Right Before My Eyes

Before my very eyes they are growing up, changing.

Sunday brought a beautiful out-of-the-ordinary warm and sunshiny day.  We took every advantage of it, biking to the park, cooking out and eating dinner on the patio.

I've even seen evidence of a budding friendship growing.  I've waited a long time for that!

I'm so proud of who they are becoming, these little women of mine!

31 Days of Prayer for our Daughters

I was very excited when I learned that my friends over at the ModSquadMoms Blog are presenting 31 Days of Prayer for our daughters in the month of October.

If you are not familiar with the Mod Squad, you definitely need to head over to their blog and catch up.  They do an absolutely fantastic job encouraging mothers of daughters in their journey of motherhood through every phase. You won't find a more sincere group of women than the authors of this blog.

I can't wait to jump in with them praying for our daughters.  It is sure to be an exciting and faith building month of prayer.  Won't you join us?

Is My Conduct Worthy?

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."

Philippians 1:27

None of us is worthy of the gospel of Christ, but because of that gospel, He saved us.  We're asked to conduct ourselves in ways that shout loudly that we are different than the rest of the world.  A believer's actions and attitudes are crucial to their witness.  Someone is always watching!

Our small group families recently met at a local park to do a fun photography contest.  We broke into random groups and had a list of things of which we had to take photos.  Isn't our pyramid lovely?  Yes, that's me in the center on the bottom row.  We had 3 groups of us doing these crazy stunts all over the park.  So yes, we created quite a spectacle.  Do you think anyone asked about it?  YES!  We could then share about our small group, where we go to church, and most importantly, give an example of good clean family fun!

I've been sharing this verse with my kids as well.  It is a hard verse for them to take to heart, especially when things get hard at school or with friends.  But we continue to work on it, and hope that it sinks deep into their soul.

It's kinda like that old TV show, Candid Camera....When you least expect it....someone is watching!!!!

Pursuing Faith in our Homes

Last night on Gather Inspirit TV, we talked about Fighting for our Families.  We enjoyed a great discussion on how we protect and teach our children about media and friendships.  We talked about establishing family times, bible study times and shared our resources.  It was a really great discussion and if you missed it you can go to Mingle Media TV to watch the playback.

I mentioned several resources during our show last night that are helping our family focus on keeping God the center of our home.  I thought I would share a couple of those with you today:

A Girl of Beauty-Building Character in Young Girls by Carol Fiddler

This is a wonderful little book that has devotions about building character.  A sampling of the chapters include Truthfulness, Sincerity, Careful Words, Service, Loyalty, Contentment, etc.  Each topic has a short devotion, followed by a review section.  The Further Study sections another bible story that coincides with the lesson for deeper study as well.

The lessons in this book are short enough to be able to do at bedtime, but remember to allow plenty of time for discussion and questions afterward!




The Christian Girl's Guide to Being Your Best by Katrina Cassel

I really like this book because it is very interactive for the kids to do things on their own or with you.  The focus is giving God your best and the topics include:  Use your Talents, Set Priorities, Walk with God, Cherish your Family, Guard your Tongue, etc.

Each section has a story to go along with the subject matter, then a Life Quiz, an activity, a memory verse, and a game!  This book is written directly to your young lady's heart.  I think you will really enjoy this one.




Don't forget to go here to enter your chance to win the SecretKeeper Girl Friendship Kit!  The entries will remain open until Friday.  This is another great resource for Mom and Daughter!!

I'm linking up today over at Seeds of Faith for iFellowship.  Come on over to meet some great Christian bloggers!





My links are to Affiliate partners as I seek to add a few pennies to our single income household!  If you choose to participate, Thank you.

Faith in Parenting

If you are visiting from Gather Inspirit today, WELCOME!!

