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Deep In The Heart of Texas

I haven’t blogged in a  week. That almost never happens! I have a good excuse though. We drove from Ohio to Texas and my schedule was packed even tighter than my suitcase.

For those that don’t know, I spent 15 of my 32 years in the Dallas area and they were very important formative years. So, I have a heart connection with that place and the people there. The trip had it’s ups and downs for sure, but I would rather focus on the ups.

First of all my best friend flew in from Michigan and we even stayed in the same house so that was tons of fun.

We just happened to be doing our mascara side my side looking into tiny mirrors. Plus we were both sporting messy buns and black jeans. I had to enlist her brother to take a photo. 

We went to many cool coffee shops. I probably had more coffee that week than I drink all year. 

I am a diva when it comes to my macchiatos. Donavan nailed it. 

I photographed a wedding for a dear friend. I’ll share more about that later.

This is me with the beautiful bride at the rehearsal dinner. 

And there was the dancing. Oh the dancing. 

We also celebrated the 5 year anniversary of the coffee shop that we helped establish. 
I love these people so much! 

Plus we got to revisit our old church.

We met in our twenties, but we make the 30’s look good right?
J lead worship along with others from the team that had moved away. It was the most amazing refreshing time of being in the presence of the Lord. I did not want it to end! 
The arts have supremely high value in this community that we have grown up in. It’s shaped who we are today. It was great to hear J play at open mic night. 


This is an older picture. I did not get to see Michael this visit, but I was blessed to discover some of his Dallas street art in Lower Greenville. I love how his hands really tell the story in the above photo (truly an artist with paint stained fingers). This particular piece shown below was for his Handle With Care project which is a non profit organization that uses arts to fight human trafficking. You should check out what Michael and his team are doing. They have a really great mission and God is doing some amazing things through the program.


It’s hard to believe so much happened in such a short amount of time. I am so grateful for all of these people and the opportunity to share life with them. 

By |2015-05-14T23:15:29+00:00November 12, 2014|Uncategorized|9 Comments
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Where Did You Meet Your Spouse?

Today is my anniversary (by the time I finally publish this it will be “yesterday was my anniversary”). I thought it would be fun to take a poll about where my friends met their spouses, and to put a spin on it what would it be like if they got married at that same location? *The online conversation really took off and I got nearly 100 responses between Instagram, a blogger forum, and Facebook.

The thing is, now I want to hear a hundred more details because I have always said I am a sucker for love stories. I actually have a few that I am going to tuck away for a Where Did You Meet Your Spouse? Part II blog post because they are just too good not to elaborate on. Trust me!

Here is the question:

If you got married in the exact place that you first met your spouse where would that be?

And here are some of the answers:


On a football field sideline


A bar (she was the bartender by the way) 


At the mall on Black Friday


Sand volleyball courts


A Fish Camp


U-Scan at Kroger


The Bus Station Downtown


9th Grade English Class


J Crew


“In the cafeteria of my university in Thailand. My husband (from Oregon) was part of Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ)’s summer project group.” 

That’s just a handful, but there were plenty of people from my poll that had met at college, someone’s house (through friends), or at church. It’s not so much about WHERE you met your spouse it’s HOW you met your spouse that tells the story. For example I noticed a lot of people put the airport. Now before all you single ladies get gussied up and head to terminal E I should explain that a lot of this is because of online dating. More people are falling in love across the county and not even meeting in person until they travel to do so. I also noticed a lot of people had really interesting answers like the food court at the mall, but it wasn’t due to a pick up line by a stranger, it was a chance meeting through mutual friends. This got me thinking.

What is the most common way married couples find one another?

After doing a little research, it looks like my personal poll mirrored the population pretty well. Some reports that I read were conflicting, but it is pretty certain that work/school is number one, with connecting online shortly behind it. Can you believe that 1/4 of couples initially meet on the web these days! All of the studies I read also show meeting through mutual friends being up there as one of the highest ranking ways to find “the one”. Friends introducing friends is one form of match making that has stayed constant through the years, unlike many trends that have fluctuated with cultural changes.

