Hey All,

I cannot believe how long it’s been since I’ve blogged or crafted or cooked something extra yummy or sewed or any of those other things I love to do.  You see, I’ve had the back-to-school-blues for a few weeks now.   I had 4 kids home with me all day every day this summer.  It was a blast with swimming and baking and going to the zoo and parks and playing Super Mario Brothers…Lots and lots of Mario Brothers.  I must admit I’ve been a little down with just my little one here with me the last few weeks and with the back to school up really early in the morning to get the bus and staying awake really late at night with homework routine.  I also pick up not just my kid from school but my neighbors kids a couple of days a week, as well (and they don’t all go to the same school or get out at the same time) It’s been an adjustment….But I think I’m on the other side of it, and you’ll be seeing a lot more of me now  

How has it been adjusting to the new back to school life and routines at your house?

Jesus Loves You.  This I Know.

Tamara

Have you ever read Proverbs 31: 10-29?  I’ve been reading it a lot lately.  I greatly desire to be a Godly wife and mother.  But I also know I am in need of some growth and change to become the Helpmate Jesus has called me to be.  My mother was unmarried and my father was not around.  Because of that I quickly realized I had no idea what the Lord expected of me as a wife.   I decided to search the Bible and find a role model and I found the Proverbs 31 woman.   Let me introduce you.  

 ^{10 [a]}A wife of noble character who can find?
   She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
   and lacks nothing of value.
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
   all the days of her life.
¹³ She selects wool and flax
   and works with eager hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
   bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
   she provides food for her family
   and portions for her female servants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
   out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
   her arms are strong for her tasks.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
   and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
   and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
   and extends her hands to the needy.
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
   for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed;
   she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
   where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
   and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
   she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
   and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
   and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
   her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
   but you surpass them all.”

At first I was quite intimidated by her. I remember thinking, “ THIS is the example the Lord gives us on how to be a Godly wife”?  How on Earth was I to live up to these standards, and boy do I have a lot to change.  It made me sick to my stomach for days…..Really.  Then Pastor Chet preached a sermon titled, “Time To Change”, where he made reference to Abraham and how he became the Father of Faith.   BECAME!  I loved hearing that because it released me from intimidation, into gladness. 

 I’m glad that the Lord gave me the Word of God and the Proverbs 31 woman for guidance.  I’m glad that He loves me too much to leave me the way I am.  And I’m especially glad that His mercies are new each day. 

In what ways are you eager to change?  What Godly aspirations and desires do you have for yourself.  Leave me a comment and I’ll gladly pray for you during my  daily prayer time.  And I would love if you would pray for me as well.   I covet your prayers.

Also, if you’re not sure where to begin in your quest to change, Click here for the link to the message “It’s Time To Change”, by Pastor Chet.  

Jesus Loves You.  This I know.

Tamara

Today I was chosen to be a featured columnist for the online blog magazine, “The Christian Home”  I count it an honor.   Please follow the following link to read this weeks magazine edition.  http://thelegacyofhome.blogspot.com/2011/07/christian-home-issue-25.html

My son is 16 months.  He is in that rambunctious, call my name all day, see how many things I can run into and scare my mom half to death phase.   He also likes to touch everything.  EVERYTHING!  Especially the stainless steel.  I’m not making it up when I tell you that every time  I wipe down our stainless steel appliances he gets so excited.  As soon as I’m finished he immediately places his hands, flat, palm down, in the middle of each appliance.  It is his thing.  It used to annoy me so much.  Until yesterday.  Yesterday when I bent down to wipe away the handprints, with a loud sigh, and when he wasn’t looking of course or he would just run over and do it again,  I noticed one of the handprints.  I mean really noticed it.  How little the fingers were.  How tiny the hand.  I thought about how much will change in just a few years.  Not just in the growth of his hands, but in all things baby about him.  How one day he will be a man, a husband, a father….I took a moment to pray for him.  I prayed that he would love the Lord with all his might, all his soul.  That he would use those hands as if they were Jesus’ hands themselves.  That he would find his life’s purpose early on and that he would pursue it with everything in him, all for the glory of the Almighty God.

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!
(Psalms 113:9 Holy Bible)

When you get a little overwhelmed with your little ones, a little frustrated, a little tired and annoyed, stop for a moment and just look at them.   LOOK at them.    Really breathe them in.  Then pray for them.  This season will last for such a very short time and soon they will be wonderful men and women of God, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, with babies of their own.   And they will remember your love.  And your prayers.