Since we may have first time visitors here today, I thought it would be a great day for a  giveaway!!  SecretKeeperGirl.com has graciously provided their 8 Great Dates for You and Your Daughter Friendship Kit!  Inside this cute little folder is a SecretKeeper Girl Diary for your daughter, a CD full of information to go along with each date, and a guide for Mom.  This kit is FULL of great information about building and maintaining Godly friendships.  Each date is all set up for you, including activities to do together, study questions, and fun quizzes and devotions.  I don't know about you, but no one ever taught me about friendships, and sometimes that can lead to heartache!  This information is crucial in teaching our daughters about the value and treasure of True Friendship as God intended.

To be entered to win:

1.  Follow my blog-Tell me if you are a new follower

2.  Comment about this post

3.  Go tweet about the great fellowship you find at Gather Inspirit!!
4.  Visit SecretKeeperGirl.com !
5. Entries will remain open until Friday, June 25th.

This giveaway is now closed.
The winner is Stacey at 29LincolnAvenue!!

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My daughters (ages 8 and 10) and I have implemented a new Summer Bible School this week, and we are having a blast!  They are so inquisitive and eager to learn about the Bible.  They are taking diligent notes and asking lots of questions and I am having a so much fun teaching them.  Isn't it funny that you don't think about how much you know until you have to explain it to someone else?  Well, that has happened a lot in the last few weeks.  Moms, it is never too early to teach them about God's Word.  I have been floored at the depth of the questions they have asked!  It is so exciting to watch God work through their minds as they fully grasp our discussions.  You don't want to miss out on this ladies!!

I already told you that this week we have been using my posts from last week about the Lord's Prayer as a place to start, and we are covering a little each day that we meet.  Right now I am allowing them to dictate how often we "go to school", as I want them to stay excited about it.  So if they want to meet everyday, that is what we will do! 

The girls also came up with a fun way to motivate them to memorize scripture this summer.  We agreed that sometimes I will choose the verse and sometimes they will choose their own verse.  Then they must repeat it to me once during the week when they are ready.  Then I get to ask them to repeat it again on another random occasion.  If they are successful at both times, they will earn 3 Bible Bucks.  At the end of the summer, they will trade their Bible Bucks for prizes.  

Of course, they wanted Webkinz in the prize box, but it might be more practical items like bible bookmarks, posters, or highlighters.  (haven't gotten that far yet!)  I have also decided that I will be awarding Bible Bucks for good behavior, especially when I see them acting on scripture that we have studied.  For instance, this week their first verse to memorize is Phillippians 2:14, "Do everything without grumbling or complaining....."  and boy would I love to see the fruits of this verse!!

If you'd like to use the Bible Bucks with your kids, please feel free to download them!  Thanks for stopping in today.  I hope you'll take a minute and look around.

Be sure to stop over at Gather Inspirit today to find more bloggers who are raising their children in faith!

Summer Bible School Begins!

K's notes on our first day of Bible school!

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know I am on a mission to teach my girls biblical values and insight this summer.  I have compiled some great resources, which I will be sure to share with you soon, but I also realized I have a lot to share with them from my own heart.

Today we began our Bible School!  The girls were excited that we were going to use our "toy" room as our school room.  There is already a whiteboard on the wall and both girls have desks in there, so we were ready to get started.  We made a special trip to the store just to get new notebooks for our summer study!

I decided to start with prayer.  We had a discussion several days ago about how hard it is to pray, so I knew the girls needed some guidance and prayer starters.  Last week I did three posts about digging deeper into the Lord's Prayer, so I decided that was a good place to start.  We spent about an hour in school today and only got through the first four words of the prayer!!  We got off on some tangents, but when you are discussing God's Word, all tangents are good!

Yes, some of the subject matter might have been a little too deep for my 8 and 10 year old, but I firmly believe that those seeds planted will one day flourish!  We had agreed that we will take notes on our study with the hopes that these notes will be something we can keep for a very long time that will continue to help us learn God's word.  So even though they were a little confused at times, the notes are down in black and white for them to review at a later age.

