Standing Out

Today's sermon touched on the point that, as Christians, we should not blend in with the rest of the world. We should stand out.

After our worship service, we dismiss to small groups where we discuss the morning's message. So we talked about it. Yes, everyone agreed. We should not blend in. Yes, we all agreed, Christians should look different.

But we never exactly pinpointed HOW that looks. I wondered at lunch to S how many folks would go home and think hard about that message this morning. How many folks, do you think, will go home and question their family's decisions? I wondered because right after the sermon I passed several of our teens at church who have piercings in their face and the latest fashions on. I wondered because of the things I see on people's Facebook pages.

It's not just about outward appearance, I know. Oh there is so much to think about. This topic is near and dear to my heart as it's what this blog is ABOUT.

I've told this story before, but years ago I watched one of the first specials about the Duggar family on TV. I was pretty impressed and curious about this family. I began reading and poking around online and what impressed me the most was......for every decision in their lives, they had a scripture to back it up. This interested me. Most people, including us at the time, live their lives pretty much like everyone around them, except they read their Bible and go to church.

So I began praying for God to change our family to how He wanted us to be. I talked to S about it too. We decided that, other than where we spent our time on Sundays.....we weren't too different than any other young family. Sure, there were all the things we didn't do.....we didn't drink, or smoke, or cuss, or go to bars. But did we stand out? Were we really living like we were different? Were we just reading God's word for encouragement, or using God's word to base our decisions on? Big difference.

Since that time, oh my word, I have re-thought (or rather thought-for-the-first-time) many, many things. How should I wear my hair? How should I dress? What does modesty mean? How should I treat my husband? What are my responsibilities as a parent? As a wife and mother, what would God have me to do? Who should be training and teaching our children? What hobbies should we have? What should we watch on TV? What music should we listen to? How should we treat others?

Oh I know I'm not listing everything there (feel free to throw some more things out in the comments) but the point is, the way we were living, and expected to live in the future.....changed. When we considered God first, decisions were different.

If you had asked me a few years ago, I would have told you our kids would go to school (hopefully not in full-time daycare before they started), date, graduate, go to college, get married, etc. And us? We would work until we paid off the college and then work toward retirement.

That plan is pretty much shot now. Thankfully, God has set us on a different path. We cannot honestly tell you what will happen in a few years, but we know that the Lord's will comes first. And I know we have been blessed by the changes in our life.

So what do you say? How should Christians stand out from the world. Surely it's more than just an internal change. And yes, I understand that the Lord is the one who makes us new---we cannot just "decide" to change our lives. But when we are living in obedience to Him.....how do we then stand out? What do you say?

A New Math Game

Little Bit is working her way through the Math U See Primer book. We haven't gotten very far past the lesson when they are supposed to learn what numeral the blocks stand for. She had no problem naming the blocks the first day and never forgot what she named them, but she wasn't having as much luck remembering the numeral they corresponded to. She's also been having trouble recognizing several numerals. She knows ALL the letters of the alphabet in both upper and lowercase, but for some reason numbers just weren't sticking.

So, last week we made a book. Here are the first few pages. She named the green unit block "green grass", the 2 block "duck feet", the 3 block, "three little pigs", and the 4 block "sunshine."

Then yesterday I got an idea from Math U See's Facebook page and a new game was born. Actually 2 new games were born.

I found some dice (I refuse to call them die, ok? Hate that word. I know it's correct but, ug.) and realized that Little Bit wouldn't be able to easily recognize what number she had rolled. Also, a dice would only allow her to practice her Math U See blocks up to 6. And she knows those lower numbers pretty well.

Then I enlisted Sweetheart to quickly add the dice (she can use the practice in adding QUICKLY) and call out the number to Little Bit, who then had to locate the correct block. They had a lot of fun doing this and taking turns shaking the dice.

Concentrate, Sweetheart!!!
Yeah!!! She finally learned 9!!!!

When Sweetheart had enough of that game, Little Bit wanted to play some more. She and I got in the floor and made up a new game. I rolled the dice and called out the number to her and we attached them to a hundreds block base as we went. This has the potential for good things further down the road as she will figure out that if she already put a 4 block down, she'll need a 6 block to complete that row (4+6=10). Towards the end, she was figuring out what she needed to roll to finish the whole block and beginning to recognize the dice patterns.
I need to roll a 2 and a 1 Mom!

We decided when we were finished that next time we will add one thing to our game. Whenever anyone rolls an 8, we shall eat an M&M. (Chocol-8!) It's a win-win game.

Hey, Moms need some motivation too.

Never Enough

I work really hard to please my husband. I'm sure it doesn't look like it when you look around our house, but every day he is on my mind. I WANT the house to be clean and wonderful looking when he gets home. I have every intention of it happening. It just never seems to come to fruition like it does in my mind.

I want to fix great suppers that the whole family likes and have everyone full and satisfied at the end of the meal, but it's a crap shoot. I feel like I just make something really quick every night. I WANT to be one of these women who make great home cooked meals that spell love to their family and everyone wants to come eat at their house. I have every intention of learning to do that. It just never seems to actually happen. We have hot dogs a lot.

I want to be really organized and track our finances and save for the future and take care of all the paperwork so my husband has no cares. I want the laundry room to look like it does in my imagination. I want the laundry to be done. I want to spend less time on the house and more time on sewing. I want to have people over more. I want to be thinner.

