters with biblical purpose, conviction, and care. The world that we live in wants to turn them into men! Sadly, even the modern day church has let "women's lib" in it's doors!
Now, our family has personally suffered some persecution for choosing to raise our daughter to be a feminine young lady, training to be a keeper at home, under the protection of her father. So, I'm not saying that it is easy to do what is right. (A lot of the persecution we have gotten has been from other Christians).
But we must be committed to raising our daughters according to the Word-not the world.

Here are some thoughts I found when reading about the biblical raising of daughters.

"Daughters unite families as corner stones join walls together, and at the same time they adorn them as polished stones - garnish the structure into which they are builded."
"That our daughters may be as corners stones, etc.. One might perhaps at the first glance have expected that the daughters of a household would be as the graceful ornament of the clustering foliage or the fruit bearing tree, and the sons as the cornerstones upholding the weight and burden of the building, and yet it is the reverse here.
And I think one may read the love and tenderness of the Lord in this apparently casual but intended expression,and that he meant the nations of the earth to know and understand how much of their happiness, their strength,and their security was dependent on the female children of the family." Barton Bouchier

Matthew Henry's Commentary:
It is no less desirable to see our daughters as corner-stones, or corner-pillars, polished after the similitude of a palace, or temple. By daughters families are united and connected, to their mutual strength, as the parts of a building are by the corner-stones; and when they are graceful and beautiful both in body and mind they are then polished after the similitude of a nice and curious structure. When we see our daughters well-established and stayed with wisdom and discretion, as corner-stones are fastened in the building,—when we see them by faith united to Christ, as the Chief Corner-stone, adorned with the graces of God's Spirit, which are the polishing of that which is naturally rough, and become women professing godliness,—when we see them purified and consecrated to God as living temples, we think ourselves happy in them.

Do you see the importance here? These lovely daughters of ours are not mere ornaments of the home. They must be raised to be strong and purposeful!
God wants them to be strong and beautiful, so that they will be useful to their husbands, homes, and the society that they live in.
It has been our experience that when people hear that we are raising our daughter to be a "keeper at home" they immediately think that it is a waste.
What wrong thinking!
In Titus 2:4-5 it tells us what we older women (Moms) are to do...
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

If our daughters are going to be ready to do these things, they must be taught at home. God has ordained this occupation-it's the only one mentioned. And so, it's importance should not be under-estimated, nor under-valued.
Just like we had to teach them good manners, doing their chores, and anything else we felt was a worthwhile accomplishment, we must also purpose to teach them this!
You know that anything worthwhile takes hard work, goal setting, and perseverance...and this is no different.
May God make us wise, give us strength for the task ahead, and lead us in His Way.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

One Small Step...


Well, I made a little step today towards being more organized and saving time. I made a Master Grocery List with all of the essentials that I normally buy on it. I typed it out as I thought of things on my Wordperfect, and then I found out (how exciting!) that in the bullet choices on that program, you can add little checkboxes! How Cool!

Anyway, I will post this on the frig, and have everyone check off the items we need, or that they use the last of, and I will grab it on my way to my shopping trip.

I divided everything into sections like:

  • Paper Products
  • Laundry Supplies
  • Health & Beauty

And then, I listed the items relating to that category underneath-complete with checkboxes!

voilĂ !!!


Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Parenting With Purpose

I believe that if we don't have a goal in our parenting to shoot for...we won't hit anything! And so, we must parent with purpose!

Our children are like arrows: “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth” (Psalm 127:4 KJV). Children are like arrows in the hands of a mighty man!
And we, as parents, are the archers-responsible for shooting these precious arrows! We had better be well prepared to hit that target! We have to have our eye on a target--never waver--and shoot for it! After all, we're shooting God's arrows at the target He has designated. We must aim for the bulls eye!
"Your goal should be godly children. That means training their hearts to think like God thinks and their bodies to do what God would do."

We need to:
Pray for our children--and teach them to pray!
Remember that we are daily modeling an example in our actions and attitudes for our little arrows
Saturate our children with the Word of God - read it, sing it, memorize it, talk about it, apply it
Train them early on for service/ministry (the earlier--the better!)
Protect them from ungodly influences! (we must reject what the world is offering for our children--or we will not be able to clearly see-or hit the target!)
Encourage our children - take every opportunity to praise godly character traits!
Love our children-we must turn our hearts to our children, so they will turn their hearts to us! (Don't be replaced by peers!)
Capture your child's heart!
Determine to stay the course! We are not sprinting-this is a marathon! It will take hard work, and lots of time. Be Committed!



