Today and an Amazing Update!

Today I have no plan but to praise. (quoted from Ann Voskamp)

I am currently listening to Rebuilding A Culture of Virtuous Boyhood: Raising Boys to be Godly Men of Courage. A lot of the intersting topics covered are:
*every boy who wants to get married should be reading scripture
*Fear God. God holds you (men) first accountable for the raising of you children
*Be ready to receive the blessing of God when you marry (children)
*Be ready to provide for your wife and family
*Do not be a slave....to debt
*Instead of focusing on your future job, focus on your life purpose
*Teach them to treat girls as their sister NOT your buddy
*Teach them to look out for the honor of women and children (a boys' mother and sisters)

**How and why to train your boys to honor authority
**Boys need vision and dad's need to nurture and protect this vision of raising virtous boys



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In other news. Remember the challenge God has placed on my heart? This is an update.

Just so you know how hard it was getting in our home...Jaiden would come home and HAVE to watch tv for about 1 1/2 right after school and still throw a fit when it was turned off. Then I would have to keep him busy for the next 1 1/2 until my husband would come home. I would have to lock the tv, hide remotes, phones, watch him because he would climb on counters pulling out food, go outside and take off all his clothes, and ask about 200 times is he can watch tv. Let's just say that was a hard few hours!

I won't get into all the details on what we started a few weeks ago (you can read that here) but I wanted to update you and please know all the glory goes to God. He is faithful.

The first week was hard. The second was better. Still a little on edge and he was noticing I was shortening the tv time. We are now watching about 15-30 min after school and turning the tv off. When he is done HE turns the tv off and usually goes outside to play!

We started word cards to help him learn to read. I let him pick the words he wanted, and they were mostly peoples' names. He loves people. He will bring me the words daily to learn.

Right now (Saturday) we have not even turned the tv on. He hasn't asked once to watch tv! He has gone outside to play by himself. He has sat down and "read" about 5 books.He has participated in both of our Bible Studies so far today. He is happy, he is engaged.

Lastnight he helped me cook and unload the dishwasher. He was up at 5 AM this morning ready to watch tv, but I sweetly asked him to go back to sleep. He did . When I woke up at 8:00 today, he was outside jumping on the trampoline.

This morning when we were about to sit for breakfast he was thrilled about the banana bread he helped me bake. He also grabbed our Bible for Bible reading time and pointed at the word Bible and said. "BIBLE!" (one of his words) He is doing wonderful, Praise the Lord!!


In other news about our character training. It is going beautifully! Our boys are learning and applying what they're learning about obedience. Today for example the boys asked to go play with their friends. I only allow about an hour a day due to the habit training we're trying to do, I notice if allowed longer their moods change and they quicky become influenced and disrespectful.

So I told them to come check in in about 30 min. They come home about 50 minutes later to check in and ask if they can play with their friends in the front yard. The tone our son used was a bit demanding not to mention they were 20 minutes late. I simply told him no. He knew immediately that he had been disrepectful in 2 ways, and said, "yes maam, I'm sorry I didn't honor you."

I'd say something is sticking!



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Lastnight we watched a wonderful movie for Family movie night. I will post about it in the next few days. Let's just say it touched our 6 year olds' heart. Can't wait to share!

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Our Lord has brought a few things to my attention lately. Some things that may seem crazy to others, but I know when He is speaking clearly to us and I know to not ask questions, but to simply obey.

One is our keeping the Sabbath (Shabbat). It is the 4th Commandment, and one most people don't keep. We are starting to work towards keeping the Sabbath. I start at the begining of the week to keep our home maintained, and yesterday we spent the day finishing up laundry, cooking meals, and baking bread. It was wonderful! My husband had to work, so we will ease into it until he can be home for a full Sabbath. I said blessings over our boys, and today we have had Bible studies, read books, did some puzzles, and played outside. I am planning to move our movie night to Saturday nights (later in the evening) in order to observe, and will not be in any way "plugged in" on this day in order to keep it holy. Like I said we are easing into it since changing our son's routine on a whim is not easy. God will bless our efforts and will help him through it though!

In a nutshell, this is what he has been showing us. It didn't start with this video, but this sums it up.

Watch here:

Yeshua answered him, “If someone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Someone who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words — and the word you are hearing is not my own but that of the Father who sent me.

- John 14:23-24