KEEPERS OF THE FAITH {girls group}



Look at all these sweet girls!



With back to school, a couple of my girlfriends and I decided that it would be fun to start a Keepers of the Faith group.  We loved the idea that we could work together once a month to train our girlies in a variety of skills and they could earn badges to share what they are learning.

 

 

 



Hailey painting her girl's group tote bag to carry her binder.



My dear friend, Lisa was the inspiration behind starting the group.  Thanks, Lis!





 

 

For our first meeting we sang together; worked on memorizing the Beatitudes (yep, that is a badge!), then divided the girls into two age groups. 

 

The younger girls worked on painting tote bags (to keep their Keepers Binders in) while the older girls learned about Home Decorating.  Then the older girls painted their bags while the little girls made their own hair bows. 

 

 

 

Our wonderful friend, Danielle with a couple of her little girls.

 

Our little niece, Mercy, age 8.

 

Finally, the younger children were read a passage from Little Women (chapter 11) about being content with their daily jobs while the older girls were taught a Photography skills class. 




 

Our dear Michaela, age 15.

 

 

In between classes, the girls had lunch together; worked on their Beatitudes passage and, once classes were done, had an afternoon snack and fellowship time.

   

 

Sweet girls working on memorizing the Beatitudes.

 

 

 

We decided that it would best meet the needs of our busy group to meet less often (once a month) for an entire day rather than try to meet weekly or biweekly for a shorter time. 

 

It seemed to work great and it's been so fun to see all the girls with their amazing tote bags and hair bows since then and hearing about the things they learned from the moms who were teaching those classes. 

 

 

 

 

Ellie's sweet tote.

 

 

 

If you aren't familiar with Keepers, I think one of it's strengths is that you can really customize your club in whatever way best suits your group (or family).  You can go with uniforms, or no uniforms.  Weekly meetings or monthly meetings.  With the pre-determined criteria for badges, or make your own.  It's really up to you!

 

 

Our schedule looked roughly like this:

 

 

10:00 -  Arrival and greeting time

 

10:30 -  Begin club meeting- greeting, memory verse, singing together, discussion of the day's plan

 

11:00 -  Session 1- Little girls paint canvas totes/ Older girls learn about Home Décor

 

12:00 -  Lunch break and clean up

 

1:00  -    Session 2- Little girls make their own hair bows/ Older girls paint canvas totes

 

2:00  -   Session 3- Little girls hear story about being content with their daily chores/ Older girls learn Photography skills

 

3:00  -   Snack time, clean up and fellowship

 

4:00  -   Depart for home

 

 

Badges worked on:  Beatitudes, Crafts, Home Décor and Photography

 

 

 

It was a full day and one we look forward to doing again soon!

 

Do you have plans to work with other families this year to encourage one another and work on skills?  I'd love to hear what you are doing!

    

 

  

Blessings friends,





BEYOND UNEQUALLY YOKED {being equally matched}

 

"A woman's heart, John, is a strange instrument,

and few men have learned to play upon it skillfully."

The Withered Heart, 1857

My thoughts on marriage have evolved.   I think there was a time when I believed that all you needed was love.

Then I understood that God had certain requirements for believers.  They are to yoke themselves only with other believers. 
 

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness? 

- 2 Corinthians 6:14

Now, as I think about these punkins' of ours someday (far, far, far away in the future) getting married I realize there is more than that. 


Love?  Yes. 
Equally yoked?  Yes. 
But what about equally matched?


As a young person I hadn't heard much on the topic of courting, but my mom had always impressed upon me that dating was for the purpose of marriage.  In other words, if I couldn't see myself marrying that person, then I really had no reason to be dating them.  I know it saved me  from a lot of heart break.  Thanks, Mom!  

As a teenager, I met a guy who I thought I would want to marry (and I did!).  I would spend time with him at family gatherings.  He would play with children younger than himself, speak respectfully to adults and serve and spend time with his mom.  He was an unselfish boy who, not surprisingly, grew into an unselfish man. 

