NOT AGAIN!

As everyone keeps their eye on Hurricane Gustav, my family yet again finds themselves preparing to evacuate. I talked to my cousin this morning and unlike many other evacuations where they have only about 6 hours to pack up and leave, this one gives them plenty of time to watch, wait, and prepare. The dilemma comes in the timing. If you wait for the mandatory evacuation you sit for hours on a highway that looks more like a parking lot. If you leave early and they don't evacuate you leave for nothing. It looks like at least one of my cousins is taking the early option and unlike Katrina, she now has the option to come to Little Rock, about half the distance from St. Louis where they ended up 3 years ago.

If all goes as planned she will leave around 3 or 4am tomorrow morning and drive here. We are leaving and heading back home to St. Louis tomorrow morning around 9 so they will probably arrive right after we leave. It is the perfect opportunity for them to use our house for the evacuation and not have to find a hotel, which is virtually impossible right now. She and her husband have 4 kids and a couple of pets so my house will hopefully be a blessing to them rather than being crammed in hotel rooms. So...as I prepare our family for a 2 week long trip (from St. Louis we fly to Maryland to visit my dad), I am also preparing for guests! I guess that means I should stop blogging and finish our school day so I can get moving!

Southern Hospitality

My community group girls...Lynne, Kristen, Leigh, me, Gretchen

This past weekend I got to experience my first southern baby shower! My friend Leigh is in my small group and will be having a little boy. Not since I've moved here have I been in a room with so many accents and "y'alls"! Because I spend a lot of my time with FamilyLife people I really don't know many people who have lived most or all of their lives here. It was fun and they were all very nice.

I learned about cheese straws while I was there. Most of you reading this will have no idea what those are but apparently you can't have a party around here without them. Think of a cheeze it only in a different shape with a little bit of a kick to it. I wanted to take a picture of them but I thought they'd think I was crazy, if they didn't already! And in case you needed to know the latest in infant fashion in Arkansas here you go! Never fear there are accessories to go with it including pacificers, and well...pretty much anything else you could possibly want with a hog on it!

My little Jesus Freaks!

My boys have discovered the song "Jesus Freak" by dc Talk.We may be a bit behind on the times seeing as how it was released in 1995 but apparently it hasn't lost its appeal because it has been listened to over and over again in our house. One day in the car we had been listening to it over and over again for about 20 minutes. I asked the boys if they were still in the car with me since they were being so quiet. I jokingly said "I thought you had turned into Jesus Freaks after listening to that song so much." Clayton replied, "MOOOOOM" (in a very long exaggerated voice like I had lost my mind) "We ARE Jesus Freaks!" Well there you go, what do you say to that?!

About a week later we were in the car again, this time listening to nothing and out of the blue Evan says to himself "Huh, the lyrics to that song are right....my best friend WAS born in a manger!"

And for those of you who may not have had the pleasure of hearing this very influential song, and for Clayton who has wanted to see the video, here you go:

Connecting with your Spouse

This article is from FamilyLife's e-magazine called The Family Room. I thought it was a good reminder! You can subscribe to The Family Room by clicking here: http://www.familylife.com/site/c.dnJHKLNnFoG/b.3265755/k.622B/New_User_Registration/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=dnJHKLNnFoG&b=3265755&en=5dJIJNPmF9LyGHNkF5KyFHMqEfJFKSNrEaKLJYNAIrE

Connecting With Your Spouse
Tracey Lanter

Wow! It happened again.

A day turned into a week, then a week turned into a month … and suddenly a year has passed. I’m staring at another birthday and wondering, What have we accomplished in the last year?

One of my husband’s favorite phrases lately is “the illusion of permanence.” The passing of another year has me ruminating on this phrase as it relates to marriage. Couples trudge through every day, working hard at living life, and they don’t realize that time is slipping away. When couples forget to take the time to talk with each other, connect, and pursue a loving relationship, their marriage suffers.

If you suffer from the “the illusion of permanence,” let me share with you two intentional actions my husband and I attempt to practice on a regular basis to stay connected.

Chat time. We utilize a tool from FamilyLife and we find it … well, brilliant! We attempt (yes, some days we fail) to sit together for a few minutes each night and read the daily devotion in Moments With You, by Dennis and Barbara Rainey. We are amazed at how these simple few minutes allow us to connect and enter into some thought-provoking conversation. In addition, the devotional challenges us to be very intentional about how we live our lives. After our discussion we make notes on the page of the devotion in an effort to preserve our thoughts and keep us accountable on our plans for the future.

