Deja Vu!

I nearly didn't click on this article because of the sensationalist name, but I'm so glad I did and I hope you will read it, too. There are some extremely alarming things happening in Russia that are very reminiscent of Hitler's rise to power. The first few paragraphs of this article emphasize the sensational aspects of the situation, but you really need to read the whole thing. The Whole Thing. Evidently, there is a rise of "Putin Youth" that needs no strain to bring to mind the HitlerJugend. That coupled with the rewrite of Russian history to sanitize, even idolize Stalin, one of the biggest mass murderers of all time (responsible for between 10 and 60 millions deaths), while denigrating Russia's brief foray into democracy ought to make your skin crawl. If it doesn't, you need a history lesson. Go back and click on all the links. When you know the history, you will be alarmed.

Young Update

Several things going on the next week that we'd really appreciate your prayer about:

Lots of you have been following our adventures this past year in establishing a new international business - with the goal of becoming a business as mission company and supporting ourselves in a way that would allow my husband to disciple our six sons by having them work alongside him. We are on the verge of a breakthrough - possibly just a couple of days from getting this thing moving. Won't you please pray for the sale that is pending to go through?

Monday I am taking the exam to retain my certification as an IBCLC - international board certified lactation consultant. As you know, I don't work outside of the home, but this certification has been a real blessing in my Titus 2 ministry. When I help a mother with her nursing problems, it is so much more effective when she approaches her doctor, to say "my certified lactation consultant suggested we look at..." rather than "my friend Melanie said". This is a very intense six hour exam and I have just not had the time to study like I did five years ago when I last took it. Please pray I will pass this thing.

Our dear son is on a "mini-vacation" (4 days) with my brother and his wife, their 11yo, their 2yo nephew and grandmother and the governess. Everyone has been working so hard that they are all a bit cranky and the children are feeling a bit sad. Please pray for our son's testimony with them during this family time. I don't think any of them know our Lord and I feel sure some have never heard the gospel at all.

A busy and important few days for all of us. We are so grateful for your prayers.

Letting Boys Be Boys

My dear friend, Wendy Orth, posted this message on MOMYS and I was so encouraged by it that I asked her if I could share it with you:

One of the best "classes" we've given our boys is the Frontier Skills DVD series Little Bear Wheeler has on things like skinning wild game, making a wilderness survival pack, throwing knives and tomahawks and trick roping. I'll confess to some trepidation on the knife throwing... ! But my boys were 13, 15 and 17 when we gave it to them (it's pricey) and they have loved it and so far haven't skewered anyone. We here at our home believe in letting boys be boys and doing boy stuff! Our living room walls are decorated with bows and arrows, swords of all kinds, and reproduction antique pistols! My boys hike and climb and mountain bike. They weld, and construct and love to use an ax, hatchet and (oh, their favorite!!) a chain saw. They can drive tractors and my 16 yo is well sought after to operate medium heavy equipment to do landscaping work. They all can repair most anything and build most anything. Yes, I've had anxious moments as I've come across them scaling the beams in our 25 foot high upper barn! But I just pray and let them go... they will be awesome men some day!!! (Okay, technically Daniel is an adult now, but we're working on that.... !)

Building Up or Tearing Down

"Your words have stood men on their feet; you have helped the tottering to stand." (Job 4:4)



Someone sent me an essay today that was headed by this verse. I was immediately convicted. I come from an incredibly open, loving family! We share everything and speak openly. Unfortunately, this also means we criticize each other a lot. Now, it's never meant to be in a hurtful way, it's always meant to help the other put their best foot forward. However, this tendency, coupled with the tendency to get angry too quickly, can be pretty demoralising. When you need bucking up, you really don't want to hear what you need to do to improve yourself.

I promised myself long ago that I didn't ever want my children to feel that they just couldn't meet my standards. I didn't want them to ever feel like I saw them as failures for just normal challenges of life. However, I find myself all too often rebuking and instructing when I should probably be comforting or loving.

