WERE YOU RAISED IN A CHRISTIAN HOME?

This past weekend, at the lady's retreat, we were asked that question. Everyone who was raised in a Christian home was asked to stand up. I was not immediately sure whether to stand or stay seated. I finally chose to stand. Since then I have been thinking about why I faltered. I know that I was not raised in the type of Christian home that I see in our church family or the type that I am trying to raise my children in but I would still say that I was raised in a Christian home. It was probably more like the Christian homes a lot of people are raised in. A more lukewarm Christian home.
When remembering back, I always knew God was there. I never remember a time that I did not know that Jesus died on the cross to save me. Before I was born, my dad thought he was gonna be a preacher. We went to church at a Nazarene church. I remember seeing both of my parents baptised. I was active in CYC with my uncle some when we were at my grandma's house in the summer. I have pictures of me from about 3 years old on in church Christmas programs. My first grade teacher was also my Sunday school teacher. When we were in Guthrie, we went to church with Grandma Brock. When we were in Missouri, we went to church with Grandad and Grandmother. I spent one summer making all the bulletin boards for my Grandmothers classroom at the Christian school she taught at. I was in charge of puppet shows in our youth department when I was a little older. I said my prayers at bedtime. I was taught to have faith in God. I knew God was in control. By the time I got into jr. high, our family had stopped going to church. A few years later I started going to First Baptist Church with a friend from school. I officially got saved when I was in 8th grade and continued to attend that church all through high school. When I went to college I did exactly what I had seen my parents do, I set God aside to do my own thing. How true it is-Raise up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it! Just because I didn't walk with God like I should did not change what I knew. I knew Jesus died for me. I knew God was in control. I knew God was with me. More often than not I still said my prayers at bedtime the entire time. I KNEW THE TRUTH!!! I could not have KNOWN if not for being raised in a Christian home.
So how is my children's home different? I don't want them to have that gap. I don't want them to go off on their own and set God aside, and if they do, I don't want it to be because of my example. We go to church-and we are not gonna stop! We say bedtime prayers-and breakfast,lunch and dinner prayers-and help me make it through the day prayers-and thanks for making the game cube work prayers-and help us finish school prayers-and prayers for people we see on tv-etc. etc.etc. My kids see God in everything from the moon to the lightening to getting to see their cousins to mom buying something they like at the grocery store-EVERYTHING! When something good happens, God is their first thought. When something bad happens, God is their first thought. When they don't know the answer, God is their first thought(that one can get kinda funny because they will answer "God" to any question you ask if they have no idea). We learn about God everyday in school. We talk about God everyday in life. Their friends either go to our church or live in our neighborhood and have been asked to go to our church. They memorize Bible verses in church. They memorize Bible verses in school. They see mom and dad read the Bible. The songs they know and sing are about God(about 90%-they like classical music and of course some songs off their kid movies). They are included in the decision to do or watch something based on if they think it glorifies God, and they know if it does or not. They are being raise in a Christian home. A stronger Christian home than either of their parents were raised in. Raise up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it! With prayers and faith and continued trust in God-I can't wait to see the homes they will raise my grand kids in someday.

CUTE THINGS KIDS SAY!

So many times the kids say something that is just priceless. I have decided to start documenting some of those sayings so I can always have them. This first post is a few things that I remember them saying recently and I will try to list new ones as they happen. Please feel free to share your own kids cute sayings in the comments!!

Kenyon: One day when we were driving along in silence we saw a squirrel run out in the road in front of the truck that was in front of us. While under the truck, he got scared and turned around and then jumped up resulting in getting smacked by the truck. Kenyon and I both gasped at the same time and looked at each other. Kenyon broke the silence with "I sure hope he got saved at squirrel church!" We laughed for miles!!!

Kalysa: While getting ready for a bath one night, she needed help to take her shirt off. As soon as I pulled it over her head she looked down and said "Nope! My b***ies haven't grown out yet!" I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW SHE HAD BEEN WAITING ON THEM!!

