Mamahadeen

My Friend Cindy Adams Beholds the Face of the Father

2009-08-05T09:51:00.002-04:00

An odd thing has happened over the years. In a myriad of different ways, for a wide-ranging variety of purposes, with connections from Connecticut and Massachusetts to North Carolina, I kept running into Cindy Adams online. From seeking our help in homeschooling when she was adopting a group of children to the grown child of a Connecticut friend looking for a family to stay with to the MOMYS group, Cindy and I kept getting connected.

I am so thankful for that. Cindy is an incredibly godly woman whose prayer, encouragement and writing has helped me to grow in the Lord and encouraged me in trials. You are missing a treat if you don't check out her blog, Faithful Promises, and read what she has written.

Cindy died of cancer Monday, but she lives! She is with the Lord, beholding the face of her dear Father in heaven. Her husband Howard and ten beloved children are missing her mightily, though. Please pray for them!

And dear Adams children, I wrote this several years ago when the Lord took home a friend of mine. The children of several MOMYS who have parents in heaven have read it and been encouraged by it. May it encourage you!

My dear young friends,

I am writing because I have been through what you are going through. My father died when I was 14 years old. I felt so sad and confused and frightened. I wondered where we would get the money to live on and if we’d have to move. God provided all we needed and we stayed right there in our house and my mother still lives there - and it’s been over 30 years!! Now my children go to spend the night in my room. I was afraid that everything would change, that we wouldn’t be a family any more without Daddy. Although Daddy wasn’t with us, and we missed him awfully, everything didn’t change. Mama was still Mama, we were still a family, we still celebrated holidays as much as we could like we did before - and we had lots of happy memories of Daddy to share.

I was also sad. I was sad that Daddy wouldn’t see me graduate or be able to walk me down the aisle when I got married. God wiped away my tears and comforted me. I know my Daddy is in heaven and that our Lord is telling him all about us. I know he can’t wait until we all get to heaven and he can meet my children. When I graduated, all my grandparents came, and I knew Dad was proud of me, even though he couldn’t be there. When I got married, my brother gave me away and I never loved him so much as I did then. It drew our hearts together. It was beautiful and special and nothing spoiled it.

I also felt funny when Dad died. Sometimes I wanted to cry and cry and cry. But sometimes I wanted to laugh and be carefree and pretend that awful things never happen and I was worried that people would think that I didn’t love Daddy if I did that. It’s okay! When you feel like crying, cry. And pray to the Lord for comfort. When you feel like laughing, laugh. Anybody with any sense knows you love your Dad and he wants you to be joyful. We are Christians and we shouldn’t mourn like the pagans do - with no hope. My father is in heaven - perfectly well, enjoying the Lord, and I know he wants the same for me. Don’t ever be afraid to be joyful!

I worried about my Mama, too. She seemed so sad and worried. I wondered how I could take care of her and help her. Now that I’m a mother, I wouldn’t want my children to worry about me. I am stronger than they are, both physically and spiritually. I would want my children to trust me to take care of them. How can you help your father? Be honest with him. Tell him what you are thinking about. Share your feelings. Remember your Mama and help him teach the little children about her and share those memories with them. Obey him and do your school work and chores. Give him lots of hugs and don't worry if he just seems sad and grumpy sometimes. That’s a great time to pray for him.

It has been over 30 years since my father died, when I was fourteen. I can see the truth of God’s Word when it says that God would be a father to the fatherless and a judge for the widows. He has taken care of my mother and brother and me in a great way. We miss Daddy and we will never forget him, but we are happy adults. God has been so good to me! He has loved me and saved me, given me a great husband, blessed me with eight wonderful children. I wish I had known when my Daddy died, that everything would be okay, that I would be happy again, that my life would turn out just right. That’s why I’m writing to you. I thought it might encourage you to hear from someone who has suffered what you are suffering and has seen God’s mercy. He is faithful. He has taken care of me and He will take care of you. He promises to do it and He always keeps His promises. I love you all for your mother’s sake and I’ll be praying for you.

With much love and concern,
Melanie Young,
daughter of "Bill" Smith, 1940-1978

The New Printing Press

2009-06-15T20:20:00.003-04:00

The invention of the printing press revolutionized revolutions :-) The Reformation was largely spread through pamphlets written by the Reformers. The American Revolution started with Committees of Correspondence and the great debate over the future was carried on in the newspapers. The publication of The Federalist and The Anti-Federalist papers shaped our new nation. The press allowed the opinions of one man to travel far beyond those who could hear him in person, far more efficiently than hand-copying.

The photography, radio and television brought even more immediacy to revolution and war. Who could forget the image of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima? And I think everyone in my generation can clearly remember the Germans dancing and celebrating the night the Berlin Wall came down. Sadly, we also remember the brave student who faced down the tanks in the square of that country our family loves so much (don't want to hit any hot word buttons here - we do have family there).

Today we got to see a whole new media's effect on revolution. It's been fascinating to see the unexpurgated real life stories coming out of Iran on Twitter @persiankiwi and @Change_for_Iraq . How can a tyrant spin the news when the news hits the world as soon as it is made? Wow. Sic semper tyrannis! Read all about it on John Calvin's blog.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T10:23:00.003-04:00

Today the government schools of Wake County are in session even though it is Memorial Day. The sad thing is that the school folks probably just thought they were asking their students to come back from the beach a day early. What is our country coming to? So many have suffered and died to preserve our freedom that it is tragic that we can't even take one day to remember their sacrifice.

Well, our family is going to remember. Soon we will head over to Scott Brown's Farm for the nation's best Memorial Day Observance: http://www.hopebaptistchurch.info/hope/Memorial_Day.html Won't you join us?

Catching up on receipts

2009-05-03T18:54:00.002-04:00

It's been like December since I've had time to enter receipts into Quicken. Late in December, we discovered some heart issues with our unborn child, then I was hospitalized for preterm labor, then I was on complete bedrest (Don't ever try to do your taxes lying on your side... ouch!), then my brother was visiting from China, then Katie was born, then she spent most of a month in the Pediatric ICU...

Anyway, my cute little pink elephant handbag was starting to look like a big fat elephant so I sat down this weekend to enter receipts. Now, I haven't just been flying blind financially. Quicken will download transactions from our bank and credit card, but when the transaction is from Wal-Mart, it could literally be anything.

Those are the receipts I hate. It's never just "groceries" or "medical:medicine:OTC", it's bike tubes and socks and diapers and milk and calcium tablets and a mum for crying out loud! My gripe today is whoever the genius is that types in the description that is printed on the receipt. When you enter your receipt three months later, "PX F C 64LD" means nothing, nothing! I do know that whatever it is costs $5 and we've bought two of them in the past couple of months, but I am up a tree to know what it was. Last week, after much perusal, we finally figured out that "LBN AL KEYWD" was a Little Ben key-wound alarm clock. Now why couldn't they have said "LITBEN CLOCK" for the same number of letters???

If you know the clown that inputs those descriptors, would you please inform him his job is to describe the item in 12 spaces or less, not to invent a new code, huh?

One-Handed Typing

2009-04-18T23:09:00.002-04:00

There are so many things going on that I want to comment on, but I just don't have the patience to type one-handed. Why would I have to do that? Well, Katie is one smart little girl. She figured out very quickly in the PICU that if she stayed latched on, everyone pretty much left her alone and didn't do anything ugly to her like start an IV or check her temperature. So, she decided she'd just stay latched on for the foreseeable future. Hence, one-handed typing.

Here are some things I want to comment on and don't have the patience for. I'll bet you know where I stand without my saying so anyway :-)

Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the use of international law in American courts

The bailout and why I think I can spend my $27,000+ share better myself

The art of filmmaking and the joys of family projects

The fragility of life and what it is like to have a sick newborn

Ways to help folks with sick children

The CPSIA and why it is putting some great companies out of business

Remarkable providences

I could go on all day. Here's hoping I'll have time to type soon!

Our Little Katie

2009-03-26T09:31:00.003-04:00

We are overjoyed that the Lord has added another arrow to our quiver - Katherine Luther, named after Martin Luther's beloved wife, Katherine von Bora Luther. Many of you know that little Katie has an electrical problem in her heart and we have been in and out of the hospital for weeks. Her care page is the best place to find out what is going on with us right now.

Divorce and Homeschooling

2009-03-21T20:49:00.003-04:00

I recently posted a bit about the recent divorce case involving the Mills family in which the judge has ordered the children to be put in public school next year. I wasn't satisfied with my post on rereading it, so I took it down. If you commented, please feel free to comment again, I didn't see your comments until I had taken it down and now there's no post to attach them to.

I want to address the situation in general, not in specifics. I wrote on this blog some time ago, an open letter to homeschooling parents considering divorce. Once again, we see that when you enter the divorce court, you are telling the government that the adults in the situation can't agree and you are handing over all authority in your family to the judge.

I am very concerned about the unbridled authority divorce court judges have, but I am even more concerned about the unlimited authority family court judges have in cases where the parents agree, but the government does not. I am thinking of situations such as families dealing with false social services allegations, or situations such as homeschooling and private schooling families are facing in Germany, where children are being removed from the home solely because they are not in public schools. Where should a judge's authority end?

That's a very hard question - and one that can cut both ways. A judge that is limited from stepping in against our side, may also be limited from stepping in on our side. I believe a lot of folks don't understand that.

So what can we do? I think one of the best things we can do is to educate individual judges. Are there any judges in your circle of acquaintances? If not, you probably ought to get involved in your local political party. If so, make an opportunity for them to meet your children and to get to know you as a homeschool family. One positive example can change someone's whole attitude. Another thing we can do is work to get homeschooling parents and homeschool friendly people elected to the judiciary. A few years ago, we were able to get a homeschool dad elected to our state Supreme Court. Now there are at least two judges on the court quite friendly to homeschoolers. You can win the friendliness of likeminded judicial candidates by working on their campaign and just letting them know your family. Another thing I would like to see is state homeschool organizations seeking out judicial conferences and offering to present workshops on homeschooling law so that all judges are better educated about educational freedom.

Economic Idiocy Confronted

2008-11-13T19:07:00.002-05:00

Are you totally confused about why our government is spending our money (and our children's!) to bail out all these big companies? Does something feel not quite right about paying a failing company to keep doing the same thing? Wondering if it's the Depression and we just elected FDR? Me, too!

Read Robert Murphy's Consumer's Don't Cause Recessions and understand why the government is doing what it's doing and why it's all wrong and likely to make matters worse. Read the whole thing. And then let your legislators know that if failures don't fail, they keep doing failing things and the economy can't recover.

Happy Reformation Day

2008-10-31T13:05:00.003-04:00

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted Ninety-Five Theses (or topics for discussion) on the cathedral doors in Wittenberg, Germany. This act, questioning the Catholic Church's departure from Scriptural truth and practice, was the beginning of the Reformation. The Reformation resulted in the formation of new churches that taught the gospel, avoided the abuses of the Church, gave the Word of God to the people in their native languages, and restored the primacy of the teaching and preaching of the Word of God to the church. Previous to the Reformation, almost all church teaching, Bible reading, and choral music was in Latin, which only a very small minority of the population understood.

Our family has always celebrated Reformation Day. Our children greatly look forward to it. We always have a party (though this year, due to illness, only our family will be present), serve German or Swiss food, watch the Martin Luther movie (or occasionally a movie about another Reformer), play games such as "Pin the Theses on the Wittenberg Door" and celebrate God's mercy in restoring the gospel to his people.

This year's menu includes bratwurst and knockwurst, Bavarian sauerkraut, hot German potato salad, hard rolls, and apple strudel. If you've never had hot German potato salad, you are missing a treat! It's nothing like regular potato salad, and is totally yummy.

Several folks have asked how we do "Pin the Theses". The children take a huge sheet of paper, or several of them taped together, and draw a great, big, old-fashioned church-style door on it. They label all the panels with different types of candy treats. Players are blindfolded and spinned the number of times they are years old (capped at 15 :-) then they try to place their post-it note Theses on the right panel to get a great treat. Lots of fun and helps the little ones remember what we are celebrating.

I hope you will take time today to remember those who risked their lives to bring Reformation to the church of God and to thank God for his mercy in bringing us to Himself.

Stuff and Nonsense on Gestational Diabetes

2008-10-03T14:04:00.002-04:00

Unbelievably, I have been hearing recently about folks that don't think gestational diabetes is real or that we should be concerned about it. Arrrrggggghhhhh. Go read some research.

I'm not saying it's not overdiagnosed, or poorly treated when it is, because that's pretty obvious just listening to the wide variety of often contradictory advice moms are getting. So...

Here's my take on managing gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy), taken from a long letter I just wrote another mom.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. This is an explanation of what I've found works for me. Consult your own medical professional (doctor, midwife, dietician, nutritionist, whatever).

I have had diagnosed gestational diabetes (GD) with 7 pregnancies. It is very doable!!! I have learned a lot and I'll try to share it with you if you can stand it long enough - I've got a lot to say :-).

