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Hebrews 4:12 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Psalm 119:11 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Joshua 1:8 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

2 Timothy 3:16 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Romans 10:9-10 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Romans 5:8 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Romans 6:23 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Be Still My Soul

This song has been going through my head this week. I have been battling the winter depression again. This weekend, I finally realized why I have been acting weird, why I have been lacking motivation, and why I have been so unsettled.

Upon realizing the problem, I have been crying out to God for help in digging back out. He has graciously been allowing beautiful weather with lots of sunshine. It is a huge benefit for anyone struggling with depression induced by a lack of sunlight from the winter months.

When I realized my problem, this song, Be Still My Soul, particularly the first two lines, were repeating through my head. When I am in turmoil, I needs God's help to calm my troubled soul. It is also comforting to know that He is on my side.

If you also battle depression, whether seasonal or long term, I hope this song will encourage you as it has me.

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Be Still My Soul
Author: Kathrina von Schlegel; Translator: Jane Borthwick

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
leave to thy God to order and provide;
in ev'ry change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
thro' thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
to guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice, who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
and all is darkened in the veil of tears,
then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
from His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on
when we shall be forever with the Lord,
when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Romans 3:23 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Showing children crazy-about-me love

This page contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission from any items you purchase. I only recommend items that I use and trust.

I am slowly reading the book, What Every CHILD Needs by Eliza Morgan and Carol Kuykendall. when I say slowly, I mean like one chapter a week. (See last weeks post on chapter one.) This book is one of the first books in my goal to read more this year.

Last week about this time, I started a chapter on crazy-about-me love. Sunday, I found a bit of time to do more reading. The following quote jumped out at me.

I notice that if my children don’t get enough attention, or are not told and shown that they are loved and needed, they tend to rebel or do something so they will receive that attention. Also, my children might act whiny or weepy over trivial things if time passes without their getting attention. (pg. 46 from What Every CHILD Needs by Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall)

This quote played itself out at our house last week. Our friend hurt her back and we offered to take her two boys. My son is generally an obedient child. Sure, he is three and has some very three moments, but he is normally a well behaved child. Last week, however, he became a defiant, disobedient little snot. I was at my wits end with him. By the time his daddy came home from work, I was out of ideas to get him to obey.

And it's not like I had been ignoring the child either. I had been purposely attempting to spend little bits of time with him. Yet in spite of my attempts, he knowingly refused to obey. Nothing I said or did persuaded him to obey. Thankfully, when my husband came home from work, he was able to deal with him and get some obedience.

Showing crazy-about-me love isn’t easy. Spending enough time with your children can be a challenge on a good week. On a crazy, mixed-up, upside-down week, it seems impossible. So how do we spend time with our children and let them know that we love them, even when it seems impossible? Eliza Morgan and Carol Kuykendall offer the following suggestions on how to show our children crazy-about-me love:

     1. Give spontaneous verbal affirmation.
     2. Do special things that say “I love you!”
     3. Nurture your child through listening, encouragement and compliments.
     4. Stop doing unnecessary activities. Learn to say no.
     5. Turn off the TV.
     6. Streamline chores.
     7. Redefine quality time.

In my case, I probably should have spend some one-on-one time with my son going on a mommy/son walk or bike ride. Would it have helped his behavior? I don't know. But it is worth a try.

I also should have spent more time in prayer for the day. The days that went smooth were the days that I spent time praying. I need to make time each morning to pray over the day. I shouldn't let the cares and worries of the day ahead over shadow praying.

Lord, help me to pray for my children. Help me not to get to busy to show them crazy-about-me love.

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To read What Every CHILD Needs by Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall, click here.

John 3:16 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

Hold-me-close love in the middle of the night

This page contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission from any items you purchase. I only recommend items that I use and trust.

How do you show hold-me-close love to a baby who keeps waking you up in the middle of the night? This the question I have been pondering.

It all started a few weeks ago when I decided that I needed to read more books. So I took a trip to the library and picked up the book What Every CHILD Needs by Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall. I took it home and eagerly began to read. But despite the authors expressed intentions of not causing mommy guilt, I got a good case of it. I put the book down and left it.

