Book 2/13

I just finished book 2/13 for 2010. "Family Driven Faith" By one of my favorite authors Voddie Baucham Jr.

This was a fast read, but not because it was full of fluff. It was so good I could hardly put it down. I have read two books by this author and I have loved both of them. We think alike on many issues, especially when it comes to the family.

Voddie really challenges parents to prioritize the spiritual development of their children.

IT IS NOT THE CHURCH'S JOB TO DISCIPLE YOUR CHILDREN!

The church is suppose to be a great resource for families, supporting them in their journey. Making sure your children are growing spiritually is the job of the family. It takes commitment and lots of time. It is hard, but all your hard work will pay off. You will see great rewards for investing in your children. There is no greater reward or responsibility than raising godly children.

i pray often for the Lord to show me areas that i need to work on in order to be a better mom to our boys.

We have to be people of the Word, not just Sunday morning and Wednesday night attendees. We have to live the Word at home and at work. I highly recommend you reading this book and putting the wisdom gathered from it into practice with your family.

On another note...

Seth had a loose tooth for a week or so and was getting pretty aggravated with it. So he decided to take matters into his own hands. As you can see in the picture above he meant business. Unfortunately the tooth was very stubborn and did not want to cooperate. A few days later it decided to come out while Seth was eating a chocolate chip cookie and he swallowed it right down. Later, Seth said, "I thought that was a hard chocolate chip."

so now you know that if you ever bite into a hard chocolate chip spit it out don't swallow!

Snowy Fun

This past weekend we got more snow. We were going to operate on a 2hr delay for school, but when the boys went out for a 30min. break our neighbor offered to let them use his snowboard and that was all it took for school to be canceled for the day. The boys were having so much fun I couldn't bring myself to making them come in to do school.

what can i say, "i'm a softy".



I love that my boys have such a good time playing together.



Here is Seth going down the hill.



Joshua's turn.



Now for Noah... he went the farthest.



And last but not least... Mommy.

I couldn't let the boys have all the fun. I actually didn't fall over here... but I did a few seconds later! They got a good laugh at there momma.

The weather was great, not too cold.



The boys stayed outside most of the day.







They all had to take turns eating the snow.

First Annual Encouragement Extreme Conference

This weekend was our first annual encouragement extreme conference with Luann and friends from Encouragement Cafe'. Despite the blizzard we still ended up having a little over 50 women brave the weather. I'm sure not a one of them regretted coming. It was AMAZING!

Go to the website here to read all about the things God did this weekend.



Here is the picture from the conference. One woman got to take this home with her.

Here is the whole "Extreme Team". Just let me tell you, there are some great women in this bunch. I often looked around during a planning meeting and wondered, "How did I get here amongst these wise women?" I can't wait to see what God has planned for us next.

2010 Goals

Below is part of a devotional I recently wrote for Encouragement Cafe'. It goes along with setting goals for a new year...

What Are You Aiming For?

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3

I love this time of year. The busyness of the holidays are over and life starts to get back to normal. The first week of the new year I like to spend a little extra time reflecting on the past year and planning for the new year. This helps me to be a good steward of the time/talents that God has given me. Our time belongs to Him.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17

I use this time to look back at the past year not to have regrets about what I didn’t accomplish, but rather to encourage myself for the things I did do well. I also spend time in prayer about the new year, and ask God to show me the goals He would have for me. Someone once said that if you aim at nothing, you will hit your target every time!

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

After some time in prayer I pick three main goals to focus on for the new year. I then write each of these goals on an index card. On the back of each card I write little sub-goals. For example one of my main goals might be for my home to be a place of refuge for my family, so I would title one card, “Home: A place of refuge”. On the back of that card I might have three small goals that work together to accomplish that one main goal. My three small goals might look something like…

1. Keeping the house clean by cleaning a specific room for 15mins every day.
2. Planning a weekly menu/grocery list so meal time is not chaotic.
3. Character training in kindness, love and patience through family devotions.

When I finish this process with all three of my index cards, I then pick a place to keep my cards so they will be a visual reminder of my goals for the year. I choose to keep mine in my bible. I separate the cards through my bible and periodically as I come across one I will then take the time to review that card. This process has been a tremendous help and encouragement to me.

So how did I do in 2009? Pretty good. I definitely have more work to do, but the good thing is I can see the goals I did accomplish and the ones I still need to work on.

Now on to 2010. Here is a sneak-peak at my 2010 goals.

Even though I didn't make my goal of reading 12 books in 2009 I am bumping my goal up to 13 books for 2010. I really think I can do this. I just need to be more diligent about it.

So here is book 1/13... "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper

This is a good read, but a hard one. Hard in two ways. One, Johns writing style is deep. It's kinda like you read a paragraph and then you have to chew on it for a minute and then maybe you even have to read it again for it to sink in. It took me December and half of January to get though the book.

The second reason it is a hard read is because he really challenges you to not waste your life. So he describes what a wasted life looks like (something about watching TV every evening and just focusing on your own family) and how to change.

It really made me think about how I live my life and it spurred me on to improve the way I show the love of Christ to others. It just wasn't a happy read.

no warm fuzzies here.

That being said, I do think it was worth the time and effort it took to get through it. Just be prepared to have your mind stretched and your toes stepped on.

IT'S FINALLY HERE!

This week I got a late Christmas present...

One day while surfing the internet I stumbled across blog2print, which is a company that will print your blog. I was so excited because I love the memories that I have here, but my one complaint was that I didn't have a hard-copy like you do if you have a scrapbook.

I told Mike right away that's what I wanted for Christmas. I patiently waited until after Christmas to have it bound because I wanted to include all the 2009 posts.

This definitely is now one of our new family traditions.

i love it!!!

Christmas In January

Seth finally had his Christmas piano recital. Because of the bad weather we had in December, his recital was rescheduled. He thoroughly loves playing the piano. Seth amazes me everyday, it seems, with a new song he has taught himself to play by ear.

Even though I don't play an instrument music is HUGE to me. I love hearing my boys playing their instruments and constantly singing. Music brings a lot of joy to our home!

Here is Seth with his piano teacher "Miss Denise"

Encouragement Extreme Conference

Hey, I'm back! After the holidays our family decided to go screen-less (no TV, computer, video games etc.) for a few weeks to get organized for the new year and to work on some much needed character training.

mainly mine!

Anyway, now that I've come out of hiding there's a lot to catch you up on.

The most important thing is another reminder of our first Encouragement Extreme Conference coming in just a few short weeks. You can find all the information about the conference at Encouragementcafe.com

God is doing some amazing things in the lives of the women involved in putting this conference together. Each of us is being continually pushed out of our comfort zones. I know He has big plans for the Conference and the women who attend. So get moving to the website and get registered.

Also remember that the radio show is still broadcasting every Saturday at 2pm. (Check the website for a local station or to listen to the show live.) This past Saturday's topic was "Clean Slates". This happened to be one of my weeks to write for, so check out the website for the daily devotions.

But, most importantly don't forget to register!!!