Book Review: The Ministry of Motherhood, Ch 10

Chapter Ten Quotes - Faith in a Living God ~ my comments in green
Great chapter! I'm not sure I'll have internet access on our trip, so I'm going to try to post the rest of these chapter summaries. Simply click on them when you are ready to discuss...and check back to interact with others.
"My faith, though wasn't just in thin air or in wishful thinking. The more I know about Christ and study his life, and the more I see the absolute integrity of his life, the more amazed I am at his charcter and love and his heart to reach out to us and help and redeem us. My faith is founded on the basis of God, his Word, his creation, and all that I know to be true about him." page 112
And that doesn't change with our circumstances. It's settled.
It is essential for parents to instill faith in our children (though that really is going to come as a work of grace and not through my parenting, as I'm sure Sally would agree) because "They are bound to experience many obstacles and difficulties in their lives. We cannot take away those circumstances, but we can offer our children the gift of faith so they will have the strength to live through them and a relationship with God that gives meaning to it all. " p112
"As I trust God to carry me through my problems, I actually learn to trust him more! And even more important, I become a living testimony of faith to others, especially to my children. The best way we can give the critical gift of faith to our children, in other words, is to exercise faith in our own lives - to accept the difficulties of life and choose to trust God in the midst of them. This means we will choose to be thankful, choose to be joyful, choose to be mature and strong, and try to be an example for our children. It also means we will talk to our children about why we're choosing to respond in this way and share with them what God's Word says about faith." page 113.
I, personally, found this section to be very encouraging. Of course the idea of children watching how we handle things is challenging...but I've worried and prayed for my children's hearts with our repeated miscarriages.... I'm thinking that yes, I need to pray for their heart and it is a concern....and yet they are also seeing how a child of God walks through sad times with faith intact...and that is a good thing. We are all growing through the trial - and that seems to me to be the purpose of most trials.
"But modeling is not the only way parents can teach faith to children. Children also learn by observing the lives of others,...Stories about men and women of faith - from missionaries and martyrs to quiet overcomers - can help move our children's hearts toward trust. ....the best stories of faith can be found in the New and Old Testaments...page 114
"Having a Bible on their bedside table won't automatically help children develop a trusting relationship with God. When Jesus called his disciples after all, he didn't just hand them an instruction manual and leave them on their own. ::snort:: Instead, he lived beside them for three years - building a relationship, teaching them repeating himself, correcting them, affirming them, showing them what to do and how to do it. Jesus taught the disciples to base their faith not only on the integrity of his words but also on the integrity of his faithfulness." page 114 And what a great example of parenting this is to us.
"The gift of faith, is not just wishful thinking but an accurate understanding of God's character and his integrity. Faith provides our children the security they need to step out in their lives, making confidet decisions because they have developed a relationship with the God who is worthy of their trust. page 115

Weekend Recap

Friday night Mike and I had dinner with our two chaplains and their wives. The older boys closed (big festival in town so late hours last week) and Jared watched the younger ones. We came home to this.....the only way to watch movies.
Saturday - It's BAAAACCCCKKKKK - the big nameless thing that is alternately being called Bertha, The Bus, Dream Boat 2, The Turd, The Really Big Thing - arrived back in our neighborhood. ::snort::
We took everything out of the pop up. Decided which items should go in The Really Big Thing, which items should stay in the pop up, and which items should be sold later this summer. Things such as BIG outdoor camp stoves, outdoor sinks, porta potties, solar showers, and campfire cookware are now in the garage. Dishes and such are now in Bertha. I FOUND the camping list on a disc that Don had sent with recovered material from my crashed computer. I updated it to reflect our new needs. Mike took the pop up back to storage.

Mike and Jared worked on our sprinkler system. We'd like to have this running before we leave. I'm AMAZED at how Mike figures these things out. Mike and Jared report that the mud in TX is smelly and slimy

Zander is always willing to help the big guys - ah the things he could do with a shovel!
While they sweat in the sun, ::snort::, I tried to find campsites for the first leg of our trip. We used to just take off.....after two trips that included driving all night because there were no hotels with 2 rooms available.... we try to reserve ahead. We're not sure if campgrounds will be a problem, but it is summer.... I've got the first leg booked between here and the Convention. After AK, we'll be trying to make "good" time to get all the way back here in 3 days and may not want to be tied to specific cities. We shall see.

Saturday night Mike and I had a Parish Appreciation Dinner. The older boys worked. Jared watched the youngers. After the dinner we went to Best Buy. We had hoped to pick up a
lap top they had at Best Buy. Originally this was going to be Josiah's graduation gift, then it looked so small, that one thing led to another and it became MY laptop. Jamin and I would sure enjoy being away from home a month much better if we had a lap top. We must write. Sad, sad thing is that they were sold out of the lap top and not giving rain checks.

We came and discovered that we were out of milk and bottle tops. We headed to Walmart. We also took the opportunity to see what they had for setting up The Dream Boat. We decided that I would measure on Sunday and go back. We were surprised when looking for a small toaster for The Turd that they now make toasters that warm your meat and poach your eggs; we didn't opt for that model. Sounded dangerous....

Sunday - Two services, lunch, measuring The Really Big Thing, getting Cy ready for his trip.....and another trip to Walmart. I found it very funny to be buying these sorts of things for a "camper". I told myself that at least we wouldn't need suitcases...we could pack right into the trailer....and promptly remembered that we are FLYING from Seattle to Anchorage and so we'll have to haul suitcases along anyway. ::snort::
We all made it back for the 1800 service, tried to go to Coldstone (chapel gift certificates), but the line was SILLY! We opted for DQ instead. While there, Zander helped himself to a Dilly Bar from the freezer. He thought it was like home and you could just get what you wanted...which works to a point..for ONE. LOL

He's Off to Atlanta

At 0 dark thirty we headed to our local airport.

