Night Time Family Devotions

Deuteronomy 11:18  Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, and tie them as a reminder on your hands and let them be symbols on your forehead. 11:19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road,  as you lie down, and as you get up. 11:20 Inscribe them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates

As part of our daily routine, we always try to have family devotions before bedtime.   And if we miss it, it’s just not the same for kids to go to bed without devotions.  They ask for it.  It’s part of our life.  God’s word is to read, to be cherished, and honored.  They aren’t perfect in paying attention but it’s a tradition, a time they look forward to.  I hope they remember this also when they’re older as a great memory.  We generally have this time in girls’ room.  Once in a while in our bedroom, the living room, or “hang out” room (which is what we labeled the upstairs family room ) and the kids go crazy over this.  Oh the little joys in life!  Sometimes we do devotions at dinner. Sometimes things happen or come up and we don’t get to.  Such is life sometimes, ain’t it?

It’s our responsibilities as parents to teach our children in the way they should go, especially in the ways of the Lord.  We shall teach them the Word; what it says, means and how to live it.  I had a great devotional with the kids this morning as we read Psalm 90.  They may not understand it all now but it’s never too early to start instilling the value and love of the Word and time together as a family in reading and learning it together.  My youngest is 5 and just when I don’t think she’s thinking, she’ll pop up with some comment that has been brewing in her mind that was sparked by something I said or read, and it’s wonderful (aside from being so cute!)

I cherish these times.  The girls almost always want to cuddle with me while we have our devotions and it’s a sweet moment and memory that I hold dear.  May they too, cherish the time and remember it.  If not, they will have this post to read!  Love you guys!

An Evening in the Garden with my Children

It was a good day last Wednesday.  I was exhausted that morning due to bad discretion on my part about bed time.  But 2 out of 3 kids were up early (7am is early for us), ate cereal on their own and Kira started on her school work.  Self starting days are almost always a good day.  She was motivated to get it done. Got to love that!

We ended the day with gardening.  I sent the neighborhood kids home and made my kids come to the backyard to help me because I knew they would have complained later that they didn’t get to.  Sometimes you just gotta take the lead and make them do things.  Otherwise, they may never think of it themselves.  They’re kids!  Man, blessing upon blessing, these kids.  They never complained the whole time.  They pulled weeds and helped me dig trenches in the garden bed.  They helped me for about an hour and it was no easy task.  They were digging dirt like champs.

We were digging dirt and digging trenches for bins that I’m using as containers.  I’m container gardening this year.  I had the usual flat area we dug up 3 summers ago.  I wanted a change and try something new.  For reasons I’m not sure of  because I’m still an amateur, my crops as a whole have not yielded well.  My kale has always done well.  They pumpkins were a hit too.  But even the easiest to grow like peas and tomatoes, have not done well.  Just small yields.

Anyway, this note is more about the joy and cheerfulness that my kids worked with tonight.  They laughed.  The goofed.  They chattered about how they could team-work, like suggesting this and that to each other without fighting.  Now that’s a praise in itself.  They chattered on and on.  It was all so heartwarming to watch the bonding time between my kids.  They alternated shovels till the end.  They commented on how fun it was to help me garden; how they wanted to work hard and be helpful and they were willing to work into the dark night.  Well, we went pretty close.  It was close to 9pm by the time we went to wash up.  My sweet Kira even thanked me for giving them the opportunity to garden.  What??!  I am so undeserving of such wonderful kids.  I mean, sure, they are imperfect and have their moments, but they are such good kids.  However imperfect I am, they are unconditional lovers of my motherhood.  Hallelujah to my Savior.  Again, I was a happy mama.  Love them kids.

Saturday Mornings

Another tradition I started some time ago.  Not sure exactly when.  If I had to guess, I’d say a few year ago.  I don’t get to it perfectly, whether it’s sleeping in too late before an appointment, or having to leave too early before something that was planned.  It’s also a sleep in day if we don’t have any obligations that Saturday.  So when I wake up, I usually make a special breakfast, or I should say brunch by the time I finish cooking and we eat.  The kids look forward to Saturday “morning” meal.  Or shall I say the first meal of the day.  It’s the one day of the week that I usually go all out, and they get  EGGS!!  During the week, they eat cereal, bagels or fruit or a mixture of things, something easy.

So last weekend Cody and Kira held out for a big breakfast as Lexi went for cereal first.  Lexi loves cereal.  And I tend to buy the sugary ones as a ‘treat’.  I know, I’m a terrible mom for feeding them that junk!  One of my weaknesses.  So, I got up to get it for her and went back to lay down (I know, how lazy).  It was only 9am!!!  On a Saturday!!!  So, Cody was trying to hold her back from eating anything because “mom” was going to make food.  Funny.

