Proverbs 22:6 Ponderings

Have you ever read a verse so many times that it kinda becomes a recording in your head?
I had an "aha" moment while on the phone with a friend recently and it made me think of child training in a whole new light.


"Train up a Child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

That is probably one of, if not the, most popular verses used in all the child training books, magazines and pamphlets I have ever read. It teaches us to "train up" our children in "the Way" they should go, and almost promises that when he is old, he will not depart from it. Simple, right?
So we train up our kids and do our best to teach them " the Way". But what happens when our sons and daughters still don't come out right?
We will ask ourselves, " What did we do wrong?" or " What did we do differently with our other children that we didn't do with this one? This child that breaks our heart and gives us such grief?"

I have seen many families that have a child that choose a different "way" to go. The wrong way.
We need to pray,fervently, for these children.

And that's when the light came on in my mind!
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Not older. Like 8 or 12 or even 25 but old.

Old.

Hmmmm.



And it gives me, and other mothers who have been enlightened by this, great hope.

I myself have lived it. I did not go in "the way" when I was a teenager/ young adult, but praise the Lord I have come back to it! I have been forgiven and found peace with my Savior.

I guess what my point was in this post was to not grow weary or faint when it comes to child training.
We may not see the fruit right away, but know that the seed has been planted.


Let me know what your thoughts are.

Run Away!!!!

Recently, Alena and Olivia were out in the backyard "playing" and I could hear Olivia hollering. As I got to the back door, Alena was coming and and she says to herself, " Oh, this is so much fun!".

Knowing Alena like I do I asked her, while she rummaged through the junk drawer, what she was doing to her sister and she said they were "playing".

I made her look me straight in the eyes and asked her again what she had done to make her sister yell. With down cast eyes ( and a mischievous smirk) she said she had tied her up with kite string to the swing set!!

So I let her take the safety scissors outside to free her captive and all is well, or so I think.

A few hours later I am brushing Olivia's hair because we are headed out and (gasp) there is a chunk missing from her bangs. " Did you cut your hair?", I ask her.
"No! Alena did!" she says.
"Well, why didn't you run away from her?", was my obvious question.
And the best answer ever....

"I couldn't, I was tied up!!!" she explains.

I love my children- they are always good for a laugh.

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

At 12 am on Thanksgiving Day 2005, my water broke and less than 4 hours later- I was holding my tiny, little, precious Olivia.

Happy 3rd Birthday,Livi!

Love, Mama

Strangers to Her

This past Saturday we ventured North to visit family. We had a wonderful time with Uncle and Auntie, talking and eating. After lunch Daddy, Andy and Uncle went out on the back half of their property to fire a few rounds. Andy was able to shoot a .22 and a 9mm hand gun.

Later Auntie and I made 2 batches of her famous fudge and she sent us home with pickles and pickled green beans, which are half gone already.

We had one more stop to make and we were a little hesitant. We had to see Great Grandma Dupee.

We got to her room and she , of course, didn't recognize us. It had been close to a year but I don't think time had made any differance. Her memory isn't what it used to be.
We sat and tried to jog her memory but she was confused and kept asking us what we wanted.

At one point, I just stared into her face. It was a face that I loved. She had raised my husband. I remembered the talks that we had had and the times that we had shared. I remembered talking to her on the phone after Steve and I were married and hearing her crying on the other end because she was happy for us.
I remember her holding Andy for the first time.
I remembered all the times we came to see her and her having all kinds of food set out just for us.
And in that moment of staring into her face, I wanted so badly for her to remember us- remember what she meant to us and what we meant to her.
It was useless though and Steve said it was time to go. He said at least the last time he could see that she recognized him, but this time we were just strangers.
We didn't hug her either, we didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. In parting we said " We knew you once and just wanted to stop in to say hi."

The only comfort we have is knowing that when we are all together in Heaven, she will know us again and we will be together forever.

Time....