The traditional diabetic diet has too many carbohydrates and not enough fat and protein for many pregnant women. They emphasize low fat because a type 2 diabetic generally needs to lose weight, not because it causes problems with your blood sugar! A pregnant mom doesn't need to lose weight. Therefore, most people with GD need to eat more protein and more fat and less carbs. Let me explain why:

Much of the food we eat is converted by our bodies into glucose - the body's fuel. The increase in glucose after we eat, causes our pancreas to release insulin, which is the key that opens the door to our cells for glucose to enter so that it can be used for energy. If we go too long without eating, our blood sugar may drop too low. In that case, the liver produces glycogen, which breaks down the fat in our bodies - to glucose - for energy. Sometimes our cells become resistant to insulin - when we are overweight, or we've inherited some bad genes, or we're pregnant. Pregnant moms become slightly resistant to insulin in the last trimester, to raise their blood sugar a little so the baby can pack on some fat. Unfortunately, some of us become too resistant to insulin and our blood sugar becomes too high. That is dangerous for the baby and for us. Blood sugar that is way too high is damaging to sensitive organs - not good for either. Also, the baby gets used to producing a huge amount of insulin to deal with the high blood sugar. This causes the baby to pack on too much weight (which can cause birth problems. And when the baby is born, suddenly it doesn't have your high blood sugar to live on and when it produces the high amount of insulin it has become used to, the baby's blood sugar drops dangerously low. That's why gestational diabetes is a concern. There are those who deny GD is real or say it is underlying diabetes. For one thing, it isn't true - my hemoglobin A1c (which tells your blood sugar over the past several months) is always normal at the start of pregnancy. For another thing, your baby is at stake - ignore them! Now, how to deal with it???

Carbs are for energy. They raise your blood sugar quickly, your insulin responds quickly and hopefully, your body takes in the carbs and your blood sugar drops quickly. Proteins arefor building blocks of cells and for some energy. They raise your blood sugar much more slowly. Fats are for long term energy and for brain health among other things. They raise your blood sugar very slowly indeed. Eating a balance of these things together means your blood sugar doesn't have huge peaks and valleys. This is called euglycemia (good blood sugar) and is best for the baby. Eating carbs by themselves is a bad idea.

So, carbohydrates are the main thing you need to be concerned about lowering in your diet. I test my blood sugar 5 times a day - before breakfast, two hours after each meal and at bedtime. I have found that while the typical GD diet allows a good many grams of carbs per meal - I can only eat 30g at a time, or my blood sugar goes too high. Now, I can eat that amount every two hours if I want, and I don't have a problem, but I can't eat many carbs at a time at all. It is very important to get enough nutrition during pregancy, though, so what do I do? I nearly starved to death on the regular diet. Now, I eat as many proteins and fats and low carb veggies as I want, 30g of carbs or less and eat again in two to four hours if I'm hungry and my blood sugar is right. I've learned to add more meat and cheese to my sandwich instead of having another sandwich :-)

Here are some tips for managing:

Find out your carbs by reading packages. Subtract the grams of fiber from the grams of carbohydrates to find out how many carbs something has. Fiber doesn't count against you, in fact it helps your blood sugar rise more slowly. Bread is something that has drastic differences. A slice of bread can have anywhere between 5g and 60g!! Nature's Own has some very low carb breads (though they aren't called that - look for Double Fiber, Whole Wheat and others). For unpackaged foods, you can look up their carbs on the internet.

If your fasting blood sugar is too high, you may be having Rebound or Semogyi effect. That means your blood sugar is getting too low in the middle of the night and your body is producing too much glycogen and raising your blood sugar too high. Never go to bed without a snack unless your blood sugar is too high. A protein-heavy and fatty snack is best like a piece of cheese toast or some cheese nachos or peanut butter. If that doesn't work to bring it into the normal range, try a glass of milk or a snack at *3am* as well - the usual time for low blood sugar. It is amazing how that will work!!!!

I have found I can have most any food if I eat a small enough quantity and in balance. If you are having trouble with that protein and fat thing - well, I wanted something sweet - drink a half cup of milk with it. Whole milk. It has fat and proteins and also increases your insulin production. Some food tend to be troublesome for most people like pizza and tortillas. We love tortillas, so I just buy the low carb kind for me.

Exercise increases our cells' response to insulin drastically. Whenever you have that high blood sugar feeling - antsy, irritable, feel like the hair on the back of your hand is standing up, thirsty - exercise! I even do this on bedrest with leg lifts and arm lifts (even with weights). Wow! That really helps your blood sugar.

If you are losing weight, or having to drastically reduce your carbs, test your ketones first thing in the morning. You can buy urine ketone test strips at any drug store or Wal-Mart. Ketones aren't good for the baby and you need more calories if you are testing positive. However, if you aren't getting a bed time snack or you are having a rebound effect and haven't tried the 3am snack, you can show ketones, too. That means you need more nighttime calories. I always lose weight in pregnancy, but if I show ketones, I eat more!

Keep an eye out for low blood sugar - nausea, faintness, tingly, confused - and always keep a snack with you!!!!!!!!

I hope you are still with me and that this will help you to manage your GD without insulin. Some folks do need it - if they can't get enough calories with what their bodies can tolerate in carbs or if their blood sugar is swinging all over the place, but lots more just need to understand how their bodies work and learn to adjust to it. I'm sorry you are having to deal with this, but seriously, it is manageable. You just have to take charge of learning about what your body needs.

Feminist Hypocrisy

2008-09-05T17:07:00.003-04:00

I have had just about enough with the liberal opinion pieces about Sarah Palin. Running for VP isn't my cup of tea: I think no one can replace a mother at home in her children's lives. But. BUT. What in the world has happened to the liberals? They spend so much energy encouraging moms to leave their children with people less educated than themselves and get a job so that they "won't waste their lives", then when a woman who did that runs for office, I'm hearing things I never thought I'd hear from them: "Her family needs her! What about that baby??" It is bizarre. It is also obvious that it is not about principle. Nope. Sarah Palin is a conservative and must be stopped, they believe. Therefore, they'll say things they would have foamed at the mouth at last week. What hypocrites!

Forced to Pray in School!

2008-07-05T14:53:00.006-04:00

Yes, you read it right, children were forced to pray in government school in the UK. Perhaps you'd be less shocked if you heard that they were forced to pray to Allah. Oh, of course! According to the "lights" of our age, being asked to pray to God would be horrible discrimination, but being forced to pray to Allah is learning to be sensitive and to appreciate diversity. Can anyone tell me why there are any Christian parents who still have their children in public schools in the UK?

For those who do, I want to remind you of the Ten Commandments and most specifically the first two:

“You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

We are not to bow down and pray to anyone but God alone. The Islamic religion is not compatible with Christianity - it denies the deity of Christ, the need for a Savior, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, among other things. We, as parents, will be held accountable for what we teach and allow to be taught to our children. It would be different if you were in a country where you had no legal alternative, but this is not true in the UK. There are public (we call them private in the US) schools and you even have the freedom to teach your own children at home. Check out Home Service. No excuses. Our children's souls are at stake.

Read the whole thing here.

H/T WorldNetDaily

Gossip Goes High Tech

2008-07-02T20:10:00.004-04:00

Well, I just once again read a internet screed written by a friend of mine attacking other friends of mine and felt like weeping. What is so incredibly sad about this is that everyone involved is a Christian. Granted, each person involved feels like they followed Biblical principles and the other person is plainly wrong and has destroyed their life. They feel like they have no recourse other than to spread their accusations on the net. The attacked party feels like they have no recourse other than to respond. So, anyone reading these sites feels dirty and soiled and can hardly think of anyone on either side the same way anymore. And our dirty laundry - our lack of conformity to Christ - is shouted before the world.
Wouldn't it be better to be wronged?

That's what keeps going through my head. Is God not in His heaven? Is He not able to bring sinners to justice? Must we attack the reputation of fellow believers before the entire world?

I know, I've heard all the reasons: These people plainly aren't real Christians. I need to warn people about them. I need to make sure others aren't hurt by them. It's the only way I have to be made right.

I understand that if my reputation had been attacked, if we'd lost what our friends are saying that they have, I would no doubt desire to do the same thing. But, oh how I hope the Lord would give me the faith and grace not to. For it seems better to be wronged than to parade our disunity and ill-feelings before the world.

And to those who provoked all this anger, was there some way to avoid hurting a brother or sister this much? Some way to restore the relationship? Some way to be wronged rather than destroy each other?

20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:20-21

May it be so. I don't ever want to read another one of those as long as I live.

"One may practice one's religion in private..."

2008-06-27T12:56:00.003-04:00

...said Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of the ACLU, while testifying in favor of SB200, a new Colorado law that makes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation a criminal act. Read WorldNetDaily to find out why this law is a severe danger to free speech, freedom of association and the free market in Colorado. And remember Hazouri's quote when you wonder what the liberals really intend.

Germany Returns to Tyranny

2008-06-18T22:47:00.002-04:00

Today German homeschool parents Juergen and Rosemarie Dudek were sentenced today to three months in prison for homeschooling their children. Authorities have tested the children, who got top marks, but the prosecutor is determined to curtail their freedom.

Read the story here, then get on your knees and pray for this brother and sister and their dear children. Then pray for freedom for all parents to disciple their children.

You Can't Make It Up...

2008-06-18T22:18:00.003-04:00

Do you think a parent should be able to ground a twelve year old who does dangerous things on the internet like posting inappropriate pictures of herself? A Canadian court doesn't think so....

Folks, this is insane. Go straight to here to find out about the Parental Rights Amendment. It's time we codified what used to be common sense. Evidently, it's too late for some countries.

H/T Lucianne

Worried About Warming?

2008-05-07T13:17:00.002-04:00

Don't be. I'm old enough to remember reading the news media's alarming articles about the Ice Age our world was inevitably crashing toward back in the early 70's and I'm not the only one. You have got to read Walter William's editorial Environmentalists Still Can't Get It Right. It'll cool you off!

H/T Lucianne

A Fond Farewell to William F. Buckley, Jr.

2008-02-28T22:09:00.002-05:00

Last night, we gathered our children to tell them the story of a very great man. We told them that once America was hastening to a majority view of despair and socialism. That once upon a time nearly everyone was deceived into thinking the government held the answers to our problems. Then came William F. Buckley.

Bill Buckley founded National Review in 1955 and gave birth and voice to the modern conservative movement. I'm firstly a conservative because of my parents, who were influenced by Buckley and Firing Line and Human Events. They knocked on doors for Goldwater, avidly followed politics, and more, discussed it with us. I even remember debating politics on the school bus as a 2nd grader. I was taught well, but it was National Review that led me to really think about the principles my fine parents gave me. I remember Hal reading me the magazine while I cooked supper as a newlywed - and it was cold water in a thirsty land. How many conservatives, like us, were made principled thinkers by William F. Buckley?

There is an erudite voice missing in our world now that Bill Buckley has gone to his reward. Lord, raise up many in his place!

Note: If you don't recognize who Bill Buckley is, you are in for a treat of an education:
National Review Online - be sure to check out their blog The Corner for some great eulogies of WFB
Up From Liberalism A foundational book - Check out God and Man at Yale as well! Buckley was an exquisite writer.
More later, my family has gone to bed without me!

Homeschooling Boys Workshop in Lenoir

2008-01-21T09:56:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends in Lenoir,

Please forgive me for taking so long to post this. I greatly enjoyed spending time with you and I was so impressed by the number and quality of questions asked by your group. It is such a blessing to speak to engaged listeners!

Thank you for letting me come!
Melanie Young

Here's the handout:

Ballistic Homeschooling: Surviving and Appreciating Boys
Melanie Young
Copyright 05/2005, 2008

I. The Challenge of Boys

II. A Vision of Manhood
A. Aiming at Young Men
B. Manhood Marred
C. Resisting Feminization
D. Manly Virtues: Courage, Honor, a Stalwart heart to fight for right, Persistence, Fortitude, Endurance, Leadership. Men should be Brave, True, Faithful, Honest, and Intrepid.

III. Raising Men of Iron with Hearts of Gold
A. Give them something to aim for.
B. Leadership vs. Rebellion
C. Learning Responsibility
The Vision
Chores
School
Errands
Finances
Opportunities
Avoiding Disaster
D. Purpose in Life
E. Discord among the brethren
F. Passionate Purity
G. What’s sin, what’s not
H. Loving your sons

IV. More than survival

Resources
Books by G.A. Henty are fantastic (Vision Forum, lots of vendors)
Sugar Creek Gang books by Paul Hutchins http://www.belovedbooks.com
Cowboy Sam readers by Edna Walker Chandler
Jeff McLean: His Courtship (Timberdoodle sells this)
Vision Forum catalog http://www.visionforum.com
Timberdoodle catalog http://www.timberdoodle.com
Plants Grown Up by Doorposts http://www.doorposts.net
Poems for Patriarchs (Vision Forum sells this)
The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men by Christina Hoff Sommers (secular, but good information)
Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger movies (buy very cheaply on eBay); Movies made during World War II like Sergeant York; War movies do not upset boys, they inspire them!
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Josh Harris
Men of Iron by Howard Pyle
Lots of biographies of great men. Teach history through example! Discuss the great men of history as men. Discuss how they met the standard of godly men and how they failed. Some great places to start: Theodore Roosevelt, George Washington, Winston Churchill.