For example in what we’ll call “the old days” more people were set up through their family members. These days families usually have little to no involvement. In the old days people married younger (and were possibly more commitment minded, but that’s just my speculation) so high school or even elementary school were not uncommon places to meet your future mate. In the old days no one met at work, because women didn’t work, but that all changed as more women went into the workforce. Your job increasingly became one of the number one ways to meet your husband or wife up until the 90’s when it started to decline for the first time and meeting on the web began to surface. Online dating now trumps work place relationships by far. Makes sense to me. I am sure it’s less awkward for everyone if you can avoid having to work with exes.

One of the most interesting findings I came across was from Time.com in an article by Laura Blue called “How Couples Meet” it ends with a  statement that caught me off guard coming from a secular magazine, it said:

“But does it really matter how couples meet? Yes and no, the survey suggests. The happiest couples, it seems, are those who met through church. These partners report the highest overall relationship satisfaction.” 

That’s good news for me since I did meet my husband at church. It happened when I was a young teenager whose family had to relocate thanks to my dad’s job. I was new at this church and it just so happened that J had taken a part time position as the new worship leader at the same church. As a young college student J was much older than me. So it wasn’t like we instantly fell for each other at, but the first time I saw him he was at the alter leading the congregation in songs to the Lord. After church my family invited him to have lunch with us.


This was about 16 years ago when we were “just friends” Note the overalls when they were trendy the first time!

We became good friends and did eventually fall in love of course. A couple years later we were married at that same church.


Here is a photoshopped version of a really scratched up scanned photo from our wedding day.

It wasn’t the most glamorous location. Seriously, it was an old metal building on the side of the highway under a giant billboard for Schlitterbahn water park. I never realized it until today, but our ceremony 14 years ago was almost a symbolic reenactment of the first day I ever laid eyes on him. Me at the back of the church walking down the aisle seeing him up at the alter. It was special.

One of the things I have really enjoyed about reading everyone’s answers  to that question I posted online today is that you could just tell by the way people responded that everyone was reliving that life changing moment. Sometimes it’s nice to reminisce, and today I have enjoyed doing it with all of you. So, thank you to everyone who helped me out with this little whim of a project. Or for my married friends that didn’t have a chance to answer feel free to share your story in the comments. I’d love to hear it. You know how I feel about love stories!

By |2017-01-04T12:25:58+00:00November 5, 2014|Marriage, Uncategorized|15 Comments
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What Now?

I blogged everyday in October for the 31 days challenge! The Teachable Parenting series was an amazing experience. It stretched me in ways I never would have imagined, both in terms of the parenting subject matter, but also as a writer. I don’t want to turn this into something competitive, because it’s not. I have connected with such an incredible group of women in the midst of all of this. I’ll admit though, sometimes it is hard to see other blogs or read other stories that seem to be so much more compelling and polished than yours. Seeing all the rocking website, fancy graphics, and thousands of followers can leave you feeling a little like you are out at sea on a life raft amongst a bunch of cruise lines passing you by. On the other hand, there were times that I felt very accomplished just by fact that I had outlasted so many other participants. I know it’s not the Hunger Games, but I’m just sayin’, when I looked at the line up from last year’s 31 days there were so many blogs that just didn’t even exist any more.

So now I am trying to figure out how transition back into my messy mom writing routine and yet be progressively moving forward at the same time. My plan for the rest of this year is to just keep it simple. I’ll continue to write about my family and our journey. My aim is to hit the 2 to 3 posts a week mark.

As far as the line up for this month I have a lot of catching up to do.

I need to share a little about what’s been going on with Z, my 7 year old. 

I am ESPECIALLY excited to give some major updates on SJ’s progress in learning to speak as a cochlear implant recipient.

I also have been doing a lot with my photography business which includes an upcoming trip to Texas this week to photograph a wedding and some senior portraits.

Not to mention other miscellaneous possibilities like “What I Wore Wednesday”, my 14th anniversary (which is in two days), sprinkled with some Holiday related posts.

For the record, it might sound like I am being a little more formal or descriptive for a while, because I never used names or too much personal info for my series. So I will be reintroducing some of the “characters” in my life to those that are just joining from last month. Which reminds me, I want to give a warm welcome to all the new readers here from 31 days and a welcome back to all the old friends that stuck it out after all this time.