I guess I titled this "Time" because it was time away, time spent with my family, time to be in God's beautiful creation, time for new experiences (like cooking every meal over a camp fire!) and time to relax.

Devil's Lake is such a beautiful part of Wisconsin. There were so many paths and trails to go on and if you go slow enough and take your time you can really appreciate what God has made.

Below is a picture of Steve on a pile of rocks.

A very tall pile of rocks called Devil's Doorway.
Needless to say, I did not watch him descend.

This was the way we went down from Devil's Doorway, kids and all.
I'm sorry, but do you see a path here? Neither do I.

Livi had a great time and was being really adventurous( big surprise there).
She ran ahead of us on the path and when we didn't see her, we called for her.
She was off of the path and up in the rocks, climbing.

This is everyone, but me, climbing out of a cave.
Not sure what Andy is doing but he is 7 after all.

And finally this picture. Steve and I and the kids decided to go paddling and we were on the lake and I saw a sign sticking out of the water.
I told Steve we should go look at it in case we were not supposed to be in that area.

We laughed so hard when we were close enough to read it.
It is a Handicapped Parking sign.
I guess they did get a lot of rain!

Genesis 1:10 "...and God saw that it was good."

He Cares For Us.

The above picture is Of Olivia after the emergency room visit. I will spare you the photo that was taken before they fixed her thumb.

July 31st was the last day of VBS for Calvary Baptist Church. I was in charge of the 3-5 year olds and was looking forward to the end. There was a time of fellowship for the parents after the last Bible teaching and I decided to take out all my supplies. When I came back Livi was crying and ran to me, closely followed by Greg . He said she had gotten her finger slammed in the bathroom door. I assumed they were just pinched so I took her into the bathroom to run cool water on it to help the swelling. That is when I saw all the blood.
My poor baby had practically severed the top of her thumb and it was bleeding profusely. I motioned for Ellen to come and help me. Diana got a cold, wet rag and I applied pressure and had Ellen drive us to the hospital.
The staff said that they would need to suture the wound. They came a numbed her thumb with an anesthetic and then I carried her to x-ray. When we came out Auntie was there.
I let her hold Olivia and I went out for a moment.
I got down on my knees and asked God to help me be strong for her.
I asked Him to help the doctors and to help her.
God heard me.
He heard all the others who lifted her up to Him in prayer.
The Drs. came back after the images were looked and and said that she had fractured the tip of her thumb. They were going to work on her but realized she was not numb enough- poor baby. They had to give her more shots to numb the area.
The Dr. left for a long time and Livi was very tired so I laid her down and she fell asleep.
When the Dr. came in he was able to work on her with out her fussing. She slept through the entire procedure! He was able to really scrub the wound and do a great job stitching her up.
I praise the Lord because He was there with us and had His hand in every aspect of the procedure. Please pray for a rapid recovery and that there would be no long term effects.


God is good!

' Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.'
I Peter 5:7

Answered Prayer

I volunteer Tuesdays and Thursdays at a Pregnancy Crisis Center that is sponsored by my church and other independent, fundamental Baptist churches in the area. www.assurancewomenscenter.org

Joyce, Diane and I went to the board meeting room to pray for certain requests and for the Center just before 11 o'clock. The phone rang twice when we were about to get started. Both calls were answered (yes, one was you Jo) and we settled down to pray. We spent an half hour fervently praying round table style for the few people on our list.
It was the 17 of July already and we hadn't had one client come in yet. We knew they were out there, just not coming to us.
So we prayed that God would send someone our way.
We finished praying at about 11:30 and went about the tasks that needed to be done for the day. Sorting clothes and throwing out-dated things away.
Then at 12:15 a client walks in!
She has a positive test and Joyce takes her back to the counseling room to talk.
She is 20, married and wants the baby she is carrying. She said her husband will be happy.
The best part is when Joyce asked if she wanted to have a personal relationship with Christ, her face lit up and she said yes!
Praise the Lord for answered pray!


"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
James 5:16b