And Another Thing...

Saint Nicholas Feast Day

Star Wars VII: A New Church

"Help us Obi-Wan-Brendan, you're our only hope!"

The droid choir put in a lovely performance just before the big battle on Naboo

Even Storm Troopers and cloned Darth Vadors need a little God-time.

The parking lot is secure.

Pumpkin Love

This is the scrumptious little hat that will be on display at St. Joe's Silent Auction in a few weeks.  I am donating a Baby-Hat-of-the-Month deal to be auctioned off in support of our new church building.  The pumpkin hat is November's hat and each following month I will knit and deliver a themed baby hat to the recipient.  I will also include a birthday hat for the appropriate month.  I am so excited about this!  I don't have babies to knit for anymore, so this is the next best thing for me!  Lot's of people have told me that they think it's a good idea and I really hope it goes over well.  Stay tuned to see the rest of the hats over the next year!

Vacation Bible School

Last week the kids and I spent our mornings at VBS.  They had tons of fun in their classes and I had tons of fun making snacks for all the kids and chatting with my friends!

Olivia made a new friend and you would think that they had known each other forever!

On the last day, we had some kids who would rather eat ice cream and hang out in the kitchen than go to class, go figure!

I tried to get pictures of the closing service, but they turned out horribly.  I have GOT to get a new camera!

St. Joseph's Hands

As I was laying in bed this early morning, unable to sleep yet again, I realized what a lucky woman I am.  I have this fantastic husband who works so hard to support his large family and enables me to stay with my children everyday.  There are many women in this world who, for whatever reason, must leave their children every day in the hands of others.  I was fortunate enough to find a man who values his children so much that he wants only the best care for them, their mother.  This man goes to work everyday and then comes home to take them to the lake and swim with them, to give them their baths and tuck them into bed, and then to begin working again.  He works on our house to make it a home, he works in our yard to make it a beautiful and fun place, he works on his computer to give us the things that we want.  He does what he can to make us happy and to make us feel loved.  He does all of this because he is a good man who is following God's call to be a husband and a father.  I want to thank him for all that he has done and all that he will continue doing, because he loves us.

Humbled

I just received my brand new copy of “Real Learning” by Elizabeth Foss today and I greedily dove right in to re-write all of my precious notes.  It is already so much fun to re-read this book and re-think everything.  I have stopped just now at the section titled “Education is an Atmosphere” because the words that Willa Ryan wrote are profoundly affecting me this afternoon.  They are exactly what I needed to be faced with today and I thank God that I found them. 

Willa says “Parents sanctify their children, but children also sanctify their parents.”   The word sanctify stopped me.  Do I really, truly know what that means?  Well, just to be sure, I looked it up.  Webster's dictionary define sanctify as “to make holy, purify, consecrate”.  So, my take on that statement is that my job as a parent is to mold my children to be holy and pure.  But also, it is my children's job to do the same for me. 

Willa goes on to say, “when my children show character flaws that I am not sure how to deal with because I have the same flaws, that God would rather have me battle them out in my in adequate way, asking for His grace and provision, than to rely on outside solutions to solve the problem.”  To me this means that as I am striving to help my children become holy, as I strive to change their character flaws, they will challenge me to also become holy and to change my own character flaws.  I think I'm getting this.

I attended the INCH convention in early May and had the pleasure of hearing Ray Reish speak about Heart Training.  He told us that when they are scheduled to speak about a particular parenting issue, they will inevitably be challenged in that same issue by their children in the days proceeding the talk.  God has a funny way of making his point, doesn't he? 

I think this holds true even for those of us who are not going out to speak to other parents.  When I decided to work on speaking in respectful voices, God really started challenging my own voice.  The harder I tried to get the point across, the more my children pushed me into using a not-so-respectful tone.  It is totally ludicrous to adamantly demand in a very loud tone that your children speak to each other respectfully.  Even when I was doing it, I knew I would not achieve my end that time.

So, after much prayer and contemplation and even a little (gasp) listening, I have submitted to the fact that I am being taught a lesson by God through my children.  My children will start speaking respectfully when I give them enough material to imitate.  Do you know how much hard work that is?  Do you know how hard it is to maintain an atmosphere of respect in a house full of children who are acting like demons?  I know it is a vicious circle and I know that this all has to start with me, but sheesh!  What an overwhelming proposition.  I'll keep you updated!