The Natural Family and the Safety of Children

2007-11-24T15:14:00.000-05:00

Ed Kaitz at American Thinker brilliantly assesses the implications of the AP report I addressed in Marriage is about Children in an article drawing heavily on the debate on the nature of the family in civilization explicit in the works of Plato and Aristotle. He quotes Aristotle:

In a state having women and children common, love will be watery; and the
father will certainly not say ‘my son' or the son ‘my father.' As a little
sweet wine mingled with a great deal of water is imperceptible in the mixture,
so, in this sort of community, the idea of relatiionship which is based on
these names will be lost; there is no reason why the so-called father should
care about the so-called son, or the son about the father, or brothers about one
another. Of the two qualities which chiefly inspire regard and affection - that a thing is your own and that you love it - neither can exist in a state such as this.

You have got to read the whole thing! Kudos, Mr. Kaitz!

H/T Lucianne

The Demographic Winter

2007-11-21T08:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had a conversation with two young mothers who desired large families, but felt sheepish about it. It's not the thing to do, anymore. I shared a few facts about the world's population trends with them and they were utterly amazed. I am amazed how folks are still making life decisions based on the media scare tactics of a generation ago. Last night, I read a wonderful speech that Don Feder presented in Riga, Latvia that explained the current situation very succinctly. Here is his assessment of Russia's approaching demographic winter:

This catastrophe in the making can be most clearly seen in Russia. What
Lenin, Stalin and Hitler failed to accomplish, the Russian people are doing
to themselves. You might call it auto-genocide.

In Russia, the fertility rate is 1.17 (down from 2.4 in 1990, a decline
of over 50%). Russia is losing three-quarters of a million people a year.
Its current population of 145 million is expected to be reduced by a third
by 2050. In Russia today, almost as many children are aborted as are born
alive (1.5 million to 1.6 million).

The Russian people occupy 17 million sq. km, the largest land mass on
earth. By comparison, the United States has 9.6 million sq. km. and a
population of 303 million -- in other words, a little less than half of
Russia's land mass and more than twice its population.

Where will the Russia of 2050 find the soldiers to guard its frontiers?
Where will it find the workers to operate its factories and mines, to grow
its crops and run its hospitals and schools?

Read the whole thing. If you still believe what you were taught in school about overpopulation, you'll be shocked.

Of course, the Word of God explained this long ago:

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

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

H/T Teresa Wirtz

Marriage is About Children

2007-11-17T23:12:00.000-05:00

I found out a few years ago that the Bible said so, but it has only been in recent years that I understood the civil perspective on marriage. Governments have been involved in marriage throughout history, but many people are questioning if government has a role in the regulation of the marriage contract. Why is government involved at all?

The most obvious answer is the orderly devolution of property. A government recognized marriage is the basis for knowing who belongs to one's family - and hence, who is entitled to inherit. This is a critical bit of knowledge for an orderly and nonviolent economy. Instead of vultures gathering to pick the bones of the dead, we have an acknowledged wife, or legitimate children, or blood relatives who naturally and peacefully step into the estate.

A less obvious, and perhaps more important answer is that the traditional family is the foundational unit of civilization. It is the first government established on the earth and the most basic in terms of its function. The function of a family is for mutual help and protection. If that is so, why aren't nontraditional marriages of equal use to society? Children.

I noticed many years ago that the vast majority of the heartbreaking child abuse stories I read in the newspaper involved a perpetrator that was not a blood relative of the child. Now it seems others are noticing, too:

Children living in households with unrelated adults are nearly 50 times as
likely to die of inflicted injuries as children living with two biological
parents, according to a study of Missouri abuse reports published in the journal
of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2005

This is really heartbreaking news, but I think it points up that God created the family to be one man and one woman for life raising their children. Only in such a family can the adults in the household all have the bond of love and affection of blood relationship that restrains them. What about adoption? In adoption, you have a covenant of commitment in which someone has willingly chosen to contract themselves to accept a child as their own. Commitment and covenant are what marriage and family are all about. When they are missing, it is not a family, and unfortunately, the contract of mutual help and protection is never made. My father died when I was 14, and I do understand that many find themselves single parents through no fault of their own. I urge them to never bring a lover into their home, but only a spouse, and only one willing to adopt their children. Covenants keep families what they were meant to be.

The civil government has a very real interest in encouraging the formation of natural families. In these families, children are protected and adults are committed to help each other throughout their lives. That makes civilization easier to perpetuate.

The Feeling is Mutual

2007-11-12T21:35:00.001-05:00

I couldn't believe that Barack Obama slipped up on Meet the Press and actually said it:

I do not believe being gay or lesbian is a choice, and so I disagree with
Reverend McClurkin, but understand, Tim, part of what I hope to offer as
president is the ability to reach to people that I don't agree with, and the evangelical community is one where the Democratic Party, I
think, we have generally seen as hostile, we haven't been reaching out to them,
and I think that if we're going to make significant progress on critical issues
that we face, whether it's education, or health care, or energy, or our foreign
policy in this country, we've got to be able to get beyond our comfort
zones and just talk to people we don't like (pause) or just talk to
people we like, or people that we agree with on every single issue. [emphasis
mine]

So... when he says "we" in this context, I think he's pretty clearly speaking of the Democrat Party and according to Mr. Obama, they just don't like evangelical Christians. I hope you folks who vote Democratic because Granddaddy did will listen when they say it themselves. The Democratic Party is not your friend.

H/T Rush - Thanks!

Taxpayers Win!

2007-11-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

I am delighted to report that the taxpayers of Johnston County (and the rest of North Carolina, too) have refused to offer the wino another drink: In Johnston County, voters defeated the real estate transfer tax referendum by 84-16 percent and the sales tax by a four to one margin. It has long been my policy to vote no to all tax referendums until I see some evidence that government at that level is using the money they do have wisely. Hasn't happened yet.

Happy Reformation Day

2007-10-31T13:34:00.000-04:00

On October 31, 1917, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, nailed 95 Theses for academic debate on the door of the Wittenberg cathedral and lit a fire of Reformation that swept across Europe. The Five Solas of the Reformation restored the glory of the gospel to the church:

Sola Scriptura - The Scripture Alone is the Standard
Solo Christo - By Christ's Work Alone are We Saved
Sola Gratia - Salvation By Grace Alone
Sola Fide - Justification By Faith Alone
Sola Deo Gloria - For the Glory of God Alone

Amen!

May I invite you to join our family in celebrating Reformation Day? Tonight we will be sharing a meal of German and Swiss food, watching the most excellent Martin Luther movie, playing some Reformation games, and singing songs of the Reformation. John Calvin (Young) himself will be host tonight. :-) Email me if you would like to join us.

If you can't come to us, won't you celebrate with your family anyway? Our children need to know the stories of the great men and women of God who came before us. They need to have real heroes to look up to.

Sola Deo Gloria!

For more information on Reformation Day, see last year's post.

Seeker-Friendly or God-Friendly?

2007-10-31T12:55:00.000-04:00

Willow Creek just released a study that reveals what many have been saying all along: that if these churches were truly Seeker-Friendly, they would be pointing them toward what they are seeking - Jesus Christ. Bill Hybels has got it right when he says:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of
faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching
people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should
have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how
to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

Unfortunately, Greg Hawkins, a Willow Creek leader, says:

Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we
take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions.
Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted
in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s
asking us to transform this planet.

Thereby missing the whole point. The WORD says in Jeremiah 6:16:

Thus says the LORD: “ Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the
old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find
rest for your souls." But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

We do NOT need to "replace it with new insights", we need to go back to the
old paths, where the good way is. Dear brothers, teach your disciples to
be Christ's disciples. Teach them to read their Bibles, to pray, to seek
expository preaching, to worship with other believers, to live according to the
Word; then you will see the only kind of church growth that matters - real
disciples.

We don't need more programs, we to get back to the basics: Five Solas.

H/T Paul Chesser

The Next Battle (Parental Guidance Suggested)

2007-10-30T09:20:00.000-04:00

It has been deeply disturbing to me to see the radical change in our culture in the past ten years with regard to the acceptance of homosexuality. I live in the Bible Belt South and an agreement that homosexuality was perversion was nearly universal ten years ago and is a vanishing part of our culture today. What happened? The enemy reframed the debate. No longer was the issue is this right or wrong, but it became, "These poor persecuted people. They aren't hurting anyone. Let them be as happy as they can." The new argument immediately casts anyone who opposes homosexual marriage as mean, interfering, persecuting. And it's working. The cultural acceptance of what God calls an abomination grows every year. Who would have thought ten years ago that an open homosexual would seriously run for the Senate in North Carolina?

All that to bring to your attention what I believe is the next battle we face in the culture wars. May we not lose this one as we did the last. I think the next phase in the decline and fall of American culture will be the acceptance of pedophilia and child sexuality. Twenty years ago allegations of abuse at a couple of day care centers made news around the world, with everyone reading each new snippet of news with horror. Now there's a teacher accused of sexual abuse of students nearly every week and the attitude seems to be, "Ho, hum, well we got rid of the one that's a problem." No one seems to notice that there was a different one last week and will be another next week. Just like homosexuality, the incidence is growing and with it, people's consciences are seared - it seems so common.

But how in the world will the promoters of these heinous perversions convince everyone that it is just another variation of normal? I suggest that they will accomplish this by convincing us that it is the children driving it and we can not and should not restrain them from expressing themselves. We see it in the increasingly sexual clothing for children and preteens. What in the world is wrong with a father who allows his little girl to wear short shorts with juicy or sexy written across her behind? Even the world is noticing the incredibly inappropriate Halloween costumes available this year: French Maid, Bar Wench, Playboy Racy Referee -- for 8 to 11 year olds - have we collectively lost our minds? Who do these people think these girls are appealing to? It's certainly not the 8 to 11 year old boys.

Don't think all of this really means anything in the culture wars? Not sure it's really going to change anything? After all, they're just being cute, right? Well, will you believe the advocates of perversion if they tell you openly what the plan is? In Aftenposten, they do:

Pia Friis, leader of the popular Bjerkealleen Barnehage in Oslo and a well-known
pre-school educator, told newspaper Dagbladet on Tuesday that children should be
allowed to express their own sexuality at day care centers. She doesn't want to
stifle what comes naturally. Children, she said, should be able "to look at
each other and examine each other's bodies. They can play doctor, play mother
and father, dance naked and masturbate. "But their sexuality must also be
socialized, so they are not, for example, allowed to masturbate while sitting
and eating. Nor can they be allowed to pressure other children into doing things
they don't want to."

Well, that's a relief, at least they won't be eating and masturbating at the same time. This is crazy. And it is going to get crazier (read the whole thing) unless those of us with Biblical values (sex is for marriage, for those of you that grew up in Norway) stand athwart history and yell, "Stop!"

Make that Parental Guidance Desperately Needed.

IBCLC Again

2007-10-29T14:08:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to let you guys that prayed for me back in July that I have received word that I passed the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiner's exam and I am a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant for another five years!

I was pretty pleased to see I made a 90 on the exam (passing was 67) and I think it shows, once again, that there is no need to change the requirements so that only those with a background as a healthcare provider can sit the exam. My background is as a mother of seven and long time La Leche League leader and the first time I took the exam I made one of the higher scores in the world. I just don't think we benefit from requiring a certain educational path in professions which have a certifying exam such as this one, or others like law. It is a labor-rationing scheme, a gatekeeper if you will, to limit the supply of professionals and I think the market would do a much fairer job.

A Bachelor's Degree in Burger-Flipping

2007-10-28T19:21:00.000-04:00

What John Edwards doesn't know about economics could fill a library. Read what he plans to do if elected president:

Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal
government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings
accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a
million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a
government-funded public higher education program called "College for Everyone."

I am reminded of a Gilbert and Sullivan libretto. Now, this is a little long, but I urge you to read the whole thing, because there's more good economics in this silly song than I've heard from any democratic candidate:

There lived a King, as I've been told,
In the wonder-working days of old,
When hearts were twice as good as gold,
And twenty times as mellow.
Good-temper triumphed in his face,
And in his heart he found a place
For all the erring human race
And every wretched fellow.
When he had Rhenish wine to drink
It made him very sad to think
That some, at junket or at jink,
Must be content with toddy.
With toddy, must be content with toddy.

He wished all men as rich as he
(And he was rich as rich could be),
So to the top of every tree
Promoted everybody.
Now, that's the kind of King for me.
He wished all men as rich as he,
So to the top of every tree
Promoted everybody!

Lord Chancellors were cheap as sprats,
And Bishops in their shovel hats
Were plentiful as tabby cats—
In point of fact, too many.
Ambassadors cropped up like hay,
Prime Ministers and such as they
Grew like asparagus in May,
And Dukes were three a penny.
On every side Field-Marshals gleamed,
Small beer were Lords-Lieutenant deemed,
With Admirals the ocean teemed
All round his wide dominions.
With Admirals all round his wide dominions.

And Party Leaders you might meet
In twos and threes in every street
Maintaining, with no little heat,
Their various opinions.
Now that's a sight you couldn't beat—
Two Party Leaders in each street
Maintaining, with no little heat,
Their various opinions.

That King, although no one denies
His heart was of abnormal size,
Yet he'd have acted otherwise
If he had been acuter.
The end is easily foretold,
When every blessed thing you hold
Is made of silver, or of gold,
You long for simple pewter.
When you have nothing else to wear
But cloth of gold and satins rare,
For cloth of gold you cease to care—
Up goes the price of shoddy.
Of shoddy, up goes the price of shoddy.

