Mama Kay

“Children should be influenced by books that vividly portray life in
all its trials and victories. Divine providence should echo
throughout its pages. Characters who suffer wrongfully in a righteous
manner, and display humble dispositions, will lay a secure foundation
for the time when childhood may be stolen away; perhaps through the
death of a loved one, sickness, calamity. children need informed
instruction, and models of heroes and heroines of righteousness to fill
their reserves for such a time. In literature as well as in history,
God who doeth all things well, must be seen through the filter of His
divine love and tender care for His children and as an avenger of all
who harden their neck.”“

Francois Fenelon 1687
from
Education of A Child, The Wisdom Of Fenelon

This week we have been having several discussions about what a good book (or movie) is. My oldest daughter is noticing that what we approve of is not the same as what her friends’ parents choices are even though her friends go to the same church we do. She began by saying that I don’t like anything she wants to see or read. Of course, there are so many things that are inappropriate material for our children but I tried to change the conversation to what are the things that we do approve of and why.

I decided to write out some guidelines for what we consider appropriate material for our children and I thought I would share it here.

Our family has 2 defined purposes that we try to filter everything through:

1. Glorify God

2. Bring Joy to Others

1. Does reading this book or watching this movie help us to fulfill our defined purposes?

2. Does the material inspire us?

3. Is it a living book?

I love this quote from Ruth Saywer which I think gives us a good picture of a living book:

Stories that make for wonder.

Stories that make for laughter.

Stories that stir one within with an understanding of the true

nature of courage, of love, of beauty.

Stories that make one tingle with high adventure,

with daring, with grim determination,

with the capacity of seeing danger through to the end.

Stories that bring our minds to kneel in reverence;

Stories that show the tenderness of true mercy,

the strength of loyalty,

the unmawkish respect for what is good.

Not everything we watch or read falls in line with this but it is our goal to keep to these guidelines as much as possible.

Do you have any guidelines for what you allow your children to watch or read? I’d love to hear them.

I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver.

I loved reading this description of how one family decided to grow as much of their own food as they could and only purchase what they could find in their own county for one year. They moved from Arizona to Virginia onto 40 acres in Appalachia. It is a month by month chronicle of what they ate and includes recipes. It also veers into the political and social ramifications for eating locally instead of purchasing food that is shipped thousands of miles away.

Barbara Kingsolver who went to grad school studying evolutionary biology inserts her belief in evolution frequently throughout the text. If only she gave credit to God for the wonderful things she finds in creation instead of millions of years of natural selection I would be able to fully endorse this book.

I enjoyed her descriptions of participating in the production of their own food and putting it up for future consumption (sounds a lot like investment cooking to me ). Reading this book made me long for our own country space where we could have a large garden, raise chickens and maybe even a cow. It also made me miss our farmer. We really enjoyed knowing where our food came from and supporting a local farmer before they moved. I really need to find a new farmer!

I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

I found this on one of the blogs I frequent occassionally. It made me stop and think.

Cell Phone vs Bible

Wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?

What if we used it as we traveled?

What if we used it in case of an emergency?

I am hosting the discussion of No Ordinary Home by Carol Brazo this week. Thank you, Dawn, for pulling this together.

Here are our discussion questions for this week:

Does your family practice Sabbath?

What day does your family practice it on?

What has made it work for your family?

If you do not practice Sabbath how could you implement some of the ideas in this chapter to help you to have a better day of worship?

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I so enjoy the time worshiping God together with our Christian family, fellowshipping with other Christians and spending time as a family with my dh home. It is usually a day of praise, music, teaching and much needed rest.

My family does not practice Sabbath as Carol describes it in this book. I’ve discussed it at length with my husband and he absolutely does not want us to practice Sabbath. It has become a matter of submission for me to give up trying to get him to agree to doing so. However, after reading this chapter we had a productive discussion that led to us agreeing to put into practice some of the Carol’s ideas for our family.

We really like the idea of having a special time of family celebration. To that end we have decided that once a month we will have a special family evening as described in Carol’s Sabbath dinner with dessert and a special lesson planned for the kids. We already do have dinner as a family every night and generally have a time of family worship after dinner including discussing the Bible and singing hymns & praise songs together. The other Saturdays we commit to hospitality & fellowship.

We do spend time resting every week and we usually spend Sunday afternoon napping, reading or doing quiet activities after we get home from church. I also do not prepare elaborate meals on Sundays and would love to hear your ideas for easy meals on Sundays.

