OH! I hope it's true!!!

I sing. I sing all the time. Now don't get the wrong impression. I don't sing GOOD but I am always singing. I love to sing. If I am not singing hymns I will just make up a song about whatever I am doing or something I am telling the kids. I can pretty much turn anything into a song and if makes for a lot of laughs around here.
My son, on the other hand, does NOT sing. He will not sing when I try to get all the kids to sing with me. He rarely will sing along with the hymns at church. He reads the words and maybe hums-as long as nobody hears him- but he will not sing.
Now Kenyon pretends that it drives him crazy but I am convinced that he really does love that I am always singing around the house. I catch him listening. I see him smile his little smile to himself. I notice his little head bob to the beat as I sing. It is really only when he notices me notice him that he has to try to save face and act like his momma drives him crazy.
And that is why I have so much fun with it. One day, as he complained about my constant singing throughout the day he asked "WHY? WHY? WHY?DO YOU ALLLWWWAAAYYYS HAVE TO SING???" To which I replied "well son, it is like this, I just sing because ♪♫♪In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody with Heaven's harmony♫♪♫ which sends him into fits of laughter and fake screams of torment.
Saturday was just like any other day only amplified some as we contemplated the fact that our Savior died for us and the ROSE again. I had a lot of fun with my son. It went kinda like this....
Kenyon. Kenyon. Kenyon.
What mom?
♪Are you washed in the blood♫
aaaaawwwww-not again!
Kenyon, Kenyon, Kenyon
no answer-to soon
after a while...Kenyon Kenyon Kenyon
What?
♫♪are your garments spotless are they white as snow♫♪
Which brought just the response I had expected
MOM, YOU ARE ALWAYS SINGING. YOU HAVE CRAMMED SO MANY SONGS IN MY HEAD I WILL NEEEVVVVERRR BE ABLE TO GET THEM OUT!!!
Thank you son! I so hope that is true and if so I have succeeded!! And I would not be the least bit surprised if he just so happens to find a wife someday that spends her days singing away. That's my goal☺

3 men

3 men on 3 crosses on 1 hill

1 man cursed, 1 man prayed, one Man promised

1 died condemned, 1 died forgiven, 1 died Innocent

1 died in sin, 1 died to sin, 1 died FOR sin

1 was held by death,1 released from death, 1 Conquered death

1 lost life, 1 gained life, 1 WAS life!

Happy Easter Everyone and praise God for the One that Conquered death!!!

Only question that matters at all

Nothing good about Friday

I never really understood all the hoopla about "Good Friday". It just never made much sense to me. Why do people call it "Good"? When reading the Bible we see that there is no possible way Jesus could have died on Friday or rose on Friday so why is it celebrated? Matthew 12:40 tells us "For as Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 28:1 tells us "In the end of the sabbath(Saturday), as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week(Sunday), came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the Sepulchre." When thy arrived at the tomb-IT WAS EMPTY! There is NO possible way to count 3 days and nights between Friday evening and Sunday morning. That means Jesus was already in the tomb before Friday. Friday would have been the worst possible time for all believers on earth. Jesus had died, was buried and had not yet risen. It was a time of loss, fear, confusion, doubt; in other words anything BUT a good day! Apparently "good Friday" is nothing more than tradition created by men for men. I guess if you get a day off from work it could be considered a good Friday but then only as good as any other day you are off.

