Summertime!

"Summertime and the livin' is easy.  Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high..."

Today is the first official day of summer vacation for many kids as the school year ended on Friday!  Often parents don't plan ahead and many kids waste away their summers...sleeping in, sitting in front of the TV, playing video games and as every teacher dreads...backsliding in their learning.

A friend of mine texted me the other day that her and her sweet family were coming up with a "Summer Bucket List".  I thought, "What a cool idea!"

 

My plan is to not only have a family "Summer Bucket List", but also my own personal "Summer Bucket List" of what I personally hope to accomplish this summer. 

Michaela and I made our bucket list poster and tonight we are going to sit down as a family and we are going to make our own "Summer 2012 Bucket List".  We want to have a plan and a focus for our summer! We can't wait to make it and start checking them off the list!

 

5 Years

Today Dave and I celebrated 5 years of marriage! 

Thanks to my wonderful parents we were able to go out for dinner tonight just the two of us and reflect on the past five years as well as discuss what we anticipate in the next five years.

We have been through a lot these last five years.

In the last five years we have...

Bought a home...

Had a beautiful baby girl...

Experienced a few years of little or no work...

Had a beautiful baby boy...

Experienced the loss of a child...

Had another beautiful baby boy...

Totaled not one but two vehicles...

and the list goes on...

I loved sitting tonight looking back at how the Lord has blessed us in so many ways these last five years and looking forward to seeing how he blesses us in the next five years! :)

GOD IS GOOD!

Kindness

 Yesterday, Michaela and I started our character traits.  This week we are talking about kindness!  We started our morning learning the definition:  Kindness is:

THOUGHTFULNESS

ARISING from

 LOVE

 

We talked about different scenarios of where we could be kind, and we read a great example of kindness:  The Good Samaritan.  We have started memorizing the scripture passage that goes with it:  Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you!"

We talked about how kindness is not just the things we do but in the words we say and in the thoughts we think.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of practicing living out kindness.  On my way to my parents where both Michaela and Aidan were at, I was involved in a car accident.  As I proceeded through the green light another lady ran the red light and hit my door and the door where normally Aidan is sitting flinging my vehicle around and then hitting the front of my car.  She immediately got out of her car and started yelling at me that I ran a red light and that her light was green.  I noticed she had children in her car and I asked if she was okay and if her children in the vehicle were okay.  I was so thankful that the Lord prompted me to stop and stay calm making sure they were okay.  I think my normal response would have been to defend myself and start yelling back.  There were several witnesses that stopped but I was especially thankful for an elderly woman who came to me to make sure I was okay and comforted me.  She showed true kindness in her words and actions and assured me that I did nothing wrong.

The Lord knew that we needed to be focusing on kindness this week!!  

Michaela and I are looking forward to more ways that we can practice kindness and see where others are practicing kindness as well.

Character Shines!

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:16

 

One desire I have is that my children develop character that shines.  I pray daily that Michaela and Aidan will make wise choices and that their actions and attitudes will reflect Jesus.  I also pray that they will see me make wise choices and that my actions and attitudes will reflect Him.  I am beginning to develop a "curriculum" for Michaela as I prepare to do "school" with her this summer and into the Fall.  One thing that I am going to do with her this summer is from FamilyLife called Character Shines.  The plan is to spend one week highlighting a specific character quality.  I had looked at this a long time ago, and recently decided to purchase it as there is a 35% off discount for the month of May if you enter the code COURAGE.

Click to Order

The 12 character traits are:

Kindness Humility Teachability Forgiveness Obedience Discernment

Purity Responsibility Courage Servanthood Contentment Endurance

The While They Are Sleeping book gives prayers to pray over your children asking God to work in our children's hearts, forming their character, developing beneficial attributes and molding each child's will to follow Him.

I have been working on some specific stories for each attribute and little activities that Michaela and I will be doing together throughout the week to help encourage development in the specific character trait.  I am really excited and looking forward to not only encouraging Michaela to develop these traits but to work on each area in my own life as well.

I will be sharing what we do and how it is going so, be watching as we begin the first week of June! 

My Precious Daughter

Dave and I love our Michaela girl so much!  She brings so much joy to our lives.  On several occasions the topic of what are we going to do when boys start coming around has come up.  She is so precious to us and if the Lord blesses us with any other girls they too will be just as precious to us.  We daily pray for Michaela that she will grow to love Jesus with all her heart and that her life will reflect that love to others.

My Mother brought a story up in conversation and Dave and I thought it was so neat!  It is something we desire to do with our girls someday to let them know how valuable they are and how valuable their purity is.  I hope this story touches you as much as it did us.

