Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians (3:1-2)
Here's something to think about this weekend:
"God gave me a second chance. At 15 years old, I found my purpose in life. I’m blessed. Some people are 80 years old, and they still haven’t found their purpose in life." ~Missy Jenkins
Smith, Heath High School Shooting Survivor
I was thinking about this story today, and I wanted to share it with you! I hope it brings you hope, encouragement, and a little bit of wonder regarding the awesome God we serve!
My friend Ronni* was worried about her 1st grade son, Bren. Because of zoning, he would be traveling across town by bus every morning to get to school. The year before, Ronni had been able to drop him off at kindergarten on her way to work. Not this year. He seemed so little, the school seemed so far away, and the other kids who rode the bus seemed so big and intimidating, even scary. The night before Bren's first day of school, Ronni prayed, "Lord, I can't go with him. How I wish I could! But You can. Please be with him, right by his side, on the bus and all day at school. In Jesus' Name, Amen."
With a lump in her throat, she watched Bren get on the bus and take a seat. As she left for work, she prayed all the way. At home that evening, she asked Bren how his day went.
"I was scared until that man got on the bus, and then I was okay," he said.
"What man?" she asked.
"The nice man," Bren replied. "He sat with me on the bus, and he stayed with me all day."
Confused, Ronni knelt down beside Bren. "Who was the man? A teacher?"
"Not a teacher," Bren said. "but he sat by me in my room."
"Bren," a confused Ronni asked gently, "what did he look like?"
"He was big!" Bren answered, his eyes lighting up as he stretched his arms toward the ceiling. "And he had on a long white dress, like the people in Bible times."
Tears began filling Ronni's eyes as she realized that God had indeed answered her prayer. With a little more questioning, she came to the conclusion that an angel had been with her son all day! Bren never saw the "nice man" again, and although he is all grown up now, he has never forgotten that first day of school. (And neither has his mom.)
*(Names in this story have been changed.)
For more parenting tips on keeping your child safe at school, check
out my Examiner article!
Hey Everybody!
I have followed my friend Chatty Kelly and linked up with The Examiner. This is a great online news service that provides local writers a chance to write about their passion for their local community! I am the Nashville Parenting Tweens Examiner, and I would love for you to click on the links below to view my first two articles!
Communicating with Your Tween Daughter
Dealing with Your Shy Middle Schooler
It was my privilege to interview author Glynnis Whitwer for the article about dealing with a shy tween. (You'll be hearing more about Glynnis's new book, When Your Child is Hurting, in the coming weeks!)
Many of you may know Glynnis; she heads up the writer's track of the annual She Speaks Conference (Proverbs 31 Ministries). Btw, the Examiner has lots of openings for freelance writers. It's good experience, plus you do get paid! Click here to check it out and see if it's something you're interested in. If you would like to apply for a position, would you please mention me as the referring examiner? (Rebecca Powell -- 20854)
I would love for you to read my Examiner articles, and if you would like to, please subscribe to my page. Plus, if you have any ideas for tween articles, whether they are local to Nashville or not, please let me know! The more information we can share as moms, the better we will be at this job we're doing!
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians (3:1-2)
Here's something to think about this weekend:
"I was ahead in the slalom. But in the second run, everyone fell on a dangerous spot. I was beaten by a woman that got up faster than I did. I learned that people fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster."
~Bonnie St. John
(This quote of Bonnie's was immortalized on a Starbucks cup, where you may have seen it. If you would like a downloadable cup of this quote, just click here.)
When school starts, it takes me a while to get back into the groove. This year is no exception! In looking at my new schedule, I have been pretty busy just trying to decide how many plates to keep spinning and what I am going to have to put back on the shelf! Although the summer season is not over at all, the summer routine is. Sigh.
I've been asking my tutorial students to write about the best day of their summer. Inevitably, I was asked, "Does it have to be just one day?" That's what I love about summer! Every day is exquisite! I've been thinking about that myself: What was the best day of my summer? (I could probably narrow it down to the best moments of the summer.)
Was it waking up on the first day of summer, realizing the months were just stretch
ed out before us, waiting to be enjoyed?