He is kind and playful with our children.  He happily serves me.  And the result is that we happily love and serve him in return.  There is no burden in our service.  His expectations for us are so low, that we are always sure to exceed them! 

~~~

I recently read an interesting book, The Withered Heart by Timothy Shay Arthur (Kindle version is $ .99- thanks, Lisa!) 

In the book, the author paints the picture of two young Christians who were unequally matched.  Long story short, it reminds young maidens that there are far worse things in this life than not being married. 

Just a bit of the story line:


The story involves a respected young man who pursues a lovely Christian girl.  He is well known and in a position of authority in the church.  He seems from the outside to be a good match for this gentle, sweet spirited girl.  

But John Hardy has a much different view of submission than Jane's father did.  And quite frankly, a young lady raised in a different environment would have been an easier match for him.  

Misunderstandings, unkind words and glances are a shock to the system of this delicate girl.  And emotionally she shuts down.  The consequence is that the very sunshine her husband wished for his home was snuffed out by his heavy handedness.

I am sure you have heard of several unhappy marriages over the years.  Often in hindsight, the warning signs were clear.  The author portrays similar warnings in his account:


- Although the young girl would look forward to seeing her fiance, when together she was not completely happy and when the young man left, the girl was left feeling pensive and unhappily distracted, feeling insecure about herself and the future.

-  The young man would never praise her efforts to please him.  If she performed some service (like singing) he would withhold his praise, causing her not to feel good enough.  She would work harder and harder, but unable to please, she eventually gave up on her natural talents. 

- The young girl had a negative first impression of the young man, but decided to ignore those impressions because so many other people seemed to think so highly of him within their church community.

- Her family also had a negative impression of him, but were afraid to voice it because the hearts of the young people had become connected prior to the courtship process.


For our home, marriage is still far off (did I mention far, far off- smile) but my thoughts on the topic seem to be coming into greater focus.

Praying for equally matched young people who will truly work side by side effectively for the kingdom of Christ.


Blessings friends,






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We have some excited girls over here!  15 days and counting until we leave for Texas and the Christian Worldview Film Festival!  Will you be there?  We'd love to meet you! 

 

 

 

 

THANK YOU FOR WALKING WITH US

  

Before I dive in and start to catch up on all that has been going on in our little corner of the world, I want to say, "THANK YOU!"  Thank you to those of you who left sweet comments for me to find when I returned here to blog land and thank you to those of you who sent encouraging emails to check in and make sure we were still here! 

You are exactly the reason I am back.  And I am thankful for you.   

And now I am going to ramble a little.  You have been warned.  :)

Weekend Back Porch Family Times.  One of the highlights of our Summer and Fall.

In my last post I shared our excitement that Faith had completed her film was planning to mail it to the film festival hosted by Vision Forum.  It seemed no sooner had we posted that, the entire ministry had been dissolved and the festival was cancelled.   

Quite honestly, I was a little in shock as I am sure many of you were as well.  And also, quite honestly, I was a little troubled that I would need to break the news to my children, especially Faith.  What was the best way to frame this?  She and her friends had worked so very hard.  We had begun to save money and talk about traveling to the festival.  I imagined that it would be such an encouragement for her to meet other families with similar interests.  And now I wondered how would she would feel about all of her hard work-- and all the time she had spent pursuing a goal that was no longer there?  No longer there because of grievous reasons.

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind,

be sober, and rest your hope FULLY

upon the grace that is to be brought

at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:13

Trial has a way of revealing if we are resting our hope FULLY on eternity, or partially on the temporal, doesn't it?  When the temporal world shakes, so often we shake with it.  I know that I do.  Then, as the smoke clears, I find heartache in proportion to how much I had invested hope in something that is fallen.  A man; a ministry or on some expectation of temporal happiness. 

It's all about the S'mores.  Well, being together is best, but the S'mores are pretty great too.

But God.  Only He can work in the heart.  When I went to break the news to Faith, I found a girl who was concerned more for her friend's feelings, but was resting on Christ.

Her response?  "Well, we certainly saw God at work helping us to make this film.  He must have had a reason for it."  

In her mind, this wasn't her film at all.  It was always God's.  Nothing had been taken from her.  She had seen God do the miraculous.  He provided the tools, the costuming, the locations and all that was needed to produce a film on a budget that could be rounded down to zero.  She saw that God was inclining His ear to this project.  It was His movie and He must have His reasons. 

