Saint Patrick's Confession

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!! This picture is from my MOPS meeting today where we talked about Saint Patrick and Easter! I love Saint Patrick's Day not for the beer (can't stand it), the leprechauns, or that everyone dresses in green. I love it because it is the story of a man who returned to a people who enslaved him in order to preach the gospel. I know that shocks the many of you who thought he drove the snakes from Ireland but there weren't snakes in Ireland;). If you are looking for a special thing to do for Saint Patrick's Day I highly recommend you read Saint Patrick's confession! It is a fairly easy adult read and it helps you to see his heart!

So go and remember God on this awesome holiday!

Cinderella in Christ?

I was watching Faerie Tale Theatre with the NerdPie last week and it was a major throwback to my own childhood. I remember being just a girl and watching wide eyed as Jennifer Beals and Matthew Broderick dance around the floor in Cinderella. It reminded me also of my misconceptions of what my Christian life might be.

Apparently many people hold the misconception that accepting Christ means that your life won't have any problems or worries. But that wasn't my problem. For some reason I never held that theory because I can't remember a time in which I wasn't familiar with "into every life a little rain must fall". I knew that just because life was hard and people were jerks to you didn't effect God's love and grace for you and vice versa. Maybe it was because I had a less than idyllic childhood.... But I did have different kind of fairy tale picture for life.

When I read about those who faced trials and tribulations in the Bible they all seemed to have this odd kind of peace. Not seeing anyone who had peace in real life I went to fairy tales for my picture of what that would look like in "real life". I thought my life would be more like Cinderella's, and I mean the Disney version. While people may still treat you horribly and not love you for reason beyond your control, you would have a song in your heart. You know, the woodland animals and sweetly singing birds would come in and help you do your work. While you may be slaving away it wouldn't be hard, it wouldn't be lonely, it would be serene. You wouldn't care that no one ever said any thing nice because you had a song in your heart.

As someone whose childhood was fairly isolated, lonely and sucked for huge portions... life didn't quite go that way. We never see Cinderella really cry. We just figure that it doesn't hurt. All because of that song in her heart. The one I didn't get. Or so I think at first.... As I started thinking about this subject and how naive I was I remembered the music, the hope....

I didn't have a lot of tapes but I had some Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, DC Talk and KDUV started when I was in high school. That helped give me that song in my heart. A song that helped me focus on something other than the fact I was pulled out of bed to finish the dishes or to get the bits of hair I didn't clean off of the linoleum. A song that reminded me that I was loved unconditionally by the God of the Universe no matter how isolated I was from those who I wanted so desperately to not only love me, but love me in spite of my flaws. A song that told me that even though I didn't have 1 friend who REALLY knew me, my hurts or my life, God knew and cried with me. A song that reminded me that God would give me a happily ever after, and I am not talking about the one I have with NerdDad (though it is pretty good) but the one that is to come.

So maybe, just maybe my misconceptions weren't so wrong after all.... A life with Christ is a little like being Cinderella. But while we have this life on earth we get to dance with Him at various balls and someday He will come with a glass slipper to claim His bride.

A Little About Purim

Purim is from sundown on February 27th until March 1st this year (it is based on the Jewish calendar). But what is Purim you wonder? I have often heard it referred to as Jewish Halloween but there is more to it than that. It is the celebration of Esther and God's saving of the Jewish people! We are to remember this every year (Esther 9:28):

These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants.

It is a celebration. So in my house we might let the kids dress up, make noise makers and crowns. I will (probably) make Hamantaschen. The big feature is the telling of the Esther story. The children (and adults) boo whenever Haman is mentioned and cheer at the mention of Mordechai. We might also print off pictures and do some other fun stuff (go to my Frugal Homeschooler for activities and resources).

As Christians why do we celebrate Purim? Well, I could get into the whole Jesus celebrated Judaism and so we should also keep the holidays (with grace because we aren't under the law). Or how when we excepted Christ we were grafted into the family of Abraham. But.... Here is a simpler reason. God was faithful in saving the Jews and because of that we have Messiah. So we need to celebrate God's faithfulness to us by saving the Jews from Haman's hand.

There are lots of lessons in the book Esther (like if Saul would have been obedient...) but that is for a different day. Let us start by rejoicing in God's faithfulness! And the fact He uses a willing and obedient heart to do great things, like save a people.

Be a World Changing Family!

Today at MOPS we had an awesome speaker who spoke on being a world changing family. Shelley was awesome. Not only did she talk about some great ways to change the world with our kids (Operation Christmas Child, making sandwiches to give to the homeless, etc) she also brought treats!!! She made the adorable cookies herself!!!

But is it hard to be a world changing family, especially with younger kids? I don't think so. The focus is to teach them to be generous and to care for others starting at a young age. The best way I can see to change the world is to show it God's love. So start involving your kids (or start serving someone yourself) in showing love to others and that alone will change the world.