Was it the evening we sat on the porch talking with friends and breathing in the fragrance of my favorite magnolia tree? (I am on heavy doses of antihistamine while it is in bloom and I sneeze for days, but it is so worth it!)
Was it watching Derek strike out our ballpark's best hitter?
Was it standing in line at an amusement park, listening to my evangelist teenagers engage some kids in a conversation about Jesus Christ?
I guess if I had a joy box for this summer, that's what I would put in it! Those precious moments. Seems like ever since I put up that "joy" post (below) it has been one thing after another this week reaching to steal my joy! LOL! Let's keep it in front of us, y'all! I know that's what I need to do! (By the way, the giveaway is officially closed. I will announce the winner on Monday.)
So what have been the best moments, days, or weeks of your summer of 2009? I'd love to know!
Have a great weekend!
How does Bonnie define something as elusive as joy? “Joy is very different from happiness or pleasure,” she explains. “Happiness is more about how my overall life is going. It is about experiencing sensations that come from the outside in. But joy comes from the inside out: hope, confidence, friendship, and faith. Joy, or the lack of it, permeates every aspect of your life.”
Bonnie recommends that everyone have a Joy First-Aid Kit! The idea behind this joy box is pretty simple: Fill a bag or basket with items that always bring a smile to your face. When you are having a bad day, pull it out. (You may remember doing this as a child, filling an old box with treasures and browsing through it when you were lonely or bored.)
Want to win a copy of Bonnie's latest book, Live Your Joy? I've got one to GIVE AWAY! All you need to do is leave a comment listing at least three things that you would put in your joy box! Oh, and please be sure to check out my new rules for giveaways! If you don't leave a way for me to contact you, then I can't contact you! (duh!) And if I don't hear from you in three days' time, the prize goes to someone else!
What would go in my joy box?
I'm sure that I will think of more things as I read all that you guys come up with! Oh, I'd probably put a coupon in there, too! A guy at church told me that my search for that elusive bargain is akin to his search for certain baseball cards. (Hmmm, well, now that you mention it, I might put my Arod baseball card in there, too...)
I can't wait to see what y'all come up with!
THIS GIVEAWAY WILL GO THROUGH MIDNIGHT THURSDAY, AUGUST 20th. THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED MONDAY, AUGUST 24th!
David started his DIVE cd for his Algebra I class. You don't want to know my history with Algebra. Suffice it to say that I am well acquainted with it. I took it twice in high school (not what you think! My B's in Algebra I and Algebra II were standing in the way of scholarship opportunities, as well as admission into the smart people's club at my high school. I cannot even remember the Greek name of the smart people's club now, but at the time, it seemed eternally significant. :) Tracey R., you read this blog faithfully--comment and tell me what the name of it was!) I even took Algebra in College. Oh me. Do I remember any of it? Uhm....no. So, I praise God for the DIVE cd to go along with our wonderful Saxon Math curriculum.
Derek with George, our homeschooling dog. :) Derek would much rather be outside than inside, and there's nothing like diagramming sentences out on the porch! (Kris will love Derek's T-shirt!) The other reason Derek is outside is because our scholarly pooch was about to eat the guy who had come over to give us a bid on our leaky roof! So far, it is a pretty typical first day of school!
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians (3:1-2)
Here's something to think about this weekend:
"Spending just a few minutes a week and buying your food with a plan will save you many dollars." ~Dave Ramsey
Hey Everybody,
The recession is affecting everyone, and if you are not feeling its pinches yet, chances are you will soon. For many of us moms, the grocery store is the best place to save money. Smart shopping can add up to $100 a month (or even more!) to your household budget. At the same time, poor shopping habits and impulse buying lead to overspending. Check out these tips and start saving money today!
Know your store. Being a regular shopper at one store enables you to know the layout, recognize special prices, and understand the rotation of sale items.
Buy store brands. Why pay extra for a fancy label?
Shop early morning hours for the best buys in the meat department. Store butchers mark down yesterday’s meat to make room for the freshest cuts.
Go meatless! Have a veggie night once a week for an inexpensive supper. Over the course of a year, 52 meatless nights will add up to big savings!