The Charm Bracelet
fiction by Sarah Kistler

Sweet 16 had finally come! I never thought I‘d make it. But I did. And it was amazing. My parents threw the birthday party of the century, and I had more people than I could count. The whole day had been awesome. But as I watched the sun begin to set, I knew the best part was soon to come.
It was late in the evening. Confetti had been swept up, helium balloons had started to sag and gift wrap had been folded neatly and tucked away for my mom’s later use. As I sat at my window studying the dusky sky, Dad peeked into my room with a smile.
“Ready to go, Sweetie?” he asked.
Was that a trick question? I wondered as I scrambled to my feet. I’d been waiting for this night for five long years, and it was finally here! I was now officially allowed to date!
The plan was for my parents and me to go to my favorite restaurant on the night of my 16th birthday and officiate the agreement, go over standards and discuss rules and such. And now we were finally on our way.
I sat across from my parents in a quiet corner booth. Having just placed our orders, I figured it was time to get on with it. “So. I can go out with any guy I want to, right?” I squealed, hardly able to contain my excitement.
Mom and Dad chuckled. Dad answered, “Well, we agreed to that, didn’t we?”
“Sweet!” I exclaimed, doing a little victory dance in my seat. My parents had held me off for years, but now that the time had come, they would let me date any guy I wanted! Of course they knew I had a good relationship with God and wasn’t too short on common sense, either.
“Now wait just a second,” Mom interrupted with a smile. “You have to agree to a little something yourself.”
I was expecting a lecture of some sort, so I was already prepared. “So what do I have to do now?” I asked, leaning forward on my elbows.
“Just open this,” Dad answered, producing a small white box. He gave a mysterious smile.
One Little Rule
I hesitated a moment before untying the curly pink ribbon. I slowly opened the lid and saw a beautiful silver bracelet. But not just any bracelet. It was a charm bracelet. And they weren’t just any charms. They were gemstones, small but gorgeous. A dozen dainty charms dangled gently.
“Wow.” I didn’t know what else to say. I wasn’t expecting this at all.
“Now you have to understand this isn’t just any bracelet,” Mom informed me.
“I know,” I said. “It’s so beautiful!” I studied it closer. There were six small charms alternating with six tinier ones. The smaller ones were a deep blue. Sapphires, I guessed. And the other six were each different. One appeared to be just a rock, one was pink, a white one, a red one, green … and was that a diamond?
“This charm bracelet is symbolic,” Dad explained, leaning in closer to study it with me. “It represents you and your purity. This is what will guide you through your dating relationships. Your mother and I can only tell you what’s right. We can’t make you believe it yourself. Hopefully, this will.”
I looked up solemnly. “I’m listening.”
“This represents the first time you hold a guy’s hand,” Mom said, pointing to the gray one. “It’s just a piece of polished granite. Seemingly cheap, yes, but it’s still a part of your bracelet. This is pink quartz.” She gently rubbed the next one between her fingers. “It represents your first kiss.”
“This green one is an emerald,” Dad continued. “This is your first boyfriend. The pearl is the first time you say ‘I love you’ to a man other than me.”
I giggled. This was so amazing.
“The ruby stands for your first engagement. And the diamond represents the first time you say ‘I do,’ ” Mom finished.
After letting it all sink in, I cleared my emotion-clogged throat. “What do the six tiny sapphires stand for?” I asked.
“Those are to remind you how beautiful and valuable you are to us and to God,” Dad replied. “Now here’s the hitch in all this, the one and only rule you’ll ever have to follow when it comes to dating.”
Only one rule. Sounded good. But little did I know …
“Whenever you give one these actions of love-a kiss, an ‘I love you,’ a hand to hold-you also have to give the recipient the gem to match.”
I must’ve misunderstood. “I have to give him the gem?”
“You have to give it to him,” Mom restated.
I was silent for a moment. I thought they must be joking. But they weren’t even thinking of cracking a smile.
“But Daddy!” I suddenly shrieked. “These are insanely expensive! I can’t just give them away!”
He gave a soft, loving chuckle. “Did you hear what you just said?”
I thought about it.
“Baby, your purity, your heart, they’re far more valuable than a few little rocks. If you can’t find it in your heart to give away your little charms, I don’t think you should be giving away the things they represent.”
I could feel my insides melting, ready to gush out my tear ducts. On the one hand, it made me feel valuable and precious. But on the other, it made me furious. It made no sense. But it would.
Priceless Gems
A few weeks after that night, I was hanging out with my friends at the beach. Chad wouldn’t swim because I wouldn’t swim. I was more interested in reading than getting caked with sand, and he was more interested in sitting with me than swimming with his buddies. He was sweet. He was cute. And he tried to hold my hand.
I was thrilled for a nanosecond when a certain piece of ugly granite flashed through my mind and made me move out of his reach. I was severely annoyed-annoyed at my parents, annoyed at my bracelet-turned-handcuffs, but most of all, annoyed at myself. I was letting a little rock dominate my romantic life.
I furiously glared at it during the whole embarrassing walk to the bathhouse. But then God hit me upside the head with a shocking epiphany. I couldn’t give up my little chunk of granite. It was a part of my bracelet, which in a sense made it a part of me. I wouldn’t be whole without it. It wasn’t a priceless gem, yet it was still valuable. It made sense after that.
Kevin came along eventually. We had fun. We hung out a lot. I thought I might love him. I thought I might tell him so. I thought of my pearl. It turned out that I didn’t love him as much as I thought I did.
So my parents had been right. They couldn’t make me believe the things they wanted me to believe. So they let God and my bracelet do the work instead. Among the four of them, I figured out how valuable I was. How valuable my purity was. How not valuable guys were who just wasted my time and emotions. If they weren’t in it for the whole bracelet, why should they get one part of it?
Nate. He thought my bracelet was awesome. So he never tried to hold my hand. He never tried to kiss me. But he asked me to marry him.
I never knew that so many years of torture could amount to so much happiness. I’d thought it was silly. I’d thought it was overrated. But now, I've never been more glad of anything in my life. As I gave my husband the charm bracelet in its entirety, I wondered why I had found it so hard to hang on to those little rocks when it was so amazing to give them all to the man I truly loved.
But it didn’t end there. Now our daughter wears it.
From: www.briomag.com