There are 2 months left for 2014 and they are two of my favorites! Are you guys ready for the Holiday rush? I think I am. Either way it is happening! Here we goooo!

By |2015-05-14T23:15:29+00:00November 2, 2014|Uncategorized|11 Comments
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Be There

I don’t know about you but I’ve had a lot of teachable moments in the past 31 days and I’m sure my children can say the same. In a lot of ways I feel like I’ve failed miserably practicing what I preach this month. I don’t know if that’s because I’ve been focusing on it so much that I’ve made myself over think it, or maybe I’m just noticing it more because I’ve been writing about it. One thing is for sure though the enemy loves to tear us down and make us feel like we’re not good enough. I’ve had several people from friends, to my own husband and my mother tell me (in reference to this series) how they feel like they are not parenting the right way or that they didn’t do things the right way when they had a chance. 

That is not the result I was going for when I set out to write about Teachable Parenting. And this is what I would like to say to everyone that is reading this: 

Stop beating yourself up. I am talking to you. You, wiping your child’s nose. You doing the dishes. You getting disapproval from others because you let your child sleep with you, and you getting disapproval from your child because you won’t let them sleep with you. You who are late to get your child to soccer, and you who feels bad that you can’t afford soccer. To the bottle feeders, and the breast feeders, the loud mom, the mean mom, the Pinterest mom, and the laid back mom. 

You are enough. 

Please be encouraged. You are doing an amazing job. Your sacrifice is meaningful. You are capable and equipped. You are chosen. You are qualified. You can do this. 

To sum it all up I’d like to leave you with some advice from a young man who spent most of his life in prison. I met Brandon Young this past Sunday when a ministry group called Hope Royale came my church. The men were different ages and had different backgrounds, but their commonality was that they had all spent a good deal of time in jail and now have come to a place of restoration with powerful testimonies to share about their journeys. At the end of the service a panel was opened up for question-and-answer time. We were all encouraged to ask them anything we wanted. It could be about drugs, alcohol, jail, suicide attempts, anything. I hesitated because this was a big group and we had to speak into the microphone, but then I thought why not, this is a great opportunity for me. So I stood up and I briefly mentioned the project I’m working on about parenting and my question was “What advice would you have for parents? What one thing would you say to help them steer their children away from such hardships? Brandon looked me in the eye and he just simply said, 


Be There.

As he paused my eyes began to well up with tears with the gravity and complexity of the statement. He expounded just a little bit by saying “My parents weren’t perfect, but they weren’t even there. Just be there for your kids.” I thought it was interesting this 24 year old young man would say he didn’t need perfect parents. He just needed parents that were there for him. 

I’d like to repeat what I said that the father shared with his daughter at her 16th  birthday which is that no matter where she finds herself he will be there for her. Just like Christ promises us, just like the prodigal son. Hopefully our children don’t have to go through all these dark struggles that we so strongly want to keep them away from, and there are things we can do to help them for sure. Of course  listening is important, chores are important, our words are important, our actions are important, but after 31 days and tons of tips telling you what I’ve learned about Teachable Parenting I’d like to leave you with one simple piece of advice from my new friend Brandon. 

Just be there for your kids.

 Be There.

This is the end of a 31 day series. For the rest of Teachable parenting click HERE.
By |2015-05-18T04:42:43+00:00October 31, 2014|Motherhood, Parenting Tips, Uncategorized|8 Comments
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Practical Tips Recap

Wow! I can’t believe we are pretty much finished with all 31 days! Tomorrow is the
official final day and I will wrap things up, but today I just want to
highlight some of the main points of Teachable Parenting. A simple cheat sheet if
you will.

