Some of my favorite parenting resources

Over the next few days I am going to list a few of my favorite parenting resources that have benefited me tremendously.

The first one is a book by Denise Mira called "No Ordinary Child: Unlocking the leader within your child". It is in paperback and now in ebook format.

In Hebrews 11:23 it is referring to Moses when it says "... they saw he was no ordinary child ...". I believe my children are no ordinary children and they are set apart for the Kingdom of God to do His work and this book is a great resource for helping bring out the best in your children. Denise Mira and her husband have raised and homeschooled 5 sons so she writes from experience. I LOVE THIS BOOK! I give it to all of my friends that have sons.

Here's the help you've been waiting for, if you are...

• Hungering to see God's very best for your child?
• Looking for a way through a maze of parenting manuals?
• Swimming in a sea of expectations of friends, family, and school?
• Considering the myriad of moral matters confronting your family?
• Trying to manage the demands of the weekly grind?
• Longing for change?

Here's hope! As a mom who's there in the trenches right beside you, Denise Mira writes with refreshing honesty about our call as parents to raise children who will be the world-changers God intends them to be. Be unmoored from mediocrity and let fresh faith be ignited! Find the keys you've been looking for to unlock the leader residing in your child.

Be blessed!

M.O.B. (moms of boys society)

I am new to the M.O.B. (moms of boys society), but I definitely qualify to join in on the Boy Mom BlogHop. :)



My name is Liberty (yes, that is my real name) and I am a mom of 4 boys, ages 9 (10 next week), 8, 6 and 2. I used to have a blog to journal the early years of our homeschooling, etc., but now we are in a new season of our lives so our blog grew up a little bit into Young Mighty Men of God.

Here is the mightiest man of God in our house, my husband Eric. We have been married for 14 years and he is the love of my life. He was more than a dream come true; he was an answer to prayer. He makes me laugh like no other. He teaches our boys how to be men, and teaches me how to let them be boys. Eric always says that if I ever write a book about raising boys there will be a chapter in it called, "If you __(enter any crazy boy stunt here)____ you will die"!!!

Here are my young mighty men of God:

GRANT age 9

ELI age 8

SAWYER age 6

ARCHER age 2

We homeschooled for the first few years and then they went to school for about a year and a half and now we are homeschooling again. While they were in school I opened a small yarn store in our very small town, but I have sold it to be with my kids. I always called that my girl. It was my girly place in the world. Now I get the luxury of being there as a customer instead of having to run the place. I am considering doing custom knitting just because I enjoy it so much. I am so happy to be home with my boys again though.

It was really hard to come up with a list of books because we like so many, but here is a start.

Favorite books:
ages 8 and up
*The Bible
*Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
*The Mysterious Benedict Society series
*Percy Jackson series

ages 7 and up
*The Magic Treehouse books

ages 6 and below
*There was an old lady that swallowed a fly
*Jesus Loves Me by Debby Anderson
*Counting Kisses
*Hug
*The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

I am so excited to get to meet other moms of boys. I have a friend who always says, "It is one things to have boys, it is entirely another to have boys with brothers." That is my life everyday. Trying to let them be boys and at the same time train them up into the mighty men of God that they are intended to be.

Please leave a comment! I would love to go read your blog too!

Archer

Today Archer turned two! I can't believe my warrior man is already growing up. It seemed like only yesterday we were in the hospital with him and unsure of what his future held. He is such a blessing in so many ways. He is SO DIFFERENT than his brothers, but they are all different from each other because God created them that way. Archer loves for things to be in order. He loves to be wherever we are, but if he decides to try something adventurous he just goes for it. Every day is a new adventure with him. He enjoyed his birthday party so much. He loved having new toys that he knew belonged to him. Everything he usually plays with belongs to his brothers. It is sweet to see him take care of his stuff.


This past weekend I took a 5 day vacation to be by myself. I have never been away from my family that long, but it was worth it. It is so amazing the things that I heard from God during that time and just getting to feel relaxed without any responsibility. I do not bemoan this season of my life of responsibility, but for the first time I went guilt free and I came back so full of joy and refreshed. I was praying as I drove home, "Lord, please help me to stay full of peace and joy so it overflows onto my children and husband. How do I do that Lord?" The next thing I know a song on the radio came on. It was a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "Do Everything". I had never heard it before. I don't get to listen to the radio much. It was just the answer I needed...

Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

If we can keep God our first priority in everything we do our hearts seem to follow and the fruits of the spirit pour out.

Aspiring Writers

I just read an amazing, encouraging ebook for aspiring writers. It just launched today on Amazon. I used to have a desire to write, but I put that away many years ago. This ebook has lit a spark in me again. If you go to the author's site today she is having a huge giveaway which includes a KINDLE!!! Check it out today at http://www.notestoaspiringwriters.com/launch-day-giveaway/

Divided

As you look on the church landscape, youth are leaving the faith in droves. The modern church, overall, is struggling to reach the next generation with the gospel. What has happened? Whether for good or bad, men, for many years, have been inventing solutions or brainstorming ideas without fully relying upon the foundation of God’s Word. God, however, is greater than man, and as the heavens are above the earth, so are His ways higher than ours and His thoughts than our thoughts (Is. 55:8-9). We have substituted the greater for the lesser – God’s wisdom for man’s ideas. Jesus said that he who hears His Word and does it, is like a man that built his house upon a rock, and when the storm came, it stood firm. On the other hand, he who rejects His Word, is like a man who built on the sand and when the storm came, the house fell (Matt. 7:24-25). Shouldn’t the church, as a whole, abandon the sandy ideas of man and shamelessly return to the firm rock of the Word of God? God’s Word sufficiently identifies how youth are to be reached. For more information on this issue, please see the film Divided, which is a documentary on age-segregated youth ministry in America. Watch it for free (for a limited time) at www.dividedthemovie.com.

Parenting with the Ten Commandments

For years we have had a simple rule in our house. When you play don't break any of the Ten Commandments because we don't want to practice sinning or "play" sin. They are not allowed to pretend to be something that they are not going to be when they grow up. For example, they cannot pretend to be the "bad guy". We have pretend bad guys and that has always worked for us.

We have four boys so we have had to set our standards high and be very creative at the same time. We have toy guns and swords and we teach about the wars and history. There are a lot of wars in our house, but it is educational and fun at the same time.

We need to be constantly seeking the Holy Spirit on how to parent and how to live. There is so much freedom in that. We believe in a balance. It is not good to be one extreme or the other. The only thing we are extreme about is our standard of God's Word being absolute truth and that influences what we watch, read and do.

Which one are you feeding?

This morning during our bible study with the boys Grant said that he felt the power of God in him and Eli got sad because he wanted to feel it and he couldn't. I took Eli in another room and explained to him that God created us all different. We feel things differently, we see things differently and we are going to experience things differently.

When we were in Virginia this past May we were at the ocean and Eli was standing there and all of a sudden I had a vision of him going out into the world. I saw him as a missionary. I found this picture of him and showed it to him. It turned a light on inside of him.

Feeding their spirit man is like lighting a candle inside of them. Don't let it burn out. If it is starting to go out, fan it a little. If it is already out then re-light it. It is so important to take the time to feed their spirit man inside of them. They can be brought down so quickly comparing themselves to others, but if you remind them of who God created them to be it changes them. There is no comparison. We are each fearfully and wonderfully made; created with purpose. Ask God for a vision for each of your children. Share it with them. It will feed their spirit man inside of them. This is one of my boys favorite pictures:
It is called "The Burning One" by Ruthann Fryer. To my young mighty men of God it represents them as small children, but their spirit man is large inside of them.

There is a story about a man who had two dogs and he was preparing them for a dog fight in India. He told people he always knew which one would win and he was always right. People were amazed that he always knew which one would win and they asked him what his secret was. He replied, "It is easy. The one I feed is the one that wins."

This is what we teach our boys. Are you feeding your spirit or are you feeding your flesh? If you are feeding your flesh then your flesh is going to win, but if you are feeding your spirit man then your spirit man is going to win. Be careful about what you are feeding your children.

Educating the WholeHearted Child Giveaway

Clay & Sally Clarkson are two of my favorite parenting and homeschooling authors so how could I not share this giveaway of their new book "Educating the WholeHearted Child" Click here to see how to enter.