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This is the latest eNewsletter from 9Marks (also available in PDF).
FAMILY & PARENTING
Wanted: Kingdom Families
Embedded Portraits: A Theological Vision for Families
Part 3: Raising Boys vs. Raising Girls
Book Review: Family Driven Faith By Voddie Baucham Jr
Reviewed by Michael Lawrence
Book Review: Practicing Hospitality By Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock
Reviewed by Adrienne Lawrence
Two nights ago we did something that is rare in our house, watched TV. To tell the truth its not so rare for the grownups to turn on the TV for background noise at night (usually Food Network or HGTV) while we do other tasks but it’s never on during the day. I think the boys forget there is such a thing, but from time to time we do enjoy a family movie night. We checked the guide on Sunday night and saw that Animal Planet was showing Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and since we haven’t had a “movie night” in a while we thought it would be nice to cuddle up and watch. We turned on the TV and there was a commercial for another animal show called Untamed & Uncut. The show is about shocking real animal behavior and accidents and the scene on the screen was of an Alligator closing his jaw on a his Trainer’s head. The boys were horrified and asked why people would show this on TV. Good question! I explained that seeing that kind of thing can remind people that animals are wild an unpredictable and they shouldn’t do foolish things like stick their heads in Alligators mouths. My youngest told me that he might have a bad dream now after seeing that so we turned off Animal Planet and put in an Adventures in Odyssey DVD. Sure enough, later that night my older son woke up from a nightmare about a crazed bunny chasing all of us around the house trying to bite our feet! We had seen some cute little bunnies in the field at the park on Saturday and somehow the memory of those innocent bunnies was morphed with the angry Alligator in his dreamy 6 year old mind. It’s amazing how images on a screen can impact us.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” Matthew 6:22-23
Happy Birthday My Beloved Husband! Thank you for all you do for us.
Bar Harbor
We returned late last night from vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine. Thanks to some very generous friends who lent us their home we were able to enjoy 5 days in a fun and scenic place. Our schedule was packed and we had a great time exploring the seacoast, finding huge starfish at The Ovens, picking wild blueberries on top of Cadillac Mountain, and taking in the sites and sounds of Acadia National Park. We were mostly out an about but I knew there would be a couple of afternoons at the house where the boys would be bored and anxious for the next adventure so I surprised them with a vacation gift, their very first archery set. That’s right, a real bow and arrow (mom loved that) complete with finger guard and quiver. I also picked up a large foam target from Wal-Mart. They loved it and did a good job hitting the target (5 feet away) and not each other or me Read the rest of this entry »
One day last week my older son schemed with his little brother how to avoid their daily quiet time. This is an hour or so break each day around 2 o’clock where they sit quietly with a blanket and a stack of books. They don’t like the break from their play and often express their objection but it is non-negotiable, they usually NEED the rest. This day Mommy was busy in a task and my oldest had noticed that the 2 o’clock hour was slipping by. It’s very uncharacteristic of him to intentionally deceive (that’s the closest word I can think of to describe the offense) and his younger brother seized the opportunity to blow the whistle on his normally very compliant brother. He was questioned by Mommy Read the rest of this entry »
Remember Evel Knievel? If you do you’re too old. Nevertheless, I was reminded of the stunt man on Saturday when my 5 year old dare-devil… which by the way is a biblical term: “and give no opportunity to the devil” Eph 4:27, but I digress… my 5 year old discovered that tricycles cannot fly over swimming pools and I discovered that he can swim quite well in the deep end. I was ready to dive in to the rescue but I hesitated for a second to see what he would do, and to my delight and relief, he calmly resurfaced and swam to the side of the pool like an expert. Well done! His older brother (6yr) even had the wits to pluck the tricycle from the pool before it sank. Read the rest of this entry »
I love this post on Family Vacations by CJ Mahaney so I thought I’d share it with you all.
We are on the tail end of our first “vacation” of the year. We’re not world travelers so for us vacation normally consists of day trips and doing all the things as a family that we can’t normally do because Daddy is at work.
This week we had close friends visiting from Tenessee and we did alot of that same thing. When I read CJ’s thought on a Father’s role in making a memorable vacation I was happy to say that our experiences are much like the great model he describes. I have many vacation pictures like this one:
That’s because my guys (all three of them) are like peas in a pod wherever we go. Daddy is right there with a big smile making sure we all have wonderful time. The smiles in the pictures are the same smiles I see when the camera isn’t there. If I am honest I’ll admit that I am much more likely to be a grumpy-face. Thankfully he sets the tone and I don’t succeed in ruining everyone’s experience very often.
With the vacation season upon us I want to encourage all the dads I know to take CJ’s words to heart. Your family will be grateful. I know I am.
update: The link to CJ Mahaney’s article is for Part 3 – you can find parts 1 & 2 from there.
What does this little fish have to do with my birthday? Come visit our school/life/other blog to find out…
http://fountainacademy.blogspot.com/2008/04/special-day-for-mommy.html
In Part 1 & 2 we talked about what freedom really is and we answered the question of whether anyone is truly free. In truth, Jesus answered that question for us, “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” I’m pretty sure anyone reading this post “commits sin”, I know too well (and so does my wife) the one writing it does. If you aren’t sure then ask yourself this question, “have I ever done anything wrong, in thought, in word, in deed, or in motive?” Even if we just shrink the list of rules down to 10 Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday’s post told how my son felt obligated to release the many various bugs he and his brother had captured because as he said, “everyone needs their freedom.” Then after considering the definition of freedom (see part 1) I asked the question, is anyone truly free? Isn’t God the only one who is not subject in any way to the control of another? Isn’t His will the only one that is never determined by anything beyond its own nature or being. Man is bound by the forces of science and nature such as gravity and weather. Man is bound by other men through the laws of the land and Read the rest of this entry »