In short, whoever you may be,
To this conclusion you'll agree,
When every one is somebodee,
Then no one's anybody!
Now that's as plain as plain can be,
To this conclusion we agree—
When every one is somebodee,
Then no one's anybody!

And so, if Edwards is elected president, you'll need a college degree to flip burgers. It's called education inflation. Somebody clue this guy in.

H/T Matt Drudge

Where am I?

2007-10-27T23:04:00.001-04:00

I am sitting in front of the computer desperately trolling Google in the hopes that someone in San Antonio will live blog the results of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival's Awards Ceremony. Why? My son John Calvin is down there and his film treatment, The Patriot Pastor, is a semi-finalist in the Treatment Contest. If I get down there next year, I'm going to live blog the whole thing! Why isn't someone doing that already? For that matter, why aren't you, John???

Homeschooling and Divorce

2007-10-19T12:44:00.000-04:00

Here's a letter I posted in response to a homeschooling mother who told an email list that she was thinking of divorcing her husband because she didn't love him anymore and they were not getting along at all. I hope if you are thinking of divorcing your mate, that you will read this very carefully and think it through.

Dear Friend,

I wish I could give you a hug! I'm so glad you asked for help instead of going to a lawyer!!!!! I believe God will intervene in this situation!

Now for the tough love part: a real, practical, earthly reality check. We are state homeschool leaders and sooner or later, many problems in the homeschool community in our state cross our desk. We see a lot of divorce situations! How in the world, you're probably thinking, would a divorce affect homeschool leaders? Here's the reality check: when you divorce, you are telling the state that you can no longer run your own family, that the adults in the marriage are no longer in agreement, so can not be allowed to make decisions about the children. When you do this, the family judge has, hear me, **complete authority** over your family. Most family judges are older people who are ignorant about homeschooling and they will jump on the slightest excuse to *order* you to place your children in public school. Now, I know that there are exceptions to this, but you can't decide what judge your case comes before. Our state homeschool board members and those in other states will testify if asked, but generally to no avail. And HSLDA will not help you in custody situations, even if homeschooling is the issue.

Now, you may think that you and your husband are in agreement about homeschooling, but when it comes to a divorce, *anything* can be used as a weapon. When someone is cut to the quick - and tearing apart a one-flesh relationship definitely does this - they can react like a wounded animal. We see parents reporting each other to social services, calling the state oversight agency and making complaints, asking the judge to give them total custody, asking the judge to stop the homeschooling. We see this a *lot*because the hurt or angry mate knows how important this is to his wife. Often these are Christian, homeschooling families that no one ever thought would be in this situation.

Even if you can possibly get through the judicial situation, you are not done with your husband. When a couple with children divorces, I think they seldom realize that they will be tied to each other forever through the children and courts. One of my dear, homeschool-mom friends is allowed to homeschool, but her husband has custody every weekend (and if it is a situation where no one has done anything wrong, 50/50 custody is the norm), so she almost never gets to go to church with her son, never gets to relax on a Saturday with him. Every other holiday is alone. He is gone a lot of the summer to make up for the 5 days she has him to every 2 his father does during the week. This, if you can believe it, is one of the best situations I know - not much of a best is it?

I can not urge you strongly enough, that nothing short of a real, physical, abusive situation or unrepentent adultery is even close to worth submitting your family for the rest of your children's childhood to the authority of a probably unsaved, probably hostile judge! Trust me, we see a lot of tough situations, and divorce will not take away your problems, they will just become problems you are not allowed to change - court orders.

The next thing we see, is moms who have gotten through all that and now they have to support themselves. Generally, judges will *not* order the husband to completely support the family as before since he sees no reason the wife should not work. And if you go to work, you can bet the judge will want to know who is supervising the children and not believe you can homeschool, too. It's a vicious cycle.

Now, there are people who get through divorce more easily than this, but can you take that chance?????? If Satan cares enough about wrecking your familyto spend two years tempting you away from loving and respecting your husband, do you think he will stop when victory is in his grasp???

I'm not going to go into the spiritual and emotional rebuilding advice, because I think you are getting a lot of great help, except to say, God would not command us to love one another if it wasn't something we can choose to do and not something that comes and goes without our decision.

Dear friend, I really don't want to see you go through this! You may even be in our state. I don't want to have to see a judge take over your family. Please count the cost and ask God to restore your marriage.

With much love,
Melanie Young

The Library: Learning at Home and Time Management

2007-10-07T22:53:00.000-04:00

A few resources to go along with my workshop on teaching your little ones at Kennebec MOPS:

Getting Ready for School:
The Three R's by Ruth Beechick

Devotions:
A Catechism for Boys and Girls
Divine and Moral Songs for Children by Isaac Watts
Your Bible - read early and often to them!B
uy several copies of the hymnbook your church uses for use at home!

Character Training:
For Instruction in Righteousness
The Brother Offended Checklist

Science Resources:
Spring and Summer in North Carolina Forests - These are older than this age range, but nice to begin reading aloud.
Fall and Winter in North Carolina Forests
The Nature Readers
Pets in a Jar
Usborne First Book of Nature
Lyrical Life Science

History Resources:
Greenleaf Guides
Tapestry of Grace
Veritas Press Their catalog alone is a great resource. You don't need scripted lessons at this age!
Your local library :-)

No, I'm Not Dead

2007-10-07T22:49:00.000-04:00

Just busy. Really, really busy. We've done nine major college visits in the past 5 weeks, I've written 9 or 10 AP syllabuses and we've started school. I'm hoping to post a lot more in the next few weeks. I've got some great stuff queued up. This is where I'm supposed to say, "Thank you for your patience." Right? Okay! Thank you for your patience. Seriously. I appreciate you guys!

Tax Free Weekend

2007-08-04T22:38:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm pooped tonight because I was up until 3am ordering my curriculum for this year because this weekend is tax free weekend and I object to giving the government more money than I absolutely have to. In fact, I decided 25 years ago when I started voting to never vote for a tax increase until the government starts using the money it already has wisely. You just don't offer an alcoholic another drink :-)

Deja Vu!

2007-07-30T19:42:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-28T16:58:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-27T09:40:00.002-04:00

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

2007-07-27T09:40:00.001-04:00

"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...

2007-07-25T23:16:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-24T15:36:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-23T09:18:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-20T20:57:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-19T20:14:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-18T21:20:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-09T23:21:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-06T23:12:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-03T12:30:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-02T15:07:00.000-04:00

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!

The Reagan Diaries

2007-06-27T08:58:00.000-04:00

I've been dipping into The Reagan Diaries while Hal's been reading it preparatory to writing a review. Wow. I don't have much time this morning, so this is going to be pretty telegraphic, but here are my observations:

Reagan was real. He was the same guy in private he seemed in public.
Reagan was a real Christian. Great quote to follow one day later.
Reagan was totally on top of the issues.
Reagan was a totally likeable and engaging person.
The presidency is incredibly stressful.

It's great, you'll love it, go buy it!

"The Suckers Tickle Your Throat on the Way Down"

2007-06-24T17:30:00.000-04:00

This is Pineapple Squid Curry, which our son was served for supper last Sunday night. He's craving homecooking a bit (No!).

This week he was delighted to find a grocery store with a few Western things like butter, cheese, and onion bagels. This morning he found a pan in the apartment, figured out how to work the gas stove, burnt the butter three times, and frambled* some eggs. He put a couple of slices of cheese on top, buttered the bagel with his chopsticks and had a comfort food fest.

Grandfather likes "fresh" air**, so keeps all the windows open and the air conditioner off. Near as we can tell, the weather in their city is just exactly like it is in Raleigh - every day. I know, weird, but the temperature in the two cities always seems to be within two degrees. Go figure. Anyway, it's just as hot there as it is here! Our son is delighted to have a window air conditioner in his own room that he turns down to 68 degrees and lies in blissful comfort.

*Frambled is our families terminology for the cooking technique a lazy boy who wants scrambled eggs. but not two dirty cooking dishes uses: Crack the eggs into the hot skillet and stir like mad :-)

**Fresh is used here only to denote outside air. The air in this part of Asia could not be described as fresh in any way, shape, or form. The pollution there is enough to make even a conservative like me appreciate the EPA.

"A Legislative Solution"

2007-06-22T13:01:00.000-04:00

I was disgusted but not surprised to hear today that Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi would like to see "a legislative solution" to talk radio. What? That's right, they would like to see government control of privately funded speech because they don't like the content of it. Folks, that's not a solution, that's censorship and it's expressly forbidden by the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.

That is precisely what is meant by "no law" "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;" ladies!

The liberals have been confused about censorship for a long time, though. If people tried to persuade a store not to carry an obscense book or a school not to require the children to read an inappropriate book, they screamed censorship. Friends, choosing not to sell something your customers disapprove of is not censorship. Not requiring something is not censorship.

Censorship is government control of speech and publication --- and that's what they are calling for now. Because, in the liberal mentality, if the poor dumb citizenry won't choose to believe or do what you want them to, then use the force of law. There's another name for that: tyranny.

The Episcopal Church Bats Zero Again

2007-06-19T22:13:00.000-04:00

The ability of liberals to hold two antithetical ideas at one time never ceases to amaze me. Today, the Episcopal Church bats zero again in its reaction to the rogue "priest" who claims to be both Islamic and Christian in today's WorldNetDaily:

A veteran Episcopal priest says she became a Muslim just over a year ago and now
worships at a mosque Fridays – but that hasn't stopped her from donning her
white collar Sunday mornings. "I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm
both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both," Rev. Ann
Holmes Redding told the Seattle Times.

It is sad enough that someone could seriously think that being both a Christian and a Muslim is compatible, but that her authority in the Episcopal Church also doesn't get it makes you want to bang your head on the wall until it runs with blood:

Redding's embrace of Islam has been affirmed by her bishop, Rt. Rev.
Vincent Warner, who thinks the interfaith possibilities are exciting.

Whatever happened to:

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through Me.

How can that be compatible with a religion that says Christ is only one of the prophets and not as important as Mohammed?

And that doesn't even address the question of Christ's diety! Please! Can we at least be consistent and logical? I'd love to see even some basic common sense in this body!

Gone Fishin'

2007-06-16T23:28:00.000-04:00

We're up at the Lake and I'm very surprised to find a wifi network that we can access tonight. How strange - we don't even have a telephone or tv up here! I'm so glad I can give you an update.

Number one son is feeling much better and seems to be finding his sea legs in the new environment. I am so thankful!

David caught his first fish - a little catfish - yesterday! And Samuel caught his grandpa - a huge granddaddy of a cat - about 18 inches long and a good five inches across the head. That old fellow was delicious!

We are all enjoying a much needed rest with lots of fishing, swimming and swinging - in the hammock that is! Hal is doing a combo rest and work thing - Monday he has a very important customer call ( and hopes to get an appointment for another - you could pray about that) and another call yet on Tuesday. We so appreciate your prayers for God's blessing on our endeavors - and for His soon provision.

The rest of us will reluctantly be coming back to reality in a few days. In the meantime, if I can get another signal - I've been writing one of my blog rants in my head for several hours - can't wait to share it with you!

A Hunger for Spiritual Things

2007-06-13T08:08:00.000-04:00

A dear friend of mine, iykwim, went to visit an "official" church in a closed country this weekend. He was very surprised to find a very lively crowd and service that was packed out. I mean they had full overflow rooms and even the halls were full. He said folks were singing and praising with full hearts. It was incredibly moving that even under the strictures and observation of an unfriendly authority that folks were beating down the doors to hear any truth at all. "He who seeks Me shall find Me, when he searches for Me with all his heart." Dear Father, please send workers into the harvest that all who seek may speedily find! Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

Sick in Asia

2007-06-12T23:50:00.000-04:00

Thank you so much for praying for our poor dear son sick in Asia. He's feeling a good bit better and just went in to work (remember it's Wednesday morning their time). I'm about to talk to him, so we may have a further update later.

Prayer Alert

2007-06-11T22:52:00.000-04:00

Our son has come down with what we call "the epizootic" - meaning some unidentified stomach illness - probably short and nasty. He's started some meds and taken the day off, but we'd appreciate it if you'd pray for him.

He wanted me to tell you that being sick in Asia is no bed of ease - he's felt floors more forgiving than his bed. Seriously, you wouldn't believe how firm a firm bed is in Asia. I told him it would be very good for his back - if he survived the first couple of weeks :-)

Just wanting to hear his voice

2007-06-06T08:16:00.000-04:00

We haven't talked to our son for more than a sentence or two on his uncle's cell phone, but we found out yesterday that his uncle has given him a cell phone of his own. Wonderful! Can we afford to call it?

We've used Skype for some time. If you download Skype (10 minutes for the whole process for us), you can use the mike and speakers on your computer to talk to anyone else who has Skype in the world -- Free! You can also buy "SkypeCredit" which will allow you to call landlines or mobile lines at extremely reasonable rates: $29.95 for unlimited calling in the U.S. or Canada for a year. Calling Asian land or mobile lines is 2.1-2.4 cents a minute! That is amazing to someone as old as I am! I remember how excited we were when we got our long distance service here in the U.S. for 15 cents a minute!

I also gave our "customer no service" cellular company, Alltel, a call and they actually came through with something at least possible: For $3.99 a month, we could call Asian cells for 20 cents a minute. It sure isn't Skype, but we'll be able to call wherever we are.