Let’s start with the “bad news” first and look at the top
five stumbling blocks to AVOID. These are behaviors that can interfere with teachable parents and teachable
kids too.
AVOID…

Getting angry. I know it’s easier said than done, but remember anger short circuits learning. It also gives a child the impression that they have power over you. 
Giving one size fits all discipline. Try to find a consequence that is related to their offense. 
Lengthy lectures.  Be concise. The more words a teacher or parent uses, the greater the odds that a child will tune you out. 
Shaming them with words. Communicate in a way that is short, firm, and measured rather than belittling or personally attacking.
Short cuts to behavior modification.  Whether it’s bribing and coddling during a temper tantrum, or threatening and manipulating through external discipline, try to remember that our long term goal is the condition of the heart.

The good news is we can embrace a ton of teachable moments at times when we simply ALLOW things to play out. 

Allow…
Allow children to learn from their mistakes. 

Allow children to have a range of emotions.

Allow opportunity to work and earn money. 

Allow kids to be kids within the confines of clear cut boundaries.

Allow fun and spontaneity! 


If you have come this far with me during this series I would like to extend an enormous thank you. It’s been a lot to take on, but I am so grateful for the experience. If you are just discovering this series, and these points look like something that might be helpful to you, then I encourage you to check out all 31 days. You can find the index page HERE. I have loved all the feed back and your comments have been such an encouragement. Check back tomorrow for (I can’t believe I am saying it)

DAY 31!

By |2015-05-14T23:15:29+00:00October 30, 2014|Uncategorized|2 Comments
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Teachable Parenting Opposition

I’ll be closing up this series in the next couple days, but before I do I would like to close up some holes that might be potentially lingering. You see, everyday that I have
written on teachable parenting something comes up that says “oh yeah, well how
are they supposed to cope in the real world when they are just being bossed around?” Or “what about what the Bible has to
say about cheap grace huh?” Every time I take action there is an equal and
opposite reaction! But here are just a couple little rebuttals to some of the
questions or concerns that pop into my head about this Teachable Parenting
stuff and I hope to diffuse some of the confusion for anyone else that might be
ready to shut this whole concept down due to a misunderstanding.
1.    
What about spare the rod spoil the child?

This is the biggest hot button of all when it comes to new covenant Biblical parenting. First of all when it comes to questions you may have
about this parenting style feel free to ask me, but also there are
a lot of things that are covered in the books that I haven’t mentioned. This
series isn’t a synopsis of all three books, but I do draw from them a lot. My
series is 31 days, The books that I am referring to are over 600 pages combined. So I am not going to be able to expound on nearly as much
ground on this blog. EVEN THEN I didn’t agree with everything
in those books. I really loved them and gleaned so much from them, but all
three books had at least one thing that I disagreed with or that I
knew wouldn’t work for my family. Take everything with a grain of salt, don’t
throw the baby out with the bath water, and any other idioms you think might
apply. As for the verses about the rod I think of Psalm 93 “Your rod and your staff comfort me” I believe the rod is correction and authority, but I am not a scholar. I think
people need to use their own discretion and seek the Lord on the matter, but all three books deal with the
spanking topic so I don’t want to pretend like that isn’t a big question in
this teachable parenting thing.
2.    
What about when reality hits? Who can really keep up with all this stuff?
It’s easy to talk about gentle parenting or
dream about being the perfect role model, but it’s like one of my favorite
meme’s says “You are making it difficult for me to be the parent I always imagined I
would be”.

The truth is we aren’t going to be the perfect parent and I talkedabout this earlier in the series, but even more so it’s healthy to be real and
candid with your children. Just as we can turn their mistakes into opportunities
to make deposits into their wisdom accounts we can turn our mistakes into
opportunities to make deposits into their wisdom accounts too.  Sometimes we are the ugliest (emotionally)
with the ones we love the most. At first glance this can be disheartening
because it looks like you are respecting others outside of the home more than
you do your own family, but I’ve always been flattered when my kids seem like
angels with the babysitter or at school, but act up at home. I know that means
that they feel safe and comfortable with me, like they can air out their dirty
laundry per se. There are certainly extremes to this, but don’t be too worried
if you feel like you are giving or receiving  your true colors at home in a way that isn’t
appealing. Chances are your also seeing a lot more intimacy and camaraderie than
all those strangers that see the cleaned up version.