I want to feel like I'm doing something.....just one thing....really, really well.

Thank goodness we can't work for our salvation. Thank goodness that God's love for me is not dependent upon my performance. It doesn't feel good to always be holding a measuring stick up to yourself and be found wanting.

People in some religions feel this way. They are never really sure. They have to DO a lot of things. They cannot afford to mess up.

I am thankful for the gift of God's grace. For the Salvation offered to me by our Lord. For freedom in Christ. For His love. For His forgiveness.

I am thankful that I don't have to be enough....or do enough.

I am thankful our God is who He is.

Book Club Jr.

Sweetheart is part of a book club. It's made up of homeschooled students from about 8-12 years old (or thereabouts). It was started by some friends and let me tell you.....we have read many, many books that I would never have chosen otherwise because of this book club.

I think I might be becoming literate.

See, I went to public school my whole life. Can I blame that for the reason I have never read The Three Musketeers or The Secret Garden or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Actually, I was discussing 20,000 Leagues with my sister and we were talking about the author Jules Verne. I told her he wrote about futuristic things in his time. She wondered how I knew that and I showed her.

So....yes. MTV obviously trumps literature courses. Oh wait, actually I would have learned that from VH1's Pop Up Video. See? I read.

We enjoyed The Tale of Despereaux before the movie came out. We also read The Trumpet of the Swan, which I owned my whole life but never read. It's been really neat.

Last year I had to read most of the books to Sweetheart but this year she is flying through them on her own. That is very cool! We have sort of gotten hooked on the Great Illustrated Classics. They seem to be a really good fit for most of our kids.

Well, last year the little sisters sort of just played during book club. Sometimes they sat in on the activities but they didn't get a whole lot out of it. This year, since they are all now officially school-aged (Little Bit is the youngest), I decided I wanted them to get to do something too. I was talking with one of the other moms about how the littlest one is always along for the ride, but the activities are so rarely about them.

(OK good grief. She's not THAT much younger. She's so short in this picture but she's only 6 months younger than the girl on the far left!)

So Book Club Jr. was born. I have three sweet little girls who are three different ages, but are a nice fit with each other. We've only met once but we had fun. For the first meeting I tried to keep it light. (I wanted them to have a good impression of Book Club Jr.!) We read Ira Sleeps Over and I had everyone bring their bear. They got to introduce their bear to everyone and then we did some crafts. We had a few minutes extra at the end so I brought some bears for them to play with. It was fun, but I'm looking forward to doing more challenging stuff with them.

Today we are going to read The Napping House, which may not have been the best choice because there is no food involved. We made soup for Despereaux (obviously), and ate spaghetti and meatballs before we read and went to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I'm all about the food books.

Oh. But I'm supposed to be teaching the children about reading. Right.

Raking in the Dough

Tomorrow I'm going to earn some money. The first money I have earned in at least 2+ years. I have always worked up until I quit a few years ago to stay home. I worked from the age of 13 until I went to college. I took off my freshman year at the request of my dad so I could "learn to study." After that I worked the remainder of college and after graduation, began teaching. After I quit teaching, I worked part-time for several years. I have nearly always drawn a paycheck of some sort.

Tomorrow I will use all the training I received as a reading specialist to test a little girl who is struggling with reading. I will earn $10.

I know! But I'm still excited. It feels good to use what I know to help someone else and earn a measly little amount to help our family. Who knows? Maybe testing will turn into some tutoring jobs? It certainly would be nice.

It's hard to trust God for the future sometimes. I know so many families who have operated under the philosophy that mom will stay home when the kids are little and then return to work when they are in school. Many times the reason given is because they have to do something. I mean, in a few years the kids will be in college and they will need money for cars and braces, etc.

I understand that way of thinking, but if you understand God's word to say that wives should be keepers at home, then that plan doesn't work as well. Homeschoolers really have a problem as no matter how old the kids are.....they aren't going to school. It makes it doubly hard for mom to help out earning money. Which makes you begin to question all the things you are "supposed" to do.....college, cars, vacations, etc. Who says that's how we must live?

I've heard women say that they truly believe God wants them to be home, but then when they throw their job application out there and get a job offer, they say that clearly God wanted them to have that job! Either the Bible addresses this or it doesn't. I don't believe God would leave us to wonder on such a huge topic.

We are just better at listening to our culture than God's Word.

So why am I taking this job? Because it will take 1 hour and my kids will not be neglected. I can help a friend, earn a little money in the process and be done. I think there are probably tons of ways for wives to earn money and I am all for that if it can be done from home. The more a job takes a woman away from the home (and from her family!) the more leery I am. It's hard to keep the home if you aren't there.

Ah well. I never thought this way until a few years ago. My heart changed long before I came home. I didn't think there was ANY way I could ever become a homemaker but by the grace of God....I am. Whenever I think of it, I am motivated to work even harder for my family. I am so grateful to be here.

I just found out about a friend who has gone back to work full time as her youngest child is now in school. It breaks my heart to think she is not at her house taking care of things anymore. I am praying for their family. I hope they will decide it's not worth it, trust God, and she will come home again. I do not think it is impossible anymore. The Bible transcends culture and years. His plan for the family still works.

Even if you have to eat a lot of bologna sandwiches. :)