Everyday Parenting Questions and Delights

    Unashamedly, I do require my four children to do daily chores, with Saturday being the big cleaning day every week.  But this time, the kids initiated the cleaning.  Thanks, Swiffer!  I bought a wonderful cleaning tool from Walmart today that I have been using at my housecleaning job.  You can dust pretty much anything with it.  With the extension handle, you can even dust corners of your ceiling and ceiling fans.  I love it!  

Dusting this afternoon with our new Swiffer duster.

     Over Christmas vacation, my 12-year-old son decided that he has had enough of being a "TV-less" household.  Since being in Ukraine and Hungary, and not watching television, we realized that this absence is really a lovely and refreshing gift, so we never introduced it again.  Our kids grew up only watching movies on Friday night, and an occasional DVD at other times.  Unlike myself who was pretty much addicted to television when I was in about third grade and later.  Our kids made their own toys, spent time imagining all sorts of things, played outside, read, and built things to fill their lives.  Now that my son has created his own homemade TV antenna we are able to access at least 12 channels.  Now what do I do?  So far my answer to his question, "May I watch TV?" has been "no."  We will see if that changes anytime soon.

PJ's homemade TV antenna in our attic.

Sabbath

What a great Sabbath day!
Worship at Glory of Christ Fellowship with Special Guest Speaker, Mark Beck, from Josiah's gift.  Mr. Beck challenged us to memorized whole chapters or entire books of the Bible.  We were challenged by Pastor Charlie to memorize 1 Peter chapter 1 by May.  Lizzy and I decided to take the challenge. Let's do it!
Agape Meal afterwards with wonderful fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Settlers of Catan with my family.   Tomorrow everyone goes back to school!

Feminine Identity Rooted in Creation and Submission to the Creator

"God created"

"And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

"Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."

"And the LORD God formed man"

"She shall be called Woman,

Because she was taken out of Man."

-Excerpts from Genesis 1 and 2

"Let Israel rejoice in their Maker"

-Psalm 149:2

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse"

-Romans 1:20

Mother and son, November 2002

Who am I?  Am I am man? Am I a woman?  May I choose who I am and what I will become?  Aside from the simple fact that my body parts are different from a man's; my voice is different, my hair line is different (my dad and husband's hairlines had already receded by my age), I became pregnant six times with four pregnancies resulting in a live child born from my womb, and my thinking is different; I am a woman because I was created separately and distinctly.  

I am a creature, not the Creator, because I was created.  I am made not the Maker.  I can understand and know God, even His eternal power and Godhead (he is three persons in one true, living God) because He has clearly shown us His attributes.  God is true.  Everything He says He does.  God is powerful. By the word of the LORD the heavens and earth were created.  God is good.  Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father. God is just.  Every evil thing will not go unpunished.  

God is mercy.  God loved this created world so much that He sent His only begotten Son of God, that whoever believes in the Son will have eternal life and will not face the wrath of a just God.  His Son took the wrath reserved for me and you when He died on the cross.  By God's grace, we can know Him through faith in the Son.  The just shall live by faith. We must submit to the Creator and His creation order to be truly free.  We are not free by pretending and living in denial of His creation, but by resting in His authority and sovereign rule in our lives as the Maker.

When I was a young teenager, I was tall and lanky with a long neck.  I wanted to shrink so that I did not stand out.  When I grew up, I became ashamed of my person.  Why did I have this personality that is serious, thoughtful, artistic, and unpopular?  I questioned my creature.  I doubted the Creator.  It was only in looking to the Son, did I realize the freedom in submission to His creation.  God gave me the grace and power to rejoice in my Maker.

Young man….

Young woman…

You are fearfully and wonderfully made….

Do not hide from your manhood or womanhood….

Rejoice in who you are and whose you are…

You are created…

God is the Creator…

Submit to Him…

Rest in Him.

Prayers for the New Year

Epitaph symbol on Ethan's grandmother Overgaard's grave

From my January 1 Bible Reading Plan:

To know wisdom and instruction,

To perceive the words of understanding,

To receive the instruction of wisdom,

Justice, judgment, and equity; 

Proverbs 1:2-3

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

    And in His law he meditates day and night. 