Why do I call Alltel our "customer no service" company? That's a story for another day! I'm just about to head out to the Tea Room with a dear friend. Oh, I hope the children don't mess up the house (Hal is here, but very distracted with business)!

Update: I forgot to mention that Skype is secure - that's a great plus when you are phoning into countries who don't value privacy.

Pray for the Persecuted Church

2007-06-04T23:04:00.000-04:00

I have just been reading a website about the persecuted church. It really made me sad how asleep we, their free brethren, are to their needs. Why do we seldom hear a call for prayer for our suffering brothers and sisters? Why are we not raising funds to support their families while they are imprisoned? What would we need if the head of our family was taken away? I know first hand that in one country where many are persecuted, that a dollar will go 7-10 times as far as it will here. Let's hear their cry!

For obvious reasons, I will restrain myself and not publish a list of sites here, but if you google "persecuted church" or "persecution" and country names, you'll find a lot to pray about and many to help. Please help.

Safely Met!

2007-06-04T11:18:00.000-04:00

Our son has been safely met by my brother in Asia!

Must tell you all that I felt an urgent need to pray for him this morning after his plane landed, probably while he was clearing customs - sometimes a challenge in that country. After some time, I felt a release and didn't need to pray anymore. Just a few moments later, the phone rang and my brother was calling, "I've got your son." Amen. Thank you, Lord!

Homeschool Moment: The Great Circle Route

2007-06-03T21:19:00.000-04:00

Tonight over supper we were talking about the flight our eldest son is taking today to Asia. We first looked at the flat world map on our kitchen table (I covered it with roll plastic bought at Wal-Mart and we've got a US one on there, too - we have a big table!). It looked pretty obvious that his plane would travel right across America and the Pacific to Asia. Not so, Grasshopper! I asked one of the children to run go get the globe. If you hold a piece of string between where you are and where you are going in Asia and try to get the string as short as possible, you will be surprised at the actual route. It is much closer to travel north to go west to Asia from the U.S. East coast! It's called the Great Circle Route! Check out this Great Circle Mapper. It looks confusing, but just type in two airport codes (you can look them up on the same page and map! For example, if you type in "JFK-NRT" (JFK, New York to Narita, Tokyo, Japan) and press "Display Map" it is amazing! You may not recognize the continents at first because you are looking down at the North Pole!

BTW, we'd sure appreciate prayer for Eldest Son! He has just a little more than an hour to make it through one of the busiest, most confusing airports in the world to make his connection and his plane is running a little late!

First Girl Moments

2007-05-31T19:57:00.000-04:00

It's such a treat seeing the differences between our six boys and our little girl! The other day, the poor dear had to be anesthetized for a medical procedure. As she's coming out of the anesthesia, Hal asked her, "Would you like a popsicle, Sweetheart?" She moaned, "Chocolate. I need chocolate." That's my girl!

The Decline and Fall of Civilization

2007-05-29T23:07:00.000-04:00

I thought reality TV couldn't get any worse until I read this ghoulish piece in which Dutch TV show contestants compete for the kidneys of a terminally ill lady. Can this possibly be the land of godly William the Silent? The country of Haarlem, whose citizens nearly starved to the last man rather than give up their right to worship the Savior by surrendering to Alva? How the spiritually mighty have fallen! May the Lord prevent us from having descendents like these.

Update: The producers say that their show was a hoax - that the terminally ill lady was really an actress and the show was meant to draw attention to the need for organ donors. I fail to understand how this improves matters. Not only are they offering this "entertainment" but they are lying about it :-P

Wanted: Praying Friends

2007-05-29T18:49:00.000-04:00

Our seventeen-year-old son will be leaving this Sunday to spend three months in an Asian country, working with our brother. This will be a *very* challenging time for him -- he speaks a little of the difficult language, but he will be living with our sister-in-law's father, who speaks no English at all. He will be making his way around the largest city in the world by himself and working very long hours with our very demanding brother. There are no known believers in the situation, limited if any fellowship with the expatriate church, and not even Christian websites, because they are blocked there.

In other words, he will be simply living faithfully among them. What an opportunity to impact the world!

This Wednesday is our day to fast and pray for him, as well as the many trials we've been going through in our lives in the past weeks in work, ministry, health, home repair, and more. We are feeling very weary and need to seek the Lord's face. We would appreciate any of you who feel led pray for him and us. Thanks for all your friendship!

In Christ,
Hal and Melanie

Memorial Day the Right Way

2007-05-27T21:25:00.000-04:00

We are proud to know the Scott Brown family, who every year put on the perfect Memorial Day picnic for the entire community. Imagine a beautiful rural farm with glassy lakes, a big circus tent with honored veterans sharing their memories, prayers for the soldiers and their families, hayrides and military equipment to examine for the children, patriotic music, North Carolina barbeque and great fellowship! It's a wonderful way to spend the day honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, who've laid down their lives for friends - their fellow citizens - in a way that honors God, especially. If you're in the neighborhood (3721 Quarry Road, Wake Forest, NC 27587), come on over. If you aren't, I hope the Lord will raise up someone like Scott in your area - maybe it's you :-)

Check out Scott's blog for some enticing pictures!

Massacring Memorial Day

2007-05-27T21:15:00.000-04:00

I thought the Democratic candidates for president couldn't shock me. I really thought I had such low expectations that no one could fall below them. That is, until I read John Edwards' reprehensible recommendations to violate Memorial Day picnics and parades with anti-war protests. Honestly. If he thinks that the troops will feel supported by protests implying they are wrong to fight, if he thinks the new war widow will be comforted by thinking her husband died in vain, if he thinks the children whose Daddies are in Iraq will be cheered up by wondering if Daddy's doing right, he just plain doesn't have the judgement to be dog catcher, much less president. I thought about calling this post "John Edwards: Shameless Self-Promotion" because that's what it is.

The Most Basic Unit of Civilization: The Home

2007-05-25T14:47:00.001-04:00

I just found an absolutely fantastic quote by Theodore Kuyler:

The household is the fountainhead of society. Both the commonwealth and the church grow out of the family. They both take their character from the family. The real seed-corn whence our republic sprang was the Christian households, which stepped forth from the cabin of the Mayflower, or which set up the family altar of the Hollander and the Huguenot on Manhattan Island or in the sunny South. All our best characters, best legislation, best institutions, and best church-life were cradled in those early homes. They were the taproot of the republic, and of the American churches.

For one, I care but little for the government which presides at Washington in comparison with the government which rules the eight or ten millions of American homes. No administration can seriously harm us if our home-life is pure, frugal, and godly. No statesmanship or legislation can save us, if once our homes become the abodes of ignorance or the nestling-places of profligacy. The home rules the nation. If the home is demoralized it will ruin it.

There are several essentials to a good home. Wealth is not one of those essentials, for in many an abode of honest poverty contentment dwells. Out of such lowly cottages and cabins have sprung our greatest noblest men and women. The little clapboarded farm houses of New England have been the nurseries of our greatest divines, most useful philanthropists and devoted missionaries. The riches of those humble dwellings were industrious hands and praying hearts. God's Word was the light of the homestead. The Bible, the spinning-wheel, and the family alter stood side by side. The growing refinements of later years have introduced into many rural habitations the piano, the pictures, and the pile of books. But let our people see to it that the increase of culture, money and refinement is not attended with any decrease of homespun frugality, domestic purity, and the fear of God.

A true good home is not only one in which God reigns, but it must be an attractive spot. Even all the consciousness Christian parents do not seem to find this out. The result is that the theatre, the billiard-saloon, the club, the convivial party managed to "out-bid" the home, and to draw away the sons and the daughters. It is too often the fault of his parents, that a sprightly boy prefers some other evening resort to the stupid or disagreeable place in which he eats and sleeps. If this home were made more attractive he would not seek the haunts of danger and depravity. And one of the surest methods of keeping a husband out of a dram-shop, or a son out of the haunts of sin, is the "exclusive power of a new affection" for their home. Everything that attracts our children to their homes is very apt to be, in the end, an attraction towards heaven.

Theodore Kuyler

A House NOT Divided: Promoting Unity in the Homeschool Family Notes & Resources

2007-05-25T11:27:00.001-04:00

A House NOT Divided: Promoting Unity in the Homeschool Family

I. Intro
II. Family Vision/Mission

Practical Ways to Impart a Sense of Unity in the Family

III. A Family That Desires Unity Tears Down Obstacles

A. Our evil habits destroy our regard and love for one another.
1. Don't allow pesting or bullying
2. Don't tolerate name calling
3. Punish provocation as well as reaction
4. Stop sarcasm and smartmouthing
5. Make competition healthy
6. Encourage peacemaking
7. Encourage shared emotions Romans 12:15-16

B. How can we change?
1. Recognize that bickering and discord is sin Proverbs 6:16-19
2. Deal with it as seriously as we do other sin

IV. A Family That Desire Unity Builds Memories

A. Form family traditions
1. Holiday means "holy day"
2. Feasting is approved by Scripture
3. Form traditions around other holidays
4. Let anticipation build
5. Be unique and don't be afraid to be alone

B. Share interests and accomplishments
1. Develop family hobbies and shared interests
2. Share adversity
3. Seek out a challenge

C. Be sure your children know you value them
1. Children pick up your attitude toward them.
2. Children will also pick up your attitude toward more babies. Psalm 127:3
3. Your parenting is impacted if you believe your children are a gift from the Lord

V. A Family That Desires Unity Reminds Themselves of It Everyday in Little Ways

A. They identify with their family
1. Matching clothes or dress code
2. Fellowship as families
3. Have a healthy sense of pride in your family
4. Have special family code language and code words

B. They guard each other's hearts and feelings
1. Criticism stops at the threshold
2. This starts with the parents
3. He's my brother...
4. Wash your dirty laundry privately

C. They spend time together
1. Quantity trumps quality
2. Bring a child on errands
3. Take the family on business
4. Read or play together as a family
5. Remind yourself of why you are doing this Deuteronomy 32:46-47

VI. Conclusion
A. Summary
B. Glorify God in your family
C. Oswald Chambers quote

"Our family life in Perth was a very united one; each evening, after the home-lessons were done, was given up to games of various kinds. We found our enjoyment and entertainment in our home; no outside amusements could possibly compare with the fun and happiness to be found there. We never had any desire to be out playing or walking with chums...
"I feel traits in my character which I knew not of before, and it causes me to bow in deeper gratitude for that home training which I have now left, for the training and disciplines of life. Oh! What a mighty influence home life has on us! Indeed, we do not know how deep a debt we owe to our mothers and fathers and their training."

D. Theodore Kuyler quote (see more of this fantastic quote in another blog entry here)

Everything that attracts our children to their homes is very apt to be, in the end, an attraction towards heaven.

Resource:

Doorposts Brother-offended Checklist

The Usual Stuff

2007-05-24T20:08:00.001-04:00

Well, we had our usual conference week - our home air conditioner croaked, the van needed a trip to the tire store, and I had a medical crisis. Ho hum. It seems to happen every year:

2006 House air conditioner out, van air conditioner broke, hotel gave us the wrong room, speaking clothes trapped in broken dry cleaner's machine.

2005 Wreck on the way to conference, raced to go to the children's dentists appointments first (30 miles away) only to find they had cancelled the appointments, Hal had to travel separately, we all got in way late

2004 I'm on pregnancy bedrest and in a motorized wheel chair. Our room isn't ready and we wait for hours, spent all Saturday night in the emergency room.

Are you getting the picture? Sure looks like somebody doesn't want us here :-)

"Yes, We Know What Causes That" - Resource List

2007-05-23T23:14:00.000-04:00

Here are a few resources to go along with our workshop "Yes, We Know What Causes That",
North Carolinians for Home Education Annual Conference
Session 11 -- Saturday, May 24, 2007

Theodore Roosevelt on a tour of the Midwest

"Three cheers for Mr. and Mrs. Bower and their really satisfactory American family of twelve children!"

Books to Help You Make the Decision or Explain It To Others

A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ by Rick and Jan Hess

Be Fruitful and Multiply: What the Bible Says About Having Children by Nancy Campbell

The Bible and Birth Control by Charles Provan

The Way Home: Beyond Feminism and Back to Reality by Mary Pride

Email Groups to Encourage You

Quiver-Full! is an email discussion group for those committed to or interested in the Lord planning their family.

MOMYS Mothers of Many Young Siblings is for mothers who have ever had four or more children eight years and younger at the same time -- others can subscribe as "read only MOMYS". This one is a great encouragement and you know the advice comes from people who really know.

Biblical Resources - "To the Law and to the testimony!" (NKJV unless noted)

Man and woman were created to be fruitful

Genesis 1:27-28 - The Mandate from Creation, before the Fall

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; ...

Genesis 9:1, 7 - Repeated to Noah after the Flood

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth ... And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”

Genesis 35:10-11 - Repeated at the establishment of God's covenant people

And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.

Children are a primary purpose of marriage

Malachi 2:14-15

Yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.

Children are a blessing and a gift from God

Psalm 127:3-5

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

God's people should expect to have children from Him

Psalm 128:1-4

Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.

Leviticus 26:9 - God's promise to His people

"For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you."

1 Chronicles 25:5 - Seventeen children given as a special blessing

All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer to exalt him according to the words of God, for God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman. (NASB)

God provides for His children

Psalm 37:25

I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.