 

So on this day, I made, for the 1st time, sweet potato battered french toast using rye bread and smoothies.  The girls weren’t too crazy about it but ate some.  Cody like it enough to eat seconds.  Not sure if he was just really hungry or what but he seemed to have enjoyed it.   This, with a side of tropical smoothie.

 

pretty good.

my girls and who gets to pray

My girls.  Maybe it’s sibling rivalry.  Maybe it’s notoriety.  Maybe it’s just plain godly desire.  Maybe a little of all the above.

My kids love to pray.  My son Cody, now he’s a prayer warrior.  If you are going to pray with him, make sure you are not in a hurry  b/c he covers all the bases.  He’s got God’s attributes addressed, morning, day and night needs, church, family, friends.  He jam packs his prayers.  He is good.

Now Kira, my eldest daughter, who is now 7, is one of those high achieving do-gooders.  She loves to please people, loves to compete and excel at whatever is that strikes her fancy.  She’s very outgoing and brave.  She wants to tackle the world.  She’s got a soft heart that enjoys serving others.  She’s smart, a literalist and a thinker.  She’s also our clumsiest and messiest.  Is it true that the most intelligent are the most unorganized and messy people?  She would fit into that category.  Although, I am working on her organizational character.

Well, since last year, my girls have been doing this thing where they try to up one another in love…er…asking to pray at meals or sit near mom at meals.  Usually Lexi (the youngest) sits next to me and has everyday since a baby, naturally b/c she’s always been the youngest and practically for me to aid in feeding her, etc.  So I”m not sure how the whole “mom, can I sit next to you at dinner” came about.

Kira really has a sweet heart and desires to please.  This can be a blessing and a curse.  She has a tender spirit and loves all things godly.  She has enjoyed praying before Lexi knew how.  Ever since Lexi became confident in praying, she has given her sister a run for her money.  Pardon the cheap expression.  I think Lexi wants to just b/c she can and to beat her bigger sister.  She tends to fight for attention.  Now they make requests to pray and sit next to me for the next day.  Sometimes it’s comical.  Other times I want to scream.  The idea that they are trying to outdo each other in this manner might drive me to cry “pharisee”! but I don’t want to crush their spirits either if they are truly desiring to pray.  A blessing, or a curse?  Time will tell.  In the meantime, I hope they don’t lose this zeal to pray when they grow older.

I don’t take this lightly, yet only as serious as I can make it at this age.  My many attempts to teach them about the importance and place prayer has in the life of a believer shall hopefully prove a valuable lesson learned one day- soon.  But only the Spirit of the Lord can illuminate that truth in their hearts.  I pray it be.

Faith like a child…

…is tough for adults. Probably not much surprise there.

As I set out to run errands and take a little break from home school at home today, I’ll dub it a “field trip”.  I always seek to find ways to incorporate a lesson to be learned from daily life.  Since such is the case, I have come to the realization in recent years that learning shouldn’t stop after “school hours” and just about anything can be a “teaching moment”.   Life happens.  So does the opportunity to learn from it.  God’s wonders and creation is infinite and we will (or should) always seek to grow in understanding and knowledge till the day we pass.  I learned some lessons of my own today.

As one of our last stops today, I thought we could go to the mall and just let out some energy walking while window shopping. (I was good, “I” didn’t buy anything but my son did. I just paid for it for him with his money.)  On this “trip”, of course, our first stop was the pet store.  In it we learned a little about rodents, snakes, dogs, birds, and not least, store etiquette. My youngest at age 4 was happy just to be able to wander around in a large area.  The girls got to ride one of those mechanical toys, you know, you put in a quarter and it “jerks” (some pun intended) you around for about 1 minute.  So we had a mini carnival experience without emptying the bank.  They enjoyed climbing on them too.  I’m almost always up for some good, cheap (and clean is a plus for me) fun.

My middle child, who is my first daughter, is quite sweet and passionate.  One thing she is passionate about is spreading the gospel, which is the good news of Christ’s & the cross.  With no prompting from me, she decided when we were getting out of the van that she was going to bring her “scroll”, as she referred to it, which was the construction paper on which she wrote a verse from Galatians 5:1 at church a couple of Sundays ago.  My oldest son tried to warn her, maybe even deter her a little out of fear or embarrassment, which was surprising because he’s usually the first to evangelize. So there we are, walking through the mall, like a lion, she is prowling around ready to share the gospel.  Understandably, she is a bit nervous, having never shared the gospel on her own to strangers.  I kept telling her to just pick anyone but she asked me to pick the people and she would share her bible verse.  So I did, and then she did her part.  The first was a young lady who said she knew of the gospel and goes to church every Sunday.  So we (I) shared the gospel anyway, said our farewell greetings and went on our way.  Kira (my daughter) was not satisfied.  She was hungry for more.

