Fingers and Toes

Both fingers and toes

Two young sisters reaching out

Fast friendship forming

Take It From Me

Tomorrow will be our five year anniversary. I think that entitles me to give some advice. Especially to those who are not yet married, and those who are considering marriage, and those who are engaged but not yet married. As a woman, I feel that I especially can speak to other women from my five years of experience. This is especially for those women who are in the age group of 18-23 (since that is how old I was when I got married).




Our first five years of marriage have been wonderful, but challenging. We've experienced time apart (not separation, just a summer job that took me to France while pregnant with our oldest). We've experienced sorrow with the loss of our second baby (a miscarriage at 11 weeks, I still consider it a baby).

We've experienced joy with the births of our two girls, and watching them grow. We've also experienced our share of frustration, humor, excitement, anger, romance and adventure. Most of our first five years together were spent on American soil. Our next five will be spent mostly on foreign soil. I wouldn't trade life with Robbie for any earthly thing. He is my lover and my best friend.

With all of this said, I want to say something to those yet unmarried women out there...
TAKE YOUR TIME!!!
You don't need to rush into this. It's not a race to see how many friends you can beat to the altar.
Live your life before you get married. Go backpacking around the world. Spend a year as a student missionary. Work at an orphanage. Get a job. Finish college. Volunteer. Be a literature evangelist or a Bible worker. Let your life be a witness to those around you.
Life is about more than getting married. Marriage is about more than just sex.
Don't go searching. When it's God's timing, He'll arrange it perfectly.

I have no regrets about dating Robbie for only eleven months before pledging my life to him. I had spent two years in Thailand as a student missionary, been a literature evangelist, volunteered, and I had waited for God to make clear His will. I was not searching. I was waiting for God and He arranged it perfectly.

I pray for all those young women who are considering marriage, that they would wait on the Lord. Take it from me, it's worth it!

Counting My Blessings... 111-120

111. A husband
112. A patient husband
113. A husband who cooks dinner :)
114. A thoughtful husband
115. A husband who is forgiving, and doesn't hold a grudge
116. A faithful husband
117. A husband who does laundry
118. A sweet, kind, considerate husband
119. A husband who loves his children
120. Five great years of marriage so far...

Umbrella Haiku

Hope and I had an impromptu photo shoot with an umbrella as a prop just a few minutes ago. I decided I'd write some haiku to go along with these, from Hope's perspective...

Holding umbrella

Up so high above my head

Will I float away?

Is there rain up there?

My umbrella is ready.

So clouds, bring it on.

Together we stand,

Ready umbrella and I

To endure the rain.

Rainy season here

Under umbrella I wait

For the drops to fall.

I'm safe under here

I hold tight to the handle.

Peekaboo, Mommy.

Daddy, I will share

this big umbrella with you.

Come before it rains.

So happy to share

Daddy and I smile so sweet.

We love each other.

I love you Daddy.

Bunches and bunches and stutch.

All the so muches.

Some of the words used are invented family words, such as stutch, which means more than I can ever say. Muches is plural for much. Hope invented the saying "All the so muches."

Child Training

Recently I've been reading a book called Raising Kids Who Hunger For God. Also, I am part of a group of moms on Facebook that I asked a question of recently. I asked, "Who believes in using the "rod of correction?" The answers I received from the other mothers in this group made me think about how we look at child training these days.

First of all, I am a Christian Seventh-Day Adventist. I believe in following the Bible in all areas of life. I believe it when the Bible says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16 Teaching, rebuking, correcting and training sounds like child-rearing to me. Isn't that what we do with our little ones every day?

What else does the Bible have to say? Let's take a little look...

"He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." Proverbs 13:24

"Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him." Proverbs 22:15

"The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to itself disgraces his mother." Proverbs 29:15

"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it." Hebrews 12:7-9

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

The question that I have is why do Bible following people seek the world's input on how to train their children. When I asked that question about the "rod of correction" on the mother's group page on Facebook, the number one recommended source of child-training guidance was The Supernanny. Nobody believes in the "rod of correction." One source on the Internet said that Jewish and Christian scholars are trying to "explain away" the mention of the "rod of correction" in the book of Proverbs. Some just throw it out entirely. Our culture has watered down godly parenting, and even Bible following parents have fallen for it.

Who has more children, God or Supernanny? Who has been around longer? Who is wiser and more loving? Who can see the bigger picture? Who should I trust my children to?

 Is there a biblical way to discipline our children? Yes, there is! The God of the Bible does not change. He is the same now as He was in the New Testament and He was the same in the New Testament as He was in the Old Testament. He never changes. His ways of disciplining, therefore, do not change either. In His Word, he has shown us ways to train our children. If we would see our children trained in righteousness, we must follow the Word of God.

Our commitment to the Bible and the Bible only should encompass all of our lives, including how we raise our children. The book that I mentioned at the very beginning, Raising Kids Who Hunger For God, is an amazing, Bible-based book that I have really been blessed by reading. I would recommend it to anyone who is seeking to follow God's method of child training and discipling.

May God bless us all, and our children, as we seek the best way to raise them to be workers for Him. May we see them give their hearts and lives to Him.