Teach them to Your Children

"You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Deuteronomy 6:9

This verse from Deuteronomy is what we are trying to live out with our children as we live life with them from day to day. We are trying to point them to Jesus as we sit and as we work and as we learn......... ALL THROUGH THE DAY and in every situation we are trying to model the ways of the Lord and share the truth of God's Word at every opportunity. The days seem to be flying by so fast, and one week rolls into another week before I know what has happened. Honestly I feel like I have very little time to teach them all I want to teach them. I am looking for teachable moments even if it is a few minutes here and there.
One way I am trying to disciple my children's hearts is by grabbing them one on one even for a short while and reading through great christian books with them. Books that inspire greatness and godly character. We also enjoy reading biographies of great men and women of God. We sometimes do that as part of our schooling and all together.
Our days are so filled with activity, but we are trying to intentionally find those teachable moments in our busy and chaotic days. Here are some pictures of some of the things we have been doing lately. You can see the little girls spinning in their dresses, and the little girls enjoying the letter of the week preschool activities. I am trying to be more intentional about giving my little girls the first part of the school day, so that they know Mama has noticed them and given them some focused time. You can also see a sweet picture of Annagrace and Gabriel looking at a book together on the couch. These pictures illustrate some of what you might see if you were a fly on our wall.

A Portrait of Mama

Recently we took a trip to children's museum. My sweet four year old daughter painted this picture of her Mama. :)

So Thankful for This Girl!

This picture was taken several weeks back, but my baby girl is less than a month away from her first birthday! WHERE has this year gone to? The Lord has blessed us so much. I just have to say I totally HEART this little girl. She is so gentle and sweet. I am so thankful that the Lord has kept little babies in my life for over ten years now. As a little girl it was my dream to have a baby, and here I find myself having had five babies in the past ten years. The Lord has been good.
My baby girl is holding onto things and letting go and taking some steps holding my hand. She is getting strong on her legs. She likes to play patty cake and peek a boo. She also gets a lot of amusement from watching all the carrying ons of her siblings. She says Da Da and Ma Ma and brings lots of joy to our family. How my heart LOVES this precious gift from the Lord.
Looking back and remembering how early on in my pregnancy we thought we had lost her. The doctor said things were not looking good. Having been through a previous miscarriage we were certain that was the path we were going down again. How grateful I am that the Lord surprised us with a turn around in blood tests and allowed the pregnancy to carry on giving us another precious daughter.

Cousin Faith's Wedding!

Two of our girls had the joy of participating in their cousin Faith's wedding. I first met Faith when she was a toddler and enjoyed watching her grow up in the church my dad pastored. I taught her Sunday school, piano lessons, children's choir, etc. One of my sweet memories of her is when she sang a solo of Happy Birthday Jesus in the church children's choir program at Christmas. She could really sing and still can! Well, fast forward a few years, and her Uncle Matt moved in with her and her family. He was moving to Houston to go to University of Houston. He was going to live with their family. Since they attended the church my dad pastored Matt began attending too. Well, if you haven't put the pieces together yet, Mat became my Dear husband several years later. :) My little student Faith became my niece Faith!
I have to say I am encouraged by Faith's godly example. She has served the Lord and grown in grace and character. She was home schooled and developed many skills in home making, music, crafts, etc. Our Lilly Faith is named after her. Faith also has a sister, Heather, who is also a lovely lady. Heather is a little older and was my friend who became my niece. :) Both Heather and Faith are precious to Matt and I. It was a joy for our girls to be included in Faith's special day. Here are some pictures from the big day.

A Trip to the Houston Zoo

"O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. - Ps 104:24







It has been sooo long since I have posted anything on this blog. Life has just been crazy busy, and I have been snowed under and a bit sick. Looking back on these pictures revives my spirit to remember the sweet memories we created with our friends at the zoo. They were so sweet to go spend the day with us while our Daddy was traveling.
I think it is wonderful to go to the zoo and see God's great creativity in all the creatures He made. Such differentiation in size, color, behaviors, etc. There are many Biblical lessons we can teach our children from the world of nature. For example we can see the sloth and talk about how God does NOT want us to be lazy, or we can look at ants and talk about how they work storing up food for winter, etc.
Well, here are some pictures from our trip to the Houston Zoo.