One interesting outcome of “chat time” is that our children notice. They actually get a kick out of seeing us in what they call our “deep mushy discussion”!

Date night. We have always been very involved with our children and enjoy family dinners together most nights. However, several years ago we recognized that we also needed some time for adult conversation, but we really didn’t want to always eat out for dinner. Hubby came up with the brilliant idea that on Fridays we would have date night right at home. He is in charge of dinner and is not even allowed to ask me what I want. (It’s all about me not having to figure it out!) Most of the time he picks up take-out from somewhere—sometimes it’s fancy, sometimes it’s simple. We truly value this time to be together and enjoy uninterrupted conversation.
I make sure the children have a movie to watch and frozen pizza to eat. When they were younger they’d peek into the room and giggle and ask if we were being “all kissy and stuff.” To this day, when they hear “date night,” they grin and look forward to their own couple of hours of fun without us in their space!

While we don’t have the “illusion of permanence” in our relationship completely under control, we at least know it exists and have found ways to stay connected. A great bonus is that our children see us connecting and are learning firsthand that married couples need to work at marriage and make time for each other. They get it … and that’s cool!

How about you? What do you and your spouse do on a regular basis to stay connected?

The things that I ponder....

From Seeking Him by Nancy Leigh DeMoss:

God loves His children. He knows that we cannot fully experience and enjoy His love unless we are obedient to Him. Obeying God is not meant to be a sterile, cold requirement; rather, it is a willing, glad-hearted response to One who loves us extravagantly and has our best interests at heart. God does not stand by at a distance, demanding our obedience. Rather, He blesses us by allowing us to be a part of accomplishing His purposes. He calls us to surrender, invites us to follow, empowers us to serve, and then blesses our obedience.

From Faith is Not a Feeling by Ney Bailey

Some of us may have prayed a prayer similar to this: "Lord, I pray You'd make me more like You. I pray that You would conform me to the image of Christ." Often, what we really want is for God to give us an anesthetic so we can be unconscious while He performs surgery on our hearts in order to conform us to Christ's perfect character. We don't want to wake up until the transformation is complete! We want the result but not the painful process.

From Acts 5

At this point the apostles had just been arrested and then released but not before they were flogged and ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus. Here is the response, in verse 41, that blew my mind:

"So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, REJOICING that they had been considered WORTHY to suffer shame for His name" (emphasis mine)

Then I love verse 42
"And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."

I ponder these things not because I have some great knowledge about them but because I struggle with them. Sometimes obedience is hard, sometimes I do want the results without the painful process, and sometimes I just can't fathom how the apostles rejoiced in their suffering. The Lord has so much to teach me. What is He teaching you?

Homeschool Happenings

We now have a few days of homeschooling under our belt with a brand new curriculum. I am pleased to say that so far we all love it! This is my 5th year homeschooling and our first year using a DVD based curriculum. This is the first time we have ever switched curriculum and it was a huge decision but so far we couldn't be happier! Here are a few pictures of the kiddos hard at work.Evan is working practicing his handwriting and Clayton is hard at work on his Math!

Girl Time

This past weekend my friend Julie came in town. Julie and I have been friends since we were about 13 years old. We had some fun girl time and I got to show her around Little Rock. Julie is the busy mom to a 5 year old and twin 2 year olds so this was a much needed getaway for her! We got our nails done, went shopping, watched a movie while eating brownies and ice cream, and talked until we couldn't talk anymore....and that was only one day. On Sunday we spent more time with Larry and the boys. We went to church and walked the Big Dam Bridge before we took her to the airport. It was fun to have a girl around the house but Larry informed me after she left that I shouldn't be surprised if he is very quiet for awhile. He told me that he met his word quota for the week without even saying anything! I don't think we talked THAT much!

Evan-ism

Little Rock is home to the longest pedestrian-only built bridge in the United States. It is built over the Murray Lock and Dam. Originally it was to be named the Pulaski County Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge but in Arkansas we know it as the Big Dam Bridge. The nickname was given by Pulaski County Judge F.G. “Buddy” Villines, who was concerned about financing needed and was quoted to say, "We're going to build that dam bridge." (He insisted he was referring to its location on a dam, and was not using the expletive.)

