Addison Road

Have you heard of Addison Road?   This was the first song I heard by them and I was blown away.  Beautiful.  My girls and I sing their songs in the car at the top of our lungs.  Sometimes I stay quiet and listen to my girls sing along.  It brings tears to my eyes to know that their hearts are full of lyrics that point to God in every situation.  What the heart knows by heart, the heart knows.  I pray that in life's difficult moments they will remember these words and let the Holy Spirit wash over them.

Unfortunately the band is no longer together.  The songs they put out are certainly treasures.  Go check out their "Stories" album.  The variety of songs makes for a great album.

Pursuing Your Calling Rather Than Your Potential

I received Amy Chua’s book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother this past Monday and could hardly put it down.  Our lives and parenting styles are vastly different; however, each page I read makes me think about why I do what I do and how I can do it better.  Each night after reading I went to bed and thought about why I felt something huge was missing when taking the Tiger Mother approach to parenting; it dawned on me that, while the dedication and service to the children achieving their potential was unmatched, serving others was not a priority as the child became the extreme focus of each and every day.  God gave me the gift of a servant’s heart, so it becomes a part of everything I do and what I try to teach my children.

At the same time as reading the book, I listened to a sermon from Pastor Mark Driscoll in his series on the gospel of Luke.  Jesus just gets through casting out demons and healing the sick and in Luke 4:42-44 He moves on.  As you can imagine, everyone wants Him to heal more people.  He has the power to make everyone well but He does not.  He tells them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”  You see, He has huge potential but a very different calling.  He does heal others and casts out more demons but His focus is on preaching per His calling.

I have a very dear friend, Hannah, whom I met on a mission trip to Ukraine.  We were there to be of service to orphans, while showing Jesus’ love to them.   Hannah distinctly heard God’s calling for her life to be one of service to Ukrainian orphans.  For the almost three years since our trip she has been back to Ukraine three times, staying 82 days.  Did I mention Hannah is still in high school?  Not only does she have a heart to serve, she excels academically and has the most amazing voice.  Before the first trip, she was planning on majoring in music.  After several trips, she had everything in line to study at a Ukrainian institute for her medical degree, while pursuing her ministry with the children in the orphanage system.  Just recently she decided that, although by being a doctor she could be of great service (she certainly has the potential for it), she also wants to focus on orphans and eventually to be a mother.  With wisdom beyond her years, she understands her purpose is not in line with her potential.  She is instead pursuing a ministry degree and planning her permanent move to Ukraine this summer.  That is inspiration and inspirational.

In high school I wanted to be an architect.  I received early admission to the school of my choice in their pre-architecture program but was persuaded to go into geological engineering because, at the time, there was not a job market for architects, and the engineering field was a prosperous one.  I did not end up getting that engineering degree because in my junior year I hit a breaking point while working on a physics problem requiring me to calculate some sort of friction some sort of monkey caused by climbing up a rope.  I could not care less and felt my chosen path was wrong for me.  Always being the one to make rash decisions based solely on emotion, I switched to biology without a plan for what I would ever do with a biology degree.  After MANY years of blowing aimlessly from job to job, I discovered teaching and found my calling.  I had never thought of teaching before but now after teaching both high school sciences and preschool students, I cannot imagine any other field of work.  Looking back, I would have been a great architect.  I have a great aptitude for math (or at least I did at one point) and love design, building, and creating.  I do not regret not following my calling back then, as I would not have the blessings and pure joy I have now, or maybe I would, it just would have been different. 

So while Amy Chua pushes her children to pursue their potential, I have chosen to push my children to pursue their calling.  Do I know what their calling is yet?  Honestly, no.  But I do have an idea of what their calling is not.  It is awesome Amy had the courage to write such a book and give us an insight to the hows and whys of being a Chinese Mother.  Reading this will make me push myself and my children a little harder, but in their pursuit of calling instead of that which the world deems as potential. 

A Woman's Guide to Fasting - Book Review

A Woman's Guide to Fasting by Lisa E. Nelson is an excellent resource for anyone who has the spiritual discipline of fasting on their heart or mind. It opened my eyes to what fasting is and what it is not, and the real reasons you may be called to do it.  It is all based in scripture and leads you to many verses to ponder about fasting.  Jesus is the main focus, as He should be.