One of the main things I noticed in this chapter and also from Dawn a few weeks ago is the time of preparation. I have been pondering how preparing for our weekends would make them so much better. If I can plan my week and my work to do the heavy cleaning on Friday and food preparation on Saturday morning then we can prepare our house and ourselves for the weekend than we can spend our weekends fellowshipping with others, having easy to eat food on Sundays so I don’t have to work in the kitchen and feel like we can rest instead of just seeing the work that needs to get done.

I’m looking forward to hearing what your families do to enjoy God’s presence in your lives.

I am joining in the book discussion of No Ordinary Home: The Uncommon Art of Christ-centered Homemaking by Carol Brazo with Javadawn and andwe_areoff. I am not a xanga member though so I am posting my thoughts here.

I’m so excited to be able to discuss this book. I read it a few years ago and started reading it again. Carol Brazo really has addressed so many issues in my heart and I want to cement them in my brain.

Jen asked the following questions & here are my answers:

What really touched you about this first chapter of No Ordinary Home?

Mostly that I’m not alone. I’m not the only one who yells at her kids and still is trying to serve God. My life is filled with cycles of completely losing it to living in peace and calmly disciplining my children. (I have 4 girls 7 & under). I need help! What a blessing it is to know that God is transforming me and that I don’t have to be someone else—that he’s the one doing the work.

How do you bring the Holy home?

I make signs using Print Artist with Bible verses we are focusing on or need to remember and post them all over the house. I try to play worship filled song and hymn CDs when we wake up in the morning & as we do our chores. I think it really helps our attitudes to focus our thoughts on God as we sing along. My favorites right now are Chris Rice’s Past the Edges, Sara Groves’s Past the Wishing, Amy Grant’s Rock of Ages…Hymns & Faith, The John Marshall Family and a set of CDs we got that are recordings from the hymn books are church uses called Songs of Faith & Praise performed by Jeff Nelson & Covenant.

How do you protect your relationship with your husband?

We established a firm bed time and then committed to spending at least an hour together almost every evening. Sometimes we go downstairs, eat ice cream and talk, sometimes we watch something together and other times we enjoy each others company if you know what I mean. We also talk several times during the day. Dh calls me on his breaks and we frequently use Instant Messenger to chat throughout the day.

When we just had the first 2 we rarely had any time together. Dh was working late hours and just getting the girls to sleep took all my energy & I crashed as soon as they fell asleep. Ocassionly we’ve been able to have dates but I find having the time together each evening means a lot more than going out & spending money.

Lately we’ve also been practicing “real kissing” during the day which has been such a blessing. We had gotten into the habit of just giving each other quick pecks when saying hello or goodbye. Just changing that one habit has really warmed our relationship.

I’ve been working my way through Beth Moore’s Living Free Bible study with our Ladies group at church. It is a workbook that combines ideas from her Breaking Free study and her book Praying God’s Word.

The premise of the book is that God wants us to experience his 5 benefits:
1) Know God & Believe Him
2) Glorify God
3) Find Satisfaction in God
4) Experience God’s peace
5) Enjoy God’s presence

This book has really helped me change my outlook. Instead of trying to figure out how I can change or be a better person or thinking about my sins and how I can’t seem to change, she encourages us to change our focus to God. How can I bring glory to God today? Who is God? What does the Bible say about who he really is?

What a difference! I am still working to change my perspective but wow! God has been doing a good work in me over the last few weeks!

I highly recommend this Bible Study!

A Princess and A Hero:

Using stories to inspire our children to develop good
character traits.

It is our desire to encourage our children to love God and to love others as
themselves. We use living books to help our daughters see what a girl with good
character looks like. One of our daughters in particular has jumped on the
princess bandwagon. Instead of letting her pursue the Disney, "It’s all about
Me." princess attitude we looked around and found these wonderful books instead
focusing on relationships and God’s desire for our children. For those of you
who have boys I have listed the boy stories too.

Recommended Books from Christianbook.com:

The True Princess By Angela Elwell Hunt, illustrated by Diana Magnuson / Strang Communications Once upon a time, a king embarked on a journey. Before he left, he hid his precious daughter in a bakery shop. She soon discovered that life outside the castle was different. Would she learn to care for others? A wonderful tale about a child who realized that a true princess serves her people and God. Recommended for ages 4 to 8.

I’d Be Your Princess: A Royal Tale of Godly Character By Kathryn O’Brien, illustrated by Michael Garland / Standard Publishing “If you were a king, I’d be your princess,” said the little girl to her father… Every little girl longs for her daddy to love and admire her. When he does, she feels just like a princess! In the whimsical, royal setting of I’d be your Princess, a young girl demonstrates character traits found in God’s Word and is rewarded with her father’s praise. Recommended for ages 4 to 8.

