CHEC - Teaching Your Children to Stand Alone

Teaching Your Children to Stand Alone

Speaker: Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler

Make wise choices about what your children are involved in.

Transfer the Bible to your child by using the Bible to set authority.

**BE CAREFUL NOT TO BE A CONTROLLING SPIRIT!**

Who will control your life? God or you?

Even if you are under Christian authority (like instead of public school you are in a Christian school), you are under "Christian control" and it is not God's control.

Slowly wean control so they can be free.

Two CD's to listen to would be _Letting Children Fly the Coop_ and _Letting Children Stand Alone_.

Age of accountability? 20 years Numbers 1:3, 18-45

Teach them how to reason Biblically and how to find answers in the Bible.

Trust them and stand by them.

Train how overcome.

While others are bowing at anything and refusing to stand alone, Shadrach, Meschac and Abendigo refused to bow down and were willing to stand alone.

Teach your children the consequences of wrong stand.

Discern and discriminate.

CHEC - The Making or Breaking of a Leader

The Making or Breaking of a Leader - What's The Missing Link??

Speaker: Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler

Everything you do leaves a mark on your children.

When a man who carved a lion out of a rock was asked "how did you get a lion out of that rock?" he answered "I chipped away everything that was not a lion."

The rock of course would be screaming out STOOOOPPPPP! NOOOOOOO!!! if it could.

We are all chipped away/chipped on as God refines us.

CHARACTER! Integrity vs. Reputation

if I am the best at something, in the end, what does it matter? (reputation

Integrity is internal ... reputation is external

Integrity is what you believe ... reputation is what you live

Integrity is your face ... reputation is your photograph (not sure what that meant, should have taken better notes)

Integrity is what God knows about you ... reputation is what people think of you.

Stainglass....

Integrity is beauty seen light within ... reputation is beauty seen light from out

In the Bible:

Balaam - lacks character

Jezebel lacks character

Delilah lacks character

Absolom

saul

Ecc 10:1

Once you lose character, you cannot gain it back.

Training, discipline and God's word - how to get character

it comes through prayer, fasting, discipline ...

blameless, upright, fears God, turns from evil - JOB

Reading good books; discerning movies - this is good ... that is bad; repenting yourself in front of the children.

How can you give to your children what you have not overcome??

He shared a VERY powerful story about how he used to be a liar. He grew up learning to lie. And he had to overcome it. He had prayed and prayed and then the Lord put him in a situation where they were late for church. He was speeding and a cop pulled him over.

When the officer approached him and asked him if he knew why he had been pulled over, Little Bear answered "Yes I was speeding and I would like my ticket."

The officer, astounded, put his hand on his gun and told Little Bear to get out of the car. While Little Bear did promptly. With his hand still on his gun, the officer told Little Bear to move to the back of the car and then over to the side of the road ... which Little Bear did (please understand Little Bear told this so much better and funnier than I am). The officer then went on to say that Little Bear's license plate sticker was expired. Little Bear apologized saying that he did not realize since all his stickers are at different months and he would get it taken care of.

The police officer then realized that his driver's license had a different address on it than the one he said he lived at. Little Bear explained that his birthday was coming up when he was supposed to renew his license and he was just going to get the address changed at that time as they were currently building their house and had only been living in it for three months.

The officer then told him to stay there and went and talked to Little Bear's wife. He came back and said "you lied to me." Little Bear said "No, officer, I did not lie to you. Everything I told you has been the truth." The officer and Little Bear went back and forth "you lied to me" ... "no I did not." Finally, Little Bear said "Officer, how did I lie to you?" The officer replied that his wife said they had been in the house for 5 months not three.

Little Bear said "Officer, I am under a lot of stress right now and said the first number that came into my head, as we have not been there very long, but I promise you, with God as my witness I have not lied to you. I want you to give me every ticket you can think of. Give me the ticket for speeding, for the license plate and for the driver's license .. I want them all."