Our next victim, the guy in the hobby store.  Kira was searching for another opportunity.  So I suggested the guy sitting at the register.  Again, she asked me to go with her.  So I complied. I asked the guy if we could share the gospel with him.  He kindly declined. And my daughter was dejected.  “Cody was right,” she admitted sadly with her head low.  I confessed to her previously and again that it’s true, not everyone will want to hear the gospel.  Our nature is against God but that is why we must share the gospel and hope that God will have mercy by growing any seeds, by the work of the Holy Spirit, that we may have planted today.  So as we were approaching the exit doors of the mall, Kira is lagging behind, with sullenness.  I asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I wanted to share the gospel with more than one person.”  Bless her heart.  So we tagged the next guy that came through the doors as we were leaving.  Turns out he said he was a christian and he thanked and encouraged us to keep on.  I looked at her, smiled, and said something to the effect of “Well, he said he’s christian.”  She responded with a whisper of “I don’t really believe him.”  I had to encourage her in that since we can’t say for sure because we don’t know him, we have to take his word at face value.  We were able to share the gospel, and Kira’s bible verse, with two other people before heading home.  I think she was then satisfied.  At least for today.

As much as it was against my sinful nature to shamelessly be so bold in sharing the gospel truth in such a straightforward manner, I didn’t want to crush my dear daughter’s zeal in evangelism. It also brought me back to the initial period of my faith conversion, you know, the time when you were so on “fire” that you couldn’t contain it and you felt like you had to tell everyone you came in contact with?  I wish it weren’t so.  Now all grown up, we have these “intelligent” ideas and diplomatic minds as to how to approach people about ‘sensitive’ issues like religion.  Hogwash.  Oh Jesus help me to have the faith like a child!

Today’s lessons:

• animals: reptiles, fish, birds
• vocab: all the different species of animals, semi-aggressive, evangelism, evangelist
• life skills: social etiquette in a store; obedience to authority; social etiquette in evangelism?    courage-doing the right thing even when it’s scary and seemingly hard or embarrassing (I think that was a lesson more for mom);
• bible: what is the gospel?;  to have faith like a child (that’s obviously for mom)

Matthew 18: 1) At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”   2) And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them   3) and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  4) Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Cody, newly 17 yrs old.

My son has come to his 17th year of life.  As a down syndrome person can have so many health complications, I praise the Lord for keeping him relatively healthy & well for these swift 17 years.

Cody is a loving young man (though I remind him he’s still my child .  He loves to share his love with others.  He loves to share Jesus with others.  He gives & will receive many hugs.  He values friends.  He anticipates church.  He craves worship.  He greatly enjoys music.  He is growing in knowledge and instruction.  He is a fighter.  He is gifted with a love for people.

I pray that he will continue steadfast in his pursuit of Christ, as he seeks God’s leading and will for his life.  Please pray for me, if you should feel so inclined, as we embark on his last ‘official’ year as a minor.  We must make some serious decisions for his future in this year as we prepare for life after 18.  I pray for wisdom, grace, & knowledge in how to guard  & lead him to becoming a godly man of honor.  You may pray for these things of me as well.  I have seen great fruit in his life.  And may God’s grace pour out richly on his heart that he may find satisfaction in any endeavor the Lord shall lead him to.  Thank you.

About a song that’s stuck in a little head…

You know when you get a song stuck in your head and it’s all you can sing for days, maybe even weeks on end?  My 4 yr. old Lexi has had “I want to Know You, In the Secret” by Sonicflood stuck in her head for weeks now, it has become her default song.  I guess if there was any song to get stuck in her head, it’s a good one to dwell on.

The Lyrics:

In the secret, in the quiet place

In the stillness you are there

In the secret, in the quiet hour I wait

Only for you

Cause I want to know you more!

(chorus)  I want to know You, I want to hear Your face.  I want to know you more.  I want to touch You. I want to see Your face.  I want to know you more.  (Then she says: “one more!” and repeats. How sweet the sound of a little worshiping voice.)

Kira’s been singing “I am not skilled to understand, what God has willed what God has planned. I only know at His right hand, stands one who is my Savior. … My Savior loves, my Savior lives, my Savior’s always there for me.  My God He was, my God He is, my God He’s always gonna be…”   (My Savior, My God by Aaron Shust)

And Cody (16) soaks himself in Christian rap namely “holy hip hop”, thanks to my husband’s keen eye for music.  Cody loves to just recreate in his room, listening to his music.

These are the normal songs sung in our home.  Quality, godly lyrics are a great reminder of why we sing, why we breathe- namely to bring God glory.  As Christians, we should not cease to “want to know” Him more.  I pray for all my children that their light would never grow dim, that their burning to “know” and “love” God never ceases, just as relentless as the songs that get stuck in our heads haunt us (sometimes for the good).  Oh that we would cling on for dear life, as that is exactly what’s at stake.   His mercy endures forever.