Much practical advice is given for both short and long fasts.  Mrs. Nelson does not claim to give medical advice, only shares from her own experience, which are many.  She prepares you for what to expect before, during, and after a fast physically and spiritually.   She shares her own successes and failures.  Although there is much information she gives it at a personal level. 

I strongly recommend this book if you have been thinking about fasting.  I'm not sure it only has to be for women, as the principles are applicable for both men and women. 

Lisa says, "True biblical fasting is not about the external act of not eating; it is about the internal work of the heart seeking hard after God."  There is nothing more beautiful than wanting to know God and seeking Him.

Ephesians 3:14-19

 

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family  in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.

100 Read & Sing Devotions

My children love music and we find it is one of the best ways for them to learn any subject matter.  We learned the books of the Bible, the state capitals, several full length plays (they also are in theater) and once they learn the song, it is not forgotten.  When I received 100 Devotions, 100 Bible Songs, created by Stephen Elkins and illustrated by Tim O'Connor, I realized it would be a hit with our family.  What better way to learn of God's ways than through song?

Fully expecting 100 short songs containing short verses, I am pleasantly surprised that the songs corresponding to the devotional topic are full length songs, some old, some new.  The book comes with 2 CDs containing them all.  There are many old favorites; "All Creatures of Our God and King", "Jesus Loves Me", "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", the list goes on and on.  There are even some new songs we picked up right away.

Each two-page devotional has a short story, Bible verse, prayer for the day, and a few lines from the song.  Clear references to find to the corresponding song on the CD are found on each page.  The illustrations are colorful and expressive.  My girls are eager to do a devotion each day and like to listen to the CDs while they play. If you are looking for a devotional for young children or even just a Christian Children’s music CD, this does not disappoint. 
This book was sent to me by the Thomas Nelson Publishing company through their BookSneeze program in exchange for a honest review.

That's My King!

Sunday School Review and Display

We have not been great at reinforcing the stories/lessons that the girls are learning at Sunday School.  Once we get home from church, I never know what to do with all the stuff they made or the handouts they got.  After we are out of the car we rarely talk about what they learned.  I felt convicted when a friend and I were talking about how we let the church teach our child the bible, but don't take matters into our own hands.  This isn't right.

I have been trying to figure out how to display it (in sight, in mind) without having any wall space left.   Here is my solution. 

I got the chalk board circles at Michael's and the magnet clips at Staples.  I can write the bible verse and reflection questions or  related challenges.  I like it because it's flexible and is highly visible (on the door to the garage).  The girls gave it two thumbs up!   It has already reminded me of the teachable moments I can use to reinforce the stories that they are learning with examples in our lives.  Works for me!

Find more Works For Me Wednesday ideas at We are THAT family.

Be Encouraged

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

Go! It says to go! I'm reading this verse this morning and getting a little sad that I cannot go serve on a mission trip this summer. I would go each summer if I could. My ministry gift is definitely service. He commands us to go out and spread the gospel but there are times in life that going isn't feasible. Most of the time during early motherhood this is the case. When I read the verse again it completely had me focus on the teaching aspect instead of the going aspect. If our mission field cannot be all over the world, then our mission field is right in our homes. We are to bring our children up in the Lord, teaching them how to honor God by obeying His commandments.

Am I doing this to the extent that I should? Am I teaching by showing them an example of a godly woman? Am I getting them engaged in the word enough? There are plenty of unanswered questions and plenty of doubts that go along with motherhood but right then it assures me that Jesus is always with me, even when I am not adequate. There is so much comfort in knowing I am not alone in this.

Like I heard in a prayer this weekend, "Lord, you do not need us, but you invite us to go along with you in the journey." Lord, let me accept this invitation to the fullest and let my children grow up knowing You!

UNO For Jesus! Get them while they're a buck!

On my trip to Ukraine this summer we played a lot of card games with the kids at the orphanage. UNO and Blink are both great games when there are language barriers. The kids had already played UNO before and had some pretty funny rules (i.e. everyone puts there hand in the middle when a 7 is played and the last person with their hand there has to take two cards).

