A Friend

*That God so Wonderfully Blessed Me With*

"To know someone here or therewith whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed. That can make life a garden."-Goethe

"Can miles truly separate us from friends?If we want to be with someone we love, aren't we already there?"- Richard Bach

"Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend,as you will always find me yours."- Ludwig van Beethoven

"Some people come into our lives,leave footprints on our hearts,and we are never the same."- Unknown

"I always knew looking back on the tears would make me laugh.But I never knew looking back on the laughs would make me cry."- Unknown

"Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend,as you will always find me yours."- Ludwig van Beethoven

"A part of you has grown in me. And so you see, it's you and metogether forever and never apart, maybe in distance, but never in heart."- Unknown

"Each friend represents a world in us,a world possibly not born until they arrive,and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."- Anaïs Nin

~*I Miss You*~

Just wanted to wish you a very...........

What does it mean to celebrate Christmas? I wanted to know for myself what it means to celebrate Jesus birth. I decided to look up celebrate and here is what I found to be the meaning of celebrating Jesus birth:


To celebrate means to observe, to praise and to make known or to display. So I found it interesting what it means to celebrate Jesus birth means:


*) To observe........By celebrating His birth I am observing Christ birth a significant part of His life and reflecting deeply on God's power and love for me.
*) To praise........By celebrating His birth I am praising the Lord for sending His only begotton Son for saving me from my wretched sin, Praise and Glory be to God.

*) To make known; to display............By celebrating Christ birth I am making Him known to the world. I am displaying the miraculous power and glory of God.



Let us all reflect deeply on what it means to celebrate the birth of the Savior today and tomarrow and everyday. This is, for me, the true meaning and how we should and are called to celebrate Christ in every part of His holy and perfect reign on this earth starting at the night of His birth which we celebrate as December 25.



Merry Christmas



~*Soli Deo Gloria -- Glory be to God*~

Challenge, finished, enjoying, and some comfort

I challenge you today to listen and yeild to the silent whispers in your heart and mind. When you are in the midst of life whether big or little hardhsip I encourage you to be quiet and listen and you will hear them. When you do don't ignore them, yeild to them immediatly.

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I finished a really good book that I recomend to all women of God. It is called Biblical Womanhood in the Home edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. If you do not know who this woman is look over at my sidebar under Influentcial Women of God and click on Nancy Leigh DeMoss and learn some and maybe even listen to her 15 minute radio show. In this book there are many authors and all of them give a lot of insight into the high an holy calling of womanhood. I am so excited about sharing this book with all of you! It is extremely encouraging and soaked in scripture.

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We are in Lake Charles right now enjoying good times with family. It has been just lovely so far and relaxing. Christmas is only a few days away now and that means so is my birthday, not to take any glory away from Christ of course, I just remembered. I no longer look forward to birthdays. I use to love them and long for them. The thought that every year I got a little bit closer to freedom, ha! What an illusion. Now every year I just get a year older than the year before. What a blessing though, to get older. 2 Corinthians 3: 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. When I think of getting older I try to remeber this verse and I am comforted instead of plagued with feelings of dispair.

Not a review or is it?

I wrote this right after watching the movie. If you haven't seen it you must, it is astoundingly good.

I am not even going to attempt to write a review on the movie Narnia, I am only going to express my personal thoughts on the feelings I am overwhelmed with as I sit here. I was humbled tonight as I sat in a dark room and was taken back to the sacrafice of Christ. I have yet the words to describe the way I feel about this movie, Narnia, that we went to watch. It is not so much the movie in and of itself that has caused this but the substance of it. I have not read a review of The Chronicles of Narnia that has done it justice, in my eyes. The depiction of Christ was absolutley amazing and moving to say the least. I sat there tonight with my husband and my 5 year old flower #1 in awe and deep reverence of God. I encourage you if you havent seen this movie yet, go see it, reflect on the story and on Aslan deeply, apply it personally, and lay down before the Lord with immense gratitude for what He has done for You, your children, your husband, your mother and father, and friends.



I was saddened as I thought of how many people sat right there with me in that dark room and watched just an entertaining story of a make believe place with fun made up characters and went home with no reflection or reverence to anything except sleep. There was a place in the movie where I wanted to run to the front of this huge theatre and scream to everyone in there "Do you realize who Aslan represents and what He is doing for Edmund He has done for You!" but of course I contained myself and continued watching Aslan being mocked, shaved, and completey humiliated with tears in my eyes.



Praise God tonight for His mighty love for us. For what He has done for us. Reflect on your life and see God's hand in it and be soaked with gratitude. Pray that you might lay down your life for Him and hand over anything that you have been held captive to your anger, your attitude, your plans and anything that is keeping you from seeing His glory and from bringing Him glory.

Wait I am confused....

Who came first: pagans or Christians with their celebration on December 25?