Amen and amen.  We never wish for trial-- especially in our children's lives.  But only trial gives us a true glimpse of the soul.  It's like a progress report to let us know where we are.  And sometimes we are thankful to see it.   
 

Armed and ready for marshmallow roasting!

And so we move on.  Hopefully with renewed determination to rest our hope FULLY on the future grace that will be revealed with Christ and not on our own dreams and expectations.

I do not want to rest even a small measure of hope on something other than eternity today.

My garden was pitiful this year, but the littles enjoyed planting seeds and seeing things grow.

And when I am in the daily grind, I want to remember the lesson we learned from seeing a family broken.

Marriages and families are tied together with precious and invisible strings.  Strings that can easily be broken by selfishness and must continually be repaired.  Let's not break what God has knit.  Because every day and every person God has sovereignly placed in our home is a gift.

May our hearts be engaged at home.  With our eyes on these precious ones and our aim at nothing short of eternity.

     

Yum!  Recently our girls were asked their favorite family activity.  All of them said Back Porch Nights.

I love this reminder by Erma Bombeck.  It's an old column but makes me tear up like a baby whenever I read it.  It may not be an exact picture of our families, but it serves to remind us not to fret the temporal.

        

"One of these days, you'll shout, "Why don't you kids grow up and act your age!"
And they will.

Or, "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do ... and don't slam the door!"

And they won't.

You'll straighten up the boys' bedroom neat and tidy -- bumper stickers discarded, bedspread tucked and smooth, toys displayed on the shelves. Hangers in the closet. Animals caged. And you'll say out loud, "Now I want it to stay this way."

And it will.

 

It may be the sugar...

You'll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in the icing, and you'll say, "Now, there's a meal for company."
And you'll eat it alone.

You'll say: "I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around. No demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?" And you'll have it.

No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti.

No more bedspreads to protect the sofa from damp bottoms.

No more gates to stumble over at the top of the basement steps.

No more clothespins under the sofa.

No more playpens to arrange a room around.

No more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent.

No more sand on the sheets or Popeye movies in the bathrooms.

 

Or the laughs over burned marshmallows...

No more iron-on patches, wet, knotted shoestrings, tight boots, or rubber bands for ponytails.
Imagine. A lipstick with a point on it. No baby sitter for New Year's Eve. Washing only once a week. Seeing a steak that isn't ground. Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap.

No PTA meetings.

No car pools.

No blaring radios.

No one washing her hair at 11 o'clock at night.

Having your own roll of Scotch tape.

Think about it. No more Christmas presents out of toothpicks and library paste.

No more sloppy oatmeal kisses.

No more tooth fairy.

No giggles in the dark.

No knees to heal, no responsibility.

Only a voice crying, "Why don't you grow up?"

and the silence echoing, 'I did.' "

Or it may be the fact that we are theirs- distraction free!

Did you follow all that?  It was probably way too much to cram into a single post, but in my mind these thoughts were somehow related. 

1.  I want to remember not to fret the temporal.  Only the souls will last.

2.  I do not want to rest my hope on the temporal.  My hope is better placed in eternity. 

May we hug our families tight this year; smile deep into their hearts and let them know we love them unconditionally.  Then we'll be better able to lead them Home. 

Thank you for walking with us.


Love,

P.S.  There is already a new festival that has sprouted up to take the place of the old for those of you happen to be interested in film making.  :)

    
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Looking for a fantastic Bible study for all ages?  We all love this one.  It covers one character trait at a time and provides application questions that stimulate great discussion.  It is sold here by Grace and Truth books.  We are using it without the flashcards. 

As always, we only promote materials we love!

THAT'S A WRAP!

Do you ever see a glimmer in one of your children when a certain skill is being demonstrated and wonder if God will develop that into something someday?

In my case, I had no clue about this one, but looking back I can see it.

Our family has always tried to supply our children with tools, rather than only toys in the hopes that they would learn to contribute rather than simply consume.

So I saw her excited giggle to get a camera that could do video at five.  I watched the hours upon hours she would spend making stop motion video shorts with her sisters at seven. I was there in the audience to watch the Thanksgiving plays she had written and watched her direct her sisters and cousins as they made movies about cowboys bringing the gospel and knights fighting off evil. As she got older and my husband bought the girls editing software, I watched her offer to video friends and church events, then work to gain speed and accuracy in her video editing skills.  And last year, I saw her write, costume and cast her friends. Her requested birthday present at 15? To make a film patterned after one of her Lamplighter books. 