One boy in our group didn't really want that much to do with us (while so many of the others just craved the attention). We prayed about it that night and the next morning Hannah ended up playing UNO with a group of kids, this boy included. They played marathon games and after that the boy was completely changed. We dubbed this "UNO for Jesus". LOL.

Here are Hannah and Dima below. She is at the orphanage with him right now! That is so awesome. Her mother looked into adopting him but Ukrainian law dictates that single parents cannot adopt. Next year, when he turns 16 he will age out of the orphanage and be on his own.

Anyway....what I wanted to share is that 40th Anniversary UNO games are ONLY A DOLLAR this week as Target.

(They are usually $5 or $6!)

Anyone up for a game of UNO? These will be for a future missions trip.

Matters of the Heart

Our small group has been listening to sermons from Mars Hill pastor, Mark Driscoll. Yesterday we discussed his second Sermon on Proverbs, talking about the Heart. It was a very telling sermon and I learned and reflected on many things. One of which I put into practice yesterday.

Emma was at her grandparent's house yesterday, and although she came home happy, she had a hard time being nice to her sister at bedtime. One of the items Pastor Mark touched on is how the current condition of your heart reflects in all that you do. Emma's heart was not in a peaceful place. Instead of telling her what she should and shouldn't be doing, I asked her what was going on in her heart. I would have guessed that her answer would be "I don't know", and a lot of sighing and eye rolling, as she usually isn't very cooperative when we talk about what is going on with her. She started out trying to blame it on her sister. I reminded her that nobody controls her actions but her.

She surprised me and said she was a little sad about the day's events. She went on to tell me about specifics and about her disappointments. I was blown away. I told her that even though her heart was sad, praying and talking with Jesus about it could make it better. She agreed and I left her to talk it out.

I was amazed at how much information I had gotten from one little question. Getting to the heart of the matter was what was needed. I learned a lot and I hope she did too!

What ways do you help your kids through times when they are just plain ornery and disagreeable?

Advent is Coming! - Works for Me!

I have posted in years past about how my family makes the Advent season a special time in our home. Believe it or not, it's that time of year again. Advent starts in 2 weeks (Sunday, November 28)! For these 4 weeks leading up to Christmas we devote all of our evenings to a family activity. It can be as easy as looking through photo albums or game night. It will include school programs, cookie baking, and acts of service. My entire family looks forward to our time spent together preparing for Jesus' birthday!

Go HERE to read more about the overall celebration.

Go HERE to see a list of Christmas books that we read.

Go HERE to see a list of the specific activities we did last year.

Go HERE to see the little boxes the girls get to open each morning to see what activity we will do that day.

I need to get working on our schedule for this year. The girls get excited when they see the basket out and know they will get to start searching for the right box!

Check out We Are THAT Family for more Works For Me Wednesday ideas.

I Have Been Changed to Bring Change

We sang this song at church yesterday and it pretty much sums up my Ukraine trip. What an incredible experience I had with the team I traveled with and the orphans we were there to love. More on the trip in the next few weeks!

Changed
Aaron Niequist
In Jesus’ name I’ve been changed, I’ve been filled,
I’ve been found, I’ve been freed, I’ve been saved!
In Jesus’ blood I’ve been loved, I’ve been cleansed,
And redeemed, and released, rearranged

But how can I show You that I’m grateful?
You’ve been so generous to me.

How can I worship more than singing?
And live out Redemption’s melody.

I have been blessed – now I want to be a blessing
I have been loved – now I want to bring love
I’ve been invited – I want to share the invitation
I have been changed – to bring change, to bring change


In Jesus’ name we are changed, we are called,
We are chosen, adopted, and named!


In Jesus’ blood we are loved, we are healed,
We’re forgiven and free of our shame!


We want to show You that we’re thankful
Flooding Your world with hope and peace
Help us to worship more than singing
Giving Redemption hands and feet


We have been blessed – now we’re going to be a blessing
We have been loved – now we’re going to bring love
We’ve been invited – we’re going to share the invitation
We have been changed – to bring change, to bring change
We have been changed – to bring change, to bring change


Thank You for this new life, thank You for the invitation!
God, we want to live it loud enough to shake the nations " in Your name!