3.    
What happened to the good old fashioned winging it
technique?
As much as I wish I didn’t pigeon hole my
parenting philosophy it’s kind of something I have fallen into naturally. I can
tell you that I never TRY to fit in a certain group. If I do then it usually
lasts less than a week.  So, while I envy
moms that don’t read parenting books or essays on Pinterest I feel empowered by
the research I’ve found and I consider it a guide. Just when you think you’ve
got someone that fits in a box you learn something about them that blows that
stereotype, so let’s not label everyone and call it a day. When I suggest Teachable Parenting it doesn’t have to be this rigid thing that you try to
follow to a T.  It’s more of an idea that
you follow with your heart. Take what you will if it jumps out at you. See if it
works for you, or as Dr. Sears says, if you resent it change it. Parenting is
personal and it’s fluid. There is no one size, one method fits all.

4.    
Doesn’t some of this seem a little extreme?
I have worried that some of the ideas of Teachable Parenting
are going to brainwash my child. Are they always going to expect empathy with
their authorities? My answer to that which was covered in
the books I read, is that there are plenty of lessons on the harshness of the
world that they will learn naturally. Our job is to show them the love of
Christ. My other worry was that kids would learn to always expect choices.  However, if you read the books you would find
that you aren’t supposed to ALWAYS give choices. The main point I want to make
right here though goes hand and hand with question number 3. This does
not have to be an all or nothing approach. We aren’t going to come up with the
perfect formula to produce these robotic kids and that is what teachable
parenting is actually all about. I don’t think I am going to brain wash my kids
ESPECIALLY considering I am never going to follow this thing line by line
because I am human. I look at it like dieting. If I were morbidly obese and
chose not to try to diet or exercise because I worried that I would be anorexic
that would be illogical and unhelpful. So until further notice I am not going
to worry that I am overly obsessed with a certain parenting style, because I
still have plenty of off the cuff tendencies to prevent me from coming anywhere near overkill!
5.    I don’t want to be a helicopter mom, but what if the learning process involves physical injury?
When it comes to natural consequences or
freedom the keys is to be age appropriate. Do you want your 2 year old to learn
how to cut vegetables with a sharp knife? Do you think it’s appropriate to ask
your 6 year old to find their own ride home from soccer practice? Of course
not, Some of these things only make sense when they are applied at the
appropriate ages. What ages are appropriate? I would poll my friends and google
it, but that’s just me.
6. Does this method spoil kids and turn them into brats with push over parents?
Wow, that is a really specific question I just made up. My guess is though, that some of you are thinking Teachable Parenting is a little too laid back for you. I can see why emphasizing grace,
empathy, and gentle correction probably sounds like “namby pamby” parenting
without a backbone. It’s really not though. These alternative
discipline solutions are actually more challenging both to implement and to be
a recipient of. When you allow your children to have more ownership and
responsibility you are also going to have to watch them experience some real
life consequences which are not always sweet and flowery.
All of the Love and Logic books that I have read have a
heavy focus on limits, boundaries, routine, replacing warnings with immediate
consequence, and not rescuing them out of the tough spots. So even though I
talk about focusing on relationship over behavior that does not mean we have
pajama parties and eat donuts all day. Quite the contrary. 
7. If your children are allowed to push your buttons without any “push back” how do they learn respect? 

One important thing I did not have time to get into with this relationship based parenting style is that relationships go both ways. Loving Our Kids On Purpose teaches
that “you want your child to learn early on that there are two people in this
relationship.” That means that there are two sets of needs. You need respect,
honor, power and all of that just as much as they do.  The book teaches that we should not put up
with disrespect and misbehavior. We just don’t tolerate in a way that bulldozes a child over to prove a point. So just to be clear Teachable
Parenting is NOT about being a door mat.
Whew. That’s a lot of disclaimers and I don’t even feel like I addressed everything. As I worked my way through the past 29 days I began to wonder if maybe I should have picked a topic that was less controversial. Then again, who am I kidding? These days everything topic can become a political minefield. I could have done 31 days of kitten calendars and someone would have come up with an objection and that’s what makes us unique independent thinkers.

I do hope that some of these explanations have been helpful. What it boils down to in the end is that I am just a crazy mom trying to make sense of all of this parenting business. For me personally Teachable Parenting has made a world of difference in how I operate. That’s all I can say.