Remember this?  Making Zuma and the Secret of Peru

Ya, I think this glimmer is here to stay.

Faith at work, directing a scene on the riverboat

 



This summer, under the authority of her father and our pastor*, she wrote and directed an adventurous short film called The Underground Railroad that she plans to submit to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

Although set in 1857, just after the outrageous Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court, it is really a message that transcends time. 

Fantastic props by the Rafferty family

We are to do the good work set before us and trust God for the results.

The movie follows a family who is faced with a very difficult decision- to continue in ease and safety or to risk everything to assist a desperate boy who needs their help. Their family is fictional, but they bring life to the unknown stories of families and individuals who worked together at the risk of punishment and even death to help men to freedom. The Underground Railroad was made up of everyday people. And although it did not have a central organizing force, they assisted over 100,000 slaves to freedom.

　

Working on location at the historical Delta King Paddleboat

God has been so gracious in letting us play in this arena of cinematography. And although we had a budget that could just about be rounded down to zero, He provided everything we needed. Costuming; filming locations; equipment and an amazing group of people to work with. We have begun to share some of the behind the scenes stories and photos on Facebook here. 
 

Tom leading us in prayer.  Our first day of filming with over 40 extras!

Want to join us?

• Please go and "like" The Underground Railroad Movie Facebook page to keep up on this project 

• Please pray on October 24.  That is when we plan to mail in our project into the film festival.  It will be entered in the "Short" category (15 minute time limit) and Faith will compete as a young film maker 

• Please go ahead and watch the trailer here

Thanks so much for joining us in this journey. And an extra special thanks if you were one of the ladies that dropped me a note to let me know you were thankful for this blog and were looking forward to hearing from me again soon. You are a blessing. 
 

And that's a wrap!

 

_________________________

*  Skills under authority are important to us as we bring up girls.  We desire to raise young ladies who are subject to the authorities over them, while still allowing them to gain skills that may someday be a blessing to their future husband and family.  Want a book to inspire you in this area?  You may enjoy Preparing to be a Helpmeet.  While our family personally disagrees with sending our girls alone into foreign mission fields (which this book recommends) we don't feel there is any reason to throw the baby out with the bath water.  This resource is fantastic if you want to encourage teen girls to grow skills and contribute in their communities, rather than sit around and wait for Prince Charming.   ;)

    

TEACHING THE FINE ART {of doing good}

"The finest of all the fine arts is the art of doing good

and yet it is the least cultivated."

-T. DeWitt Talmage

Our daughters Sarah (9) and Michaela (12) enjoying the chance to kayak

Do you find that people tend to be more focused on grades and SAT scores than cultivating virtue in the youth of today?  Where do we go for the models of a high moral standard and well doing? 

 
 

 

 

I love what  Karen Andreola's shares in A Charlotte Mason Companion about the idea of training children toward virtue. 

 

 

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VIRTUE AND VICE

 

 

"...Character is two sided and, according to his training, his character qualities are either nurtured into virtues or allowed to degenerate into vices. 

Pity is a virtue if it cares for another. Idle pity just says, "Too bad." Pity can turn into self pity, which is not a virtue. Truth-telling is a virtue, but if it is blunt and tactless- spoken without love- it is not a virtue. The only way to make the virtue grow is to train the child's conscience and instill in him a love for others. 

To breed vices, the most powerful agent is love of self, and this almost always begins in the cradle. The toddler who cries, screams, whines or whimpers for his own way (and continually gets it) can become the youth or adult who terrorizes his family with his fits of rage. " p. 58

Sorry Hailey, your placement in this post was purely accidental *cough.*

 

Our 3 year old daughter, Hailey, really wanted to do the climbing wall like the big kids

PREVENTING FAMILY BICKERING

Karen goes on to explain that virtues must be inspired and cultivated.  A child cannot be punished into virtue.  Children need Biblical correction and they need to be inspired by heroes who embody the virtues of Scripture.  Well, I'll let Karen do the talking:

"... about family bickering.  The two main causes of them are selfishness and harsh judgement of others.  No punishment is of the smallest use to combat these.
In fact, punishment may awaken resentment and arouse greater spite against the person on whose account it occurred.  It will never diminish the selfishness.  Penalties will suffice for the moment, but another kind of correction is needed. 