May God bless you as you shoot your arrows out for HIM!

Every year I try...try...again!


I'm an organizational wannabe... every year it's on my resolution list.

I ran across this article, and thought I'd post these tips here in case anyone else is trying to make strides in this area too!


A Dozen Time Management Tips:


DON'T . . .

rush ahead of the Lord--His timing and wisdom are crucial
try to meet all the needs, it's impossible!
get side-tracked, even by "worthwhile" things
allow too many outside activities to rob you of family time
let the enemy rob you of your joy--it's your strength
confuse the urgent with the important

DO . . .
Pray for the Lord's guidance and help each day
Look to Jesus as your example. Study His Word, His life as revealed in the Gospels. Ask yourself, "What would Jesus do in this situation?"
Plan for interruptions and needed breaks
Put on the garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3) and do your work as unto the Lord. (Colossians 3:23-24)
Take time to enjoy your family.
Stay focused on what God has called you to do and seek to view everything in light of Eternity.


Encouragement from Scriptures:
14But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.
15My times are in thy hand...Psalm 31:14-15


23And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. --Colossians 3:23-24


"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." --Ephesians 5:15-17


"For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers..." --1 Peter 3:10-12


"Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore." --Psalm 86:11-12


Offer up each day unto the Lord and ask Him to guide you by His Holy Spirit! Ask Him to help you use your time efficiently and to keep you from being so rushed that you neglect to hear His Voice. Take time to appreciate and treasure the people He brings across your path each day--especially your family. The Lord has given us a gift of 24 hours, that's 86,400 seconds today. How many of those seconds have been spent praising the Lord, encouraging our children and family, speaking LIFE to others instead of death, BLESSINGS instead of curses and grumbling? Let's make a positive difference in someone's life today! Each day is a new beginning, a fresh start. God wants to do beautiful things in and through us as we yield to Him!

Monday, January 5, 2009


The Good News for 2009 is:

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.

2. Prayer will still work.

3. The Holy Spirit will still move.

4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.

5. There will still be God-anointed teaching and preaching.

6. There will still be singing of praise to God.

7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

8. There will still be room at the Cross.

9. Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him..

God has approved this message!
Courtesy of Wilma--Thanks!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Traditions!

Among my family, traditions are very important! Although my "kids" are young adults, they still love to honor the traditions our family has adopted through the years...

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, my hubby centered the family devotion time around the birth of Christ--the events that led up to it, and followed it...
Then, comes the tree hunt...although we have an artificial one in the living room--Christmas just calls for a REAL tree...and so, we got to a farm and cut one down. We do this at the end of Nov. But, we didn't bring it in the house and decorate it until Dec.

Another must--is the outside lights...my son's specialty! (Thanks Brad!)

We also do inside decorating as well. All of us pitch in on that.

We decorated the REAL tree Dec. 7th -above

and below, are some special ornaments (My Sweetie and I buy the kids each an ornament every year-so they'll have a collection when they have their own homes) We have ornaments the kids made, as well as some that we purchased during our travels, and some that are gifts.

Above, I thought these were appropriately placed...our Hope is in the LORD!


Ok, now we move on to baking days...some with friends, and some w/Mommom

Ok, I admit, there was eating involved too! LOL

And then, the family Christmas picture...

And then, before we knew it...it was Christmas Eve! We p/u my mom, and spend that at my dear brother and family's home...then, my mom comes home with us and spends the night.Before we knew it, Christmas morning had come! First, my dear husband reads the Christmas Story, then we pray...and then we open the presents. :) Here's Muffy waiting for that part!After this, we have a delicious breakfast of homemade belgian waffles w/whipped cream and strawberries, and sausage and organic bacon. The rest of the day--we munch on leftovers as we are busy playing games and chatting!Yum!

Below, Muffy in the aftermath. :)

Chippy gets into it with his bells on!

In looking back over our traditions, I have to say, it's no wonder I love Christmas! We get to celebrate the birth of the Savior! Sing about it, thank God for it, and tell others about it!

And then, we spend lots of special family time together...serving one another, laughing, singing, praying and playing! It's a special time of year, and I love it!

I hope yours was just as special as ours was!

Blessings!

Friday, January 2, 2009