Keslee: One day she was getting a little restless in church and was making a little too much noise. I explained to her that we had some new kids sitting with us and she needed to be the example of how to sit in church so that they could learn how Christian kids are supposed to act. She said Ok and straightened up. The next week she asked "What am I supposed to be again?" I said "An Example." She said "oh yea!" and sat quietly for a few minutes. Then she leaned over to me and asked "Mom, what IS an example?" I guess her knowing what the word means would help!

MEMBERS OF SOCIETY

We have become members of society. Up until this point in our lives, we have just lived our lives with ourselves and our small circle of friends. I have often thought about the days of old when everyone in your neighborhood knew you. When people looked out for each other. When a neighbor was out of town, everyone knew where they were and when they would be back. When you are baking and notice you have no eggs, it is fine to run next door to borrow one. Wow! Wouldn't that be neat. Growing up, my mom's best friend was our neighbor. It was a natural way of life for us then. Only problem is that I have never had the opportunity to live next door to my best friend. Well guess what?! Olga and my mom were not best friends before we moved in next door!
Three years ago when we bought this house, our neighbor across the street (Ms. Barbara and her husband) would always wave when they saw us. Then I had a pampered chef party and dropped and invitation in her mailbox(I did not even know her name the). SHE CAME TO THE PARTY! Oh! So that is how becoming a member of society works! You actually talk to the people around you! I was starting to get it. Ms. Barbara became the kids best friend in the neighborhood(she is in her 70s). They rake her leaves, she makes them candy, they bake her cookies, she brings veggies from her garden. It has been great!
This summer 3 families with children have moved in around us and our membership in this society has grown. A young couple with 2 little girls are right behind us. We gave them some of the girls dresses that had gotten too small and Colton(the dad) plays ball and gives all the kids rides in a wagon behind the riding lawn mower.The kids met Carly next(an 8 year old girl catty corner from us). They would play out in the yard but she could not come in because her mom did not know me, so we had to meet. Next Jonathon(8) and Cyrus(4) moved in across from Colton. Their mom, Jodie, is going through a divorce and didn't have any furniture for the living room. Down the street was an abandoned house that had been emptied out and a couch was sitting at the curb. We all got together and put that couch on the wagon behind Colton's lawn mower and pulled that couch to her house. Since then all the kids are always at my house(unless Colton is outside-he is the biggest kid of them all and he runs, chases, plays ball, sprays with water and just plays with all the little kids). Christine, Colton's wife, locked herself out of the house one day and Jodie, me and the man that lives on the other side of her helped her get in. After that she called me to see if she could borrow a coke(she did not want to have to load the babies back in the car to run to the store.) Yesterday someone driving by stopped and took an ice chest the kids had in the front yard to help them get up in the tree. Maria, Carly's mom, saw it and followed them to a house up the street. We called the cops and had them go up there to retrieve it for us. All the other neighbors ended up coming over to be sure everything was ok when they say a cop car here. Of course all the kids thought it was the greatest day because we had a police man here. I thought it was a pretty good day because I learned that we now really are members of the society(at least in our neighborhood). We talk to each other, help each other, look out for each others kids, borrow from each other, and look out for each other. It is pretty neat!

OH NO, NOT AGAIN!!!

Well it rained all night last night and when I got a call this morning there was a distant humming on the line. I had to deal with that little annoyance all day. It started raining again tonight and has continued for about 2 hours now. Guess what?! Now the static is sooo bad on my phone that I can not hear anything else. The lines are obviously wet. I went 9 days without a phone last month for the same problem. Well now I know that they did not fix it then, WE JUST HAVE NOT HAD MORE RAIN SINCE THEN! I have put in another trouble ticket and it should be fixed by Thursday. When I do have service again(I want to be sure they hear me), I will be calling to get some serious credits applied to my bill!!

BLESSINGS!!

BLESSINGS FOR THE WEEK.....