Virtues, like flowers, grow in the sunshine.  You can cultivate them or draw them out with love and reason, but you can neither force nor whip them into existence.  Try to do so and the virtue you want will come forth in the guise of it's corresponding vice.  Instead of truth-speaking courage, you will get lying cowardice; instead of obedience, obstinacy."

Our 9 year old daughter, Sarah, on the archery range

  

She goes on to share that the best way to prevent bickering is to


train the child to find its happiness in giving others pleasure and to show him always how good and kind others are to him.


To let the names of mother, father, sister and brother stand for love and loving kindness to him."
If you have not always trained your children this way (and I am sure we would all admit we have not done this perfectly) she encourages the following:


"Never be cross, and never add harsh words of reproof when a child is sore under what it feels to be an injustice.

This is often difficult (YEP!  My own comment added)  to do because it is our natural response to control his temper with a stronger one of our own.  Yet I recommend you work against any tendency to overpower the child in this instance. 
 

Gently draw the belligerent mind to the fact that he is feeling very unhappy, {and} that this is merely the natural result of saying unkind things..." 

 It was nice to meet you in person Amanda!  Thanks for saying hi.  :)

GOOD BOOKS HAVE IMMENSE VALUE IN BUILDING VIRTUE


She goes on to encourage a bedtime story hour to cultivate the child's virtues and discourage bickering. 

"When the boys and girls sit round the fire with mother or father, a series of stories might be told, evening after evening, bearing on instances of love and self-denial.  Then you will have the opportunity to ask, "Wouldn't you like the chance to do such a caring thing for another person?"  p. 59

This isn't the idea of avoiding certain media for "legalistic" reasons (and I will be honest- I very much dislike the use of the word legalism at all because in our day it often amounts to little more than one man's Biblical conviction pricking another man's conscience) but we are encouraged instead to look for opportunities to build good resources into our children's hearts and minds for the purpose of cultivating virtue and teaching children to do good to others.  And yes, to skip those that don't.  

  

Our oldest daughter, Faith (14), was part of the drama team that portrayed real Bible couriers bringing Bibles into restricted countries.  These pics are from their practice.

  

She does not recommend stores such as Pinocchio because although the character has good intentions, he has a weak will.  Instead she recommends good and virtuous models such as Heidi, Hans Brinker, The Swiss Family Robinson and the like.  Stories that entertain but also model kindness, courage, generosity, loyalty, honor and working together as a family.

Faith caught with Bibles in Cuba.

  

Rather than forcing a child to give up their rights, Karen encourages that the parent use the opportunity to

"draw the child's attention to any suffering or discomfort that may have been occasioned by his selfishness:  'Imagine the pleasure you could have brought to your little brother had you built that sand castle with him this afternoon, and had not sulked in your room bored because Sarah could not play after all.' 

This is making a mental picture for the child of what could have been.  Then be sure to allow the child the full benefit of the happiness an unselfish action brings. 

Of course, our best help is from the Word of God.  Asking our younger children to tell us the areas they struggle in and helping them to find verses to memorize; assigning our older children to write out lies the enemy may use and verses to combat them (our oldest just wrote out over 2 pages of common lies our Enemy uses and solid verses to respond with from her own study) and reading from God's Word- emphasizing the heroes He does. 

  

I sure love getting kisses from my girlies!  This is proof I was there- thanks for insisting Sarah.

 

 

"I have had long talks with my children about their power to render others either good and happy, or naughty and miserable, and the great responsibility this power brings us."- Karen Andreola

Don't you wish all parents had this talk with their children?  Me too.

 

 

Cousin time!

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed these thoughts on teaching virtue by Karen and Charlotte.  May we all be at work cultivating the greatest art- the art of doing good.

Blessings friends,

________________________________

Photos:  We've just returned from Homeschool Family Camp at Jenness Park. It is always a wonderful time to meet other like minded friends, enjoy fantastic food and be inspired in well doing.  On a funny note, you know what is usually not discussed at Homeschool Family Camp? Homeschooling. It rarely is.  Maybe it is because many of the moms have been at it a while and feel pretty set in what they are doing; maybe it's that we live and breathe education all the time and were ready for a field trip away or maybe it is because homeschoolers know that education is so much more than classroom lectures, flash cards and bored children. It is about family, the bringing up of souls while learning the skills of well doing along with the mental discipline mathematics and the like. And maybe we were in fact "homeschooling" together without needing to discuss it at all. :)