We also talked about the A.C.T.S. way of praying.  Even this can be confusing for little ones, so we broke it down to be even easier to understand:

Adoration.........God you are ________. (insert his attributes)
Confession........Please forgive me for _____________.
Thanksgiving.....Thank you for________________.
Supplication......Lord, please __________(pray for others and self)

We then put this into practice by gathering as a family at bedtime and praying this in a round.  We went around the circle two times so each person could offer prayers in each category twice.  This seemed to really help the girls grasp the rhythm of this prayer and it gives them some examples of how we as their parents pray as well.  After all, we are their greatest example of learning how to pray!

We had some great discussions and I am so proud of them for all that they learned.  We had a great time and they can't wait to see what we will learn tomorrow!

Absolute Truth?

"Among youth, 

70% 

believe

that there is no such thing 

as absolute truth; 

two people could define "truth" in 

conflicting ways and both be correct."

Barna, Third Millenium Teens, (Ventura, CA.: Barna Research Group, 1999), 44.

That could be the entirety of my post, just that one sentence.  Did it make you shudder? Gasp? Shake in fear?

Relativism has taken over our society and everyone feels free to choose what is right and wrong on their own with no regard to an absolute truth for their moral compass.  That means out of your children's 10 friends, 7 of them will make their own decisions based on what feels good to them, whatever they deem appropriate for themselves.

Now are you alarmed? 

Homeschool or public school, our children will be under constant attack to act on what feels right to them at the time.  Without a biblical basis in absolute truth, our nation and our children will be in constant moral chaos.

• "[God's] word is truth." (John 17:17)
• "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness." (Romans 1:18)
• "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." (1 Corinthians 13:6)
• "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place." (Ephesians 6:14)
  
   

In order to STAND in our world, we need the ABSOLUTE TRUTH OF GOD's WORD hidden in our hearts to guide and direct our actions and words.  It is not enough to witness to our children by example only.  Intentional training through the inspired word of God is the only way to teach that His ways are the ONLY ways.

I invite you to read more on this subject at Focus on the Family.   Or Check out Josh McDowell's book Right from Wrong.  According to Josh McDowell, our children are being raised in a society that has largely rejected the concepts of truth and morality. In Right From Wrong, McDowell offers hope and provides families and the church with a sound, thorough, biblical and workable method to clearly understand and defend the truth.

affiliate link

Are you ready to prepare your family for battle?
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I'd like to invite you to check out a new site, Scripture Dig. Some awesome Godly women have come together to teach how to study your bible and go deeper into the word.  It promises to be a fantastic site!!

Bright Lights-Training Young Ladies to be Radiant in Godliness, Holiness and Testimony

I have been diligently searching for some summer time curriculum that I could do with my girls.  I am very excited to say that I have found something wonderful, and I am so happy to share it with you.

Bright Lights is an organization that was started by Sarah Mally, a seventeen-year-old at the time, who was concerned about the spiritual walk of many young ladies she knew. The Lord gave her the desire to begin a discipleship ministry in order to share with these girls some of the things the Lord had taught her. She decided to call the group Bright Lights. BRIGHT stands for Being Radiant In Godliness, Holiness, and Testimony. 

I recently talked with Sarah, and she graciously sent me their Discipleship package so I could review it.  The curriculum is full of critical information that our girls need to learn.  It is directly targeted for girls 8-12...perfect for my 8 and 10 year olds.

There are five sets of lessons, and each lesson has several parts to it, so it will easily last us all summer if we do a couple each week.  Here is a small sampling of the lesson titles:

• developing a close relationship with your parents
• accepting the way God created you
• truthfulness
• contentment
• self-control
• friends
• courage to stand alone
• complaining and murmuring
• gossip
• honoring your parents

Each lesson has a suggested memory verse, a small explanation of the topic, biblical examples, real life stories, and applying it to life.  The binder also comes with sections for Prayer, Daily Bible Reading, and a place to record special verses.

I have allowed my girls several days after school ended earlier this week to "decompress", but we will be jumping into this curriculum next week.  I will be sure to let you all know how it is going.  If you choose to order the package, please let me know.  I would love to hear your thoughts and progress.