Our decision after years of questioning...........

The questioning of whether to allow our children to believe in the made up character of St. Nick now known as Santa Clause. It has been tried and tried here at our house for about 5 years now, since the first CHRISTmas we had as a family. For the first 2-3 years we didn't take it real seriously and allowed it to to take place, but there has always been something about it that has not set well with my conscience. I could never really put my finger on it, well I could I guess but I didn't want to. I did not feel convicted enough to take the made up part of Santa Clause out of the tradition of our CHRISTmas. Well, now our oldest is 5 years old and can understand a lot of concepts that he couldn't before. Our perspective on life and training our children has taken a big turn since then also in where Christ is center of it all, and in everything not to leave out anything small, ordinary or simple.

Here is a thought that sprung up in my mind the other day as we were on our way to visit family. My son is really into Peter Pan right now. He pretends to be him and wants to watch the movie over and over. He asked me not to long ago about the reality of Peter Pan. Is he real? Easy, no. He is a made up character, there isn't a real boy who can fly and who will never grow up, who has fairies and lives in a make believe place called Never Never Land. I didn't even think about allowing him to think that this boy was real, it didn't even cross my mind. So in the car while thinking about this CHRISTmas coming up and family promoting Santa Clause I figured we should discuss the question once more but this time come to a conclusion. And that is when it hit me..........why am I having such a hard time with this one made up character? Do I allow my son to believe in any other made up characters? Well, of course not. I don't allow him to believe in a boy who can fly who lives in another land and has fairies why would I allow him to believe in a man who can fly because of his reindeer who lives in another place and has little elves. Because I did when I was little, and because everyone else does. I don't know of anyone who actually allows their children to believe in Peter pan and his fairies, talking animals, or any other made up character but for some reason parents do allow their children to believe in one make believe character, Santa Clause. Now I know that he was a real man known as St. Nick but he has been made into a fictional character with magical powers.

After this thought I thought of the answer we always used to justify our decision in the past and almost again for the future. It would always overshadow any other anwser we had....oh, I believed in him and I turned out okay, it is just a fun thing for kids to believe in. But the thing is it takes the focus for us off of the purpose of CHRISTmas............CHRIST. Children, my children would have a harder time focusing on Christ if they are infatuated with Santa Clause and the presents that go with him. Also Santa Clause has far to many made up qualities that some one else has, God. He can see you when your sleeping? He knows when you are awake? He knows when you've been bad or good? So be good for goodness sakes? What was I going to allow my children to think, that they should obey a fictional character that is all knowing because they would give them a present if they did? Is this what I want my children to relate to God? That he also possibly works this way? God is the only all knowing being and that is the way it should be set in the mind of a child, why complicate it for them just because it is fun and everyone else does it. I think we have been fouled that they will be missing out on something great if we don't allow them to believe in Santa Clause the made up character. Which leads me into my next opposition of this issue….lying to my children for the sake of fun? Why did I ever think it is okay to allow them to believe in something that isn't real for a few years. It can not be okay to allow them to believe in something that isn't real for a few years and then have to tell them when they either figure it out on their own, someone else mean spirited tells them, or you have to tell them yourself that you have been lying to them all these years. Maybe, it won’t harm them any or they won’t care much but what exactly is the point? I feel as a Christian I can’t allow my children to take part in this. Now, there is a much greater person that should be more emphasized during this time and that is Christ. There is a great and wonderful purpose in Him and His true character vastly triumphs over the made up character of Santa Clause.

So, our decision is to take the emphasis of CHRISTmas off of Santa Clause and re-focus it on to the son of God, Christ. That is our final decision.

Give Thanks to the Lord

"For flowers that bloom about our feet; For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee; For all things fair we hear or see, Father in
heaven, we thank Thee!" ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

*Be Blessed and Stuffed with Prayer, Thanksgiving, and of course Turkey!

To my Dear and Loving Husband

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cAnneot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

~Anne Bradstreet


A husband, a father, a playmate, a friend, a sword fighter, a jedi knight, a protecter, a leader, a provider, a hard worker, a loving and strong man of God that lights our lives with joy and comfort. We all are so thankful for this man that God blessed us with and we are all proud beyond words of him.




We Love You.........................You are our Angel and we are thankFULL to God for You!!! *Love your abundantly proud wife and little men.