Raising a family is meant for hard times, too

Exodus 1:7-9 - Israel as a refugee nation in a time of famine

But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ... And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we ... "

Jeremiah 29:5-7 - God's word to His people carried off to Babylonian exile

"Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace."

Homeschooled from the Beginning Resource List

2007-05-23T21:03:00.000-04:00

A few resources to go along with my workshop on teaching your little ones.

Getting Ready for School:
The Three R's by Ruth Beechick

Devotions:
A Catechism for Boys and Girls
Divine and Moral Songs for Children by Isaac Watts
Your Bible - read early and often to them!
Buy several copies of the hymnbook your church uses for use at home!

Science Resources:
Spring and Summer in North Carolina Forests - These are older than this age range, but nice to begin reading aloud.
Fall and Winter in North Carolina Forests
The Nature Readers
Pets in a Jar
Usborne First Book of Nature
Lyrical Life Science

History Resources
Greenleaf Guides
Tapestry of Grace
Veritas Press Their catalog alone is a great resource. You don't need scripted lessons at this age! Your local library :-)

Written by Me!

2007-05-23T21:02:00.000-04:00

All of the posts labeled "By Hal" are actually by me - Melanie. Blogger did this when it migrated our blogs to google accounts and I don't have time to change them all! Sorry!

Live Blogging the NCHE Conference

2007-05-23T19:04:00.001-04:00

I'll be live blogging the NCHE Homeschool Conference at NCHE Conference Blog. See you there!

A Letter to Children Who Have Lost a Parent

2007-05-23T16:05:00.000-04:00

I am posting this for the children of a MOMYS, who just lost their father unexpectedly. I wrote this a few years ago when a dear friend's husband died. As I read over just now, I thought that others might benefit if I posted it more publicly.

My dear young friends,

I am writing because I have been through what you are going through. My father died when I was 14 years old. I felt so sad and confused and frightened. I wondered where we would get the money to live on and if we’d have to move. God provided all we needed and we stayed right there in our house and my mother still lives there - and it’s been 25 years!! Now my children go to spend the night in my room. I was afraid that everything would change, that we wouldn’t be a family any more without Daddy. Although Daddy wasn’t with us, and we missed him awfully, everything didn’t change. Mama was still Mama, we were still a family, we still celebrated holidays as much as we could like we did before - and we had lots of happy memories of Daddy to share.

I was also sad. I was sad that Daddy wouldn’t see me graduate or be able to walk me down the aisle when I got married. God wiped away my tears and comforted me. I know my Daddy is in heaven and that our Lord is telling him all about us. I know he can’t wait until we all get to heaven and he can meet my children. When I graduated, all my grandparents came, and I knew Dad was proud of me, even though he couldn’t be there. When I got married, my brother gave me away and I never loved him so much as I did then. It drew our hearts together. It was beautiful and special and nothing spoiled it.

I also felt funny when Dad died. Sometimes I wanted to cry and cry and cry. But sometimes I wanted to laugh and be carefree and pretend that awful things never happen and I was worried that people would think that I didn’t love Daddy if I did that. It’s okay! When you feel like crying, cry. And pray to the Lord for comfort. When you feel like laughing, laugh. Anybody with any sense knows you love your Dad and he wants you to be joyful. We are Christians and we shouldn’t mourn like the pagans do - with no hope. My father is in heaven - perfectly well, enjoying the Lord, and I know he wants the same for me. Don’t ever be afraid to be joyful!

I worried about my Mama, too. She seemed so sad and worried. I wondered how I could take care of her and help her. Now that I’m a mother, I wouldn’t want my children to worry about me. I am stronger than they are, both physically and spiritually. I would want my children to trust me to take care of them. How can you help your mother? Be honest with her. Tell her what you are thinking about. Share your feelings. Remember your Daddy and help her teach the little children about him and share those memories with them. Obey her and do your school work and chores. Give her lots of hugs and don't worry if she just has to cry sometimes. That’s a great time to pray for her.

It has been over 25 years since my father died, when I was fourteen. I can see the truth of God’s Word when it says that God would be a father to the fatherless and a judge for the widows. He has taken care of my mother and brother and me in a great way. We miss Daddy and we will never forget him, but we are happy adults. God has been so good to me! He has loved me and saved me, given me a great husband, blessed me with seven wonderful children. I wish I had known when my Daddy died, that everything would be okay, that I would be happy again, that my life would turn out just right. That’s why I’m writing to you. I thought it might encourage you to hear from someone who has suffered what you are suffering and has seen God’s mercy. He is faithful. He has taken care of me and He will take care of you. He promises to do it and He always keeps His promises. I love you all for your mother’s sake and I’ll be praying for you.

With much love and concern,
Melanie Young,
daughter of "Bill" Smith, 1940-1978

A/C Then and Now - and NOT

2007-05-21T12:29:00.000-04:00

It was when we lived in Louisiana that I first understood how people lived without air conditioning in the South. Seriously, Louisiana is so hot that no one I knew did anything at all they didn't absolutely have to outside between May and September. The sweat would roll down my back from walking from my house to the car - under the carport!

We went to visit Oakley Plantation where John James Audubon was he taught drawing to the family's daughter (what a tutor!) and where he collected very many of his specimens. It was such a hot day, we dreaded going into the house, but in the house, it was warm, but comfortable! The docent pointed out the high ceilings, carefully oriented windows and louvered porches that gave the house ventilation and kept the heat moving out. It was amazing the engineering in that old house!

Shortly after that, Hurricane Andrew came through Louisiana and knocked out our power and water for some time. We very quickly discovered that our house was NOT designed for living in without air conditioning. In fact, it was absolutely uninhabitable without air conditioning! It gave me a real admiration for those who used their wits to combat the challenges of nature and build houses like Oakley.

Sitting here in my very hot modern Dutch Colonial, I'm wishing I was back Oakley Plantation - well, maybe not, it's a lot hotter in Louisiana than it is in North Carolina - but I am realizing that the house, like our old one, is NOT designed for this. You about can't get a breeze in here no matter what you do!

Why are we so hot today? Our air conditioner died Thursday - thankfully we have had a cool weekend! We just heard the bad news that we have to either have a new compressor ($1000) or a new unit ($4000). Our air conditioner man (a homeschool dad himself!) recommends the new unit since ours is over 20 years old, but then again, he hasn't seen the exchequer! Our new business is not paying yet and it's been a long time, a long, long time, since the last salary check :-)

However, we've come to the conclusion that air conditioning is not optional. Not in this house. Not in the South. Wish I had a house like Oakley today!

The Annual Homeschool Panic

2007-05-18T23:00:00.000-04:00

Hal was checking email tonight and ran across an email from one of our friends who seemed pretty wrought up about testing and something about curriculum. Hal said, "What's the matter? Everything okay?" I told him, "No problem, it's just annual homeschool panic."

It cracks me up how everyone I know thinks everybody else is calm, collected, with an orderly, peaceful school day. Their children rise at 5am, bring their mother breakfast in bed, do all their chores, and then get started on schoolwork right away! Everyone else's house is neat. Everyone else has a weekly menu that everyone loves. Everyone else has children who just adore to share their toys and books with their siblings. Baloney! Wait, other folks might spell it correctly: Balogna!

This time of year all the bright, shiny new catalogs come out - with pictures of clean, sweet children working hard at their schoolwork. It's time for conference, too - 50,000 SF of curriculum that must be better than what I'm using! Discontentment is rampant

The truth of the matter is that homeschooling is a front line spiritual battle. It's a battle over who will disciple our children and you can bet that the enemy will not relinquish them easily. After nine months of constant warfare - ineffective curriculum (sometimes something else is better :-), sibling squabbles, teaching the same lesson you've taught to five other children, housework that never even gets close to caught up, phones that ring constantly, learning difficulties, transcript woes, the family crisis that cost you weeks of schooling that has to be made up -- after all that, is it any wonder you are tired? Is it any wonder you are worn out? Is it any wonder that you are second guessing yourself? Usually by May, I can't stand to even think about homeschooling - it makes me feel too guilty! It's the Annual Homeschool Panic.

Here's my prescription: Go to your state homeschool conference. I know you don't want to - I don't either - I think it'll make me feel worse. It never does, though. Instead, I am reminded of why I am doing this. I am fed and equipped to start again. I get new ideas and see new things. I realize I'm not alone. Give it a try.

Truth and Deception

2007-05-06T13:27:00.000-04:00

Today someone handed me a tract designed to look like a Wal-Mart gift card. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm all for tracts - nuggets of truth easily shared with others. This particular tract bothered me a lot, though. It plainly says at the top, "Wal-Mart Gift Card" and yet, it is not a gift card at all and has no monetary value. It is a tract with a sinner's prayer and the gospel simplistically outlined on the back in a way that looks like the fine print on a gift card.

Please stay with me a moment and let me tell you why this concerns me:

First, in just a worldly way, do you expect someone whom you've just tricked into thinking you are giving him something of value (when it is not worth what he believes it is) to then accept the thing of value you are offering him (the free gift of life in Jesus Christ). Surely, they are thinking, "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." These tactics make no sense whatsoever.

Secondly, isn't this an illegal trademark violation? The Scripture commands us not to steal, but when we use the trademarks of others without their permission and without benefiting them, aren't we breaking the law and diluting their business asset - their name and logo? Our laws protect trademarks because it is recognized that businesses invest a lot of assets into their name and logo recognition, through advertising, signage, product placement and more. When we trade on that name without their permission, we are illegally benefiting from their investment.

Lastly, I do not think we should be deceiving others to bring them to the truth. In fact, I think offering someone something that seems to be of value to him and then refusing to honor that expected value, even if we offer something else in return is, I believe, defrauding him. It is a type of bait and switch.

Dear friends, I know your heart. I know you so desire that the lost and dying people around you grasp the hope that is in Jesus Christ. I know that you only hoped to catch their eye - to get their attention. I know you only want to share the good news, but my dear brethren, is our Lord not strong enough to save without the use of that which he warns against in His Word:

18 Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death,
19 Is the man who deceives his neighbor,
And says, “I was only joking!”

Dear ones, this is not the way of our Master. God has known His people from the foundation of the world and needs no tricks to reach them. We are to proclaim the gospel to the world - by our words, by our lives - but we are never, never encouraged to deceive them. We told our children long ago, that we would never intentionally lie to them, not even so-called "white lies" because we wanted them to know that if we said it, that as far as we knew, it was the truth - they could trust it. This has meant that our family doesn't practice Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, but also that our children really, really trust us. Shouldn't the world be able to do the same? Or else, how will they know when we are speaking the truth?

Can I suggest that you hand out invitations to visit your church or tracts with provocative questions or just plain old truth? Let us, as the North Carolina motto has it: To Be, Rather than to Seem - Esse Quam Videri. A good motto for a Christian.

Back to the Blogosphere

2007-05-06T13:23:00.000-04:00

It's been a hectic few months and I'm afraid this blog had to take a back seat to life for awhile. If any of you are still out there, I've got a good excuse though. While I've been gone, we found out we were expecting twins, prepared frantically for bedrest, then lost them both to miscarriage. I've started a new blog out of my frustration at the lack of information on the net about miscarriage. Check it out at Hope in Miscarriage, but I'll still be blogging here about life, the universe and everything.

Not very merry about a non-Christmas

2006-12-09T18:24:00.000-05:00

I just ran across a most amusing editorial about the Intolerance Police and one man's private stand. Enjoy.

We wish you a merry Christmas. A very merry Christmas - as you remember that we are celebrating the birth of the Saviour who has taken away our sins and made us able to approach the Maker with joy:

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever. Amen.

The Christian and the Government

2006-12-04T11:07:00.000-05:00

There is no doubt Biblically that we are to be subject to the authorities over us. This is not an absolute command, though. Scripture makes for some serious exceptions: When the authority forces us to violate the commands of God, we are to obey God rather than man. Also, there are examples of appealing to higher civil authority.

I have been hearing lately a lot of discussion from fellow believers that is greatly concerning to me. They state very clearly that they believe we should comply with any request made by a government official as long as it does not ask us to violate a command of God. It is my belief that they misunderstand both the American system of government and the application of God's word.

Our country is plainly founded on the principle of Lex rex - the law is king. This is a radical departure from the majority of governments at the time, most of which believed in the divine right of kings, which was a justification of Rex lex - the king is law. The principle of lex rex was the foundation of the American Revolution -- that King George was in violation of the Magna Carta and other laws to which even he was subject, therefore he was a tyrannical ruler in violation of the law and should be resisted. I fear we no longer understand these principles.

The Constitution of the United States serves the role of the king or final authority in our nation. This is such a blessing as we are not subject to the whims and prejudices of a human ruler. All other laws are therefore subject to the Constitution, and all officials are subject to both. The government officials we deal with are the messengers of King Constitution and they themselves are personally subject to it as well. Therefore, when they act in violation of the Law, then they are false messengers and should be held to account. This is not disobedience or rebellion, but rather obedience to the higher power. Now, I am not advocating disorder or disrespect - they are still the duly constituted power and therefore deserve the respect of their positions. In our country, we have a variety of ways to hold government officials to account in an orderly, peaceful way: we can appeal to their authority by referencing the authority of the law, we can respectfully refuse to comply with "requests" as not bearing the force of law, we can appeal to the authority they directly report to, we can appeal through the judiciary, we can vote them out or insist on their removal by those we can vote out, and we can and should pray.