Making a habit of desiring the sincere Milk

We are working on making new habits in our house. One area that we have been seriously lacking in is reading our Bibles daily. Now don't get me wrong, our days are filled with God and the Bible. We often have Godly music playing in the background and at anytime a passerby may hear us singing a hymn as we go about our daily chores. We read at least 1/2-1 chapter of the Bible together everyday in our school work. Every subject we study is focused on God and His plan(except maybe math). We memorize Bible verses in school and in church. We constantly are faced with decisions and we teach our children to search God's will and God's word in making them. We have standards that differ from the world and we often discuss them and the reasons we hold so strongly to them. We often search the Bible for clarification of a scripture during our talks. All of these things have become the norm in our household and I had gotten comfortable with that. I was overlooking the fact that our growth depends on really getting into the Word of God. Each of us individually! It can not just be part of our day or part of our family life. It has to be part of our own personal walk with the Lord. Each of us as individuals! I can't just take my children on a walk with Jesus-they have to walk with him. Not only should our family walk with the Lord-each person has to have their own personal walk. Thankfully we have an awesome preacher who loves us all very much. He is concerned about our individual growth in grace and knowledge. Each year he picks a theme for the year. This year just happens to be 1Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby. Following the leading of our preacher, we have adopted that verse as our own family theme. We are working on making it a habit for each person individually to spend time in the Word of God.

(not sure why this picture is sideways-it is not like that in my photos ???)

The first thing we needed was a reminder. It is easy to start a new habit but the busyness of our daily lives often cloud our minds and new habits are easily forgotten. I picked up 5 small poster boards with graph squares on them. I marked out squares for every day left in the year starting on April 1.

I also added our theme verse after each person's name. We have a family goal of 25,000 verses read by the end of the year. Each of us spend time alone reading God's word. Everyone is responsible for their own reading. It is done at different times depending on the person and we each record the number of verses we read on our chart. Everyone has started reading in different areas of the Bible. Monty decided to start in Genesis. He is really going for it and if he keeps going at the rate he did the first week, he very well could finish the entire Bible by the end of the year. Kenyon started in (and finished) the book of Proverbs. Keslee started in Matthew but has now jumped back to Genesis. Kalysa kinda jumps around and reads several verses from different books each day. I started in Genesis (mainly because I was preparing for a children's church lesson from there at the time) then decided to read Lamentations and am now reading through Acts.

The first week has been a success with almost 5000 verses read. Our goal may be way too low but we will just leave it at that for now. Even my 8 year olds are able to read, understand and learn from their daily reading. That kinda kills that excuse that so many grown ups use-"Oh the King James Bible is just so hard to understand so I read from a different perversionI mean version." We are all enjoying our personal time alone with the Lord and I know that growth is inevitable!

He really did it this time!!

Yep, he sure did. Even though I asked him not to. I begged him not to. I cried and pleaded for several days. Did he listen? NOPE! He just went and did it anyway. With absolutely no regard for my feelings! Can you believe that? I mean seriously...the nerve of some boys. No matter what I said, regardless of the tears I shed, with no consideration of the feelings of others, they do it anyway. They just wake up one morning and turn 13.

OH THE PAIN!

OH THE AGONY!

HOW COULD THIS EVER HAVE HAPPENED????

I promise it was just a moment ago that I had a sweet little boy that was getting into everything. How could it be that that moment was actually thirteen years long????

How can I be the mother of a teenager???

Seriously....I am just barely past my own teen years!☺

I was not ready for this day. I am still in a state of unbelief. I mean...A TEENAGER?!?! What am I suppose to do with a TEENAGER??

I know my only hope of survival is in this book!! So first thing we did was get him a new one. His first "good" Bible with leather cover and his name embossed on the front. It even came with several key verses already highlighted. Ok, so I did the highlighting but they were there before he ever got it.

We also got him this pretty little ring. The design is a reminder of the crown of thorns that Jesus endured for us during the Crucifixion and the inside has a sweet little reminder engraved just for him.

Monty and I took our not so little boy out to Braum's for lunch. After burgers, the 3 of us had a long, not so easy, talk over a banana split.

I promise you, that is about the hardest thing I have ever done and I was afraid my poor husband was on the verge of a coronary the entire time. My shy, modest teenager was none too happy about it either. I am not allowed to discuss any of the topics that we went over (per Kenyon's demand!) with anyone! That is just fine with me and he, in turn, agreed to only discuss such topics with his dad or me if questions arise later.

The only comfort I received from the day-my son assured me he had NEVER heard of such a thing and everything we discussed was completely new and foreign to him. At least I know the first he ever heard was from his parents and was the TRUTH.