Jesus Loves You.  This I know.

Tamara

My daughter is a tween.  You know, that age between 10 and 13.  That age where I never really know what emotion I’m going to get from her at any given moment.   Lately I find myself hesitating before I dare ask her to clean her room, pick up her clothes, or  did she do her homework,  not sure of the response I’ll get.  Will it be the little girl in her that says, “Sure, but can you help me, please, please, please” with that sweet smile and puppy dog eyes.  Or am I going to get the tween version of her; that deep breathed long sigh followed by the menacing, eyes narrowed and half-shut look that’s enough to put the makers of all those lame teeny bopper horror movies I used to watch to shame.   How ridiculous they seem after facing the wrath of a 12-year-old girl.   A not quite child, almost teen, daughter.  If I’m honest with myself, I almost fear her.  Not fear in that suspense movie, heart racing, “Oh, no” here come the bad guys kind of way, but more like in that, I’ve been eating really well and exercising a lot so dare I try on that smaller sized dress kind of way.   

Let’s be honest, no matter how well you’ve raised them, or how sweet they were at one, five, eight years old, sometimes our kids have the ability to make a really good day, really, really, bad.   And sometimes it’s really not their fault.   At some point they reach an age when even they don’t know how they’re going to react from one moment to the next.  I remember questioning my daughter about a particularly long, tense, emotional, day we’d had, and her replying to me, “I really have no idea why I acted that way.  I wasn’t really angry, but I didn’t know how to stop being like that.”  That really got my head spinning.   One of the verses my husband and I repeatedly go to for guidance in bringing up our children is Ephesians 6:  “Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord”.  How on earth were we to not provoke her to anger, when she didn’t know what would anger her, herself? 

íDo not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord ý

As I decided to take some time to really pray and meditate on this, I began to think back on myself at that tween age time in my life.  One of the things I remembered is that during that period of time I really had no idea how to express my emotions (and of course thinking I had no one to express them too.  After all, what could  my mother possibly know about being a kid.)   A lot of times I couldn’t  put into words that the fight I had with my BFF in 1st period is the reason why I failed my  math test in 5th period.   That must be why asking the question, “What’s wrong?”, in our home, always elicits that same dreadful answer:  “I don’t know”.   I’m sure any parent can relate to that one!  That has to be the most frustrating, hair pulling, answer of all time!  That’s when I realized that we may not be able to control the emotional outbursts that we were sure to get many more of, (if we could figure out how to do that, we’d be billionaires) but we could at least try to get her talking.  The solution, for us, came in a book titled, “What Women Tell Me:  Finding Freedom From The Secrets We Keep”  by Anita Lustrea, and the nightly candle time between her and her son.  We call it our Candlelight Prayers.

Every night, right around bedtime, ( Ah, bedtime.  Yet another time that can bring on some serious angst and frustration), we turn off all the lights, sit in a circle around a candle, and we tell each other the best thing about our day, the worst thing about our day, and the things we are most grateful for.  No opinions to be offered.  No judgements to be made.  We then pray for the person to our right, out loud, one at a time.  Before blowing out the candle, we somehow always begin to talk…..it ALWAYS happens.  At that moment we are ushered into the world of a tween.   This is when we learn the most about our daughter’s day-to-day life: her friends, frenemies, pressures and hard-learned lessons in relationships with others.  This is when we learn that the outburst of anger over having to set the table had more to do with not being invited to a particular slumber party than the setting of cutlery.  It’s when we learn how to really pray for our daughter.  It’s when we learn of her hopes, dreams, and fears.  This is a sacred time.  A time of peace and reflection.  Nothing said during this time may be used against her when the candle is blown out.  It is safe ground.  It is holy.  There’s something to be said about a candle and a journal that can soften even the heart of tween, and set the stage for the Holy Spirit to come and minister.

I encourage you to try a candlelight prayer session in your family.  If nothing else, something about having to sit quietly and focus on someone else and praying out loud for the needs of others will go a long way in building a heart of empathy and selflessness in your tween.   Please remember to write the date and the responses and/or prayer requests of each person in a special journal used only for these occasions.  Every couple of months you can look back and see how the Lord has moved on your behalf.  It will encourage your child to trust and draw closer with the Lord when they can actually see the works of his hands. 

íTrain up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 ý  

Jesus Loves You.  This I Know.

Tamara