The Princess and the Kiss By Jennie Bishop / Warner Press A loving king and queen present their daughter with a gift from God—her first kiss—to keep or to give away. The wise girl waits for the man who is worthy of her precious gift. Where is he and how will she ever find him? The surprising answer in this marvelous parable will touch the heart of parent and child alike. The Princess and the Kiss beautifully portrays the ageless message that “love … comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5 NIV). Recommended for all ages, especially ages 4 to 8.

 

For the Boys:

The Squire and the Scroll: A Tale of the Rewards of a Pure Heart By Jennie Bishop / Warner Press Little girls worldwide have embraced Jennie Bishop’s best-selling morality tale The Princess and the Kiss—and ever since its publication, parents have been clamoring for a companion book for boys. Here’s the answer! This captivating adventure follows a young squire who travels a long, dangerous road beside his brave knight on a quest for their king. The action builds until the final face-off with the monstrous, evil dragon. Only then does the Squire lean of the secret beyond the cave that ends in a joyous celebration for the entire kingdom. Children will gain valuable insight as they learn, along with the young squire, what it means to face the dangers of temptation, and what it takes to guard one’s heart from all that is impure. Recommended for ages 6 to 12.

I’d Be Your Hero: A Royal Tale of Godly Character By Kathryn O’Brien / Standard Publishing Every little boy longs for treasure to discover and obstacles to overcome, and when he is praised for his adventures, he is a hero. While eating his breakfast one morning, a little boy declares to his mother, “If you were a queen, I’d be your hero.” Thus begins their royal adventure featuring treacherous moats, jousting tournaments, and kingdom-wide explorations. Throughout the journey, he learns important character traits from God’s Word. This whimsical story with charming illustrations is recommended for ages 4 to 8.

I just finished reading a wonderful book called Mother by Kathleen Norris. It was orginially published in 1911 and has recently been republished by Vision Forum

From the cover:

Mother is the fictional tale of a young lady who leaves home and repudiates family life in the hope of finding personal fulfillment through independence and a career. She decides that home life is a poor choice in the face of life in the big city. But God dramatically changes her heart as she realizes that wealth and position are illusory and that independence can enslave a young lady. She discovers that the greatest woman she has ever known is her mother and now she longs for home and motherhood.

I found this story to inspirational in a couple different ways.

1) The daughter wants nothing more to get away from her boring life to find a better one. She gets to do just that only she comes to find out the what her family had was more desirous than great riches or an adventurous life. This gives me hope that if I am a good mother even if my daughters want something different they too may realize how important motherhood is later on.

2) The mother in this story was wonderful! She was patient and kind even when her daughter wasn’t. She took the little bit they had and made it special by dressing it up, arranging it just so and serving with genuine love. Throughout their lives she prayed for them and loved them with her whole heart. Her service was complete and not done with grumbling but with true love for her family.

I long to be this kind of mother. I want my husband and children to feel loved and special. I long to be able to serve without grumbling (inside or out). May God grant us the grace to be able to glorify Him in our daily lives in such a way.

This book brought to mind the following Scriptures to me in a practical way.

John 12:24-26

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Something to think about…

I’ve got some auctions listed on ebay this week for Five in a Row, Landmarks, We Were There and more homeschooling books. I’m trying to earn gas money for our trip next week.

Check out my eBay store at http://stores.ebay.com/BKE-Books

Thanks for looking!

Last Thursday, I had the priviledge of going to the Friends of Phoenix Library Sale. It was in a warehouse filled with over 100,000 books! 1potato went with me and was great at finding good books. Oh how I love a good book sale! I am constantly looking for living books to add to our library and duplicates to sell (so I can buy more books ).

Here’s is a list of our great finds:

5 Landmark history books
FIAR Books: Caps for Sale, Ask Mr. Bear, Madeline, The Quiet Way Home
A Collection of Biscuit storie (for my emerging reader)
6 Junior American Heritage books
Eugine Fields Book of Poems for Children
The Clumsy Click Beetle by Eric Carle
Mirette & Bellini Cross Niagra Falls
The Little Princess
Boxcar Children Books #2 & 3 (Sabrina loves this series. This is the first time she has devoured fiction books.)
Tomie de Paola Book of Poems
Eyewitness Arms & Armor and World War 2
Touch & Feel Wild Animals (for our 2 yr old)
Secret Codes
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne’s House of Dreams
At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
Honey for a Woman’s Heart by Gladys Hunt