How do you help the tottering to stand? It's certainly not by helpfully telling him it would be easier to stand if he were thinner; or held his feet differently; or hadn't gotten himself tottering in the first place! Instead, you give him a hand until he's steady on his feet. Lord, make us parents whose words stand men on their feet and help the tottering to stand.

Happy is the Man...

Who has his quiver full of them... Psalm 127 clearly lays out the Lord's perspective on children: a gift, a reward, a heritage, a source of happiness and pride. Why then do men persist in thinking that restricting the bearing of children will bless a nation? Perhaps they've never heard:

In a multitude of people is a king’s honor,

But in the lack of people is the downfall of a prince.

I was very surprised to read this article tonight, because a few days ago, a correspondent told me it had recently been announced that two children would now be allowed everywhere but in this province. The juxtaposition of these two bits of information tells me a couple of things: (1) It is not about population, and (2) It is all about control of the people.



Pray for our brethren who do not have the freedom and safety we do.

82nd Carnival of Homeschooling

Mamahadeen is part of the 82nd Carnival of Homeschooling today, hosted this week by Tami Fox at Tami's Blog There are a lot of great blogs there - including my favorite - the first blog listed today! Check it out!

Teaching Boys to Be Men

Did you know that John Quincy Adams was private secretary to the ambassador to Russia at 14 years old and Admiral Farragut commanded his first ship - a prize - when he was 12 years old?

When Hal and I first read that, we were floored. We remembered how amazed folks seemed to be that we were getting married at 22, "That seems so young." We wondered what changed to make our culture go from viewing 12 year olds as young adults to seeing 22 year olds as barely able to care for themselves. When we read books like The Underground History of Public Education and the primary source documents of our country's past, we realized that young people today were raised very differently than they used to be. We decided that though we had no idea what the Lord had in store for our sons, that we wanted them to be ready. We wanted to raise them like the generation that founded our country.



Today it is common for young people to have all the freedom of adults (to make their own decisions, to choose their entertainment, to have life-changing romantic relationships) and yet to have none of the responsibilities. They are not expected to support themselves, to bear the consequences of their sin themselves, to do their work without supervision, to look after themselves. This is backwards from Scripture. The Word says, "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much," so we had a plan: give the boys as much responsibility as they could handle as soon as they were able and give them more as they showed themselves faithful. Here's how:

Chores: I try to ask myself, "Who is the youngest person who can do this job right now?" Now sometimes, that'll mean the oldest. If we're in a hurry or I have no time to see that it's done right, but it has to be, then the oldest who is home (we call that person, "the senior brother") does it. Often though, I have plenty of time to supervise and even teach the chore, but I don't want to. That's when I try to make myself choose the youngest who can do it. This keeps the older ones from feeling overwhelmed, frees them up to learn to do new things as they mature and makes sure the house doesn't fall apart when they leave! As they get older, we expect them to help out in our ministry opportunities - from setting up chairs to babysitting little ones at home - and in our business - marking samples, holding the backdrop for pictures, cutting fabric swatches, praying. They are a part of all we do and they are not paid - it is their part of helping to support us - of building their own inheritance.

School: We try to give the children more and more independence in their school work. We go from constant supervision and checking by me, to working independently with occasional checking, to only grading tests and answering questions as needed [N.B. I'm talking high school here, don't panic because your 7 year old can't work on his own :-)] Sometimes we've had children show themselves unfaithful - skip lessons or do shoddy work as long as they weren't caught. Those children move back a step. They earn more supervision, more work, redoing the shoddy work and discipline. Those who are faithful, are given more responsibility and freedom - to plan their own schedules and to organize the work flow. By the time they graduate, they should be prepared for the independence of college work. For some, this is a much bigger challenge than for others.

Errands: I always try to take one of the older boys along with me to carry things and to protect me. They love this. Makes them feel manly. Hal told them years ago that I should never carry anything unless everyone else's hands were full. They love to take things out of my arms. As they learn to do these things, I'll let them check out for me - teaching them to use cash and then my debit card. Later, I'll send them in by themselves to a small store while I anxiously watch the door :-). Eventually, they are able to drive to any store and do any level of shopping without help. This is kin to what we do when they get their learner's permit to drive. They drive every single time we go somewhere - even to downtown D.C. We want them to encounter everything possible while we're there so they have confidence and experience when they get to the time when we're not there.