The officer laughed and said "I'm not gonna give you any ticket."

The Lord tested Little Bear that day, and a few times more, but Little Bear had been set free from a lying spirit.

CHEC - Teenage Mutant Teenagers

Teenage Mutant Teenagers

Speaker: Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler

As you can tell, this session was created back in the 80's. But it has been so popular that it continues to be desired and attended. The session was so full they had to close the doors and turn people away. I am sure it has come a long way since the 80's. :D

The word teenager was created by man. It is not found anywhere in the Bible. It did not appear in the dictionary until the 1900's, and at first it was used to define a length of time during the life of a person. It eventually evolved into the word we know it today - a verb.

The Bible talks about 12 being the age of young adult. (S.M. Davis has an AWESOME sermon titled What to Expect From A Twelve Year Old that is a MUST listen for EVERY PARENT!) Even restaurants and theme parks seem to acknowledge that a child is no longer a chid at 12. :D

When Little Bear's son turned 12, he invited 3-4 godly men whom he wanted to be an influence in his son's life. Then they had a sort of initiation. And they told him that he was a man now. And whenever they were gathered together, no matter the subject matter (yes, that includes sex), that he would no longer be told to leave. He would be welcomed into the conversation. Little Bear talked about how this changed his son's life.

SO when is a child an adult? Some will be ready at 11 others not until 13 or 14, depending on their maturity. But 12 is pretty average. Some signs that they are ready....

GIRLS:

They are able to reproduce.

They want to be with the adults rather than playing.

They have the ability to understand abstract concepts.

BOYS:

Their voice changes.

They have body odor.

They want to be with adults rather than playing.

They have the ability to understand abstract concepts.

They eat like an adult.

CHEC - Raising World Changers

Raising World Changers

Speaker: Diana Waring

I was VERY excited to hear Diana Waring speak. I had JUST learned of her and her history program. And I had high hopes for this session. I think I would have gotten more out of it had we not run out of time (due to computer difficulties at the beginning, she was unable to start on time).

World Changers bring the Lordship of jesus Christ over every thing in every place.

We live in a world that belongs to God - one and true God. Psalm 24:1

We do not belong to ourselves, we belong to God. 1 Cor. 6:19; 1 Peter 1:18-19

We are ambassadors for Christ, from inside our home to around the world. 2 Cor 5:20

We are created by God to DO something special, something really good. Eph 2:10

Pathways:

Humility - 1 Peter 5:6 Allow GOD to exalt you!

Faithfulness - Matt 25:21 Be faithful in the little things, the things that no one sees - God sees

Obedience - Phil 2:8-9

Excellence - Proverbs 22:29 excel in where GOD is leading YOU (you will not have the same gifting as others)

Being a world changer is NOT about being famous... it is about SERVING!

(she began to run out of time at this point, so this is all I got down:)

7 Areas of Influence in our lives:

Family (like each other, laugh together)

Church

Education

Media

Arts

Business

Politics

CHEC - Artificial Authority: What Atheists, Christians and Evolutionists Can Have in Common -- But Shouldn't

GENERAL SESSION: Artificial Authority: What Atheists, Christians and Evolutionists Can Have in Common -- But Shouldn't

Speaker: Bill Jack

Bill Jack is from Worldview Academy. AWESOME speaker. And FUNNY!

Matt 23 "woes" of the Pharasies

Aritifical Authority

Proverbs 30:21-22

2 Tim 3:2

Trappings of Tradition vs. Reality of Truth

accusation vs acceptance of truth

excuses vs excellence

What is truth?

How can one discern the truth?

Analytical Thinking:

What do you mean by _______?

How do you know ______ to be true?

What difference does that make?

What if you are wrong about ______?

Symbolism over substance

Matt 7:5; 15:9

START WITH SCRIPTURE!

Compromise is a dirty word.

There is no compromise between a lie and the truth.