I think of the joy my kiddos have gotten putting change in the Salvation Army buckets. Or helping me take food to a family with a sick mom or a family that just had a baby. I love the idea of just making bagged lunches and handing them out to people who need them. I don't know where you live but around here we seem to have people begging on every corner. You can also do canned food drives, collect change for your local Pregnancy Care Center or just about anything. Just do something no matter how small.

It isn't hard but it is intentional.

That was a word that Shelley used a lot, intentional. This doesn't just happen but you have to do it. Shelley had a great idea we might start doing. She has a friend that takes all of her kids' artwork down to the convalescent home. I might have to start doing that. Between church and what the kids just make at home, we are swimming in the stuff. To think it might brighten someone else's day and not have to go in the recycle bin (at least so soon) makes me happy.

So what do you do with you kids to make them World Changers?

Pray for Shelley and her family! They are a world changing family in a big way. They have sold their house and will be moving their family down to Colombia to preach God's Word. They are not already in the ministry (her hubby is a teacher) and their kids are young (4 girls ages 10-6). So this isn't convenient but they were called by the Lord. So I ask you all to keep them in your prayers!

Updated: I was asked why I would consider this a WFMW. I can say that for many years I was looking for ways to help my kids serve others. I think there are some really good ideas on how to get your kids active in showing generosity and love to others!

God's Grace and His Miracle

My baby girl could have died today or been seriously injured. I am blogging about it because God completely spared her from any harm and I need to share to give Him glory. (This may read a little rambly, I am on pain meds)

For those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook you already know that we took the crib out of NerdPud's room on Christmas so we could move the kitchen set into her room. Now she sleeps in her big girl toddler bed. Which also means that she can get up during naptime to play. Since it is all so new we haven't really stepped in to stop her yet.

Now in her room she also has a large dresser. It is more than 6 feet long and, at most, 4 feet tall. Out of 4 kids, we have had 1 ever start to climb on his dresser so given its shortness (and wideness) we didn't worry about tethering her dresser to the wall. That could have been a fatal mistake.

So NerdDad put down all the kids for naps/rest time today and came downstairs. We heard them all playing, mostly quietly. Then all of a sudden I hear a large bang. I started sprinting up the stairs and she started to cry. NerdPud had managed to pull the dresser down on her self. I ran in her room to find her body covered with the dresser and her head and shoulders free. It seemed a bit propped up on the end she was at and I just slid her right out without resistance or anything.

The dresser just didn't fall in that area all the way down. At first we thought it had landed on her bed, but it hadn't. It may have been supported by the drawer but the dresser wasn't designed that way. The drawer didn't actually come out of the dresser so there is no logical way it should have been propped up. It was as if she truly had the hedge of protection around her just like I always pray for.

My baby girl came out of the whole thing without even a scratch!!!! No bruises, no bumps, nothing. As I was carrying her downstairs I asked a couple times if she had an owwie. She kept saying yes and when I asked where she kept saying on her drawers. There is no reason for this but God. I praise Him and thank Him for keeping my baby safe.

Give Christmas Away

I love Matthew West, Amy Grant, VeggieTales and Operation Christmas Child. This is an interview with Matthew West and Amy Grant about the song they did for the new VeggieTales Christmas DVD. The song starts 4 minutes in but it is a good piece with Huckabee too!

Mass: We Pray

NerdDad found this. It is cute and funny. Need I say more?

Everything Skit

*** Repost! This was discussed last week at my Women's Bible study and was requested so I am reposting it! I originally posted this back in January of 2008.



This has been floating around out there so it wouldn't surprise me if you all have seen it. All my MOPS girls have it on their Myspace pages. But I post it for any who haven't. When I first saw this skit I was a little harsh on it. I saw the Christ representation standing unable to get to her. But upon rewatching, you see Him pulling and when she has fought with all she has and has no more He intervened. Be prepared to shed a tear. I have every time I have watched it. Christ is waiting for us and our focus to be on Him. When it is and we use our strength to move towards Him, He will do the rest we need.

**Warning: this deals with real issues, not in graphic but obvious imagery. So don't watch with kids unless you are ready to answer a couple of questions.

Bethlehem Rhapsody

Found this over at a friend's blog (Living Vessel) and thought it was great! Of course I love the original song too so that helps;). I think this is something that the worship group and choir at my church could do really well! (Patmo, Alan I am talking to you 2;)

Glee, 80's Rock, and Kids

I saw the Glee premiere a while ago and loved it. It isn't kid friendly but it was pretty good. But seeing this video really made me think. We all love this song but would it really be something that we we would want our 14 year olds singing? It seems that 80's rock, and older music even more so, is protected by this "innocence" because it is old. But do parents, and especially Christians, judge this kind of music with the same kind of filter that they judge currently popular music? I think that genre's are just more than content and that is a shame. Rap, hip-hop and pop are not inherently evil. But it is what they say that makes it inappropriate. Now I totally admit that I listen to music that I won't let my kids listen to. But I don't listen to it in there ear shot and I never lie about listening to it (I am rarely asked). It is the passive listening that seems to bother me the most because it is the thing that isn't considered.

