Candice has discovered a new talent that none of our other kids learned to do until at least the age of 2! Hopefully she will remember this one later when she is actually using the potty! If you listen at the beginning, you can hear her say “uh-oh” even though her mouth is full of pacifier!
I have discovered that every Christian has moments when they fail to note that God is in total control. A situation arises that is sometimes sudden and totally unexpected. It is during those times that it is tempting to complain and not allow God to shine. Fortunately on many of those occasions someone comes along who remembers that God is in control and reminds those who have seemingly forgotten.
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to be that person who remembered while Christian acquaintances were struggling. Unfortunately I passed up that opportunity.
It was 15 children ranging in age from 7 months to 12 years plus about 1-10 adults. This may sound like a fairy tale, but we had been dropped off by boat on a secluded beach. It is a great place to take your family or friends swimming because there is no one else around.
After we had been there about an hour, we started feeling rain drops. Shortly after that, we started hearing thunder, and eventually the lightning began. So, we pulled all the kids out of the water and wrapped them up to keep them warm. (In RI, when it gets cloudy on the beach, it also gets cold). We tried to call our boat man to have him pick us up, but we could not get him on the phone.
So, we sat crowded on a single blanket on the ground with everyone huddled together complaining about our situation. I would like to say that I spoke up to encourage everyone, and that we had a wonderful worshipful experience, despite the fact that we were wet and sitting on the beach vulnerable to the storm around us. Unfortunately, I cannot say that.
I thought about the fact that God would protect us from the storm. While God does not want us to do something dumb like sitting around on a wet beach in a thunderstorm expecting Him to deliver us from our own stupidity, He will protect us when we are stuck out in a situation that is beyond our control. He will not let anything happen to us until He is ready for it to happen.
If I had said all these things, the situation could have been totally different. We could have prayed for protection together as a group and then sang worshipful songs to God while stranded on a secluded beach in a thunderstorm!
I am very ashamed of myself for not speaking up. In fact, I am so ashamed that I don’t know how to put it into words.
The only way I know to get something positive from my fear of speaking up is to (hopefully) keep my readers from making the same mistake I did. When God lays something on your heart, listen and obey. It may make you feel dumb, it may sound stupid to your ears, and yes, your bold declaration could be rejected, but there is also a good chance that you can be an inspiration or a witness to others. It is worth the rejection of 10 people just to get one acceptance. Besides, who would you rather please: people or God?
About two weeks ago, Candice cast her cast aside and has been running (okay, crawling fast) ever since. I am not really surprised since the cast itself did not slow her down for long! I told you that she was able to crawl and pull up while wearing her cast. Today I have proof! 🙂
I am sure many of you know about Motrin’s ad targeting baby wearing moms and portraying them in a negative way. If you haven’t heard anything of it, Susan at Marketing Roadmaps and Susie at babywearing.com give pretty good summaries.
This new ad really upset a lot of moms who wear their babies. I believe those moms had reason to be upset, and I am glad they spoke out and eventually convinced McNeal Consumer healthcare to take down the advertisement for Motrin (their product).
My goal today is not to bash Motrin any more. Instead, it is about the amazing influence of twitter and personal blogs.
I came across a twitter search today named #motrinmoms. Motrinmoms was a response from twittering and blogging moms across America, who are against the ad by Motrin. There were thousands of responses from Moms!
I was amazed at the response. Something happened that many Americans did not agree with, and through twitter and blogs, those Americans had the power to convince Motrin not only to remove the ad from their site, but to also remove it from all printed sources! What an impact!! Do you get the full meaning of that?
As an American and as a child of God, I am not happy about some of the things going on in America. I am sure Christians across America are not happy about some things in our country, whether it be the content on television and internet or laws that are passed.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears that if Christians and moral people across America stood up and spoke out for or against those things they want to change, there is a possibility that they would be heard and that there there could be a lasting impression.
Of course the trick is to be prepared to spread what is going on. If someone twitters for a change you agree with or blogs against something that you also are against, twitter about it too! Blog about it. Don’t think you are being redundant by twittering or blogging about something that has already been addressed. You have a different audience! Get the word out to them that you are ready to stand up for what you believe in!! Maybe they’ll do the same!
I have mentioned it before, but I will say it again just in case some of you don’t know. I am a Christian. I do not agree with several things that are going on in our beloved nation (because they are not scriptural), and I am ready to speak out about it. What good does it do to sit back and complain about it to my friends and then go on with life like I don’t care? I have recently learned that it does no good whatsoever!
I am ready to speak up to both those who agree with me and those who don’t and lovingly say, “I don’t like it!” I don’t hate those who push the things I disagree with. I just want to lift up my voice to declare my thoughts, jus like they did, while I still have the right to speak up.
Daddy!
I posted previously about parentalrights.org and their goal to prevent the government from interfering with parental rights. I would like to point out that the phrase “parental rights” is not about putting the rights of the parent above the rights of the child. It is actually about giving parents the rights over the government to train their children in a way beneficial to the child.
I discovered today that parentalrights.org gives you the opportunity to get the word out about their site and their important truths. They have a banner to post on your blog or website. To me it is a worthy cause that people need to know about. You will see my banner on the top right part of my blog. You can also see an example below.
If you are interested in adding this banner to the sidebar of your blog or site, go to this page and scroll down a bit. You will see four different options for your banner. If you have a WordPress blog, you can copy and paste the html code into a text widget. If you want your banner centered, use this code around the code for parentalrights.com.
<div align="center">
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</div>
If you are not quite sure how to do this contact my husband Luke for help.
When I was 12 years old our church got a new pastor who had seven children. I had never met a family with that many kids, but something else about them was even more intriguing than the number of people in the family. This family was home schooled. (If this story sounds familiar, you probably read about it in a previous post.
My parents and many others showed concern that this family was not getting “socialized” like public schooled kids so naturally I wondered too. I became best friends with the two oldest girls and went to their house regularly (like once or twice a week minimum). It didn’t take long for me to totally forget the question of socialization. I had more fun at their house than anywhere, including public school.
These seven kids, including the little ones, had great manners among other children and adults. They knew when to be quiet and when to speak up (for the most part – they were still kids). They had social opportunities when they visited friends’ families and when friends visited theirs and also when they were at church.
Interestingly, I did not become “socialized” until after my first year in college. The change in me was due to a summer mission trip to California. On that trip, I was forced to speak to people I did not know and to work with partners that I had only known a week. I guess you could say I learned to swim by being tossed into the water.
By comparison, the oldest child in the new pastoring family at the age of twelve loved (and still does) talking to people of all ages. He was able to talk to an adult and almost seem like one himself, yet he could also keep the attention of a two year old for amazing amounts of time. He was able to handle himself in a social situation without a problem. His 10 year old sister had the same capability.
Of course, I ended up marrying that twelve year old boy, and we continued the family tradition by home schooling our children.
Believe it or not, this was just my introduction. I have a lot more to say on this topic, but it is bed time, and this is a good stopping place. Stay tuned on Saturday for more.
On Wednesday nights, most of our little charges are usually asleep when we get home. Phillip was hilarious tonight! I am amazed not only that he slept through being moved, but also that he was able to sleep in the position he was in!
Go ahead. Look closer.
Closer……
This is one tired little boy!
Mom Unplugged wrote a post about a cornstarch and water mixture that has a wet, yet very solid consistency. She called it “oobleck” from Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss.
I have to admit that when I saw the mess made with this project on Mom UnPlug’s post, I didn’t think it was worth it. But then I clicked on the link to watch this video and was quite impressed. Maybe it’s worth the mess!