Purchase non-food items such as cosmetics, toiletries, and household cleaners at a discount store. You'll find prices 20-50% less.
One night a week, have breakfast for dinner.
Make a list! Planning ahead helps avoid impulse buys.
Don’t do your shopping on an empty stomach or with children who are hungry or sleepy. You’ll be so eager to get home, you won’t be able to take your time.
Do the bulk of your shopping every two weeks. On the weeks in-between, buy only fresh food.
Decide if the time-saving, pre-packaged foods are worth the extra cost. If you can eliminate these from your family’s menu, you will be able
to stretch your grocery budget even further. Recipes abound on the web for making your own baby food, baking mix, and even household cleaners.Stock up when your favorites are on sale. From cereal to
peanut butter, buy enough to last until the next sale.
When it comes to saving money, many of us automatically think of doing without. Let's get our minds around this instead: doing with less. After all, as US citizens, we have so much! What do we really do without? If you are a Christian, the psalmist reminds us: I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread (Ps. 37:25). I know a homeschooling mom who squirrels her children away to her grandparents’ beach cottage every January. With her accountant husband working 60-hour weeks during that time of the year, she takes the opportunity to delve into the kids’ studies, avoid the winter blahs, and for several weeks, keep things simple. The kids are allowed to take only five outfits each and a few toys, but they may bring as many books as they want! There is no TV, no computer, and no hustle or bustle for miles around.
I don't know about you, but I crave a simple life, not filled with stuff but filled with relationships. Not filled with upkeep of said stuff, but filled with time to spend on people. Not filled with pursuit of said stuff (i.e. desiring what I cannot/should not have), but filled with pursuing the heart of God, whose heart is focused on souls. At this season in my life, I need even more time spent with Him in order to absorb the picture of my daughter's senior year, my older son getting ready for a driving permit, and my youngest entering the youth group! I need time to take deep breaths! (Oxygen, please!) Doing without may just mean doing with more of what really counts.
(For even more ways to save at the grocery store, take some time to check out the Faithful Provisions website!)
What fun to have the Coupon Gal speak at our church tonight! Kelly Hancock is a fresh, informative speaker, and even the most seasoned shopper left with some valuable tips that could be implemented immediately to save money!
I am well on my way in this couponing game, but I still picked up LOTS more tips from Kelly! One thing I did not know was that she has tons of FREE (I know y'all love that word!) downloadable templates on her blog. You can pick up sheets for your freezer and pantry inventory, grocery list, and more! I asked y'all some time ago to hold me accountable for doing an inventory and since nobody has...well...
Like anything else, saving money at the grocery requires planning. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail, someone once said, and that totally applies to the coupon adventure!
(L to R) me, Kelly, Beth, and "my friend Sandy"
It was especially fun to share this event with good friends! If you've ever heard me speak at a homeschool conference, you've heard me talk about "my friend Sandy." Sandy and I have been homeschooling together for over 13 years! Both of us have senior daughters who are missions-minded. To us, that makes everything we've done over these years worth it all! While my Danya is heading toward a music ministry, Sandy's daughter Olivia is planning to serve in missions either at home or overseas. My friend Beth is an answer to prayer, plain and simple! We met last year through our sons, actually, and now she and her family are serving the Lord at our church. And Kelly--well, my goodness! How sweet of the Lord to bless me when I met Kelly through an article HomeLife magazine assigned me to write! You'll get to read it this coming spring!
Our "Coupon Gal" event was a great outreach for our church! I loved the way that Kelly brought in several devotional points as she seamlessly wove together the practical with the spiritual. She also stressed the importance of prayer and included several points on how to take our needs to the Faithful Provider. He is waiting for us to ask for His help!
The Lord, after all, is all about saving! And remember that word that y'all love? FREE? yeah, His offer of grace and a life spent with Him is a free gift. Check out the Recipe for Life here.