What is compromise? Concession. Things like "tolerance"" and "freedom of choice."

How do you know it to be true?

Start with scripture, not science. Ex 31:13, Gen 1:14

How do I know? The Bible tells me so.

Assumptions determine conclusions.

Don't take offense rather than taking the offensive. Matt 15:12

Why do we have to defend our choice to homeschool? Why not ask others why they are not homeschooling? Why not ask them how they, as a Christian, can send their kids to be indoctrinated by secular humanism?

Desire for signs vs Desire for significance

Confusion over certainty. John 9:33-34

DO...

Be confident .... not confused.

Take offensive .... not offense.

Seek to be creative ... not merely credible.

Proclaim truth ... not tradition.

bctours.org

worldview.org

CHEC - Homeschooling - Capture The Vision

Sorry I missed posting on Monday. SOOOO many things I want to do and NOT enough time. Here I continue the notes I took from the homeschooling conference I went to.

Homeschooling - Capture The Vision

Speaker: Kevin Swanson

Mom's usually stop homeschooling because they lack vision.

Character training - obedience and diligence.

Character needs to come FIRST!

A child is al ikea building. The walls are like character. Everything else (take geometry for example) are like wallpaper. Have you ever tried to wallpaper the air? No. You need a wall FIRST.

What is the number one thing talked about in Proverbs? Telling the truth.

What is the number 1 thing millionaires say gave them their wealth? Telling the truth. Second? Diligence.... CHARACTER!

There is a HUGE problem today in schools (both public and sadly in some homeschools) - they are separating God from education.

The bad thing about setting standards is that not all children are the same. The great thing about hoemschooling is that you are able to tailor the education to the child.

Children are relational creatures created by a relational God. They NEED to have that relationship with the Lord that created them.

APPLY what you know! Life should be an integration of your knowledge!

He totally ran out of time on this, but most everything he shared in this talk is in his book _Upgrade_. I knew I wanted the book before I even heard him do this talk (as it was mentioned on the PW list I am on), but after hearing the talk, it just reaffirmed the fact that I needed this book.

CHEC - WARNING! Public Schools Are Not For Christians

WARNING! Public Schools Are Not For Christians

Speaker: Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler

This was AWESOME! Because everyone in there was already homeschooling, Little Bear changed the talk a little bit. The insight was AMAZING!

The problem with public school is that the parents are not involved so they don't know what is going on in the lives of their children and what evil is being slipped in.

Who's authority do we want our children to be under? Who is to be the authority in their life? The teacher? The TV? No, PARENTS are!

Public school is not just not Christian, it is aggressively anti-Christian. (He then gave examples of some things that are happening in schools today.) When he was going to school, in December, you got a Christmas Holiday (this was the time off from school - Christ Celebration of a Holy Day). Then it became Christmas Break. Now it is Winter Break. Christ has been totally removed from it. The winter programs are very new ageish, including chanting and sitting in groups according to astrological signs.

Most people use the excuse of "well I (you) went to public school, and you turned out OK." But how much BETTER we would have been if we had not gone to public school!

The Bible says the fool says in his heart that there is no God. And the public school system says there is no God. So when you send your kids to public school, you are sending them to be educated by fools!

In the old cowboy movies, you see a shoot out. One man always says "I'm going for it, cover me!" Then he would go for it and his partner would stand up and pow pow pow pow pow! He would shoot and protect... cover the man who went for it. When you send your child to public school, they are not covered.

The most important thing you can give your child is a love of God.

Don't get stressed out - turn their hearts to the Lord.

We need to teach our children to be self-governing Christians. Teach them to goto the Bible to govern themselves.

Read the book of Acts. Study the book of Acts. The last church will be like the first church.

CHEC - Preparing Daughters For Marriage

Preparing Daughters for Marriage Panel Discussion

Speakers: Stacy and James McDonald, Vicki Lewis and Little Bear Wheeler

How to have your daughter's heart?