**S.H.M.I.L.Y**

Listen

Here is the great evangelical disaster - the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this - namely ACCOMMODATION. The evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirit of the age. First, there has been accommodation on Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all the Bible teaches. . . .This accommodation has been costly, first in destroying the power of the Scriptures to confront the spirit of our age; second, in allowing the further slide of our culture.

Francis Shaeffer

The modern world detests authority but worships relevance. Our Christian conviction is that the Bible has both authority and relevance, and that the secret of both is Jesus Christ.

John R. W. Stott


Scripture is God breathed read 1 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,.

Sola Scriptura

1 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Psalm 18:30

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Mathew 5:48

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.


2 Peter 1:19-21

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

A New Place

I have changed my Striving to Bring Him Glory blogspot to another more fun and Eli and Kai centered spot for family and friends. Here is the link to it:

"The Harper Pups"

There will mostly just be pictures of them and updates on the new things they are learning and doing and it is all from their perspective.

Eli is excited about it!

Prayer for a Family

This was emailed to Amy over at Dandelion Seeds. She wants us to spread the word to pray for this family.

I received an email update from Danelle. She wrote:

"Amy,
We are going back to court on the 17th of this month. Only four days left. We are praying that this will be the last time we have to go before the judge. She will take some time to make her decision, please pray with us that we will know her ruling before Christmas. The lawyer that represents the Department of Family Services is petitioning the judge on the behalf of our family, for time with our children on Thanksgiving. We covet your prayers especially now.
DANI"

Here is my prayer:

Father,

I lift up this precious and grieving family to You. Oh, Lord this family is going through so much hardship at this time. Of course You know better than me or anyone else what is going on in their hearts and minds. I grieved with them tonight as I read their story and the pain of loosing a son gripped my heart and soul. God, we ask that You cover this family with Your mighty and outsretched wing and may You cast Your comfort and peace on them. May Your love radiate on them and ease them. I know they must have so many thoughts and feelings that are running through them.....guide these. Don't allow the evil one to take even a hint of this family into his nasty snare. We know that all things are meant for good to all those who trust you, God let the good shine forth through all of this displaying your majestic glory. Please, we pray that this family will be reunited. Those precious angels are in need of their God given parents, open the hearts of those who are making the decisions in this case. May they come to a righteous, compassionate, and heartfelt decision. We ask all of this in the name of your perfect son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Rejoice in the Lord

Blessings. Today is going to be a frazzled dazzled day for this mama. I am watching 2 of our neighbors kids all day. Our neighbor is being induced today to have her little precious baby boy. I pray that all goes well with her and Cameron (the babies name). Yesterday, we all went to a Presbyterian church and I have to say it was very enjoyable. After church we checked out their library/book store and ended up buying a few books for an awesome price. Here is the list of books we bought:

Mine:
Christian Love by Hugh Binning
The Duties of Parents by Koelman a Dutch Reformer
Biblical Womanhood in the Home by Nancy Leigh DeMoss (very excited about this one)
When you Rise Up by R.C. Sproul Jr. (About Covental Approach to Homeschooling)

Ricks:
The Death of Death in the death of Christ by John Owen (supposedly one of the best books ever written)

For both of us:
Scripture Alone by R.C. Sproul





I can't wait to start reading them!

Breakfast in Bed by Mary Cassatt

Prayer of a Child

(I found this amazing artist today while searching Yahoo for inspirational paintings. Mary Crittenden has been painting since whe was 7. I do not know much about this artist but I am going to learn more. Here is the discription of this painting, I just found it to be lovely and wanted to share it.)