Click Here

A Polar Bear reminder

I am sitting here staring at a stuffed polar bear that is standing against my computer desk door. Which reminds me of the visiters we were blessed with Thursday night. The Toombs family so kindly took the time while they were here in Texas to visit little us. We were honored and excited to sit and talk with them for a few hours. We drank coffee talked and laughed. The children played quite well with eachother, all except Kenedy who was lost in her book, which I am glad for. I loved seeing her over there reading while Shannon and I talked. The bear that is standing here is Jadara's that is why I am reminded of their visit. I thouroughly enjoyed chatting with Shannon about life, family, homeschooling, parenting, books, and struggles (my own really). After they left Rick and I sighed a big sigh of refreshment not relief we were sad to see them go but it was late and the kids were tired. We felt as if we had been recharged by their visit. I am so thankful that we were able to see them even if it was only for a few hours, maybe we will be blessed by their presence again next year!!

Letting Go....

I had to share this piece of the book I am reading Biblical Womanhood in the Home edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. It just struck me hard and left me praying that I will if this ever comes up in my future with my children have this same attitude. Something I have come to realize just recently is that my children are only being loaned to me. They are my children but first they are the Lord’s children. I am caring for them until it is time for them to follow Him on their own. My purpose as their mother is to train them in His righteousness and in His instruction so that they can be a servant for Him. Here is the excerpt from chapter 4, Portrait of a Woman used by God by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, which has been an amazing read!

“Mothers, have you laid down your children for the sake of Christ and His kingdom? How sad it is on occasion to see Christian parents stand in the way of their children laying down their lives for the sake of Christ. And what a joy to see parents who gladly release their children to the will of God. I remember when a dear pastor’s wife, a friend of mine, said “good-bye” to one of her daughters, along with her son-in-law and two grandchildren, as they left to be missionaries in Cambodia. Just before their departure, I asked my friend “Isn’t this hard for you?” She replied, “Oh, Nancy, I can’t think of anything more wonderful than to have a child who wants to lay down her life for the sake of taking the Gospel to the world. Yes, it’s hard. We won’t see them much in this world, but there’s a whole lot of eternity after this life.” My friend, like Mary of Nazareth, was willing to bear the wounds of giving up her child for God’s redemptive purposes.”

I can only imagine that it would be hard to let go of your children for many reasons but with the perspective that the Lord is their sustainer, protector, provider, light, comfort, and rock it makes it a lot easier. I think that we have to be careful to not become selfish when it comes to our children. God is not trying to take our children away from us and cause us pain. We need to realize that we have had them for an important part of their life and in this time have prepared them to basically give their lives to the Lord, to submit to Him before us. When and if our children feel called to live 500 or 1000 miles away from us, in another state or in a whole other country our joy should overshadow our sadness and selfishness. We might not be able to see them as much as we would like here in this world but look forward to when we all go home together and instead of focusing on the illusion that they are you happiness try to focus on what God or is doing in your life and focus on Christ as your happiness.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Psalm 127:3-4

The "S" word

I just wanted to post some good articles on the "S" word of Homeschooling.

http://www.oakmeadow.com/resources/articles/Social.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/sasschool/socialization.html
http://homeschool.priswell.com/pachy.htm
http://www.nhen.org/newhser/default.asp?id=415
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31539
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/042998.htm
http://www.homeedmag.com/INF/STRT/strt_art_socialztn.html


I use to have such a hard time anwsering this dreaded question of Socialization. But now after much study and a lot of thought I have no problem and I embrace it.

Blessings!

More Pics by the Tree

A Christmas Kiss

My Sweet Boys!

I took pictures of them under our untraditional white Christmas tree this morning and I love this one! I Hope that this month is going well for you and is not to chaotic.

Peace and Blessings

Yesterday and Today

Fun Fun was our day yesterday! A little frazzled for me but fun in the end. It is hard to stay focused with all of the madness of shopping, whether it is for presents, decorations, or just the monthly groceries. Last night we did our first night of our new tradition. It was a blast for all of us. We rented Madagascar, ate popcorn, drank hot chocolate (and I got to wear a little bit too after Eli tumbled onto the couch unaware of the "hot" chocolate in my hands) laughed, snuggled a little, and just relaxed as a family. It was very nice. Today started off good until we realized that there wasn't enough time to do all of the things we wanted to get done because of our lack of organization of time. But we figured it out after much heated discussion. I have to work on being calmer and quieter when things don't go exactly the way I planned them to go. I am about to go set up a messy craft project Eli and I are going to do. We decided to customize our christmas ornament balls for the tree. We have red and silver balls that we are going to write with glue Jesus, Saviour, Joy, Peace, and draw crosses on others and then pour glitter over them it is going to be messy and where there is mess there is sure to be..........FUN. I am excited! Tonight for our present we are going to get cokes, and I think marshmellows and have a night by the fire place! And sing carols.

Blessings Everyone!

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!