*be VERY careful that your instructions are NOT taken as criticism - especially if your daughter has an inclination towards a wounded spirit.

*repent to her when you make a mistake (this goes for boys too).

Most important thing for a daughter to know?

*God loves them

While daughters are waiting...?

*train train train them! They should know how to be a homemaker, clean house, care for children, be nurturing, be gracious,

and boys by the way should know how to be a provider, loyal, faithful, trustworthy and a hard worker

*one day they will be taking over their own home

*serve others - use your skills to serve others - nursing home, meals for widows, caring for children for others

What are some questions to ask suitors?

*James McDonald has a list of 120+ questionnaire he has the man fill out. He is not necessarily looking for right or wrong answers, but wants to know if his daughter is worth it. If the young man is willing to do the questionnaire, then that let's him know that the young man feels his daughter is worth it.

*the goal of courtship or dating should always be marriage

*the guy needs to date the dad first.

How do you protect your daughters heart?

*young men should come to the dad first

*dad's should know it is hard work to protect her heart, and to not be lazy

*mom's - have your daughters share what other men say and do to/with your daughter. A young girl may take the fact that the man sat next to her to mean something more than it actually was. She might also take something he said to mean something that it was not said to mean. When he smiles at you and says "hi" that is not code for "I love you." :D

Blankets for the preemie triplets

BBBlankets
Originally uploaded by lvg4him

My half-sister, who has tried for years to have a baby, got pregnant with triplets. Almost certainly means preemies. Little did I realize just how preemie. 27 weeks. The biggest baby was only 2 pounds. Each one smaller than the previous one. Thankfully I was almost done with the blankets. I finished them up and got them out fast.

I used what is called a THERMAL STITCH. BOY were these blankets WARM (which from my understanding is very necessary and needed). My other sister who had hers early too (only 5 weeks early), but he was taken by emergency c-section and ended up in the NICU fighting for his life - anyways she told me how important it was for the blankets to be warm. Her son was usually covered in several blankets - even after she got them home. She also mentioned to make them colorful. EVERYTHING in the NICU is WHITE WHITE WHITE. So I hope she is able to use these in the hospital to bring some color into her life and the life of her precious ones.

If you feel led, please pray for her and her babies (and her husband). Those babies are fighting for their lives right now. Thank you,

CHEC - Preparing Sons For Marriage

Preparing Sons for Marriage Panel Discussion

Speakers: Stacy and James McDonald, Vicki Lewis and Little Bear Wheeler

How can you have your son's heart?

*trust and honor

*point them to Jesus - they listen to us through Jesus

*the parent's heart has to be for their heavenly Father

*as the child gets older, you pray more and speak less

How to teach them about opposite sex relationships?

Guidelines for opposite sex relationships?

*we all have sinful hearts and are tempted - protect your son.

*That little girl (or young lady) is someone else's future wife. And you are some one else's future husband. Be faithful to your future wife.

*accountability for purity

*teach them modesty, emotional purity, physical purity and then preparing for marriage - what are YOU going to be like and how do you develop that to attract the type of girl that you want to marry?

*treat other's as someone else's spouse - would Daddy carry on a private conversation or be texting another woman a lot?

*parental involvement - Little Bear talked about how when a man approached him to court his daughter (the boy had been warned not to use the word date LOL!), Little Bear said you will date me first. So they met for coffee and so on. They did a LOT of things together just the two of them, then as a family. About a year after this had started, Little Bear began to feel as if they were from two different worlds. The young man was eating lunch with the entire family and said that he felt they were from two different worlds. The young man broke off the relationship. A few months later he married another women, and within the year he was divorced.

*There is an emotional and a physical gate that needs to be kept closed until you are ready to marry. CLOSED but not locked. When a man can say I can care for her like Christ cares for the church, he can open that emotional gate. When the girl says I can love and submit to this man as I love and submit to Christ, she can open the emotional gate.

