Best Buds
Such a sweet big brother!
Just playin'
Goofball
"Adventure, here I come!"
"Um, I think that's my key right there."
"Help! Mom?"
"Never mind. I'll take care of it myself."One of our favorite quotes on mothers....
"The modern challenge to motherhood is the eternal challenge — that of being a godly woman. The very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other kind of women — beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career woman, talented women, divorced women, but so seldom do we hear of a godly woman — or of a godly man either, for that matter.
"I believe women come nearer fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else. It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America. It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel filled with filth. It is a far, far better thing in the realm of morals to be old-fashioned than to be ultramodern. The world has enough women who know how to hold their cocktails, who have lost all their illusions and their faith. The world has enough women who know how to be smart.
"It needs women who are willing to be simple. The world has enough women who know how to be brilliant. It needs some who will be brave. The world has enough women who are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right that socially correct."
Tait and his dad carrying tools and building materials out to our house
Photo from May of 2008, courtesy of Esther ZimmermanAfter those early years of madcap panic trying to get through the days and weeks and months with all the members of the family receiving at least a meal a day and a bath a week, now I'm surrounded by helpers with able bodies and sound minds. I have 7 children who can tie their own shoes, and what's more they can find and tie shoes for those who can't....My main purpose in explaining this is to encourage mothers whose children are all or mostly below the age of shoe-tying. Your days will get easier. You will, someday, struggle more with the temptation to laziness than the temptation to fall into a teary heap on the kitchen floor because there's just not enough time in the day to do the absolute bare necessities.
Hmmm ... that last part (the "teary heap on the kitchen floor" part) sounds a little like me sometimes. Or at least, the way I'm tempted to be when I'm overwhelmingly overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done in a day just to keep things functioning! Thankfully, I have an encouraging, helpful husband who urges me to "rejoice evermore" (1 Thessalonians 5:16), even when things get tough (and when the word "rejoice" is honestly the last thing I want to hear). And I know that our home will be a happier, more uplifting and refreshing place if Mommy is bright and cheerful.
Little Tait and Miles will grow up all too quickly, and I know I'll miss their baby days. But if they're trained well, they'll be able to help me with chores and with the new little ones!
Meantime, Kim at Life in a Shoe, Connie at Smockity Frocks, Kimberly at Raising Olives, and "The Deputy Headmistress" at The Common Room all have helpful, practical tips to share about everything from scheduling to cooking to homeschooling to shopping with little ones!
The main battle that we are fighting is the battle for our children, and ultimately, the battle for the future. We want to see Christian parents pulling their children out of the humanistic, statist public indoctrination centers. But we don't want parents to just teach their children the Three R's at home; we want to see them following a walk-along, talk-along discipleship model.This is one of our many visions for the future.
We want to see fathers working with their sons, preparing them to be providers and protectors. We want to see mothers teaching their daughters how to keep a home and manage a large family, modeling an obedient and submissive spirit towards their husbands. We want to see a love of children instilled in each child. We want to see parents putting each "subject" - and activity and even thought process! - in perspective with God's Word as the standard, realizing that there is no area of neutrality, that God's Word speaks to every area of life and living!
We want to see mothers and fathers training their children to go forth and fight the battles of the day and stand firmly on truth; encouraging their children to disciple their own children and send them out, in their turn, to continue the multi-generational vision of their parents and grandparents. We want to see children raised up as active servants of God, as cultural reformers; we want to see leaders raised up, who will fight for the truth, spread the Gospel, and advance Christ's kingdom!
