Boys in Motion {Photography Challenge}

By on September 30, 2011 in Boys in Motion

Here’s your opportunity to show off your favorite photos of:

  • Brothers (of all ages)
  • Boys doing very boy things (how fun??)
  • Silly pics
  • Serious pics
  • Special pics
  • Any pic of your boy(s) that you love!

HOW AMAZING! To enter the challenge, just join our flickr group (free) and upload your favorite photos of those wild and wacky, bold and beautiful boys (up to three)!  Whatcha waitin for??? Get clicking!

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Link-up Day! {Growing Godly Men}

By on September 29, 2011 in growing godly men

Today’s the day!

Let’s all benefit from each other and share our struggles and insights about raising godly men. If you have a post on that subject please link it up below. It can be a recent post, or a (not so) recent post. No restrictions except that it be based on the Truth of the Word and be specifically about your attempts to raise godly men. Be sure to share as much of the title in your link name as possible so that other moms can look for what they need.

(Looking for a great resource on raising godly men? We recommend Plants Grown Up, by Doorposts.) Link up!



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Tackling the Talk~ More on Covenant

By on September 27, 2011 in tackling the talk
Anillos de Matrimonio, Aros de Matrimonio

Image via Wikipedia

Last month, we dipped our toes in the waters of covenant, a crucial theological concept and one that is vital when teaching our boys about marriage and sex.

This month, I wanted to continue that conversation in a more practical way.  Let’s talk about how to teach our boys about the concept of covenant from a young age so that when it comes time to explain the marriage covenant and God’s views on sexuality, the concept is already on their hearts and minds.

The word for covenant translates to “a binding agreement”, according to dictionary.com.  If you look up the origin of the word, you could add serious or solemn to that definition to fully understand the Biblical translation.

What are some situations where we could illustrate this principal to our kids in everyday life?

  • Adoption. If you have friends that are adopting a child {or maybe that privilege is taking place in your own family}, this is a perfect opportunity to talk about covenant.  In adoption you are making a promise {oath, covenant, vow} to make that child yours as if they had been born from your womb.
  • Baptism. When our Pastor baptizes someone, he often uses his wedding ring as a metaphor for what baptism means.  Wearing a wedding ring doesn’t make you married but it symbolizes the commitment you have made to another person.  The same goes with baptism.  It is an outward act, demonstrating a person’s promise and desire to follow after Jesus.
  • Disappointment. Sometimes someone makes a promise to our boys and breaks it {sometimes that someone is us, as mama’s}.  The disappointment they feel in those situations can be used to teach them how seriously God takes promises and covenant and how His heart must feel when we, as His children, don’t take those same promises seriously.
  • Weddings. Weddings take my breath away now that I have a true understanding of covenant.  Watching a couple exchange their vows before God is a great opportunity to explain what covenant looks like.
  • Rainbows {and other Bible stories}. My boys loved the story of Noah and the ark when they were little.  Even today at 18, 15 and 13 I say rainbow, they say “God’s promise”.  Take God’s Word and make it living and active in the life of your child.  There is no better way to show God’s concept of covenant than through His own Word.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” ~Hebrews 10: 15-17

What does covenant meant to you? How are you sharing that knowledge with your sons?

 

 

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Planning for a Smooth (or Smoother) Week! {Review}

By on September 26, 2011 in book review, homeschool

In our household, routine and schedule are our close friends.

I say close friends because without them, our week quickly falls apart. With two high energy boys, I have an even greater need to have activities clearly planned and to know exactly what its coming next in our day.

Maybe your household isn’t the same, but I know that, whether homeschooling or not, my week will go MUCH smoother if I have a PLAN.

My only problem is that I can easily get distracted from our schedule and watch the week quickly go down hill…

Boo.

I have a SERIOUS tendency to procrastinate and get distracted and I have seen how that negatively affects my entire family, especially the boys.

I need help in this area and for me it has come in two forms.

1. Jesus.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. ~Philippians 4:13

I can’t do it – HE can. Enough said.

2. This planner…

This brand new Ultimate Homeschool Planner from Debra Bell and Apologia has been a true gift for me these past few weeks of homeschool!

A little more about it…

Count your blessings while charting your family’s homeschool journey with this gorgeous day planner from best-selling author Debra Bell. The Ultimate Homeschool Planner will help you prayerfully prioritize your family’s lessons, assignments, and activities as well as academic and personal growth goals for each of your children. Includes teaching helps, record-keeping, and pages to document God’s faithfulness throughout the year. {from Apologia website}

This is not just a place to plan your lessons for the week, month and year. This is a place to commit your week to the Lord – both personally and for school – and record the ways He shows up and blesses your days.

I like having everything in one place and I can do that with this planner!

For me: a place to record prayer requests, Bible verses to memorize, Scripture reading plans, ways to reach out to others, appointments and so on.

For school: a place to journal achievements and memorable moments for the week, as well as evidences of God’s grace throughout the week!

And that is all on top of the lesson planning space…

You can check out a sample of all these great features for yourself right here!

Now, don’t get me wrong. Getting this planner is NOT going to make your week magically become smooth. Sorry.

But I have found great motivation and organization through it AND I’m not wasting time looking in a million different places for plans and prayers and so on.

Wasted time in our house = restless boys = chaos = not good.

You get the picture :)

I am so grateful to Apologia and Debra Bell for putting together this wonderful tool for homeschool parents – check it out and see how it could bless your family as well!

{Stay tuned for lots more fun with Apologia as we get closer to the Relevant Conference as they are sponsoring the MOB Society to the conference, as well as the MOB meet-up at the conference! If you’re coming to Relevant, make sure you RSVP for the meet-up on Facebook! Hope to see many of you there!}

*****

Disclosure: I received a planner from Apologia to review. I was not compensated in any other way for this post and all opinions are 100% my own!

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