What to do if mom and dad don't have the same views on preparing sons for marriage?

*pray pray pray and pray some more

*if you are living by rules, you cannot live by being led by the Holy Spirit

Parting Words of wisdom:

Fathers HAVE TO HAVE a relationship - a good close nurturing relationship with their son! Moms MUST BE CAREFUL not to put her finger on him and make him into a girl. Those men who are gay, a very high percentage of them did NOT have a close and loving relationship with their father. Fathers MUST get involved in the life of their son's! Text your son, despite YOUR work schedule. Let your son know they are more important than work! Malachi 4:6

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE teach your sons about the wife of their YOUTH! Men are waiting much too long to get married! If a man is going to wait until he has the perfect job, the perfect income, etc. he will never get married. Young ladies who are in their late 20's are crying out "where are the men?" Most men rather play on their video games than take responsibility for themselves and get married. Read Ben Franklin's thoughts on men and early marriage.

Pray Pray and PRAY HARDER!

Book: Standing Firm

Dads MUST show a sensitive heart to their sons. It transfers from father to son. Men must be honest in EVERY THING! A man of integrity will overflow onto his son.

Afterwards I went up and asked Vicki Lewis (who has one daughter and three sons) about how to protect a son from pornography. I have heard everything from shelter them and don't talk about it until they are young men to talk to them about it when they are three years old.

She said while you do start young, porn is a bit difficult for a 3 year old to understand. BUT you start out by teaching them RESPECT for women. How does Daddy respect you? How does he respect his sisters? God created him to PROTECT women. And she also encouraged me to begin praying for his purity. Satan is out there waiting to attack this area of his life. And it will happen.

She also encouraged me to talk to him about watching his words. He can say or do something and a girl will take it as something not meant. Have your girls share what the boys are telling them because he may say one thing or do one thing and she might think it is love. He needs to be aware of that and try to guard himself against it.

Generations of Virtue is a great resource. And Nav Press has a series How To Talk to Kids About Sex - different books are geared for different ages. It is a great guideline about what to talk about and when.

I also wanted to add that the July/August 2009 issue of No Greater Joy talks a lot about this subject.

Me DONE!

We sweet little boy. He was drumming and I asked him if he was my little drummer. "ME LIKE NOISE!" he replied in typical boy fashion. I HAD to capture that moment and scrap it! But it turned into something much much more. This is the story of this layout.

Click on the picture for credits and to see larger.

CHEC - Who's In Charge Here Anyway?

Who's In Charge Here Anyway? Reclaiming The Ground of God-Ordained Parental Authority

Speaker: Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler

I had never heard Little Bear speak before. In fact, it was only a few weeks before the conference that I learned of who he was and what some of the things he stood for are. I am sad to say that this conference was his last as he is retiring from speaking to pastor a church full time. I am so blessed that I was able to hear him speak. He is truly a man after God's own heart. He is so passionate about everything he shares, about God's people and wanting God's best for them.

He started out by saying that if you have bought anything of his from his early years to throw it out because it is garbage. He can't believe some of the things he used to say and teach. God has grown him so much since then.

Romans 13 - Authority is ordained by God. Authority can be powerful - for good or for evil.

Satan wants to rule. He wants authority. He questioned authority.

Be careful where you place your children. What and who are they listening to? Eyes and ears affect the whole body. They are pathways to the soul.

Read the book _Turmoil in the Toy Box_.

If you are going to watch movies, watch through the DVD player Clearplay. Talk to them about the movie. He was watching a movie that came after _The Robe_ and there was an immoral woman in it. He pointed out the immoral woman to his son warning him about her and to stay away from women like that. The world is full of them.

