A few days ago, for the 1st time in quite awhile, I checked my FB profile in the early morning. One of the first posts I see is a news report regarding parenting.

And I do what I shouldn't, read the comments. If you want to see where humanity is at this point, read the comments for news reports, personal opinions and commentary articles.  It can be quite depressing.

Anyway...

We, as parents, make mistakes. And sadly, sometimes, they can result in the death of our children. We allow them to ride without a seatbelt for a short distance, we allow them to swim unsupervised for just a "short minute", we let them stay home by themselves for a few minutes while we run a quick errand...and the list goes on. A list of decisions that is full of potential accidents that can be deadly.

In every accidental death of a child that was a direct result of a parent's decision, there is not one of those parents who wouldn't rewrite that part of their life book.

So to the people who sit behind a phone or computer commenting "maybe they shouldn't have been parents", "I would never do _____", "how stupid can you be?"...I assure you, your time will come. While your wrong decision might not result in death, it certainly has the potential. So instead of condemning those who have to deal with a heartbreaking guilt for the rest of their life, maybe, just maybe you should be thanking God it hasn't happened to you, asking Him to give you the discernment you need to prevent it from happening and praying for those who have experienced it. Your life will be better for it and certainly so will your character.

The Perils of Owning Puppies

I have succumb to the reality that I will most likely never have a complete pair pair of slippers again until either my boys put me in a home or I no longer have dogs. And it's totally my fault for not having the presence of mind to put them up. I have no idea where the mate is to either of the slippers on my feet. And as you can see, one of them barely made it back alive. It's forever maimed at the toe.

Beau and arrows

Brother B has started archery practice with our local 4H.  I am excited to see him participate in a sporting activity and competition. 

Raised in Christ or Raised in Church?

I read this statement the other day:

"We raised her in Church, but we didn't raise her in Christ."

This statement hit me hard. So many times Christians, including myself, think that if we just get our children to church, we've done enough. Or we rely on church membership to be our saving grace. We teach our children that church is the most important aspect of being a Christian. That's not to say avoiding church attendance is an answer or excuse but church membership shouldn't be our focus in regards to rearing our children in Christ. Our focus should be following Christ by exhibiting his grace, his love, his mercy and his kindness even to those with perfect church attendance.

Church should be a desire of being a Christian, not the sole purpose of Christianity. There's a difference in going to church and being the church.

Hebrew Slaves for a Day...

Our history lessons have been about ancient Egypt. We've been learning how Egypt got to be so powerful and came to have so many established cities. This was in big part bc of the Hebrew slaves. The project for these lessons was to make straw and mud bricks to help understand how slaves built the buildings. So, of course, we take advantage of any activity that allows to be outside but even more fun allows them to play in the mud. My parents have enough mud and water right now thanks to the recent rains.

I'm pretty sure the Hebrews didn't have as much fun as we did.

Another 4 feet

Well, it's obvious that I've been absent from the blogging world for awhile.  Honestly there hasn't been that much going on, at least nothing that has been blog worthy, until a week ago. 

We welcomed another puppy into our family.  Yes, you read that right, we welcomed our 3rd puppy. We welcomed a little Havanese girl to our pack.  She is spunky, feisty and fearless.  Her big sisters don't intimidate her. In fact, she bosses them around.  She is the drama queen of this family whining to get what she wants.  She's wears the diva crown around here. 

I'd like to introduce you to Antebellum Dixie Girl.  We call her Dixie along with many other names...Bite Size, Half Pint, Littlin', Little Bit. 

You see this face? This is the face of determination.  She insists on getting her way!

Here are few recent pictures of her big sisters, Sippi and Bama.

"I love black doggies!!!"

2015 Reading Log

I love reading if you haven't figured that out by now.  I hope to one day have a room in my house designated as my library.  I've already got the books to fill it stuffed in cabinets and closets.  They are just waiting to be displayed for on shelves in their own room.  Some may call it hoarding but I call it building my library.

Here is my reading log for 2015.  You can also keep up with my reading on the side bar.  The read alouds are books I read to our boys as part of our schooling.

Sign of the Beaver (read aloud with my boys)
A Lion to Guard Us (read aloud with my boys)
The Secret Soldier: The Life of Deborah Sampson (read aloud with my boys)...
The Fighting Ground (read aloud with my boys)
Little House in the Big Woods (read aloud with my boys)
Timna (read aloud with my boys)
The Book Thief
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Trophy Wives Club
The Pearl that Broke Its Shell
Prayers for Sale
The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder
Cast of Characters
Mary: Mrs. A Lincoln
Red Leaves
The Rocking Horse of Tuscambia
All the Light We Cannot See
Into the Free
Life of Pi

Each of our boys had their own reading log.  Brother B completed 25 books and Brother C completed 26.