Two weeks later, I picked it back up. This time, the book started to make sense. I was so excited.  Then my daughter kept waking my up during the night. And I began question everything I had read.

The chapter had been about hold-me-close love. Hold-me-close love is the love that gives children security and develops trust. As its name implies, this type of love involves a lot of snuggles from mom. It also includes time and eye contact.

As I was reading, I thought of my son and was like, "I got this hold-me-close love stuff down. This is stuff I already do."

Then, one night, my daughter kept waking me up. I was furious. After many months of disjointed sleep, she has finally started sleeping through the night. So why was she waking up? All hold-me-close love went out the door. In its place was a tired, angry bear.

That morning, when I was a tiny bit more awake, I felt guilty for my anger. And I began to ask myself some questions. How was I to show hold-me-close love to a screaming baby who won't go back to sleep without assistance? How do I keep my sleep-deprived temper from flaring up when my children wake me up?

It is easy to show hold-me-close love to a child who runs to you scared or who as scraped a knee. It is also easy to show love when your child is being sweet and charming. But stealing your sleep?

I wish I had the answers to these questions, but I don't. All I know is that I need to keep relying on God for my strength.

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To read What Every CHILD Needs by Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall, click here.

John 1:14 - Verse of the Week

I am sharing a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. I am taking these verses and teaching them to my 3-year-old. He is a sponge right now. The same day I taught him the last verse, he was quoting it to me in the grocery store. 

If you want to learn these verses at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to join me and teach these verses to your children, share how it is going in the comments below. 

Quote of the Week

He heals the broken hearted

This week has been both crazy and discouraging. In short, Mommy both blew her top and gave up, all in one week. I have been struggling with the new explorations of my three-year-old, plus the other marital and financial stresses. Attempts to write anything have proved to be futile. So in the absence of having anything rational to say, I am sharing Psalm 147.

Psalm 147 is a psalm of praise. This is what I should have been doing this week. Instead, I spent a good day and a half pouting and telling myself why I was right and everyone else was wrong. I am thankful that God reminds us of our need to praise Him. I am also thankful that He heals our broken hearts. Mine was very broken this week. And God, in His kindness, gently helped touched my soul, helped me see myself and set me on the correct road.

Psalm 147English Standard Version (ESV)

He Heals the Brokenhearted

 Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
6 The Lord lifts up the humble;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
    make melody to our God on the lyre!
8 He covers the heavens with clouds;
    he prepares rain for the earth;
    he makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He gives to the beasts their food,
    and to the young ravens that cry.
10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
    Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
    he blesses your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders;
    he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends out his command to the earth;
    his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
    he scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
    who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
    he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
    his statutes and rules to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
    they do not know his rules.
Praise the Lord!

John 1:1 - Verse of the Week

This is the second in a series of Bible verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. After posting last week's verse, I decided I would start teaching the each verse of the week to my son. Since he already knew Genesis 1:1, that was easy. I was impressed by how well he has retained what he learned months ago. We'll see how he does with learning this week's verse.

If you want to learn them at a more accelerated pace, this website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

If you decide to also teach these verses to your children, share how it went in the comments below. 

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Introduction to the threes

I am so glad that parents are not alone in the parenting journey! Before my son turned three, I had gathered from mom friends that the threes might be interesting. And so far, I haven't been disappointed. Since turning three, my son's ears have stopped working, his obedience has broken, and his vocabulary has sky-rocketed. He has also started doing more science experiments, or should I say, social science experiments. Friday night was one of them.

My son was never the type of child to pull things out of cabinets when he was a baby and toddler. I thought I had escaped the messes. He made up for it Friday evening. He and sister were playing quietly in their room. Sister was in her crib, while my son played. My husband and I were in our room, enjoying adult time. Suddenly my daughter started crying. I assumed, based on the time of day, that she was ready for bed. However, when I walked into their room, I was horrified. Buried amongst every since piece of clothing that she owns was my nine-month-old, looking extremely pitiful. During the silence I was enjoying, my three-year-old had emptied the entire contents of his sister's dresser.