So do you test the message of the music you expose your kids to? How about what they hear that you are listening to?

Food for Thought

This doesn't even account for how many children choose to not walk in their parents Christian faith. So what do you all think about this? Does it make you want to have more kids? Less? Don't care? Let's converse;).

I Love Steve Brown!

I am not a televangelist kind of girl, nor radio evangelists usually. I'm more of the school that you should go and physically get yourself into the fellowship. But I love Steve Brown of Key Life Ministries. NerdDad introduced me to his radio show many years ago. It is a 15 minute deal that really makes you think. This is part of the reason I love him so:

I'm probably the most opinionated friend you have. I have an opinion on everything from Obama (didn't vote for him) to global warming (I'm cold) to Christian music (I like Bach). I know what I like and don't like and, frankly, I'm right about almost all of my opinions. It's hard to be right all the time and it's, also, quite irritating to those of us who are right to have people who aren't right contradict us.

Now I don't love because he has an opinion but because he informs himself and can have an opinion. Most of the time I agree with him. Most of the rest of the time, it is a case that I never thought of it the way he puts it so I need to muse to see if I agree. Then most of that time I agree too;). Go read why you as Christians need to go offend someone!

The Pope on Judas

I found this awesome quote from Pope Benedict XVI on Judas over at the Anchoress. I feel it is very true and poignant.
“Judas is neither a master of evil nor the figure of a demoniacal power of darkness but rather a sycophant who bows down before the anonymous power of changing moods and current fashion. But it is precisely this anonymous power that crucified Jesus, for it was anonymous voices that cried, ‘Away with Him! Crucify him!’”
— Pope Benedict XVI,

Great Song, Great Artist, Great Message

Need I say more?

Sunday School Reflections

In James 4 there is a verse that says to "Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."I put before you that this is so much more than just getting the dirt off. When I was a freshman in college I was blessed to attend a Shabbat at the local Chasidic rabbi's house. 1 of the things I remember was a ceremonial washing of hands. Everyone (including me) did it after the men's prayer time and before the meal. There wasn't any scrubbing but a specific calm procedure that served to cleanse you. Could this be what James is referring too? A solem cleansing of our sould and being?

These are the things that I think about during Sunday School. Where the Old and the New collide without fanfare or attention.

Jelly Telly

I love VeggieTales! If you didn't know that just means you don't know me well;). Now Phil Vischer is behind a new venture called JellyTelly. Originally they were going to be charging but they aren't any more (at least not for a while). While we are a pro-tv family, we wish there was more Christian media out there and this might be the answer! Watch the clips and then go check it out!!!





They are letting churches use the clips for download $4.99 to use over at JellyBits.

From the Mouths of Babes

So NerdPie (the 5 yo) is doing the extra credit book for Awana-Sparks and it requires that the kids read a book about a missionary. So I got a book on Junipero Serra (missionary to California) and it ever so slightly touched on the mistreatment of the Indians by the Spanish soldiers. She asked me right at that point if the soldiers killed some of the Indians and I answered her truthfully and said yes. So after we are done reading the book we are going through all the materials from Awana. One of the questions was about how the missionary tried to share the gospel. She said, "by killing them". After NerdDad and I quit laughing we told her the difference between the soldiers and Father Serra. But then I got to thinking, how many people think that is how the church today is showing Christ? By attacking and being mean? Is that what we want them to see? How should we change our witness?

Beth Moore just said in the Esther video today that the world doesn't care about our relationship with Christ but how we resemble Him.
There is your food for thought all started by a 5 year old.

Tithe Rap

This is great! Hilarity and a lesson. I think Pastor Pat should arrange something like this next time he preaches on money;).

Convicted By an Atheist

I have to say that many times I can really find myself convicted by people who don't believe in God. I saw this video on the Anchoress.


When the Anchoress said:

The second message is as far from passive as you can get, and it comes from Jillette himself; “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell them that?”

Think about it. How many times have you not engaged someone - and not exclusively for the purpose of proselytizing, but on any level - because you’ve simply assumed they are ‘not the sort’ to be receptive to you, or they are ‘one of them’ - the avowed secularists? Is that a sort of passive, impersonal “hate?” When you’ve passed them by, have you stopped to think that everything a Christian says or does, how a Christian comports himself or herself, minute-by-minute, gives endless witness, and so only kindliness will do?

But another thing really hit me. He repeatedly says this is a good man. All it took for this businessman to make an impression was to be kind and sincere. I think that I can do at least that in life. But I can say that I often think it isn't enough to count as far as my witness goes. I fear that I need just the right words, opportunities or something shockingly special. Apparently you don't. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think Penn Jillette has converted but can you deny a seed. Either in him or any of the many people who watches his little video? And how many Christian lives are going to be changed? I hope at least mine.

What if Starbucks Marketed Like Church?

I find this very thought provoking. What do you all think?