Being Too Busy for Blogging is a Good Thing!

     Wow! My head is spinning as things have been super busy around here lately. I'm having trouble keeping up with the basics. I'm behind on laundry and cleaning and just about everything else.

...Maybe I am so behind because we have lots of produce available here; thus, I have been trying to use up lots of apples in our everyday cooking. Trying to find different recipes and ways to use apples takes a lot of time, as does peeling the apples, but I do so enjoy going outside to pick apples. It is one thing that is easy to do with a baby in one arm and a basket on the other! I just got done making 10 bowls of salsa to freeze, and I finally got around to chopping up some onions (to freeze) that had been sitting around for a long time!

...Maybe I am behind because child training has been taking up so much of our time lately. However, I wouldn't trade the time we are spending training our children for anything else. The messy living room and the sticky kitchen floor are so worth it. We have been trying to use Scripture more often as we train the children. I know this is right when I read 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17 which says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." I highly recommend using the Wise Words for Moms chart from Ginger Plowman if you are trying to use Scripture for figuring out how to deal with the "folly (that) is bound up in the heart of a child (Proverbs 22:15). I have been trying to find time to memorize some of the Scriptures that are suggested for dealing with the offenses that occur most often in our home. This will take time, but it will prove to be helpful because "the heart of the righteous studies how to answer." (Proverbs 15:28.

...Maybe I am behind because we might have some major changes in our near future, and those take much mental and physical energy to prepare for. Please keep us in your prayers about these possible changes.

...Maybe I am behind because I have been trying to read a little every day from women who exemplify a Titus 2 lifestyle and who have a heart for mentoring younger women. I have lately been reading from Nancy Wilson's books entitled Building Her House: Commonsensical Wisdom for Christian Women and Praise Her in the Gates: The Calling of Christian Motherhood. I have been thinking alot lately about the differences in raising sons and daughters. I wanted to share the following quotes from Nancy's books that have given me much food for thought in recent days.

On Raising Sons:
"One of the best things a mother can do for her son is to demonstrate to him that she takes the Bible seriously by walking in obedience to God and respecting her husband, her son's father. A boy finds joy in seeing his father respected. This is the way God has made sons." (from Building Her House)

On Raising Daughters:
"Women are the role models for their daughters, and they must teach them about meekness, submission, respect, deference, courtesy, and holiness by example.
Daughters primarily need love and security. This is why a critical spirit is so destructive. Criticism and impatience destroy rather than build up." (from Praise Her in the Gates)

On Raising Children:
"Our children are our disciples. Not only must we be diligent to know how they are doing, we must be godly examples so that they can imitate the behavior we model to them. We must not expect any Christian behavior from our children that we have not laid out before them in our own lives. " (from Praise Her in the Gates)

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14


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