On the morning of my first day as a senior in high school, I received a precious card from my mom. She had somehow managed to slip into my room unseen and prop it on my dresser. In it, she prayed blessings upon the year ahead, adding that while she knew it would be an exciting time for me, it would be bittersweet for her.When my daughter looks back on her senior year, it's going to be quite different from mine. Going into it, she loves Jesus far more than I did at that point in my life. In fact, it was the summer before my senior year that I renewed my commitment to Christ. I had squandered my high school years, and I didn't want to spend my senior year the same way. Still, my faith was so immature. Danya is far more grounded, and there is a simple explanation: She is in God's Word. Day in, day out, she is faithful to study and apply His Holy Word to her life. That's where everything starts and ends.
Hey Everybody!
I (we--it took not only me but both of my boys) spent today taking care of our precious 3 yo cousin, Noah. He is an absolute doll, but my goodness, I have a short memory when it comes to just how much time and energy those little ones can eat up! I have no idea how we accomplished anything in those early days of homeschooling when my kids were just beginning. Danya was four when we started gradually adding some school time to the structure of our day. Now that I think about it, I'm not really sure how anything at all got done. But we had fun! And those days that seemed so long and draining are now the sweetest memories.
The best part of my day today was reading to Noah just before his nap. He went to sleep really quickly, but I kept reading for a while because it's been a long time since I read Richard Scarry's Wide Wide World! LOL! And then I just sat and held that sweet boy and rocked for a while because it's been a long time since I rocked a three-year-old boy. I am still pretty good at it, just sayin'. :)
What was the best part of your day?
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians (3:1-2)
Last weekend at the YWOW conference, Danya played this great worship song by Steve Fee. I had never heard it before, and now, it is one of my faves. Here's something to think about this weekend:
Oddly enough, I approached my middle school years with probably the best set of circumstances of any of my classmates. I came from an unbroken, idyllic home. My mom and dad loved each other, and they loved my sister and me. Perhaps that’s why it was so difficult to understand why I didn’t get the same love and acceptance from my classmates. For the rest of my school years, I stayed pretty angry about the injustice of the whole in-crowd mentality, my frustration stemming largely from the fact that there simply wasn’t anything that I could do about it.Read More Articles:
My story is not all that different from other people’s, maybe even yours. I know there are people with great memories of their wonder years and people with far worse reminiscences. If you dare to remember middle school, your stroll down memory lane may not be all sunshine and flowers.
In other words, as our kids confront the same challenges we faced, we will relive them. We will find out what we have really forgiven from those days and what we are still clinging to as adults. We will discover some things about ourselves that God is ready for us to deal with. We’ll see how far we have come, but we’ll get up close and personal with the truth of how far we have to go.
Recently, I was talking with a friend I had not seen in years. We went to middle school together. She still lives in the town where we grew up, and she was catching me up on several old friends. Then she mentioned that she had seen Lindy at a weight loss support group, and these days, the most popular girl was sporting a great deal of extra weight. I am ashamed to admit I could not suppress a smile at this information, and a delicious thrill of pleasure ran through my wicked flesh at the news. I had to repent before God because those feelings were wrong. I realized, in spite of all the years that had passed, I had not totally forgiven her. If I had, I would not have been rejoicing in her difficulties. Still offended by the way I perceived I had been treated, I remained stuck in the middle of sixth grade.
Lest you think I was always a victim, I have another confession to make and another mean girl to tell you about. There was a girl in my class, Michelle, who was a little awkward and tended to be shy. She tried hard, but for all her perseverance, she never fit in. She was always left out, mocked, or simply ignored. One day, Michelle called another girl in our class and asked for her help. She explained that she wanted and needed a friend. But the mean girl she called refused to be her friend. “I just don't like you, Michelle,” she said. “I don't want to be your friend.” Then as Michelle began to cry, this awful, mean girl hung up on her. Guess who the mean girl was? Right. I am so sorry, Michelle. I really am.
Parenting a middle schooler requires us to be real and vulnerable, remembering what those days were like and respecting the trials our kids are going through. As God reaches deeply into our hearts to expose the remaining crumbs of insecurity, unforgiveness, and envy, we will be liberated. The truth will set us free! But be warned: If those chains have become too comfortable, if we have become calloused from their chafing, wrenching them off will be painful.*
Quick Tips:
- Avoid cliques by encouraging diverse friendships and group activities.
- Best friends are nearly essential at this age, but help your daughter keep her eyes and heart open to those girls who are consistently left out of the loop.