This is day 29 of a 31 day series. For the rest of Teachable Parenting click HERE. 

By |2015-05-14T23:15:29+00:00October 29, 2014|Uncategorized|7 Comments
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The Power of Words

Along with naming your child and carrying an uplifting
vision for their future we have to lay the ground work with the words that we
speak. Teachable parenting means cultivating a loving and respectful
environment in our homes and it is made manifest through the things we say.
Words are powerful. We know this right? Proverbs 18:21  says that the power of Life and death are in
the tongue.  Ephesians 4:29, Let no
corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only that which is good for building
up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Or Matthew 15:18 What comes from the mouth proceeds from the heart and defiles a man. 
Back to quoting Danny Silk from Loving Our Kids on Purpose
he says “ Our job is to create a steady steam of life-giving words into our
children’s lives. When we learn to look at our children and see their potential
and destinies in God, and learn to release the power of life through our words we
become a channel for God to broadcast his heart and His grace to them.”  I love the example he gives when his son was
in 2nd grade (probably around the same age as my son) and he was
getting into some trouble at school (kind of like my son has) and the school called the mother about the issue. I am sure she was ready to tear into him, but before she
went to pick him up she said to herself 
Here we go. My words are spirit
and life. I carry vision for my son. I carry it in my heart. I carry
what it is that I want him to have and when she addressed him that day she did so without attacking him with harsh words. I don’t want to over spiritualize this topic and make it sound like our words carry that much weight, but well, it’s in the Bible so I don’t know how else to present it. Our words have impact.  
Sometimes
it can be a struggle when you see your children misbehaving not to call them
names like “bad boy” “brat” or “selfish”. Teachable Parenting holds kids
responsible for their actions, but what they do as children does not define who
God says that they are. The book Wild Things suggests naming the behavior
instead. You do this by saying things like “that’s destructive” or “talking
that way is disrespectful”. It communicates  in a way that is short firm, and measured
rather than belittling or personally attacking. 
I don’t want to bombard my children with words that accuse them of being bad
because if they hear it enough they are going to believe that is what they are.
Again, this excerpt from Wild Things is
geared to boys, but I think you will quickly see how it can be adapted to apply
to girls as well. “By disciplining boys in ways that do not shame them, we
honor their desire for strength, reinforce their sensitivity, and encourage
them toward valor. If our boys are to stand a fair chance at life, they need to
enter manhood believing that they are good men. If they don’t, they will be
staring out behind the eight ball.”

So anyway, I am feeling convicted! Today my challenge is to cover my children with words that strengthen,
encourage and change the atmosphere! I’m ready for a change.

 This is day 28 of a 31 day series. For the rest of Teachable Parenting click HERE.

By |2015-05-18T04:42:54+00:00October 28, 2014|Parenting Tips, Uncategorized|8 Comments
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See Him. Name Him. Draw Him Out.

Yesterday I talked about having a vision for our children. For me a big part of this process was revealed to me through the book Wild Things. They gave three key actions that lead you to a child’s heart. 
The first one was to see them.

To see a child is to know how they are uniquely made. To get
know their heart and personality, the good and the bad. 
The second one was to name them.
To name them is to
declare truth about them, to them, and for them, (like we talked about
yesterday) 
Then lastly, to draw them out.
This means to challenge, invite, coax, and direct your
child toward and authentic lifestyle of integrity and intimate relationships
with himself, others, and with God.
 I heard a sermon recently about Matthew 13:44 where Jesus tells the parable about the
hidden treasure. The pastor expounded on this parable by encouraging us to see the treasure in others. Let’s review the passage.
 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that
a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold
everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.”
 I am reminded that in Luke 17:21 that the
Kingdom of God is also within us. We can see glimpses of the Kingdom of God
through our children everyday. If we apply this parable to the idea of having a vision for our children then we can dig even further into Mathew 13:44. 
1. To “see them” is to
discover  the field
2. To “name them” is to actually make the investment and
buy the field. We are saying of our children, others may just see the field or a crazy rambunctious child, but I see
the treasure and I am willing to give up everything for this vision. 
3. To “draw them
out” is taking on the field and protecting that treasure! You hide these words and that vision in your heart just as the man hid the treasure in the field. You are agreeing to
take ownership of the land, the weeds,
the labor, maintenance, and the dirt. All of it! Again, Teachable Parenting is taking on the mistakes, the emotions, and the growing pains that come along with the process all because you see the value
in that treasure. You have a vision.