This time Josiah is off to the mecca of Chick Fil A. He'll be attending advanced leadership/manager training. It's sounds like a FULL schedule with ropes type courses, good food, hotels, and lots of lectures. LOL

He even went and bought "business casual" for the trip. No, he's not wearing it on the flight. ::snort:: Gotta love it.

My Bike.....

 Mike bought me a Schwinn Tornado when we were in AK. I didn't get as much use of it as I'd planned. I hadn't taken into account that the road went STRAIGHT UP from our driveway for 1/2 a mile....and the roads all over Eagle River were hilly - more like mountains really. ::snort:: I had planned to haul my bike to Turnagain Arm and ride....Mike had planned for me to RIDE from Eagle River to Turnagain Arm (Darshia, Dody - how far is that?) - about 15 miles to the bike trail and then ride. I never did it.

But today I got to go on a bike ride. I've not been able to do this since discovering I was pregnant because I'm a KLUTZ - pure and simple. Given my prenatal history - I'm not allowed near bikes. A nameless son has been using my bike.....

Today I went to ride. It's a breezy day. It's cool. I'm no longer expecting. My bike looks much like the one above...except mine has a bell and a white basket on the front - picture the old bag in Wizard of Oz. I went to hop on my bike. The kickstand is broken, the basket is gone. ::snort:: Ah well - I didn't really need my ear muffs or mittens any longer....and it wasn't hot enough to NEED water.

I wasn't able to ride 12 - 15 miles - but I rode 7 miles. It was exhilarating. As always - prayers begin when pedals engage. I found myself telling God I'd really like to have raised my babies....but I'll be content to raise the children He has allowed us to raise. It was a good ride. I wondered if I could take my bike in the trailer...then I remembered that we're flying to AK - so this Turnagain dream will have to wait for another trip....like when we DRIVE up there. LOL

For those who are wondering how a Pastor's wife goes biking on Sunday...ummm..the joys of the military? ::snort:: Seriously, our RE is over for the summer. Mike is preaching again in the 2:00 and 6:00 services...so we have the a.m. free. Maybe we'll repair my bike - oh NO - we won't - we have to get ready to leave by Friday. It takes a LOT of work to get a family this size on the road.....but we're determined to pull out on Friday. ::snort::

Happy Birthday, Bre

BRE IS 22 YEARS OLD TODAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETIE!!!

Chore Update!

I mentioned last week that I wanted to get back to my system but I didn't want to use index cards. I decided to check the Internet out for Side Tracked Home Executives....they do have a website...and they now have a daily planner instead of cards and I THINK the computer program makes cards for one....but I still didn't really want to do the cards.

Bre called sometime last week and reminded me that the cards were a pain with a toddler in the house. ::snort:: I wanted to type out lists of chores for each room. That wouldn't be so great for the Nolan and Zander.

I kept searching. Low and behold....in the SHS files I found Kelly's chore charts which she'd mentioned in my comment section. I excitedly printed them out. THEN I found MY chore chart from Alaska. This was not a complete chore chart but it listed the main daily/weekly things that I wanted done in each room. I printed it and we're on track. (If only I could find our camper check list now). This is not working as smoothly as it did when the girls lived at home - owners of A1 Cleaning Services ::snort:: but it's helping. Each person helps with a meal clean up or set up during the day and each person has a weekly area that is their responsibility. Simple. I let the older two boys out of this as we never see them. So it's Me and the remaining 5 children for the family zones.

THEN Trish sent me info on a system I had been planning to order. In fact - after I ordered I found out I was an affiliate. ::snort:: They gave me a discount on my stuff. I checked my sidebar and the info is there but there is no graphic or anything. This is my link if you decide to order. ::snort:: I ordered Zone Cleaning and received A bedroom cleaning one too.

These are fun and helpful for Nolan and Zander. Zander can't read so my other charts aren't great for him - they require me to read each instructoin. Nolan's therapist says he has processing trouble and I'm to draw pictures for each instruction I give him - THIS works great. I think the system will easily work without the books - afterall the Zone Cleaning really is my system...but for those with processing disorders or for young children this is FUN and GREAT and I didn't have to make my own charts. LOL

Zone cleaning covers the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room. The chores they list are close to what I have on my daily/weekly chart. There is space to add more chores if you'd like. I let the two younger ones use these when they are assigned one of those rooms.

The bedroom one has a system for cleaning well BEDROOMS. ::snort:: Here you go:

Get out your baskets: labeled toys, returns, books, clothes

Make a giant pile of everything out of place in the middle of your room....

Even from under the bed! WHY do they put toys under the bunk bed....

Sort the things into the four baskets. Grab a basket and TAKE IT WITH YOU as you put things away. Stacia loves to help.

When trash reaches the line; empty it.

Put baskets away.

Simple - but their room has been cleaned all week. OK it is REALLY messy several times a day but when I say "is your room clean" they know exactly how to pick it up now. LOL We'll add dusting and vacuuming as needed.

The photos make this usable for my younger set. It really does help Nolan do what he's asked to do......the therapist is going to think these are COOL. LOL

We got a Package!!!

From Grandma and Grandpa! It was full of cool stuff. There were little balls that boing and light up and make noise, there was a purse, nerf rockets, bubbles that are sticky and don't break (yikes - WHAT is in these things ::snort::)....lots of things.

Contraband candy for Mike and I....::snort:: and Happy Feet - there is NO way I'm posting the photo of me holding that. Sorry. ::snort::