Seriously, what is a parent to do? I did the only thing I knew to do - I laughed and my son had to clean out his sister's crib and go to bed. The next morning however, he helped me put all her clothes back into her dresser. I don't think he will be doing that again for a while.

While I knew the threes would probably be more challenging than the twos, no one told me that they would be more imaginative. I have had some very interesting conversations with my son lately.

Sunday, on the way to church, we had the following conversation.

Son (panic sound in voice): You forgot the cash.
Mommy: What cash?
Son: The cash for the paperwork.
Mommy (laughing): What paperwork?
Son: The paperwork for Uncle J.
Mommy (seriously amused at this conversation and wanting to take it as far as it would go): Oh. What does Uncle J use the paperwork for?
Son: Privacy.
Mommy: ...

And then there was Monday as we were driving home.

Son: We need to go fast.
Mommy: Why do we need to go fast?
Son: We need to run fast in the car.
Mommy: Why?
Son: To get away from the green spiders.
Mommy (surprised)? The green spiders?
Son (very enthusiastically): Yeah!
Mommy: Have you seen any green spiders lately?
Son: No.
Mommy (enjoying his new-found imagination): How big are these spiders?
Son: I don't know.
Mommy: Are they big or small?
Son: Um, company.
Mommy: ...

So to any mothers who haven't had a three-year-old yet, while the threes may bring some challenges that you haven't faced yet, they may also bring an active imagination. You might also get chased by green spiders that are the size of company.

Genesis 1:1 - Verse of the Week

For the next several weeks, I am going to be sharing verses listed as the Top 100 Bible verses every one should know. This website not only lists the verses, but has multiply ways to help you memorize them. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts this year.

Quote of the Week

Goals and resolutions

In comes another new year! And with it comes the predictable onslaught of New Year's resolutions-themed blog posts, ads and tv shows, along with gym memberships and plastic storage containers. Not very exciting in January. Neither is setting myself up for another cycle of failing and beating myself up for it. So here’s my little secret: I quit making New Year’s resolutions. I stopped years ago. I really don’t need the frustration they bring during the most depressing month of the year.

In comes another new year! And with it comes the predictable onslaught of New Year's resolutions-themed blog posts, ads and tv shows, along with gym memberships and plastic storage containers. Not very exciting in January. Neither is setting myself up for another cycle of failing and beating myself up for it. So here’s my little secret: I quit making New Year’s resolutions years ago. I really don’t need the frustration they bring during the most depressing month of the year.

But it’s also because of my philosophy about starting new things. It is my experience that if something is worth doing, it doesn’t need to wait. If you wait, it probably won’t get done. It’s like getting out of bed. When the alarm goes off in the morning, I hate getting up. If I bounce out of bed right away and get my feet moving, I’m good to go. But if I hit snooze a couple of times, check emails and look at Facebook as part of my wake up process, I have a hard time getting out of bed. I may even go back to sleep. If I bounce out of bed, I wake up. If I wait to get out of bed, I risk being late for work.

For fun, I Googled how long it takes to create a habit. I found answers ranging from 21 to 66 days. No wonder so many people fail to keep their resolutions! If New Year’s resolutions were formed in the spring or summer versus the dead of winter, I wonder if more resolutions would turn into habits.

So this year, I think I’m going to revive an old habit that I kicked. I’m making a New Year’s resolution. My resolution for this year is to choose to do things, to follow through with them, and to not allow myself to make excuses. Not to kick myself when I don’t do it. And most importantly, when I fall off, to dust myself off, and pick back up again. So there you have it. Not so much a resolution, but more of a strategy to handle all the other “ought-to-do’s” in my life that I shouldn’t wait for the dead of January to start.

So what are your New Year’s resolutions? And if you don’t make any, that’s okay: what are your goals that you are currently working towards? I’d love to know what your goals and aspirations for 2018 are.

And a happy New Year.

Luke 2:19 - Verse of the Week