Psalm 1:2

May my family KNOW, PERCEIVE, AND RECEIVE wisdom from God by delighting in and studying God's word day and night. Amen.

Legos and Eyeglasses

NEW GLASSES!

I am sorry, Amy, you are doomed to myopia like the rest of us.  It is only a matter of time.  Enjoy your freedom from glasses while you have it!

Our third child picked up her first pair of glasses today.  She is in fourth grade and was living with a completely near-sighted left eye for who knows how long!  We all picked up new glasses this week, too, except the youngest, of course.

The children's Christmas Vacation has been a very fulfilling experience of lego-building and other forms of creativity and expression.  My oldest prepared supper tonight with a bit of help from Mom.  We also had a bright, sunny day today with a high of about 8 degrees Fahrenheit.  I truly enjoy Minnesota Winters for the sheer fact that the bitter cold weather brings with it plenty of sunshine.  I would take that over 33 degrees and overcast plus fog like we had in Eastern Europe any day.

Driving Home With God's Smuggler

Yesterday we braved the snowy, windy roads of Montana to return home.  Ethan drove the car in white, white difficult conditions.  Our family was tired, and admittedly, the two oldest children were bickering and angry several times during the trip.  Our nerves were on edge.  We put on an audio book edition of "God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew and John and Elizabeth Sherrill written in 1967.  Andrew's world of 1930s and 40s Holland and then the post-world war Iron Curtain missionary work opened our eyes and our imaginations as we drove.  During the breaks, I read from my book "The Insanity of God" by Nik Ripken.

Brother Andrew traveling behind the Iron Curtain in his blue VW sedan.

The persecution of the Church is heavy on my mind after reading these books.  Brother Andrew told a story about Czechoslovakia where the government frustrated the Christians by sponsoring a new edition of the Bible then refusing the print it.  The other Bibles were not allowed to be printed, only the new edition. So without the new edition, no Bibles were available anywhere.  In one church in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the congregation of people possessed only seven Bibles amongst them, so they would hold up their Bibles above their heads during the service so that everyone could crowd around them and share the word together.  They would copy the words to hymns on looseleaf notebooks and share those as well.  How may people in our churches even bring their Bibles to church let alone follow along with the reading of Scripture during the service?  We are so free yet so bound in our "Land of the Free."  We value little of what the historical Church has valued, and God's word is no longer precious to us.  Nik Ripken told countless stories of pastors who were tortured and imprisoned for countless years because they were Christian pastors and refused to denounce Christ.  Their families were persecuted and humiliated as well, yet they counted the cost of this and knew that Jesus was worthy of their suffering.  Cause us, Father, to treasure, love, and be devoted to Jesus Christ just as these persecuted Christians were.  You are worthy of our love. Amen.

Christmas in Montana

Today we drove from Billings to Red Lodge, a rustic mountain town full of snow and lots of skiers. We travelled to Montana Christmas Eve.  It snowed early Christmas morn...I know firsthand because I was driving in it at 2:30am looking for cough syrup for our third child who was wheezing in the middle of the night.  She ended up in the ER on Christmas morn and is doing better with an inhaler and other meds. What a rough Christmas for her!

 Ethan's sister and brother-in-law live here in Billings where Bill is the pastor of the Lutheran Brethren church in town. Their two teenage boys keep us entertained with plenty of jokes and games, especially the youngest's favorite game of Chess.  Ethan's mom and dad came from Arizona yesterday, and we have already played a game of Rook with Mom.  She is a huge risk-taker in Rook and won by over 300 points.  Now we are off to play another game of Rook.

We are blessed to be with family here in Montana.  My mind is reeling with memories since my parents are from this town, and I spent my summers here as a child with my grandparents.  The rural ranches and horses are another world from Minneapolis where I grew up.  The mountains are beautiful and the air is fresh.  But sad memories also fill my mind, and I know that God redeems it all.  We are blessed.

It is a happy Christmas indeed.