It’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s worth it. It is so rewarding isn’t it? Today I want you to focus on seeing, knowing, and drawing out your child. Really pray about it and consider what this means for your relationship with your children. Tomorrow we will talk about how to declare these truths by the words of our mouth. It’s a biggie!

Today is day 27 of a 31 day series. For the rest of Teachable Parenting click HERE.
By |2015-05-18T04:45:18+00:00October 27, 2014|Parenting Tips, Uncategorized|5 Comments
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Vision For Our Children

When we lived in Texas we were part of ministry that reached
out to “edgier” teens and young people through a coffee shop and music venue.
One night some girls showed up in in clothing that rivaled a street walker’s
uniform.  What little they were wearing was super tight and/or see
through. It didn’t really bother me that they were dressed that way. I mean, these are the people we were reaching out to afterall, the ones that were
rejected by other church environments. It did make me wonder though how it got
to be that way for them. I know for a fact most of these kids are from really
awful home enviroments. In that moment though I wondered if my daughter would
ever dress that way, even though she was chubby little baby at the time my mind flashed ahead to this vision
of her as a teenager trying to leave the house in something scandalous and me forbidding her
to and her yelling you can’t make me, and then taking off slamming the door behind her. It was an ugly picture. I turned to my friend next me and said, do you ever
worry that your kids are going to choose the wrong path? That your daughter
might dress like a hooker or that your son might do drugs? She looked at me and
with all seriousness she replied NO. The thing I worry about is that I know my
children are called to ministry. I just know that God’s leading them somewhere
to do big things, and it will be so hard to say goodbye.
I was stunned. It wasn’t this holier than thou comment, she
meant it and I suddenly I felt jelous of her vision. The thoughts and words she
had for her children’s future looked so much better than mine. Even if she was
saying should would be sad about it, I know she would be proud and honored to
send them out to do kingdom work. I knew then I needed to get a better projection for my
chlldren. I know God’s plans for them are not that of destruction, so why would
I buy into the fear of the enemy like that?    


She will probably kill me for posting this, but it was too perfect to illustrate my point. Crystal is at the wheel ready to take on the world while I am frantically trying to hold on to the children. We have 7 kids between us and we were both pregnant in this shot. 

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t this major concern that I had,
but the thought did cross my mind. The biggest stumbling blocks I have found as I journey
to be a godly parent is fear and doubt.  I
could focus on the worst case scenario and live in fear or I could call out God’s
promises over my children and do as philippians 4:8, focusing on things that
are excellent and worthy of praise.
What is the vision that you have for your child’s future? In
the book Wild Things it says “Having a vision helps us to structure a boy’s
life according to it’s design. When we have a vision of who they are, and who
they are becoming, we can engage with them and lead them toward the path they
are to follow in their lives. The vision we hold for our children becomes the
compass that keeps them on track.”

This is the final week for Teachable parenting. As I close out this series I want us be seeking the Lord to give us vision for our children. Then over the next couple days I will be sharing about drawing it out. Even with only 5 days left I am just as excited as when I started to see what is in store! 

This is day 25 of a 31 day series. For more Teachable Parenting click HERE. 