In this painting a mother is washing the laundry on a washboard, glances at her son and sees him praying. His sister is placing her hands together as she sees her brother doing. Mary wanted to say many things in this painting, the training of our children to go to the Father in prayer at any time for any reason. We never know who is watching us as the sister sees her brother praying, so are we are light and salt in this world and as the mother has lived the truth before the children and then they live it before others. The light of God is seen in us and passed on.
Mary chose cool colors to express the time of day early in the morning. She wanted the boy’s face to be seen as peace. This peace doesn’t depend on circumstances it is given to us through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 8:3,4

The Race

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

We are in a continual non-stop race. There is a prize to be one. Can you see all the people running in this race with you? They are all around you. The difference in this race and the usual race is the prize to be one the highest and holiest one to win and in this race we are not trying to beat our fellow companions that run beside us. We are to be encouraging them along the way. If they fall we are to stop and help them get up and focus their eyes back to the finish line and the hope of glory. I think so often we forget that and we keep running even when a fellow companion falls down. This race is not to have a competitive attitude but a compassionate and loving attitude. Do not have a prideful attitude either in this race, I often times find myself comparing myself to other racers. I try to push a little harder to get ahead of them. This race is not to be run in vain, but in selflessness and humbleness. It is to be run for Christ and His glory.

Be careful though, for there are some racers who will try to cause you to fall down. Galatians 5:7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? If you do fall down get right back up again and continue in your race for Christ. It is going to be challenging and rough at times, there will be hills, mountains to climb, you will feel fatigued and worn but keep your head up, there will be others along the way that will need your help, push through the pain and weaknesses and look within you for the will to keep running with all that you have. Pray for the strength of endurance to get you through the rough spots in your race.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Remember that we all have our own routes to journey down. Mine has been especially marked out for me while yours has been especially marked out for you. God marked us out our own routes because He knew what each of us could handle. Isn't our God awesome, He gives us only what we can handle in our race. So when times get hard and the terrain seems impossible remember this even though hard was made just for you because you are able to handle it. Those rocks were set in you path for a reason, that mountain you are struggling up has a purpose, those people back there you helped even though you were tired and didn't want to were also for a purpose a divine purpose. There are no accidents in this race, nothing is coincidental, and they are all providence and in His will. So persevere through all of these struggles and keep your mind and eyes on the invisible finish line that we are told of. It will be glorious!

Magnificant Beauties

Genesis 1:20-25
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.























It was amazing to see some of the creatures that God created up close and personal. They were gorgeous, even though some were quite frightening. We got to see some other creatures that displayed the beauty of God's glory, one of them we were able to go back stage and see was the Manatees. They were such gentle looking and slow moving quiet creatures.

These magnificant beauties were all at the Dallas Aquarium that we went to yesterday with family and friends that are in town visiting with us.

excused absence

I often pick up a book by Douglas Wilson called Excused Absence to further enhance my conviction of why I am not sending my children to public schools. The bible of course is my number one source of conviction. Blessed Mommy over at Homeschooling4Jesus posted here views on this subject and has moved me to share some quotes from this book and just a little of my views on the subject of whether christian parents should allow their children to go to public schools.

The school system that ignores God teaches its pupils to ignore God; and this is not neutrality. It is the worst form of antagonism, for it judges God to be unimportant and irrelevant in human affairs. This is atheism. ~Gordon H. Clark


I remember when I was still trying to decide whether or not I was going to send my children to school or keep them at home with me. It was for me a hard decision because I was and still am selfish and didn’t want to give up my time. Here was my battle inside…….send them to school and I get all day to clean my house, read, study my bible, sleep, go shopping if I want, play on the computer, watch TV, or just do whatever I want…………or keep them at home and totally give my life, every second of my time to tending to them. Now to my worldly mind the first option fed my selfish flesh and made it feel good but there was always a deeper cry convincing me to choose the second one. At the time I was not exactly sure as to what or where it was coming from. I knew of course of all the pains, trials, temptations and other things that went along with school and I wasn’t sure if I wanted my children to have to face those but of course those most often were overshadowed by the fun times of sports, friends, and just the experience in general. Now as I sit here having made the decision to keep my children at home with me I am thankful that I did not choose the second option. The thought of me sending my kids to a place where God is no where to be seen, heard, or spoken of is unacceptable for me. I serve God not our government. God has given me a high and holy calling of being a mother and I believe that that means taking on the full responsibility of it. He says to …..train them up in righteousness………..can we do that fully by sending them to public schools that ignore righteousness? Absolutely not, He also tells us in Eph. 6:4 “Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” This can not be done if they are not with us and are being disciplined and instructed by the world. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says “And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” I see this verse as a way of telling us parents that we are to be with our children pretty much every second of the day teaching them his Words. We are to obey every instruction that He gives us through His word, these are our instructions as parents, and how can we turn our backs on them. Now I do realize that there are some mothers who are not able to stay home and like John Piper says there is a grace for that but if you have no excuse to NOT stay home then let the Lord convict your heart and move you. Bring him glory in giving your life to Him in raising your children in His righteousness. It will be hard, uncomfortable, challenging, exhausting, and stressful but the crown of glory that awaits you will reign over all of those……….be assured of that! It is a reward that is worth all the sacrifices of self. It is our DIVINE CALLING to care and nurture the very souls of our children!! DIVINE CALLING.