We have been saved – we’re going to shout about the Savior
We have been found – we’re going to turn over every stone
We’ve been empowered – to love the world to Heaven
We have been changed – to bring change, to bring change
We have been changed – to bring change, to bring change
We have been changed – to bring change, to bring change
©2003 AARONieq Music

Many of the kids in our eighth grade group.

Kid Friendly Friday - Christmas Books

I wanted to share with you are great list of Christmas books. I have been gathering them for a few years (some listed I do not own) and only take them out for the month of December. There's such anticipation and we have fun enjoying them during the advent season. I have gotten many of them at used books stores or on-line at half.com No need to buy brand new! Click HERE for more information about how we celebrate Advent all season long.

Traditional Christmas story:

Little One We Knew You'd Come by Sally Lloyd-Jones - my favorite

There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve by Pam Munoz Ryan

The First Christmas produced by The Complete Works

How God Decorated Heaven for Christmas by Ron Mehl and Melody Carlson

The Christmas Path by Sue Wright

The Christmas Story told through the eyes of an animal:

A Dozen Silk Diapers by Melissa Kajpust

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

Christmas is the Stable by Astrid Lindgren

Little Lambs Christmas by Josephine Page

The Donkey's Dream by Barbara Helen Berger

Who is Coming to Our House? by Joseph Slate and AShley Wolff

Christian Santa Stories:

Santa's Favorite Story by Hisako Aoki and Ivan Gratschev

A Special Place for Santa by Jeanne Pieper

Santa Are You for Real? by Harold Myra

Celebrations in Other Cultures:

The Legend of the Spider by Julie Puntch

The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tommy dePaola

Light the Lights by Margaret Moorman

Misc Stories:

The littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

The Tiny Star by Arthur Ginolfi

O Holy Night; Christmas With the Boys Choir of Harlem Illustrated by Faith Ringgold

Silent Night illustrated by Susan Jeffers

The Indescribable Gift by Richard Exley

Do you have a favorite Christmas book? I would LOVE to hear about them!

This is Kid Friendly Friday so link your post to ANYTHING kid friendly below. Can't wait to see what you have been up to this week!

Advent Celebration Calendar 2009

When I posted about how we celebrate Advent all December long I told you I would post this year's schedule so without further ado:

2009 Advent schedule

Each night – go through the Christmas cards received that day and pray for those people.
Remember to have Christmas music on a bunch. Wear aprons when cooking. Light the smelly candles (I love evergreen).

Sun Nov 29 - Decorate the Christmas Tree! Light the first Advent Candle. Read Luke 1:26-31, 37, 38

Mon Nov 30 – Make a paper prayer chain for the advent season

Tues Dec 1 – E – Skate Night SO…D, L and S read Christmas books and watch Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Wed Dec 2 – Have breakfast for dinner in our pajamas!

Thurs Dec 3 – Make noisemakers with ribbon spools.

Fri Dec 4 – E’s Prophets and Promises event at church at. Bring Cookies

Sat Dec 5 – 9 am - Build a wagon at Home Depot! 3pm - Watch the Gator Championship Game. After the game - Visit “A Walk Through Bethlehem” 5-9pm

Sun Dec 6 – Let’s go shopping so you can pick out a gift for your sister! Then let’s come home and wrap it! Kendall’s Birthday party. Light the second Advent Candle. Read Luke 2:4-7

M Dec 7 – Look through scrapbooks and home video.

T Dec 8 – Bake cookies for the Northland Cookie Drive

W Dec 9 – Make Kool-Aid play dough

R Dec 10 – Make Christmas cards for your teachers (thumbprint reindeer).

F Dec 11 – Bring Cookies for Northland’s Cookie Drive – E performs Frosty at 7 pm!

Sat Dec 12 – Run the Reindeer Run! Deliver a basket for Northland. E performs Frosty 7pm.

Sun Dec 13 – Small Group Christmas Party. Light the third Advent Candle. Read Luke 2:8-14

M Dec 14 – Game Night! Make mulled cider and popcorn!

T Dec 15 – Neighborhood Christmas Party! See Santa!

