Missionary Monday

Here again "coincidences" (aka "God's Sovereign and Perfect Plan") amaze me. This year somehow I was more acutely aware of my Mom's absence from this life on her birthday, and then two days later a friend mentioned how strongly he missed his Mom on her birthday (which was the day after my Mom's). And while I had a few weeks to deal with the news of my Mom's impending death from cancer, he had to deal with the shock of a violent and unexpected death of both parents. They were killed in 2004 in Iraq while going to help do what they had done many other places - help others in dire need. Pray today for Scott (their son), his wife Leia, their children who will barely remember their martyred grandparents, and all of the Elliott family. Thanks!! Here is a short tribute to them -

Baby Shower (with CHOCOLATE!!!)

This has been the year of the showers! And I'm sure with my son and future daughter-in-law's date fast approaching there will be many more before this year is out! Last Saturday was a baby shower for my "twin son Matt". Now for those who don't know, my son Matt has had a best friend named Matt for ump-teen years. Second Matt is married and now expecting baby which will have both a Dad named Matt and "Uncle Matt". Confused yet? Anyway, this dear couple (who I would love to claim as my own children!) are soon to have "Baby B" now known more precisely as Kenna McKay Brogli, due late November. The baby shower was lots of fun with floating babies on ice (tiny plastic ones!), fun games and prizes, beautiful decorations, love, laughter and chocolate truffles!! Yummm!! Go HERE to get Beth Anne's recipe, along with other scrumptous ones. Glad to meet all of Lindsey's family and friends, see Matt's Mom and Sis again and enjoy a great afternoon with my youngest daughter among friends both new and old. [Thanks Beth Anne and Alisa for a wonderful shower!!] Now I just have to get back onto helping EK with her "special delivery" for Kenna so that it will be ready by her actual delivery!

Book Updates

Some time back I wrote about how very much my daughter and I enjoyed the Elsie Dinsmore series. After we finished book 8 (there are 26 books , we discovered a newer series related to the Elsie series entitled "A Life of Faith" series. My 9yo has been reading these on her own (much more modern language than Elsie and somewhat less daunting in vocabulary) and absolutely loves them. She has finished all 8 of the "Millie Keith" series (Elsie's older cousin who has adventures such as helping slaves escape, going to Bolivia as a missionary and many other things). Now she's beginning the one book about Laylie, a slave who Millie had helped to escape. These books are unabashedly Christian, with prayers and scriptures by the characters making any young woman think seriously about her own commitment to Christ whatever life might bring, while at the same time very entertaining for a young mind in a wholesome way. If our library system is any indication, I am on the back side of learning about these books (some of them have a que of 9 or 10) and I am thrilled that not only are they available but that evidently so many young ladies have already discovered them and are checking them out. These are definite "must reads" for your 8-14 year-old daughters. My only negative about these books is that they weren't available for my oldest daughter many years ago !

Happy Birthday, Mama

Saturday my mother would have been 93. When I was younger I thought I would probably celebrate this birthday with her. My grandmother lived to be older than this so I thought Mama would, too. But she's been gone to be with her dear Savior for over 19 years now and I can still hear her voice explaining something gently to her oldest grandson; see her propping her chin on her hand as she finally sat down to rest from cooking and dishes; looking wistfully out the window on a cold, foggy winter day; fingers working frantically to finish hemming a dress for me; left hand on hip while skillfully flipping pancakes with her right hand; packing a basket of food for someone needy; and a hundred other little things. She always opened our home to visiting preachers and missionaries, youth groups from church, those who needed a hug or meal, a deaf girl from a troubled family, visiting relatives, neighbors who didn't have a way to cook or heat during power outages, and anyone who wanted to drop by at any time.

Mama had 6 brothers and 2 sisters (the 3 "girls" are shown above-my Mom on the left). Saturday we spent most of the day in the mountains visiting with my Aunt (Mama's only sister left living - in the center above and the youngest of the 9) and her husband on their 66th anniversary (yes, they got married on my mother's birthday!!). We then went just down the road to visit with my mother's only living brother and his wife. They are all in their 80s and 90s but full of life and it was just an extra special time for me and mine to share time with them. Aunt Lurleen even sent us home with a tin full of her famous peanut butter fudge!! Yummm!!! Since it is only once a year (or less) that I get up that way I really cherish the opportunity to share time with them. And of course the mountains were beautiful and we even squeezed in time to picnic and hike to Whitewater Falls Saturday morning and stopped by an Apple Orchard on our way home Sunday. You can take the girl out of the mountains...... but she will always miss them :) !!

We Resolve -

"Resolve" - 1) to deal with successfully; make clear and understandable, 2) to reach a firm decision about, 3) to declare by formal resolution

Recently I read two good books for parents. Actually, I re-read the first one "Let Us Highly Resolve" by David and Shirley Quine. I heard them speak at a homeschool conference years ago and read a friend's copy of it but found a cheap used copy a few weeks ago and re-read it - well worth the money and time! The second book is called "Parenting in the Pew" by Robbie Castleman. It always amazes me how the Lord leads us along and teaches us things. I need to backtrack a little to tell you what I mean.

