Preschool Graduate

Emma graduated from preschool last week. It was a sweet ceremony and even got captured in the paper. She is so excited about starting Unity Christian School next year. She keeps telling people she's going on "spring break" and when she comes back she'll go to kindergarten. She is a sponge right now...what precious times!!

The Ballet Recital

This was their ballet dress. They danced to"Girls Just Want to Have Fun".

Their updo's. They even had glittery hairspray....and mommy ended up wearing some too.

Their tap was to Annie's, "It's a Hard Knock Life For Us". They all were so adorable. They even had little pails that they pretended to scrub the floor with.

This is the dress rehearsal

Pa Pa and MiMi, and Uncle Chump! My parents came too, but left

before picture taking began.

And the next day....Uncle Chump brought them each a dozen

roses for their performance.

The Habit of Having No Habits

It has been a long time since I have picked up my dear old Oswald Chambers book, "My utmost for His highest". That book is one of the most amazing devotionals I think I have ever owned. I have lots of things to say about today, but I thought I would post it so all my readers could hear the insightful words... always so challenging!

2 Peter 1:5-8 May 12th

"When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.
Your god may be your little Christian habit- the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, "I can't do that right now; this is my time alone with God." No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.
Love means that there are no visible habits-that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things -things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child."

Isn't that good? My first initial thought is, I do not want God to be my little habit!!! He is way too amazing to be reduced to a habit. I'm sure at times in my life I have reduced Him to that and it breaks my heart. I think a lot of Christians are tempted in this way, because we are taught to have a quiet time....and NOTHING is wrong with that....but I think the question bears asking, are we truly meeting with our God during our quiet time or are we checking off our quiet time for the day? Thank God we serve such an amazing gracious God who yearns to spend time with us! Dare I say, even if we are just meeting with "our habit". But, I pray that Christians everywhere will stop worshiping their habit and start to worship their Maker!!

Discipline and Parenting

Discipline. Such a harsh word. But is it really? Most people, including myself, tend to think discipline is all about correction. However, there is so much more to that word. The root word of discipline is "disciple". So when you are discipling someone, say your child, you are giving them instruction on how to live life. II Timothy 3:16 tells us that God's Word is useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting and training us in the way we should go. The same holds true for us when we disciple our children. We are not only correcting them, but we are teaching them and training them for life! What an immense responsibility. One that requires us as parents to have confidence and consistency. Does anyone else struggle with this?

This morning as I was doing my quiet time I was challenged by this. It seems there are days that I lack the confidence and consistency I need to discipline my children. I was encouraged as I read from the Word this morning. Here are some amazing verses Proverbs offers us in disciplining our children.

13:24 "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him."
19:18 "Discipline your son, for in that there is hope;"
22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."
22:15 "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from
him."
24:14 "Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for
you."
29:15 "The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother. "
29:17 " Discipline your child, and he will bring you peace; he will bring delight to your soul."

Here is one is Hebrews:
12:11 "No discipline at the time seems pleasant, but painful. Later on however, it produces a
harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

So, in order for me to have the confidence to discipline my children consistently I need to understand that God has empowered me to do this. By disciplining them I am teaching them life skills that they will need when they get older. I will be instilling knowledge and wisdom in them. I will be helping them learn how to be a best friend, a student, a follower of God, an employee, and possibly a parent one day. I want to raise responsible children who will know right from wrong and understand that there are consequences to their actions. I would be doing them such and injustice if I didn't.

It's encouraging to me to know that God disciplines me because he loves me, because He delights in me and has my best interests in mind. He wants me to be the best I can be. Discipline isn't negative. It's good. It's God training us and molding us. If God gave up on us and never rebuked us or showed us a better way, we would be lost.

My prayer as I seek to raise children who love God is that I will be consistent with them. I have to remember the main goal of parenting is to raise an independent adult. An individual who will be making her own decisions one day and have her very own family one day. The verse in Hebrews is so true! None of us like to be disciplined, but how grateful are we for our parents who were consistent with us? I owe my work ethic and everything to godly parents who taught me right from wrong. I'm appreciative of it now, though at the time, not so much. :)

So, parents may we band together and discipline our children. By disciplining them we are LOVING them!! Philippians tells us, we can do everything through Christ who strengthens us!

And a BIG special thanks to my parents who did not spare the rod with me, but who taught me, and modeled for me a "better way". I love you mom and dad!