The Scripture does not forbid us to appeal to authority! Rather, Paul, when being treated highhandedly by the local authority reminded them that he was a Roman citizen and had certain rights which they must respect. Read about Paul's trial and successful appeal. Scripture also expects us to choose the leaders we follow carefully and hold them to account for their obedience to the law of God. Read the entire Old Testament to see God's judgement on those who chose and followed wicked leaders. When we exercise our rights and privileges as American citizens to insist our leaders follow the law which makes them leaders, we are being subject to the authorities over us as Scripture commands.

There would have never been an American Revolution if the ideas I'm hearing held sway over our forefathers. Think about that.

Marie Antoinette and John Edwards

2006-11-21T13:26:00.000-05:00

John Edwards' staffer's hilarious gaffe in asking the Raleigh Wal-Mart for an early PS3 for the Edwards family brought us all a good laugh, but I really don't think it means all that much. Having a housefull of young staffers, I know they can go off half-cocked in an effort to get the job done. What really gets me is Edwards' response:

In the call, he repeated a story about his son Jack disapproving of a classmate buying sneakers at Wal-Mart. "If a 6-year-old can figure it out, America can definitely figure this out," Edwards said.

Well, well, well. The child of a millionaire mocks a classmate for wearing shoes bought at Wal-Mart. Did that little six year old make an informed decision to shop at the despised store? Or did his mother try to make the family's hard-earned dollars go a little farther and buy her little one Wal-Mart shoes? If John Edwards wants to teach the morality of caring for the less fortunate, let him start with his own children: Polite, kind people do not mock or criticize the clothing of those less fortunate than they. No doubt John Edwards' son thought the little boy ought to wear D&G instead -- on sale for only $109!

John Edwards reminds me of Marie Antoinette. When told the peasants had no bread to eat, she proved her complete lack of understanding of the lives of her subjects: like an early John Edwards, she replied "Let them eat cake!"

Election Prognostication

2006-11-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

Well, I've finally had it enough to creep out of my corner and state it publically: I don't think the Republicans are going to lose on Tuesday. The mainstream media is just so certain this will be a bloodbath for the Republicans that I'm starting to get suspicious. This is beginning to look like one of those liberal attempts to create a reality by reporting that it already is. We'll see.

A Proper Apology

2006-11-01T23:23:00.000-05:00

After watching John Kerry flounder around all week pretending to apologize, I thought he and others could use a short course in apologizing. First, do not: blame others for being offended, pretend you didn't really do it, say it's not all that important, say you were misunderstood, or any other weaselly attempt to sing and dance your way out of trouble.

You see, a real apology is a wonderful thing. It is an almost foolproof way to restore a broken relationship and that is an incredibly valuable thing. A proper apology begins with the hardest thing of all: acceptance of responsibility and guilt, "I was wrong to do _____." It continues by communicating repentance. Now, repentance is not merely being sorry, but being sorry enough to change your course of action, "I should have done _____ and I will do that in the future." Finally, it ends only one proper way, a request not for understanding or for forbearance, but "Will you forgive me?"

These three simple steps are very seldom completed and it's a shame. I've found that being quick to forgive and even quicker to ask forgiveness will keep you at peace with most men. Give it a try.

Nailed!

2006-11-01T23:12:00.000-05:00

We woke this morning to find a wonderful bit of vandalism to our front door. In the night, some wag posted the Ninety-Five Theses to our door -- with a note saying, "You've been nailed! Happy Reformation Day!" and some treats. Thankfully, they used tape not nails, but what a delightful reminder that we are not alone, that others are remembering the great debate and rediscovery of the gospel, too. Thanks, friend!

Reformation Day

2006-10-26T21:53:00.000-04:00

I find it hard to understand that there are Christians who celebrate Halloween - a celebration (or propitiation, depending on your beliefs) of evil and death, yet I used to do it myself. Why did I? I was living an unexamined life. Once I began to examine everything by the light of the Word of God, it became impossible for me to continue a practice that did not bring glory to our Lord and Father but rather glorified evil spirits, death, and evil -- even in jest.

I was not much happier with the harvest festivals held by so many churches. They seemed to be just a G-rated version of the world's festival: Halloween-lite. Can the church do nothing better than imitate the world?

Yes, it can! And it has! For nearly 500 years, faithful protestants have remembered a real encounter with the forces of darkness: in 1517, on October 31st, a monk named Martin Luther nailed an academic call to debate on the doors of Wittenberg Cathedral. That debate shook the world and rang out from the halls of academe to the plowboys in the fields. As a result, the gospel was rediscovered and the Word of God was translated into the languages of people's hearts, their native tongues. For centuries, the church celebrated Reformation Day in gratefulness for God's hand in the life of Luther and his contemporaries and the glorious results it has had not only in the church, but in the history of the world (I'll deal with that at a later date - I'm looking forward to it.)

Our family has celebrated Reformation Day for many years. We nearly always watch the terrific old black and white movie, Martin Luther, unmatched in stirring historical accuracy by the flashier modern versions. We always eat foods of the countries of the Reformation: cheese fondue from Switzerland, bratwurst, sauerkraut and hot German potato salad from Germany or some other Germanic delight. We play Reformation games like "95 Theses" in which blindfolded folks stick their post-it-note theses to a big paper cathedral door with candy rewards listed in each panel. We joyfully tell the stories to our children of those who stood for right and scripture before us, hoping that one day, they too will be able to stand. It's a day our children eagerly look forward to -- whether we celebrate with dozens of friends or just our family. In fact, they can't figure out why a Christian would do anything else. And neither can I.

Amazing Lack of Perspective

2006-10-11T23:36:00.000-04:00

This past week, a number of North Carolina homeschoolers received a letter (once on the page, hit refresh to view) from the state oversight agency requesting them to bring their children and records to the local police station for inspection. There's only one little problem: the statute authorizes no such thing.

For one year after the testing, all records shall be made available,
subject to the provision of G.S. 115C-196, at the principal office of such
school, at all reasonable times, for annual inspection by a duly authorized
representative of the State of North Carolina. (1979, c. 505; 1981, c. 423, s.
1.)

NCHE, our state homeschool organization, issued an alert encouraging non-participation with this extra-legal request. There are several amazing things here:

1. How in the world could anyone who has ever studied history or even current events think that the police station is an appropriate venue to ask people to come to for these record reviews? How could they think you would choose to bring your children into this situation? This appears to be an innocent mistake, yet I am totally flummoxed that anyone could be clueless enough not to realize this would be seen as pure and simple intimidation.

2. Homeschoolers are such nice folks that they really, really want to comply with the law such that some folks don't seem to care that this is way beyond the law and are thinking of participating. Beats me.

3. Some of the veteran homeschoolers among us don't seem to understand what is the big deal. Dear husband says it's the methadone effect[1]: the situation was so awful when they started homeschooling, that anything less than that seems just fine. However, this is a step towards less freedom, not more.

Here's the big deal: When we willing and voluntarily submit ourselves to government requirements beyond the law, we place ourselves in the position of providing an excuse for more regulation ("We're already doing it anyway. What's the big deal?") Loss of freedom is always a big deal and freedom relinquished is seldom regained. That's why the fight to regain freedom to direct your child's education was and is such a battle.

Samuel Adams said it well. Freedom costs, chains are free. Which do you want?

[1] methadone effect - Our family's term for something that is a step in the right direction for some, but the wrong for others. Methadone is a step in the right direction for heroin addicts, but for non-addicts, it would be a step toward addiction. Always move in the right direction.

The Marriage Vow

2006-09-10T20:36:00.000-04:00

In an age when the divorce rate among Christians differs in no respect from that of unbelievers, to the shame of the church, we seem to have forgotten what a vow is. This weekend I had the privelege of seeing what it means to an older generation to promise "For better or for worse."

The story of the marriage of my grandparents is not a happily-ever-after one. My grandfather was an extremely difficult man to live with in his youth - a wild and angry man. Then after he repented and settled down, my grandmother suffered repeated cancers and back surgeries. They did not abandon each other through these challenges, though. They did their duty. Paid their vows - for themselves, for the Lord, and for us. They have lost almost all of their many siblings to death, helped a daughter through becoming a young widow, and loved and shepherded us all through heartbreaks, health breakdowns and job losses. Now in their eighties, Papa Ray has Alzheimers' and his health has declined to the point that he needs constant help.

Nana kept him at home as long as she could, but she was unable to pick him up when he kept falling down. Now he's at a nursing home going through rehab. And yet the wife of his youth has not abandoned him in his old age. She is there every day - to feed him, to take him to the bathroom so he doesn't need to lose his dignity, to bring him treats and happiness. What a lovely sight, to see her tender devotion to a man who no one would have once faulted her for running from. To see his once strong arms reach in trust and need to his wife, "Are you coming back soon?" To see her save him a piece of cake, "I'll take this to Ray later. He always loved red velvet cake." To see him cared for and clean and well-fed when so many were so lonely.

When I told Nana what a blessing this was for me, she told me how he had taken her from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital when she had cancer, how he'd cared for her when she couldn't. I thought of Ecclesiastes:

Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

I commend to you Christian marriage. We are called to be a living picture of the eternal love between Christ and the church. Does it seem impossible to you? How can you love and sacrifice through all the hurt and hard times of this fallen world? I would recommend you see that your marriage is one of three strands: the two of you and He is who is able to make us able to keep our vows.

Intolerant Tolerance

2006-09-07T17:17:00.000-04:00

I am shocked to read that Great Britain literally has tolerance police. I've said for many years, that when we start on the slippery slope of limiting free speech in order to be "tolerant", we will fall headlong into tyranny. Speaking of a Christian arrested for handing out leaflets at a public park:

A spokesman for the police said the campaigner had not behaved in a violent
or aggressive manner, but that officers arrested him because 'the leaflet
contained Biblical quotes about homosexuality'.

Well, that's certainly provocative - and dangerous - someone quoting Holy Scripture! Handing out quotes from the Bible can now subject you to arrest in that so-called free nation. How much longer will we Christians be able to speak out about any sin, about salvation in Jesus Christ alone? The freedom to even quote the Word of God on the issues of the day is evidently gone in the U.K. How much longer will we have it? Up camels, mamahadeen, and speak up before you can't speak out at all.

Just in case you think this is spin-doctored, read the whole thing.

H/T WorldNetDaily

Why Mamahadeen?

2006-07-27T08:52:00.000-04:00

I thought the name Mamahadeen was pretty witty when I first registered it, but unfortunately, only one single person outside our family has gotten the joke (at least, has confessed to getting the joke.) This week another friend asked "What's that?" So, here goes:

Well, it's kind of complicated. The Islamic jihadists call themselves Mujahadeen -- holy warriors in Arabic. When folks started blogging, the mainstream media got bent out of shape and basically said "Are you gonna believe a bunch of crazy conservatives, typing in their pajamas or are you gonna believe us -- apostles of truth like Dan Rather?" Then some wiseacre called the bloggers "pajamahadeen" because they caused such a ruckus in the mainstream media. I took off on that and called myself Mamahadeen -- the mama in pajamas causing a ruckus for a holy reason -- got it?

On Cooking and Costs

2006-07-27T08:20:00.000-04:00

I've noticed sadly that many of the young mothers I talk to have even less idea how to run a household than I do. Now, that's pathetic, because I grew up in a family business. Literally. We came home from school to the store and stayed there til it closed. I felt like I had to learn how to be a housewife "on the job" but with no training. I'm still not terribly good at it. Compared to the generation of mothers just starting out, though, I'm a wiz. Many of them had working mothers and all of them were fed frozen dinners and McDonald's predominantly. I was told by one friend, "I only make one meal from scratch -- Hamburger Helper." Seriously.

The really sad thing is that their lack of training makes it so much harder for them to make it financially on one income so that they can stay home with their little ones or homeschool. For example, when they want a pie, they buy a frozen one ($3-5) and put whipped topping on top ($1-2). It's so easy to make a pie if you've been taught -- and inexpensive. Even if you buy the crust ($1) and use Jello pudding and pie filling ($0.80), but then make meringue ($0.20).

Dorothy Sayers in Murder Must Advertise once said that we pay extra to have our food prepared and stripped of all natural fiber and vitamins and then buy the fiber and vitamins on the side, keeping the wheels of commerce constantly turning. Well, folks, don't let those wheels run you down: Get a good cookbook like The Joy of Cooking [Nota Bene: Buy only this edition (1975) or an older one - The All New... has removed all that made The Joy of Cooking the one cookbook Julia Child would have on her shelf if she could only have one] or Mennonite Country-Style Recipes and teach yourself to really cook. Or better yet, make friends with an older woman who loves to cook and ask her if you can "come help" and she'll help you!

Remarkable Providences

2006-07-24T08:23:00.000-04:00

The incredible thing about the Christian life is that trials are often great blessings. Four and a half years ago, after the 9/11 business bust, dear husband was out of work for some time. When we told the children that Daddy no longer had his corporate job and it would be a long, precarious time until the business began to pay, the older children began to encourage the younger children to trust God by telling them many stories of God's providential provision for us four years ago. What a blessing!

