Growing Little Men

This morning, I dropped Isaac off to finish a job he started yesterday.  It all began when I saw an ad in the classifieds looking for a teen-age boy to rake a lady's lawn for $20.00.  Isaac had planned all winter how he was going to start a lawn-mowing business, saving up his money to purchase a riding lawn mower.  Ideally, he would like to purchase a zero turn riding lawn mower.  He plans to save up and purchase a trailer to haul his mower the following summer and then he wants save up and purchase a truck to haul it all with the following summer. 

Kitchen Cabinet Remake

When Joel bought me a portable dishwasher, we were left with a 40" opening that was just begging to be filled with a cabinet.  Since I didn't have a cabinet,  I prayed about it, and filled that space with our hutch.  The hutch looked a little out of place, but it was a practical place to store dishes and all the pots and pans.  It remained in the kitchen for nearly two years until I saw this cabinet listed on our local Craig's list for $20.00.

 

2014 House Exterior Painting Project

 

 

"It won't take long, not if we all work together." 

 

 
 
The exterior of our house needed new siding and lots of repairs, but that expense was not in the budget.  Paint was a lot cheaper and if we did it ourselves...we could swing it.  Isaac was our main handy-man.  He removed lots of rotten boards, measured, sawed, and nailed up new pieces of wood.  He removed and replaced numerous windows.  And we all painted for a long, long time.  But it turned out pretty nice.

Patience, Persistence and Plain-Ol' Hard Work

This summer Isaac was asked by an elderly lady if he would tend her lawn.  He  was overjoyed at the prospect of being able to earn money and undertook this venture with gusto.

Building a Child Up

By:  Anna McCarthy

I sat across the table looking into the eyes of an exhausted mom. Trying her best, she struggled with the guilt and labels that come from parenting an “imperfect” child (otherwise known as “difficult”, “stubborn”, “strong-willed”, etc).

As I looked at this precious mom with tears welling in her eyes as she shared her struggles and feelings of failure, my heart swelled with compassion.
“I get it”, I said in response.
Recalling the days spent fighting my own stubborn child, I more than empathized.
Many days I felt like I was failing because my child wasn’t “text book”. Methods that worked for other children didn’t work for mine. I was doing everything I thought I was supposed to, but was still facing a battle (or war at times) nearly every day.
“There is hope” I finally said, “I know it doesn’t look like it now, but there is hope”
I recalled when the tide started to turn in my home…
when I learned that parenting my children had less to do with an overwhelming to-do list, and more to do with my heart’s perspective.
One evening, I had faced another grueling battle and was spent. I remember grabbing my journal and pouring out my frustrations and perceived failures all over the page. I cried out to God, begging for direction.
What God spoke to me was a game changer.
“What do you dream for her to become as an adult?” He asked me
Tears poured from my eyes – afraid that my hopes for my child would not come true…that somehow I would fail.
I spilled out every hope I had for her. Not in vocation or achievements, but for her as a person. The type of character she would have, the tenderness of her heart, the passionate love she would have for Jesus and the impact she would have on the world around her.
I was then reminded of a verse, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart…”
I was forced to identify where the desires for my daughter had originated from: no question, they were placed in my heart by God.
Through every battle, God had been stirring in my heart a vision for who He had created her to be: a vision that offered hope and served as a guide from which to steer her.
“Parent that picture of her”, I heard Him say
“But how Lord?!” I asked
“Look at her as if she already is that person”
And that is when it changed.
I knew deep down inside that she truly was that person. And for the first time I was ready to fight for her instead of against her. Instead of parenting her “behavior”, I chose to speak to the God-designed person I knew she was created to be.
When I would catch her in a lie, instead of responding with something like, “Why are you ALWAYS lying?! It’s so hard to trust you!”
I would instead respond like this: “Why are you lying? You are not a liar! God created you to be honest. Someone who people can trust. THAT is who you are”
Through many nights in prayer declaring who she WAS and in speaking this truth to her every chance I had, she began to change. I saw her rise to the person I was calling her up to be.
If you are struggling with your child, all hope is not lost! Ask God to show you who they really are…
 Life and death are in the power of the tongue… (Prov18:21)

Hints for Teaching Children to Behave

By:  Sherry Hayes

The weather is warm, the schoolwork is light; time for a summer project–getting children to behave!

There is something extremely interesting I have discovered over the past several years; when you have a large number of children, you are in actuality rearing a number of families, one after the other. Our first family, so-to-speak, is already out of the house. We are on our second family now. This present situation is very different from the first in many ways; for one thing, our living circumstances have changed, and we were not as mature (or as old) as we are today.

Even the children are different. The individual personalities that make up our whole have a distinct flavor, and for that reason we have adjusted accordingly. I also find myself having to relive many parental moments of instruction; things I thought I had already covered, I’m having to go over once more. After 30 years, we are still dealing with childishness, and we are having to back up and re-examine the fundamentals.

The Wheel of Motherhood

Being a mother is an experience that has caused me to become very dependent on the God whom I serve. It is indeed a great honor and privilege that carries grave consequences and unbounded blessings
.