“I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt…I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.” ~ Martin Luther

Boundaries

*They define who we are and who we are not.

*Boundaries are necessary when you have 2 individuals in love.

*God defines the spiritual boundaries of our lives in His Word. God has spoken with clarity and authority in defining the spiritual boundaries of our lives. For example, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Lord's Prayer define the things believers should do and the things believers should not do.

Life in the darkness has no set boundaries. It is a wide open field where you can run where you want whenever you want, the fence is far away in the distance. Some can not even see it they are so far from it, but they are on the other side of the boundary lines that those with Christ are on. They are on the outside of the fence, where there so called "freedom" is an illusion. A person with Christ is inside the fence with a real and liberating freedom that looks to the ones on the other side of the fence as a painful captivity.

Lots o thoughts

This is by far the main and the most important thing I have learned thus far:

The bible is suffient in training my children. I am shamed to say that I use to think otherwise. I turned to other books whose authors I thought more fit to help me in my training even when I thought to train them to be Godly men I still had in my mind that other ones had a better application for me than the word ofGod. Thankfully, I did not remain in ignorance of this. All others have followed this one as its shadow.

It is actually amazing to me how every detail is completely and so suffiently covered by His word. It is like a blanket that is a covering for every area of our lives and not just the extreme hardships and life experiences but also the very simple and minute areas. Why I am amazed I don't know, it was just a haze over my mind.

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Amen (my word of the day)

The word "amen" is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best known word in human speech. The word is directly related -- in fact, almost identical -- to the Hebrew word for "believe" (amam), or faithful. Thus, it came to mean "sure" or "truly", an expression of absolute trust and confidence.

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Well, I am at the end of Star Wars III and I hate it. It was horribly good. My throat has been choked up for the last 15 minutes. I enjoyed watching all three of them but I do not think I will ever watch them again. I have read a few tragedies but none of them compare to this one.


Candy has written a book that I think is going to be worth reading it is calledThe Homemanagment Binder:The Housewife's bestfriend. Take a look at it.

Sharing a piece

A sliver, a slice of my days. Well, Eli is now 5 years old! Whew! I Can’t believe it still. He had an awesome day yesterday or so he said. He kept all through the day out of no where saying “I can’t believe I am 5!” My sweet and hyper boy of a boy. He is watching a movie right now. He is now able to watch all of the action hero movies and he absolutely loves them. His favorites are Spiderman and Star Wars. I debated on whether he was ready for these types of movies but after much consideration and discussion with the head of my house it was decided that we would give it a try. Well, he passed the test and is allowed to watch them, of course we screen them first to make sure there isn’t anything offensive to our beliefs in them. We do not, or I do not, care for all the scenes of killing but the movies we allow him to watch always have a good and evil existence in them and we are constantly talking to him about them, trying to relate them to well………..good and evil but in a Christian perspective. We will have his birthday party this coming Saturday at a fun and very beautiful park along with his good friends Soren and Kaylee.

Last night we watched the movie Peter Pan and I have to say I was very impressed with it. I enjoyed, maybe more than Eli. It was really more of a love story than I thought. Of course Eli only saw sword fighting, pirates with hats, a villain with a hook for a hand, a monstrous alligator, and flying children (which he wants to do now). It was a good family movie and I always get excited when we find a good family movie, since they are few and far between. I have episode III of Star Wars sitting in my living room right now just screaming my name, but I can’t watch it until Rick gets home, I promised (dangit). He won’t be home till late so we will probably watch it tomorrow night.

Well I am as busy as a bee or I was and I need to be right now. Jason, a good friend of ours is coming to stay with us for a few days and will be here tonight. We are glad, but the house is not quite ready for him so I best get buzzzzing………………….buzzzzzzzz.

More thoughts tonight I hope.

God Bless You