Finances: Just like my parents before me, we give each child who shows enough maturity his own checking account at 13 years old. We teach him to use it, balance it and use Quicken. At 14 or so, we get them a credit card in their name on our account, to be used when we tell them to buy things or when they travel. We teach them about credit cards and how they work and how they don't (paying interest is foolish!). As they desire spending money, we encourage them to get part-time jobs or to start micro-businesses. Our oldest has made good money cleaning a mega-church once a week for a couple of years. His friends can't believe he pushes a vacuum and cleans - he can't believe they work for a third what he does :-). It's the perfect job for someone in a family like ours - he can do it any time between Wednesday night and Sunday morning and he is free to bring younger brothers to help him (and learn from him).

Opportunities: I look for opportunities that will allow the boys (remember our only girl is 2) to stand on their own for a time in a situation that will challenge them to grow, but one in which they are likely to succeed. Some of the things we've done are to send the boys to a Challenge Camp at about 11 or so. This camp is enormously physically challenging (rappelling, obstacle courses, etc.) and there is a mix of boys - likeminded ones and NOT - but the camp is led by a godly friend of ours who keeps the boys with him. It's a good opportunity to be tested and stand, while knowing it's not forever, only a week. I think the constant grind of no escape like going to public school is counterproductive and more likely to lead to "the companion of fools shall be destroyed." We've also gratefully accepted my mother's invitations to send a boy or two traveling with her overseas. When our oldest showed himself faithful in those things, we allowed him to fly by himself to San Antonio to attend the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and Academy. He stayed with some friends of ours there. This summer, he's taken another step: living on his own in a closed country, living with those who don't speak his language and working and living with no known Christians in his cirle. He's doing fine.

My standard is this - do they have a way of escape from bad influences and can they handle the responsibility? For example, I sent our oldest to Christian Worldview Institute for Students - (a great program with a very likeminded group of Christian students) with no problem, but when I sent him to The Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge where there would be a wider variety of students, I talked to my friends and one of his close friends went with him and they roomed together. We have always made sure they were able to call us at any time, as well. I think the secret is just what Scripture lays out. A tiny bit of responsibility is given. When that is handled faithfully, more is given. If at any time, the child can't handle it, then things are tightened up until they are prepared to try again. Working step by step like that, there is much less chance for disaster!

So, how do you avoid the disasters? How can you let them find their feet to stand alone without letting them have a fatal fall? I believe it's through knowing their hearts and understanding where they are spiritually. A young man can't stand alone if he doesn't know God. He can't resist temptation if he is spiritually weak. You have to know. There is no way to do this other than taking the time to really talk to them often. If you don't really know them, you can't hit this careful balance of challenge and growth versus failure and danger.

We've had lots of back and forth motion, and have found you can't expect constant growth in maturity. I've had times I've been so delighted with a child's progress, only to see them fall down. Maturity comes like any part of the Christian life - through battle, despite opposition, in slides backward and baby steps forward. I believe, though, that if you consistently strive for your young men to be young men; if you encourage them to stand for themselves and prepare them to do so; if you are aiming them towards an independent stand for God; you will be amazed at what they become. Our eldest is lightyears ahead of where we were at his age - and that's a great thing! May all our children exceed us in the things that matter - the things of God.

Truth and Consequences

Every time I think about this I get mad, so it must be time to write one of my banging my head against the wall screeds. I recently attended a very pleasant barbecue with a number of brethren in Christ visiting from a church overseas. These were thoughtful, well-spoken Christians who were in the states to attend a conference and to encourage a couple of families from their assembly who were planting a church here.

