Bob Jones

It has been awhile since I blogged, but we needed to get our house in order which meant getting our homeschooling in order.  After much prayer, research, tears, pulling hair out and recommendations we decided to start using Bob Jones University Press for our homeschool.  It has changed EVERYTHING!  It is AMAZING!  The boys love it! I love it! Our days are so peaceful, organized and educational now. :) 

I have definitely learned through this homeschool journey that there are different seasons for everything.  It is not always going to look the same each year or each child. 

I love my life. 

Hope for the weary mom

I just read an incredible ebook called "Hope for the Weary Mom". It was so uplifting and it is so good to know that we are not alone in our feelings of hopelessness on this journey of motherhood. If you are like me then you pour yourself into your children in countless ways and at the end of the day everything is still not finished. That saying, "there is no rest for the weary" has just been proven wrong by this book. We can have rest. The best kind of rest. It is the rest that comes from being refreshed by the Lord in His Word and through prayer.

There are two ways two order this book. One is free~ click here for the free version or you can get it on Amazon Kindle for $.99 cents.

What is a leader?

We are constantly telling our boys that they are leaders. The other day we asked them who they thought were leaders in their life and I wrote them down. The list ranged from young to old. After that we asked them to name one thing that makes that person a good leader in their eyes. Here is the list:

Kind
Loving
Christian
Doesn't yell
Listens to authority
Gives instruction
Teaches
Puts God before everything
He doesn't smoke
Wise
Trusts in God
Listens to his parents
Puts others before himself
He puts God before himself
Humble
Not afraid to give honor to God
Bold
Lives the right way
Prays
Relies completely on God
Does the right thing even when know one is looking
Sets healthy boundaries
Makes family a priority

After we made this list I said to each of them "YOU are kind, YOU are loving, YOU ..." all the way down the list. I think it is important for my boys to know that being a leader is going to look different for each of them because of their personalities, but there are standards that good leaders live by that make them the same. We are all raising leaders. We need to nurture that in them. Some may lead in front and some may lead from behind. Some are quiet and some are loud. The mightiest leader of all is the humble man who seeks after God's own heart.

Running on empty

I feel further from God than I have in a long time, but I know it is because I am tired and running on empty. I have not rested. All day long I felt the Lord gently reminding me that He is there and telling me to read my "Jesus Calling" devotion for today...more specifically the scriptures at the end of the devotion. God gives us exactly what we need when we need it, but sometimes we need to make the extra effort to get it.

"And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not" (Isaiah 58:11 AMP)

"He will feed His flock like a shepherd: He will gather the lambs in His arm, He will carry them in His bosom and will gently lead those that have their young"(Isaiah 40:11 AMP)

Thank you Lord!

I just need to be the sheep that I am and let my Shepherd take care of me.

Lessons of thankfulness

I love this time of year, but for some reason I am overly tired and grumpy. On one hand I feel sorry for my sweet family that they have to put up with my crankiness and on the other hand I blame them for it! These comments were made by me in the past few days...

"You are not allowed to use your imagination anymore! I am tired of you fighting over superhero powers!"

"Please stop asking for mommy and daddy. Can you just pretend like you don't have parents for 5 minutes?"

"I'm done!"

Then these sweet words refreshed and encouraged my soul...

http://www.itakejoy.com/the-gift-of-a-spirit-filled-mama/

Thanksgiving

I love this time of year. I am so thankful for my family and the extra time we get to spend with loved ones. God bless you all and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Is it yelling, screaming, shouting or raising your voice?

Before I had kids I wasn't a yeller and I had a lot of patience! Now I realize that my patience had just never been tested to its extreme before so maybe I wasn't patient at all.

This past weekend was a weekend of yelling. My kids consider it yelling and I consider it raising my voice. I have heard other moms "yell" and I am quiet in comparison, however I am in awe of the mothers who NEVER raise their voice which makes me feel like I'm an ogre. I am pretty stern with my tone, but I don't know how else to get my boys to take me seriously. I am very kind to my boys and I don't say mean things, but I am finding I have to yell more and more. I have tried to speak quietly for years. They don't hear me. I have heard people say if someone is yelling at their kids in public than it must be even worse at home. Not for us. I am the same wherever I go. Isn't consistency the key?

What do you do to keep from yelling? Do you think yelling/raising your voice is a bad thing?