Our dear Lord has already begun to show his love and provision for us:

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. I John 3:14

Immediately after reading the prayer request we sent out on our local homeschool loop, a dear sister emailed, saying that she and her husband were grateful for the service and encouragement we had given as homeschool leaders and they committed to bringing us a bag of grocery essentials every Friday for nine months! Can you believe that? What sacrificial love! What commitment! I pray that we will not need this provision, but to know that they are there is an incredible comfort. May the Lord bless them a hundredfold.

For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. Matthew 6:8

Last week I received a very hurtful letter from an old friend and in the same mail a great encouragement: A letter from friends saying that they were grateful for our ministry to homeschoolers and wanted to encourage us in a tangible way. It was a very tangible way, a $500 check! We rejoiced at the provision and at the kind way they had helped us without referencing our need, even making it sound like it was something we deserved -- which we do not, we deserve hell, but have been given all this (and heaven, too, said the wise man). Last night we wrote them a thank you note and this morning they told us they had only found out last night about our need -- nearly a week after the check had been sent. They had been thinking of doing this for weeks. Our dear, precious Lord, knowing the coming need had prepared their hearts and provided an answer before we even asked. Blessed be His name! May these saints be blessed beyond measure!

How could we fail to trust Him? How could we doubt when we see such remarkable providences?

OUR World Turned Upside Down... Or Right Side Up

2006-07-24T08:05:00.000-04:00

News Flash: Escape from Cubicle Nation!

An acquaintance of mine uses a great tagline for her email account: "Whenever I sit down and relax in a comfortable chair, a bar falls across my lap and I hear a voice saying, "Keep your hands and feet in the car at all times. Enjoy your ride!" This is our life!

Many of you know that dear husband was involuntarily transferred from a field engineering position to Cubicle Nation nearly two years ago, and the long hours, long commute, and isolation -- people emailed from cubicle to cubicle (really!) -- did not make for a happy assignment. Well, dear husband has had an unexpected opportunity to escape from Cubicle Nation!

We have been talking for a year about the possibility of going into business with my brother and mother to provide a stateside sales office for the Chinese manufacturing concern run by my sister-in-law and brother. We worked on a business plan last month and were getting pretty excited about the possibilities, but knowing that it would take nine months to see any money, it just seemed like a pretty big cliff to jump off of.

Well, here we go: The rollercoaster has reached the top of the hill and Whoosh! we're headed down the drop off. I can't wait to see what the Lord does next!

The World Turned Upside Down

2006-07-10T08:46:00.000-04:00

For many years, I've enjoyed reading the wedding announcements in the newspaper. An incurable romantic, I enjoy reading all the details! In recent times, I have noticed a worrisome trend and I invite you to test it out yourself. In nearly all new marriages in the paper, the wife is substantially better educated than the husband. Now, please understand, I do believe that women should be well-educated, particularly if they desire to be true helpmeets to their husbands and teachers of their children. However, I think that, generally, people should marry those of like religion, values, and education. I worry about those marriages in which the wife is so much better educated than the husband. How will he have the courage to lead his family if he questions his ability to interact with his wife intellectually? Will they both face pressure for the wife to continue working even after the children are born if she is earning a great deal more than he is? It happens. I saw a friend in Wal-Mart the other day who is expecting her second. She badly wants to come home and raise her children, but she's a nurse and she makes so much more money than her husband that they can't imagine making it on his salary.

The New York Times confirms that it's not just my imagination in a very disturbing article about not only the predominance of women on college campuses, but the failure of the men who do make it to college to compete in any real way with the women. How can this be for the "favored male" we've heard so much about? Well, how can it not be, with the constant stream of "Taking Our Daughters to Work Days", the constant encouragement of girls to be ambitious and "do something with their lives", with the death of boy-friendliness in the culture and in the schools? When boys who are perfectly normal are drugged into passivity for being too active, when a boy dares not defend the weak with his fists, when his only heroes are sports stars and gansta rappers? When military heroes are portrayed as evil oppressors, not the geniuses they once were?

Manhood is in trouble in our culture. It's been going on a long time and the alarm has been thoroughly sounded before. Now we are going to see the consequences: God's design for families turned upside down. The really sad thing about it is that no one is happy with the results. Men desire to lead, women desire to nurture, all are told that their natural God-given desires are unworthy of them. How incredibly pathetic.

Do you believe that those who have been fighting and fighting to remedy "discrimination" against women will be concerned about men's under representation in higher education? I don't. If they decide to pretend concern for other reasons, I predict that their solution is to make the men more like the women, just like feminism's solution was to defeminize women. The enemy always, always tries to destroy what God has wrought. Oh, that at least the church would value manhood and womanhood as God has designed it!

H/T The Drudge Report and The New York Times

A Real Life Mamahadeen

2006-06-27T08:32:00.000-04:00

When I was growing up, I was asked again and again what I wanted to be when I grow up. I quickly learned that "a mommy" was not an acceptable answer, but saying something like "an astronaut" or "a veterinarian" brought admiration. Now that I've grown up to be a mommy and wouldn't change a thing, I look around and realize that many of my friends went through great struggles to decide to devote themselves to their families. For me, it was not as big an issue. My mother stayed home with us and gave us a delightful, secure childhood and I always wanted to be a homemaker mother like her! When she and Dad started a business and she began working, Ed and I went to work with our parents, so Mom continued focusing her Passions on her family. I grew up with a high value of womanhood and recognizing that a woman could use her talents to the fullest in the home and in the family business.

Our society doesn't value those things in women, though. Thanks to feminism, women are only respected when they act like men. It's not necessary for women to act like men to impact the world! Proverbs 31 describes a virtuous woman whose children rise up and call her blessed. She is busy in the management of her home, the discipleship of her children and her interaction with the world -- get to know her here.

Today I read the story of a lady who is a fierce warrior in the fight against terrorism -- from her home! May the Lord give her victory in battle - a true mamahadeen!

H/T WorldNetDaily and The Daily Telegraph

The Death of the Episcopal Church

2006-06-21T13:17:00.000-04:00

How do you write a requiem for a church - a whole denomination? I am heartbroken to find out that the Episcopal Church has openly denied Christ. Yesterday they voted 645-242 against even considering the following resolution:

Resolved, the House of _____ concurring, That the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church declares its unchanging commitment to Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the only name by which any person may be saved (Article XVIII); and be it further Resolved, That we acknowledge the solemn responsibility placed upon us to share Christ with all persons when we hear His words, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No-one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6); and be it further Resolved, That we affirm that in Christ there is both the substitutionary essence of the Cross and the manifestation of God's unlimited and unending love for all persons; and be it further Resolved, That we renew our dedication to be faithful witnesses to all persons of the saving love of God perfectly and uniquely revealed in Jesus and upheld by the full testimony of Holy Scripture.

A Christian church who can not affirm that salvation is through Christ is no church at all. In case you were wondering if there was something procedural that kept them from considering this, VirtueOnline reports the position of those opposed to the resolution: "McDowell explained that how one lives his life is the more important issue than whether one affirms Jesus as Lord. " making it clear he has no understanding of:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

McDowell, Canon Theologian for the Diocese of North Carolina, further embarrasses himself and his church by comparing the proposal to the Nazi doctrines that lead to the Holocaust, according to VirtueOnline.

Is this a church anymore? Not a Christian one, anyway. May God protect and provide for the brothers who sought to have their denomination bow to Him to whom everyone will one day bow. May He give them wisdom as they lead their churches -- hopefully out of this false communion.

H/T WorldNetDaily and VirtueOnline

A Proper Education

2006-06-20T14:47:00.000-04:00

Today at lunch, I could not restrain an exclamation of disgust as I read the news. Matt Henry asked what I had read and I told him that the U.N. was holding talks calling for global gun control. Matthew responded, "But, mom, how will they overthrow tyrants?" Ah... the glories of a proper education.
H/T Lucianne and CNS News

Differentiation

2006-06-19T13:40:00.000-04:00

I have been noticing an increasing misapplication of Scripture that leads to serious consequences. Have you heard those who oppose war arguing that Jesus said to "turn the other cheek," or to "be at peace with all men," therefore our government has no right to pursue war? They have misunderstood Scripture. These commands are to us individually, in our own relations with other men. The responsibility of those in authority is different. The government is to "bear the sword" for the punishment of evildoers, not to turn the other cheek.

The obligation is if you are offended personally, then you should respond to the clear command of scripture and forgive those who have sinned against you, as often as necessary. However, if you are in authority over those in sin, you have a different obligation. You have an obligation to confront sin, restrain those you have authority over from sin, punish sin as you are able, and to lead those who follow you to righteousness. As you have power, you also have the obligation to protect the weak who are being attacked, even those weak not under your direct authority. The Bible gives responsibility with authority. To use the authority and reject the responsibility causes us to partake of the sin of those under us, whether our children, employees, congregation or citizens.

Let's be careful to use Scripture in a way that is warranted by the text.

A Sad Truth

2006-06-12T08:39:00.000-04:00

This weekend I had an altercation with a brother in the Lord. What amazed me is that he would neither apologize nor accept my apology. I don't understand this at all. How can we reconcile with others if we refuse to apologize and ignore the apologies of others? I can only hope that it is because he has never been taught Biblical reconciliation.

I fear, though, that we are going to see more and more Christians without even the basic tools of living the Christian life. I hear about churches that are limiting their sermons and avoiding the music of the church in order to be seeker-friendly. Folks, if a sinner is comfortable in the church, the church is not preaching the Word of God. Romans 9:23 says, “ Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” Have you ever heard of anyone who says they were saved because they felt so comfortable? When the Lord saved me, I was miserable over my sin!

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." I Corinthians 1:18 If we try to avoid that teaching which the lost will not understand or be offended by, we will also avoid the power of God. The really sad thing is that not only will we see little true fruit of this kind of preaching (That is, many may join such a church, but how many are joined to Christ?); but we will also fail to disciple those who do know Christ in the church. "For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." Hebrews 5:13

And so, it's a sad truth that there are an increasing number of Christians who may not even know "And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us." Luke 11:4 and therefore not realize that forgiveness is not an option, but an obligation for the Christian.

The best way we can be seeker-friendly is to point them toward what they are seeking:

"For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" Romans 10:13-14

Early Homeschoolers

2006-06-12T08:35:00.000-04:00

May 26, 2006
Last night during the keynote at the NCHE conference, I was grumpily chasing our toddler. Grumpily because I really wanted to hear the keynote session, but she was coming unglued. It was one of those divine appointments times, though. I met a wonderful young mother who was at the conference with her eldest and only child - who was three! I told her coming to conference would help her make the decision. She said, " Oh no! We've made the decision. We're going to homeschool." What a blessing to meet families that are so committed to discipling and teaching their children at home that they've come to spend a whole weekend at this conference! May the Lord raise up a whole generation like that.

BTW, I could kick myself for walking out without my camera phone last night. I first saw this mother and daughter when I saw them skipping together in a dark hallway. She said her daughter had just that moment learned to skip. What a sweet picture. Too bad you can't see it :-)

The FDA frustrates me to death

2005-10-18T12:58:00.000-04:00

The FDA frustrates me to death. I am a board-certified lactation consultant and I counsel with many women who need a galactogogue - a medication to increase their milk supply. The most effective drug with the fewest side effects is also the cheapest: domperidone. Unfortunately, since it is a cheap drug, the manufacturers have chosen not to spend the fortune required to seek FDA approval and the drug can only be gotten from a very few compounding pharmacies in the U.S. or ordered from overseas, which is supposed to be illegal. The FDA also issued a warning about the use of domperidone based on reactions in a few people taking it intravenously and ignoring the real experts on its use in breastfeeding mothers. And so, most of the mothers I know in need of this medication take metoclopramide instead, even though metoclopramide crosses the blood/brain barrier and causes many side effects including depression.

Today I read a Lockerroom post by my friend Nancy Winter that suggested we didn't need the FDA. As frustrated as I am with them, I remember all too well what happened before the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. The Elixir Sulphanilimide tragedy taught us that the individual does not have the means to assure that the medication is taking himself, or worse yet, giving his children, is not diluted with a fatal poison. Europe learned this lesson with the birth of over 10,000 thalidomide babies in the late 50's. I want my medications tested on animals, and in people, before I use it.

So, what's a free-marketeer to do? Perhaps an Underwriter's Laboratory for drugs? An FDA that tests, labels for safety (like the use in pregnancy classifications already given), and then stands back? I'm not sure, but I suppose the FDA doesn't really frustrate me to death, that's what happened before the regulations.

Dearth and Ruin

2005-10-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

The Bible says in the dearth of people is a prince's ruin. For as long as I can remember, though, the culture has been screaming that overpopulation is a problem, that people are like parasites on the earth, that it is irresponsible to bear more than two children. Who's right?

Europe is finding that God is right. No European country has even a replacement birthrate. The graying of Europe is likely to have dire economic consequences. Even Catholic Italy can't seem to convince people to have enough children to keep the country going. Russia now aborts more babies than are born there and will probably have too few workers to sustain their economy by 2020.

Tonight I read an article in Foreign Affairs in which the author was disturbed that the only people having babies were those that believed in God. Although he offers quite a few ideas to encourage seculars to reproduce, he misses the most critical thing: those who are selfish will do what is selfish; those who live by principle, will live out their principles.

We have seven children. We live by principle. We believe in God. Funny thing is, we seem a lot happier than those who only seek their own pleasure. Seems God had something to say about that, too.