- Show your daughter, by example, an attitude of "Others First."
- Pump up her self-esteem by affirming her with your positive words,
listening ear, and open heart.- Encourage her faith and remind her that she is a priceless treasure to the One who made her.
At my new school, there was one girl in particular who ran a tight clique that called all the shots. I spent a great deal of time studying Lindy and trying to figure out the essence of popularity. Why was she popular? What was it that was different about her? How did she get to be the queen bee? The puzzle, quite frankly, intrigued me. I vowed to get to the bottom of it, and that’s sort of where I ended up. All my sleuthing brought me to the only thing I could figure was the difference between who was in and who was out: It had to be the shoes.I'll be talking about Mean Girls and Cliques tomorrow on our local morning news show, "Tennessee Mornings." Check back here on Thursday for some tips on what you can do to help your daughter navigate these choppy waters of growing up! And lest you think I was always a victim of mean girls, on Friday I will post Part Two of "The Lean on Mean": my own story of mean girlness! (I know--shocking! LOL!)
Lindy and her friends had beautiful Nike tennis shoes,the exact same color and style. I had no-name, no-brand shoes, and they mocked me for it. Those white Nikes were the only thing those girls had in common, so I assumed those shoes were the key to popularity. Since I knew that my folks were not about to buy me a new pair of expensive tennis shoes on a preacher’s and a teacher’s salaries, I figured my claim to fame was lost at sea. Then, at Christmastime, I spotted a pair of those Nikes, just my size, on a clearance table. What luck! I didn’t realize, of course, that there was a closeout on the shoes because they were about to be last year’s model. I asked for them for Christmas, got them, and wore them proudly to school after Christmas break—only to see Lindy and her friends strutting their stuff in new Nikes, now having another reason to make fun of me.
Mean girls. They have been around forever. They are as ancient as human nature and something all women have had to endure at some point in their lives. I honestly thought I had put those memories behind me, buried them with forgiveness and grace—until, right around the age of eleven, my daughter began experiencing certain trials of her own with mean girls. I relived some painful personal memories as I watched her wade into the turbulent waters of adolescence, where the mean girls, like sharks, still circle around their prey.
I was all too familiar with their mode of operation because, in twenty-five years, nothing had changed. They smell the blood of insecurity and awkwardness, seeking prey that is obviously weakened from coping with a changing body and an unwelcome discomfiture. Their menu varies like a seaside restaurant offering the “catch of the day.” They head toward their current target with alarming speed, intent upon sinking their teeth into the tender flesh of budding self-awareness—all for the singular purpose of feeling better about themselves.
Instinctively, I tried to head off the sharks before they could get too close to my daughter. I offered loads of advice and platitudes, poisoned (unfortunately) with bitterness for the mean girls that visited the beach of my youth. My husband stepped in with a word of caution. “You are getting too involved in this,” he warned.
I stepped back. I realized that I was obsessed with rescue. Somehow, I had gone from being a mother to being the coast guard. Like Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws, I was consumed with ridding my family's previously calm waters from this invasion by the mean girls, because I remembered. Do you?*
Hey Everybody,
I'm just coming down off of two weekends in a row of conference speaking, and it looks like it is going to be that kind of day--you know, the let's-get-it-all-done-today kind of day where you finally tend to to those things you have long neglected: cleaning out the closet; putting up the tomatoes, corn, and peppers; changing the sheets; and cooking for boys who are always hungry! yeah, it's that kind of day.
Don't you love days that are spent at home? Maybe you don't. I'm just such a homebody, and I love those days that start and end at home--with every minute spent padding around in my sock feet and piddling with the details of the house. Oh, it feels good! It feels good not to rush and not to have to be anywhere at any particular time. I'm am very thankful for a day at home.
And btw, there is no way that it is all going to get done today. But it doesn't have to. :)
When you have a day at home, how do you spend it?
Need I tell you that the worship was GREAT??? And to hear those precious voices lifted as one to our King of Kings--AMAZING!
The food was great, too!
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians (3:1-2)
Here's something to think about this weekend:
"Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" ~Mordecai the Jew, speaking to Queen Esther (Esther 4:13-14)
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