While we were chatting, the conversation turned to the state of the church and by way of explanation, the relationship of the citizens to their government in a communist tyranny I have personal knowledge of. My fellow Christian asked didn't they have elections in that country and I answered that ostensibly, yes, they do, but that they made no difference whatsoever in the government as you had no choice who to vote for. This serious, intelligent brother then said, "Well, I don't see that it is any different there than it is in the United States!" !!!

I couldn't believe my ears, so I said, "Huh? What do you mean?" "Well, he said, voting doesn't make any difference in what they do in Washington. America's no more free than [that country]." I was stunned. I pointed out that we were sitting out in the open, worshiping God together. That no one in America was afraid to worship or evangelize for fear of going to jail. That no one had been tortured for preaching. That no one in America was afraid of speaking the truth for fear there would be a knock on his door that night. That people had the right to choose their education and occupation. That we had the freedom to even abandon all institutional schools and teach our children ourselves - discipling them, when I personally knew people in other countries whose children were taught against the values the parents stood for in a way we don't even understand here and they had no choice at all - their children must attend public school by law. That we had the right to vote against politicians we disagreed with and see them lose their seat. "What in the world do you mean there is no difference?"

He'd never thought of it that way. He came from a pretty free country, and a liberal media that makes ours all look like moderates. He really didn't know that Christians in [communist tyranny] are horribly persecuted and have no freedom in the important things of life. He thought we in America had no control over our government, that it was totally under the control of our president, who had run amuck. He really didn't have any understanding that America was free and that our government was responsive to the people and that many of us supported our government's international actions based on principle.

Here's what makes me mad: my brother in Christ was rendered incapable of supporting God's people intelligently in prayer and of understanding the issues of world politics because of his source of knowledge about the world - his country's very biased media. From the very beginning of printing, Christians have been at the forefront of the information revolution. This is one reason why.

How can we depend on those who are opposed to all we are to provide us with the information we need to make decisions about the world? How can we depend on them to share the good news of Jesus Christ? How can we trust them to tell us the true state of the church? We can't. They will ever try to lull us to sleep, to spin the news to make us choose sides against our own principles, to highlight scandal within the church like it was the secret norm, to discourage us in the battle we face. We will be in sad shape if our only source of news is the enemy's propaganda.

I recently told a correspondent in a not-free country what Christians in the free world were hearing about - that persecution had been stepped up in his country. That foreign missionaries had been expelled and that church activities had been raided and leaders arrested. He had not heard - the media is under state control there and most of the Christian internet is blocked. He was thankful to be able to pray for his brethren and to know to be cautious for himself.

This is why sites like WorldNetDaily and Voice of the Martyrs are so important. They tell the stories the mainstream media ignores. We need to accept the responsibility to inform ourselves and to be seekers of the truth. That's why the guerilla bloggers who risk their lives in other countries to inform their countrymen are so important. That's why the organizations that strive to bypass the firewalls and internet restrictions of those governments and to provide safe and changing ISPs for free communication are so critical. Let's support these Gutenbergs - in prayer and financially - as they strive to give the freedom of the mind to closed countries - that the gospel would be preached and God's people protected.

Please Pray for the Business

Dear Friends,

Hal is meeting with a customer tomorrow morning and may receive that order we've been praying about so long. This customer is a fellow believer and we really enjoy working with him. Would you join us in asking for God's protection and blessing in this venture if it is His will?

Thank you so, so much!

Triple Coupons

Tomorrow Triple Coupons start at Lowe's Foods, so I'm off to sort through my coupon binder and the Lowe's ad to plan the day. I've learned so much through the smartspending_nc group at yahoogroups - I highly recommend it!

Praying for Provision!

Tonight I'm very thankful for my brother who sent us a nice gift to help with the bills today. May the Lord bless him: "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give you." Indeed!

I'm also thinking of the new customer we're working with who is showing samples we made him at the Christian trade show in Atlanta this week and the Gift and Home show next week. Please pray with us that he sells a huge amount of the stuff he wants us to provide :-) They are a Christian family, too, so you are praying a blessing on brethren!

God is good and He has never failed to provide for us. We are so thankful to Him!

Preserved!