He talked about how when he would talk to 2nd and 3rd graders years ago he would ask them if they ever heard a bad word in school. All of them eagerly raised their hand in agreement and laughed. Heard a girl use a swear word? Again they all raised their hands laughing "oh yeah!" Little Bear's heart was broken at this for when he was growing up it was unheard of for girls to use a swear word. Then he asked how many of them, when playing a game and made a mistake or got hurt would, not meaning to but it just slipped out, would say a swear word. The children ashamedly raised their hands, only to look around and see that they were not alone. A lot of others had their hands raised too.

Be careful what you let your children hear. Into the ears and into the heart. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. We are to be in the world not of the world. Protect them from the evil one.

If you are authoritative in your parenting style, you will produce bad fruit and lose the child. Parent Biblically and you will yield good fruit.

How I wish I could have afford anything from their booth! LOL!! Mantle Ministries. But I had only so much cash (always bring CASH to a homeschool conference because it will limit how much your spend) and a list of things I needed for homeschooling. BUT I did take note and am saving up to get some of their stuff hopefully for Christmas!

CHEC - Why Homeschooling Will Change The World

General Session (everyone gathers and hears these before going to sessions that they can choose from)

Why Homeschooling Will Change The World

Speaker: Kevin Swanson

I had never heard Kevin Swanson talk before, but a good friend of mine attends his church, so I was anxious to hear him speak. What he had to share was awesome and inspiring.

PLEASE understand that these are notes that I took during his presentation and are MY interpretation of what he said (I may have added some personal notes for self too and expounded on what he said). ALL in italics is what I am think about before and after the session, but some of the notes I took may also be personal interpretation.

Did you know that when our country was first founded all school were under the authority of the church. It was that way in England too. Then Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis across churches across the country. That allowed people to form their own churches. And with that, came the authority to form your own school.

As for America's history, it was the same way. In 1844 a petition was made to the Supreme Court for a Pennsylvania school to be secular and separate from the church. The Supreme Court ruled: 1) The United States is Christian. 2) Pennsylvania is Christian. 3) Both the Old and New Testament should be read in school daily. HOW FAR we have come from then!

Proverbs 1:7 says the FEAR of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (although my version says wisdom, but I liked the application he made). We cannot have true knowledge unless God is present in everything. God created all things, so whatever we are teaching, be it math, science, history - God HAS to not only be acknowledged but praised for it.

Duet 6:7 tells us to teach the word in our house. We have been given the authority to teach our children. Why would we give that authority to someone else? We are to teach God's word in the bosom of relationship. Our relationship with our precious children.

He spoke of taxes and a gift or inheritance exemption. We all know that when we die, there is a death tax and most everything we own is taxed to death before our children will inherit it. There is some sort of gift or inheritance exemption where you can give so much money ($5000??) to a child (per year?) and it is not taxed. He is giving his retirement to his kids now, that when they get married, they will start off debt free. AND when he dies, his children will have pretty much gotten everything anyway so there will be nothing to goto the government. He read a verse from Matthew chapter 15 to his children, which somewhere in there it talk about how the children should care for their aged parents as their parents had cared for them when they were younger. Knowing that because he has blessed his children and raised them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, that they would take care of him and his wife in their old age.

That is DEFINITELY something to look into. Especially the tax law. I know that when my grandmother was dying, she had taken everything and spilt it between the children. It did make things MUCH easier.

It is especially important for fathers to take a role in homeschooling. There needs to be a loving and nurturing relationship between the father and the child. This is the first example a child has of what their heavenly Father is like. A child should not have to feel second place to anything in their father's life.

Homeschools are the monasteries of the dark age. Why should we have to defend our decision to homeschool? Why are we made to be against the norm? What we are doing is normal. We should be going to others and asking them why they aren't homeschooling.

America needs to fear God and repent of their sins. In Adam's Fall, we sinned all.