For years my hubby and I had no real goals or "resolutions" written down. Oh, we had talked about and agreed that we wanted "good children", a "nice house", and "good things" like every other family we knew. We were different from most only in the fact that we wanted children fairly soon after we were married and we wanted at least three children, even with both of us working long hours and crazy schedules. But things changed in 1992. Our marriage and family were a shambles even though we had lots of money, a very nice large home, all the latest toys and gadgets, traveled when and where we wanted, etc. Thankfully we had been raised by Christian parents and we knew in our hearts what was missing. Jesus Christ wasn't Lord of our lives. So we both knelt on the cold kitchen floor one late night and poured out our hearts to Christ, giving them over to Him. Within hours we both were hungry for the Word and looking for Bible studies (BSF was such a blessing to us both), within weeks we were making the decision to sell our home, investments and assets so that I could quit work and stay home with the children and shortly thereafter we made the decision to homeschool. Within a few years we turned over the one area of our lives that we had maintained "control of" - the ability to have children. God saw fit to bless us with two more children (and two babies in heaven). Now you think this is a "happily ever after" story but unfortunately this is the story of two real people in real life. Yes, Christ is our joy. Yes, we did make the right decision to turn everything over to Him. But no, we have made many, many more mistakes and are still having to come face-to-face with our shortcomings (and always will). But YES, Christ is always there. HE is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow regardless of us. THANKFULLY!!

Here we are 16 years later still learning some pretty basic lessons. In 1992 we made some "resolutions" about turning things over to Christ. He enabled us to complete those. Now we realize we need more resolutions - not just for ourselves but more importantly for our family as a whole. That may seem ironic to those of you who think that our family is shrinking (children grown or growing up) but if you have older children you know that no matter their age or yours you are still a family and actually it continues to grow as you add daughter- or son-in-laws, grandchildren,etc. Since early this year God has been teaching us that we need to have some written "Resolves". Months ago a friend sent me an article with the resolutions that Cotton Mather had made as a parent. Go HERE to see the full text - it is tremendous!! I took those and summarized them into 20 points and have kept it posted on my fridge. They are very comprehensive and somewhat daunting in task but each day I try to read ONE point and remember it throughout the day. In addition, I read these to my children occasionally so that they can understand why we do what we do (or attempt to do!). After re-reading "Let us Highly Resolve" my hubby and I are working on rewording and reworking the Mather list with practical ideas to make it come about. For instance, point 3 "Pray daily for each in fervency and agony" is pretty clear but we want to be sure that we not only pray individually but more often together as spouses and as a family. And what, you ask, does "Parenting in the Pew" have to do with this? Well, we have been bothered for some time about how our children "tune out" the worship service although they are beside us they are not "with" us, and this book is a great help in why and how to make the service one in which your children understand that we go to worship God, not just go to church. It ties in directly with several of our resolutions, including "Teach Biblical Principles and Doctrines", "Teach them to pray", "Talk and listen about sermon points", "Teach true meanings of Holidays and traditions", etc. So today we HIGHLY RESOLVE to continue to work and fight and be diligent and work and toil to ensure that our children understand spiritual truths. In fact, it's the only thing worth resolving.

Neat Eagle Video

A friend sent me this video -

Sept. 11th Lesson

Yesterday we had some running around to do and while in the van we had a "lesson" about September 11th and its meaning and history. EK was just a baby and EO wasn't born yet when this tragedy struck our nation. But I felt like they are now old enough to be told the basics of the significance of this day. We bought two small flags for each of them to place wherever they wanted and we got out a larger flag that we fly on special occasions. A friend had emailed me earlier with a reminder for how we all flew flags for weeks or months after 9/11/01 and how we need to remember that patriotism again on this anniversary. I wholeheartedly agree. Today it's raining again and my children were a little disappointed when I told them we would fly the larger flag inside the porch and not outside but that led to a "lesson" in caring for a flag, which I am sorry to say is mostly neglected these days. The children may not understand the full impact of 9/11 or the reasons behind the hatred for our country but they do fully understand that we love and appreciate our country and its freedoms. That's a big enough lesson for any of us.

Great News!!

Yes, the first news is I am finally back online BUT that's only good news - the Great news is that I am soon to gain a daughter (or two according to my 9 year-old who shocked her Sunday School teacher with her excitement that she was going to have two new sisters soon!) Before you jump to conclusions about this old woman, let me tell you that our soon-to-be 22 year-old proposed over Labor Day Weekend and she accepted!! Russ gave her one ring that he had designed and made with a sterling silver band of three strands (representing each of them and God and based on the scripture Ecc. 3:12 - a cord of three strands is not easily broken), with a clear crystal on each side of a large red stone in the middle, representing each of their two lives joined in one heart. Since this ring was very beautiful but somewhat fragile, he also got her a diamond with a new white gold setting that was more "bumper proof" :) ! The "second sister" my daughter is claiming is the sister of the bride, since she very much takes to heart our admission that when two people are married they join two families together. Boy, are we ever blessed because if you could hand-pick another family to "join with" it would be the great one that my soon-to-be daughter-in-law belongs to. God is good!!