O Trinity of love and power!

Our family shield in danger’s hour;

From rock and tempest, fire and foe,

Protect us wheresoever we go;

Thus evermore shall rise to Thee

Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

We had more excitement than we planned on the 4th this year!

The Lord enabled us to visit our favorite spot - Hal's family's lake house on the 4th of July on the way back from a customer visit. We had a wonderful 4th of July dinner of hotdogs, fried chicken, and baked beans, then walked out on the dock to enjoy the evening. It was a beautiful site on the lake - there were hundreds of boats out - with their running lights they looked like lightening bugs (fireflies for you yankees out there). It was a very clear night and the fireworks from the military Recreation Area and the Sailing Club were gorgeous. We all sat quietly out on the dock and sang patriotic songs as we watched the fireworks. It sounded great out there on the water.

As the fireworks came to a close, Hal started telling the boys stories of patriotic heroism. Right at the climax of a story about the Navy Seals, "Crunch. Crack! Gloosh!" The dock collapsed under us and left us all in the water. I yelled, "The baby!" Hal shouted back, "She's safe! I've got her!" and I shouted, "Sound Off!" The boys, all trained to call out their names in order of age (we do that whenever we start the van to leave somewhere), called out their names. All safe! David started crying and I said, "Are you hurt?" "Well, no." he said and stopped crying :-)

Caleb had been standing at the far end of the deck, where it collapsed most completely and had gone down all the way to his mouth, then clinged to the boards as the water was over his head at that point, and he wasn't able to get out immediately. Hal was between me and Caleb. Matthew and Samuel were close to the end that still clung to the boards of one side (thankfully next to the pier part). They climbed up to a safe part and then came down to lift and carry their younger brothers out. When they got out safely, they came back for Susannah. She didn't want to leave our arms, but was very thankful to get back on dry land! Then they helped me out and Hal was able to help Caleb climb out. Hal, our captain, was the last to leave the danger zone!

When we got back to the house, we prayed and thanked God with all our hearts that he had preserved us all! It was pitch dark, and hard to see, we were fully dressed, and with the boards breaking, it would have been very easy for someone to have been dragged under. God was so merciful to us!

When everyone had put on dry clothes, we all cuddled up and took turns telling "our stories". It was a blessing to hear the love and concern each of the children had for each other. Hal and I were both incredibly proud of our children. The boys each "played the man" by being calm and courageous to keep from panicking, and to work to get their family safely out of trouble.

About the dock: it turns out the two joists that have supported the middle of the deck for 25 or more years rotted out of the pilings and just fell out - you can see the rotted wood for about 12 inches where they were "attached" - looks like a pile of punk, not a piling! Part of the reason this thing has rotted is the county's ridiculous rule that you can only improve your lake property by 10% a year without an outrageously expensive permit. Hello, county council, not everyone that has lakefront property is rich, sometimes they've just had it a long time.

And so, it was a very memorable 4th of July, and the biggest fireworks were in our hearts as we realized God's mercy and favor to us.

The Samples Are Here!

Our God is MIGHTY. Although we were repeatedly told last night that it wasn't possible, Customs cleared our package at about 2am this morning. It caught a flight out of Ohio at 5:30, arrived in Raleigh at 7:14am, and arrived in Wilson at 9:30. We just found out they had another glitch on delivery, but God had mercy and the samples have just arrived here!

He does answer prayer! When we went to bed, it seemed hopeless, when we woke up it was instate. Truly He gives to His beloved even in their sleep!

When it arrives, we'll open it, compare to the specs - Please Pray the Samples are Right! - take photographs of them and drive them to our customer in South Carolina - the old blood pressure can't take shipping them again! Please pray for safety, and that our customer will buy LOTS!!!!!

We are so thankful for your prayers and love. We praise God for you. He is so faithful!

Pray for Customs Clearance!

We have critical samples hung up in U.S. customs that our customer (a brother in Christ we believe) desperately needs in a very few days for a trade show. This is our current opportunity to make a sale we badly need. Please pray. Thank you for being there!