I bought _UPGRADE_ and _The Second Mayflower_ (there were coupons at the conference to get these for a cheaper price than he is selling them for now). I also got both his studies on the Psalms. These are AWESOME! You can hear Kevin Swanson through SermonAudio.com

CTBHHM: Chapter 3

I went upstairs to pout. Things are really tough right now with my husband and his hernia. He is waiting on God to heal him, and He hasn't yet. And this hernia prevents my husband from doing a lot of things a husband would do. He is even unable to pick up his own son, and that pains his heart. And because of that, he tends to be more irritable than usual. It's understandable how when you are not able to do all God has created you to be and do, you get irritable.

So I went upstairs to pout. And being behind on my CTBHHM reading and posting, I thought I would catch up on that. Here are the first words I read:

"A wise woman sets a joyful mood in her home. Through laughter, music, and happy times, she creates a positive attitude in her children. She knows that a light-hearted home relieves her husband of stress."

OUCH! That hit home. I continued to read...

"Joy begins with thankfulness."

"It is amazing how much your mouth controls your soul."

"Thankfulness is HOW you think; joy is the abundance it produces."

She then shares a letter a woman sent her about how she used to demand to be treated like a princess, but now that she serves him, seeking to delight him, he always treats her like a princess.

I thought about all the times that I would sometimes pout in order to get my husband to do something I wanted. All the times that I would secretly wish for my husband to do something for me, and then sadly get frustrated with him when my silent expectations went unmet.

And I thought about all the times where I was just so in love with my beloved. All the times that I would just delight in delighting him. How happy ALL of us were! Proverbs says that sweet words are HEALTH to the bones. I cannot help but wonder if bringing more joy into the home (which I sadly admit has been lacking lately) would not bring health to my husband. It cannot possibly hurt. :D

And those times, those happy times, my husband delighted in me. He loved being with me and he was happy.

I need to....

PRACTICE being thankful.

I need to remember the story Corrie ten Boom told about being thankful for the lice. I need to just shoot up thanksgiving to the Lord throughout the day - for ALL things. Even the mess on the floor (thankful I have children who are healthy enough to make the mess to begin with). The mountain of laundry I have yet to conquer (thankful for the abundance that God has blessed us with - and maybe weed down the cloth and bless some others!). Even my husband's hernia (thankful for the lessons God is teaching us as He draws us closer to Him through it all).

Smile OFTEN.

I need to just remember to smile! Think pleasantly about my children, my husband. Find SOMETHING to smile about. (Think Pollyanna and the glad game.)

Bring joyful music into the home.

This is especially important as I found out this morning when I was playing a happy little tune on the computer and my husband commented how much he liked it. My husband is VERY musical and music is almost a pathway to his soul.

Laugh OFTEN.

My favorite memories are of my beloved and me lying in bed together, side by side, and just LAUGHING so hard that our cheeks hurt. I honestly cannot remember what the conversations were about, or even what was so funny. I just remember staying up til 2 in the morning just laughing. I need to think of ways to bring more laughter into the home. Please share if you have ideas.

Bring HAPPY times to the house.

I want to make a list of things that might bring happy times to the house. Then, plan to do one AT LEAST once a week. Please share if you have ideas.

Where oh Where???

Does anyone read this blog anymore? LOL!!!

My computer has crashed and been wonky and now is at the "doctor" for a week. I miss being able to get on and search and blog and all that fun stuff.

I am working on some posts from notes I took during the homeschool conference I went to. God has done a lot of convicting in me since then. I am amazed at how foolish I have been, without even realizing I was foolish. You know what I mean?

Anyways, without my computer, and having to work on the girls SLOW computer, I have missed out on a lot. I am sad. I don't like to grow and change. It is painful. Mostly to realize how long I walked blindly and what a bad witness and example I have been in so many areas of my life.

I am thankful though that God can use me even my mistakes for His glory. My girls, my PRECIOUS girls are growing in the Lord. The things they do and say humble and amaze me. I am so blessed and so thankful for them.

SO if you ARE still reading my blog, I hope that some of the stuff I share will cause you to grow in your relationship with the Lord as it is from my heart and what God has been teaching me as I continue to grow in Him.