I read an article this morning from FOX NEWS that told of a prisoner that faces execution because he believes in Jesus as the one true God. I’ve seen his face and prayed for him. We have posted him on our bulletin board to remind us that we need to pray for him. In fact, I am unsure of exactly what to do with the verse that tells us to pray for those imprisoned as if we ourselves were there.
Hebrews 13:3 ” Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.”
FROM FOX.COM by Lisa Daftari: “Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.”
The picture is sobering. He’s Josh’s age. She’s likely my age. The boys could be playmates with my kids. This is a real family, standing strong for what they know is true. I will pray for them today. I will wrestle with Hebrews 13:3 today. I hope you will, too.
Monday was President’s Day, and I was BLESSED to have the day “off.” My sweet friend, Melissa, and her husband, Mr. Bill, offered to keep our kids the whole day!!! They are out of school for Winter Break. I had no idea how wonderful my day alone would be! I am so appreciative for friends who love us and love our kids…and whom we love. We’ve known the Barsh’s for about 10 years. They’ve been in Sunday School with us for that amount of time. We both have two girls and a boy who are all born very close to one another. It works so nicely when they get together. Everyone has a friend with which to play. Nice.
Melissa sent me some pictures from their fun-filled day. And it was fun-filled. Our kids were up and ready to go EARLY. They have never gotten dressed, brushed their teeth and eaten their breakfast so quickly. And just like the Barsh’s, they were so ready for my three to come over…popsicles, sidewalk chalk, brownies, wii, and more! They had a blast!
Aren’t they all so cute together? I love it. Thank you, Melissa and Bill!!! I enjoyed my day of fun errands, shopping, breakfast and dinner out with Josh, and long pockets of silence. It was much needed. We love you guys!
We had a full week of school, which included a fun Valentine’s Day and a field trip for the girls to the Atlanta Ballet’s SNOW WHITE performance. They had a blast! Mack and Russell stayed here and played—and played hard!! It is so different around here when it’s just boys. Lots of grunting and attacking the “bad people”….whoever they are.
There’s a Valentine post in my head…and even pictures. Maybe I will get around to posting it this weekend…..
Well, after one week—and as we begin our second week of this schedule and of the kid’s chores–Mack let me know his opinion.
It was time for him to go to his room for a “rest time.” They had just finished doing some of their chores. It was not time to eat anything, so I was saying NO to a snack.
He fell of the floor and said, “I just wish you’d never thought of this!!!!”
“Thought of what, Mack??,” I asked.
“Thought of all this stuff to do, all this work!!!! I just…I just WISH YOU WOULD SAY THAT YOU GIVE UP!”
Oh my goodness. He wishes I would say that I give up. Lord only knows how many times I have felt that way, but I will not give up. I will endure.
I’m tempted to just blab and blab about what I’ve been doing the past few days, but I suppose that I should test it out and then report back with lots more information. I will, however, say that I have been scrutinizing our daily schedule, writing down ideas for keeping Mack occupied (as opposed to just shoo-ing him away from me and the girls during school), taking notes of chores and which ones need to be done daily and which ones are sufficient to be done twice a week or so and dividing up the chores for which one best fits the kid….and thinking of where the best places are for breaks, time alone, time for reading, etc.
See, a friend of mine told me about a book called Managers of the Home by the Maxwells. It is fantastic. I find myself wondering why in the world I haven’t been doing this all along…and this isn’t the only area I feel this way about. I was just sharing with the Lord the other day how I feel behind in almost every area of life. I learn something and think, “Shouldn’t I already know this????”
Anyway, it’s been quite a full few days for me as I try and put together a “Master List Schedule” for the kids and me and for putting together chore badges the kids will wear every day. I was finding that I was SO TIRED of repeating myself over and over about what to do OR when I would ask a child why something wasn’t done, their response was usually, “OH, I forgot.” Yeah, right. But I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, so they would always have another chance to do what was left undone. I was just usually extremely frustrated by noon! We are talking about basics—making bed, brushing teeth, brushing hair, putting pajamas in the right place, etc.
I knew that if I was going to continue to teach and train my kids here at home, with me being their primary teacher, then I had to get some things under control. I couldn’t keep saying the same things and stay sane. I couldn’t feel bitterness raise its ugly head every time I saw a mom or a pair of moms exercising by walking in the neighborhood at 11:00. I couldn’t get to the end of the day and wonder why I hadn’t gotten one-on-one time for reading with each kid or wonder why Family Devotion time was so hard to fit into the evenings or why I was always left in the kitchen to clear the table when I have three able-bodied children that can do it!
Enter THE MASTER SCHEDULE where every minute of your day (almost) is assigned with a task. And I am NOT a high maintenance, high strung, structured kind of gal…but this doesn’t make me feel that way either. It just helps me make the most of my day and accomplish goals without stressing, and actually do more than I had been doing and all the while training my kids in chores and modeling for them order!!! Yay. That makes me so happy.
Enter CHORE BADGES. I hope they turn my life around. I really do. And I’ll tell you if it all goes as well as I am hoping. No more ranting and raving and repeating. They have a stack of cards that are numbered and labeled with what to do and when to do it. They just have to read it and move it to the back of the stack when they are done.
simple. Now please don’t judge if this is so simple and every mom in the universe already knows about this because the Duggers do it. I don’t know the Duggers ( though I hear they are a fabulous family) because we don’t have cable. I am a little behind on the latest and greatest in that area, so just bear with me.
Here are some pictures from around here:
Mack with his chore badge....he's excited about it.
Me with my "Master Schedule"----oh how I hope this helps us!
A bright spot in my kitchen–thanks to my darling husband.
In our daily Bible reading time we are reading through ESTHER. The girls loved RUTH and this book seems to keep their attention, too. I love to hear Ruby’s commentary on things like the 12 years of beauty treatment for the ladies….or about Haman wanting to kill all the Jews. That girl has got some opinions.
Molly manages to do her school work AND care for her baby all day. Such a little multi-tasker!
Last night the kids were watching a movie with Josh and, evidently, there was a rich family on the movie. Ruby said, “I sure hope I have a lot of money like that when I get older.” Josh said, “Well, it’s not always what you think.” Ruby asked him what he meant. He went on the answer her with some Bible truths about how not sometimes being wealthy can be a stumbling block and how it is always better to be rich in faith than rich in material stuff since it will go away…..and more stuff like that. Molly had been listening and then asked with much doubt in her voice as to whether he knew what he was saying, “Dad, how do you know that since you have never been rich?”
I burst into laughter. What a funny little girl. Josh then shared with her that in the grand scheme of things, we are rich–materially and spiritually. Ruby then disagreed and said that being rich meant you had servants and lived in a castle.