W Dec 16 – L’s Christmas Program in the am. Read Christmas books. Color Christmas stained glass pictures.

R Dec 17 – Have dinner using the fine china (dress up for dinner)

F Dec 18 – Bring the tabs to the Ronald McDonald house (bring cookies too!). Dinner at McDonalds

Sat Dec 19 – Make Gingerbread Houses for Neighbors.

Sun Dec 20 – Feed the homeless. Bring them Christmas cookies, blankets, mittens.. Light the fourth Advent Candle. Read Luke 2:15-20

M Dec 22 – Watch The Christmas Story (our traditional holiday movie) and eat popcorn!

T Dec 21 – Have a picnic dinner at the park then go look at Christmas lights.

W Dec 23 – Camp out in front of the Christmas tree and read stories. Make Cinnamon rolls for family and friends.

R Dec 24 - Make a birthday cake for Jesus! Church! Party at Aunt Susi’s.

F Dec 25 – Traditional Christmas morning Breakfast!

Win The Jesus Storybook Bible

The Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition will be available October 2009 but you can enter to win a copy of your own (plus more). It is written for ages four and up and comes with three CDs so that your child can read along with the audio. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful!

To enter, blog about The Jesus Storybook Bible and you could win 16 copies (a case) of The Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition! Submit your e-mail address and blog-post URL at their site.

Praying for Your Kids

I'm not sure where I got this but have been using it for awhile. It's a sheet with daily prayers for your children in areas such as faithfulness, generosity, self-discipline, courage, etc. I printed one out on cardstock, cut it apart, and am going to send one each day with my husband.

You can click on the image to make it bigger. Let me know if you would like me to email you a copy. Enjoy your weekend!

I'm a Missionary in Yangon, Myanmar

As a busy stay-at-home mother my priority is to raise healthy kids that know Jesus and can see Him in me. Too often I find myself dismissing my call to service outside my home because I have young children. I would love to go on a mission trip (our church has amazing distributed journeys everywhere in the world) but at this stage in my life it's not possible and I haven't yet convinced my husband that we should be missionaries to Africa. (How cool would that be? Now THAT would be elite education for the kids.) When the opportunity came along to serve throughout the world from my home and with completely flexible hours, I knew it was for me. I have been involved with Global Media Outreach for a couple of months as an online missionary and it has been an amazing gift.

As people from all over the world search for Jesus through one of GMO's over 90 web sites, they have the opportunity to contact GMO with questions. Their questions come to the volunteers (this is me!) who answer their emails and help them know God better. You wouldn't believe the places where my emails have come from....Kenya, Romania, Egypt, India, Philippines, Morocco, Japan, just to name a few. It's a great learning experience for me, which I get to pass on to my children ("Do you know where Mommy got an email from today?.....Let's go find Yangon, Myanmar on a map.").

Here's a bit more about it from their website....

Our Mission
Global Media Outreach prays that we see…
A world where we reach every person for Christ using the internet and other media.

Our Vision

The vision of GMO is to give everyone on earth multiple opportunities to know Jesus, see hundreds of millions accept Christ and see them grow in their faith and connect them to Christian movements everywhere.

The strategy: move people from isolation to connection and from information to transformation

Our Technology Plans

We plan to utilize internet-based outreach and communication technologies in text, video, audio on multiple platforms. We use computers, things that think, iPods, cell phones, Podcasting, internet radio, TV, film, and other emerging communication technologies. CRM technologies are currently in development for relationship, Bible study, devotionals and discipleship. Our goal is to provide ubiquitous, wireless, always on, global network communications 24 x 7 x 365.

Our Goal for Languages

We want to present the gospel in the top internet languages covering 85% of the 1 billion people using the internet – in English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Korean, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, and Russian.

Your Goal for Personal Ministry

GMO has developed a unique response system that can securely empower thousands of people as online missionaries to personally share their faith one-on-one through the Internet as they respond to seekers.

Great Resource For You - Economy

I am involved in a ministry called Young Life. Last night the regional director gave us this. What a wonderful resource in these economic times. If you can't get it big enough or can't read it (try to click on the picture), let me know your email address and I will email it to you.