1.LADY'S RETREAT-I LOVE SPENDING TIME WITH OUR LADIES AND GOD USED IT TO SHOW ME TIMES WHEN I AM GIVING OTHERS FRUIT FLAVOR INSTEAD OF TRUE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.
2.HEARING THAT DAVID(9 YEAR OLD AUTISTIC BOY) IS READING!!! WOW! GOD IS GOOD!
3.THE JORDAN'S HAVING A BABY BOY!
4.THE PRINCIPLE(MONTY) CALLING FOR "TEACHER IN SERVICE-NO SCHOOL" DAY. HE KNEW MORE THAN I THAT I REALLY NEEDED THAT TODAY.
5.PREACHER AND MS CONNIE-I LOVE THEM BOTH! I KNOW THEY ARE A GREAT ADDITION TO OUR CHURCH BUT SOMETIMES I THINK GOD BROUGHT THEM HERE JUST FOR ME.
6.GETTING A PHONE CALL FROM MY BABY BROTHER (JOHN) JUST BECAUSE HE WAS BORED-I LOVE TALKING TO HIM AND REALLY NEED TO SPEND MORE TIME JUST TALKING TO THAT BOY.(PRAY FOR HIM-HE NEEDS ENCOURAGEMENT!)
7.MY 3 MONKEYS!-THEY REALLY LOVE ME AND THEY REALLY LOVE JESUS!
8.TEACHING CHILDRENS CHURCH-I THINK I AM FINALLYGETTING THE HANG OF IT AND I AM FALLING IN LOVE WITH THOSE KIDS.
9.FALL-I LOVE THE COOL WEATHER AND THE SMELL OF FIREPLACES BURNING AND RAINY DAYS AND EARLY NIGHTS AND COLORFUL LEAVES AND CURLING UP IN A BLANKET WITH A BOOK AND- AND- AND- I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT FALL!
10.SWEET WORDS ABOUT MY FAMILY FROM A NEIGHBOR-IT FEELS GOOD TO BE REASSURED THAT WE ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

PINATA UPDATE

THEY ARE BUSTED!!!!
In trying to bust the pinatas, we discovered another problem and I am not sure what we could have done different to avoid it. Our strings pulled out when we had them full of candy! We ended up duck taping then to a metal pole and Danny(my stepdad-Jacinta's dad) held the pole. Keslee hit hers several times and got some cracks in it then Kenyon wacked it a few good times and the candy came flying! Next we taped up BOB and Kalysa had a go at it. It took her a few minutes to get her to swing while blindfolded-she does not like not being sure about anything-but finally she got several good hits in. Jacinta was up next and got one good hit and it exploded. CANDY! CANDY EVERYWHERE! The kids had a great time. I am so glad we took the extra time to make the pinatas. We may do it again sometime for birthday partys or something(but probably not real soon).

MaMa's BIRTHDAY!!

Yes, today was my birthday. Last night on the way home from church Keslee was wondering what we were gonna do for my birthday. I told her I would get a cake mix and we would make a cake. That upset her because she said I can not make my own cake. Then she got upset because she did not have any way to get me a present. I told her the best present I could get would be for the kids to finish their chores, get the living room and play room cleaned up, their rooms cleaned and no fighting all day. So that just made her cry! I asked her why she was crying and she said "WE CANT WRAP THAT!" I just told her that it would be ok. Kalysa asked me what I wanted to have on my cake? I said(not realizing I needed anything besides icing) I did not know and asked what she thought I should have on it. She said "Maybe like blue icing and rainbows!"
Monty got home from work waaaayy early and surprised me with a card and a gift card for wal-mart with instructions that I was not allowed to buy for anyone but myself. This morning I headed out to shop for myself. WOW how long has it been since I have done that?!? Well I got myself a few presents and when I got home I gave the sack to the kids and some tissue paper. They got to pick what they wanted to give me and WRAP it. Kenyon baked the cake, with a little help from Keslee. I also bought 4 tubes of writing icing and gave them to the kids. They decorated to cake together. They had drawn some pictures and written "happy birthday". Of course they had to use EVERY drop of the icing in the tubes so, due to the lack of space, they had to write over everything. The end result looks kinda like an explosion of confetti.
So there ya go! All problems were solved! The kids got to give me Wrapped presents, I did not have to bake my own cake, and there was "something" on the cake in the way of decorations. My dad brought the ice cream and we had a party!=) The kids were happy! -and i was happy that we only had 25 candles in the house!