By |2015-05-18T04:45:25+00:00October 26, 2014|Parenting Tips, Uncategorized|2 Comments
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Rites of Passage

For the
record my children are ages 7, 4, and 2. I know this series hasn’t gone too deep into
parenting the tween years and up because I have zero experience with that age
group, but for
today’s topic I’m looking ahead a little into the unknown as I discuss Rites of
Passage. These milestones can certainly happen at all walks of life, but the
ones I am focusing on are more around the adolescent years. The book Wild Things has an entire chapter dedicated to Rituals, Ceremonies, and Rites of
Passage and puts a great deal of  importance on marking significant moments
and transitions into manhood, or in the case that I am about share
womanhood. 
My niece (in-law) has a beautiful story about a symbolic ring she got for a significant milestone.
I happen to love romantic stories and proposals, so I asked her if I could share
hers and she agreed. She received a purity ring from her parents shortly after
8th grade. The idea was to wear it on her left ring finger until the day she was engaged. Well, it wasn’t too long after she began college that she found the man she
wanted to spend the rest of her life with. When their one year anniversary
as a couple was approaching he began making an elaborate scheme to catch her off guard.
He told her months beforehand that he would be on a mission trip during their one year anniversary. So she knew well in advance not to expect anything around that time. However, on the day they hit the one year mark, a friend of hers gave her a
letter from her soon to be fiancé and told her that he wanted it to be special
even though he couldn’t be there. The note led her to a Lighthouse that they
had previously visited together. When she arrived at the Lighthouse she found
candles, bridal magazines, and white Gerber daises along with another note
instructing her to remove the purity ring (in preparation for the engagement
ring). She still assumed he was out of the country and had no idea when the ring would be coming, but when she followed the
instructions she turned around and there he was down on one knee
asking for her hand in marriage! How sweet is that? She actually had her
sterling silver purity ring melted down and put into the band of his custom
titanium ring. 
These are the actual rings.

They have been married for 5 years now and have a beautiful 1-year-old daughter.
The
reason I share this story is because her parents cared enough to acknowledge
that she had become a women. They gave her a tangible and valuable gift to
signify this, and she in turn was able to take ownership of that in a spiritual
way and in this case literally turned the ring over to her husband to be melted
into his. What a beautiful picture of God’s design for family! The man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. The two shall become one
flesh. They are no longer two, but one. 
 
This is a photo of my niece and nephew on their wedding day.

I think the purity ring for girls is somewhat common in Christian
communities, whereas boys often get overlooked. You will find throughout history, and even now in other cultures, there is great value placed on rites of passage. Unfortunately this is not the case in our Western culture. In the book Wild
Things it explains how these days driver’s licenses and sports trophies are
about as close as it comes to having a significant marking to manhood. The
trouble is “If we don’t create rites of passage for our boys, they will
find their own. If we don’t mark their passage into the fellowship of men, they
will create experiences that make them feel like the men they long to become. A
rite of passage for a boy can be anything from smoking pot to sleeping with a
girl. For many boys, life will eventually initiate them, but it is often too
late or too imperceptible to have any real meaning.”
There are so many ideas and options when it comes to what an initiation can look like. I won’t get into all that right now, but I do want to highlight one rite of passage in particular that I will never forget. It was a grand sweet sixteen birthday for a pastor friend of mine’s daughter and I was hired to do the photography. At this event the
father gave his daughter a ring just like the one mentioned in the first story with my niece.
He gave a speech that the ring was symbolic of her covenant with God and her
promise to commit her heart and her life to Him only. It was a symbol that she
was to remain pure and consecrated and not be distracted by the world and the
lies of the enemy as she enters into a new season of independence. 
I don’t
remember the exact wording of the speech I just remember one part that stuck
out to me and brought me to tears. The father went on to say to his daughter
This
ring isn’t just a symbol of your commitment to God, but it is also promise of
my commitment to you. And that is if you ever find yourself in the wrong
place, if you go down a path that you know you shouldn’t have taken, I will be
right here for you. My love will never leave you no matter what. There is
nothing that will break that covenant and you can always come to me anytime. 

WOW. That’s
it! That’s the new covenant. That’s grace. That is the heart of Teachable Parenting.
 I can’t be the
perfect parent, but even if I could, at the end of the day I can’t control them
and they will have to be able to stand and fall with their own two feet. Even
then I can say, “I love you my child. I will never stop and no matter what I will never give up the fight to be connected to your heart” because that is the Father’s love for us. Thank you Lord. 
This is day 25 of a 31 day series. For the rest of teachable parenting click HERE.
By |2015-05-18T04:45:44+00:00October 25, 2014|Parenting Tips, Uncategorized|7 Comments
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