So today we had a friend in town and we decided to all walk the Big Dam Bridge. This was our first time going to the bridge and on the way there out of the mouth of our little 6 year old we hear "It takes a long time to get to that dam bridge!" It took us a second to realize that he was using it's name and then we got a good laugh out of it!

Sibling Rivalry

I am an only child. Let me assure you now that I’ve managed to grow up to be a fully functioning member of society despite the stereotypes that people love to put on only children! However, as an only child there is one thing that I never had to learn about, deal with, or face in life, and that is sibling rivalry. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to hear Lisa Whelchel (Blair from Facts of Life) speak at a church in O’Fallon, MO. She has written a number of books including Creative Correction, Speaking Mom-ese and The Busy Mom’s Guide to Prayer. Shortly after beginning her talk she informed us that she would not be talking much on sibling rivalry. I was devastated. After all that was a main reason I had come to see her! Then she confided that part of the reason was that she had no idea what to do about it! I couldn’t decide if that was a comfort to me or if all hope of having a war free zone in my house had just been dashed. She said that if we had a solution we should let her know so that she can write a book about it and make millions!

Top off sibling rivalry with the fact that they are boys…another new adventure for an only child girl…and I’m treading in uncharted territory. Larry is some help but not much. His sister is 5 years younger and while they did fight, they weren’t glued together at the hip like my boys are. He finds himself as confused as I am. We’ve tried every technique, lecture, and scripture known to man but they are all band-aids that eventually wear off exposing that ugly sin nature again. So if you have any ideas or solutions let me know…I’ll write a book about it and make millions!

Christian One Liners

I got this e-mail from a friend and decided to pick out some of my favorites to share. Some will make you think, some are just funny. Enjoy...

Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited
until you try to sit in their pews.

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Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisors.

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It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.

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The good Lord didn't create anything
without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close.

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When you get to your wit's end, you'll find God lives there.

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Opportunity may knock once, but temptation
bangs on your front door forever.

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Be ye fishers of men. You catch them - He'll clean them.

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Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.

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Forbidden fruits create many jams.

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God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

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God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

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If God is your Co-pilot - swap seats!

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The task ahead of us is never as
great as the Power behind us.

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The Will of God never takes you to
where the Grace of God will not protect you.

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We don't change the message, the message changes us.

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Fireproof

We had the incredible pleasure of seeing a pre-screening of the movie Fireproof at a recent staff conference. We were blown away. This movie is probably one of the best movies we have ever seen right along side Facing the Giants. Here is the trailer to check out for yourself. It opens in theaters on September 26. Don't miss this one...and I don't just say that for the sake of saying it....I'm serious....DON'T MISS IT! In fact go opening weekend so that it can be in theaters ministering to marriages for a long time. To learn more go to www.fireproofthemovie.com.

Making Wise Choices

During dinner tonight we started talking to the boys about making wise choices in everything from the food we eat to the things we watch. We talked about 1Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” And Romans 6:13 “…and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive form the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” We had a great time talking about ways that we can use the parts (members) of our body as instruments of righteousness and unrighteousness (NIV says wickedness). That led to a discussion about what goes into our eyes and how we can choose things to watch that are righteous and glorify God or are unrighteous. We talked about Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” We made sure that they understood that all of this discussion didn’t mean that we can’t have chocolate or only watch Christian shows or listen to Christian music but I hope that as they grow they will use these scriptures to guide them in the choices that they make.

But it isn’t only kids who need to be reminded of this. I remember a time when there was a show that I loved. It didn’t exactly follow Philippians 4:8 but I was being wise about it and there was nothing really bad in it. As the show became more and more popular it started to stretch farther and farther from the show I had enjoyed, and before I knew it I was watching filth. It reminds me of one of my favorite stories regarding media choices. In the book “How to Bring Your Children to Christ…& Keep Them There” by Ray Comfort he tells of an article by Jeremy Archer in which he allowed some “worldly” guests to enter his home:

While their behavior was questionable, they entertained his family, and he justified the friendship by saying that Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners. Sometimes the conversations revolved around drinking, violence, drugs, the occult, sex, theft, lying, and other vices. But he said that they justified it because it was all discussed in an entertaining manner.
Their guests were having a growing influence on his family. As time passed, the behavior grew worse. Then people began partying, making obscene gestures, and even started having sex right in front of him and his family. As I read the article I remember thinking, “How could he let this happen…in front of his family! How could he be looking at them!” Then I read the final words of the article. He concluded, “Together we turned off the television.”

I think that pretty well sums it up!