Back almost 12 years ago I was newly married. Hubby was working full time and in seminary full time. I was working full time and signed up for a free class (a perk of being married to a full time student). I already had received my bachelors degree a few months earlier so basically I wanted to fill up some blank time in the evenings. I perused my options and I kept being drawn to a class entitled “Ministry In Marriage and Motherhood”. The first night I knew I had made the right choice!
Was the class easy?
Yes and no!
Was it fun?
99% of the time.
It stretched me. I grew leaps and bounds. And the other day as we were cleaning out a closet I stumbled upon the notebook for the class. I felt inspired to devote one blog post a week to what it means to be in ministry to my husband and children. Because let’s be honest if I’m not taking care of this ministry all else is in vain. I have learned so much in the nearly 12 years since that class! So what do you say? Won’t you join me as we explore what it means to minister to our families?
It forces me to be creative and crafty. I like to be creative and crafty., so naturally Pinterest and I are the best of friends!
I’ve seen this on Pinterest HOWEVER a friend of ours shared it on FB, and I decided that TONIGHT IS THE IGHT!
So Do you want to know what is on the docket tonight for Family night?
2 Ingredient Cloud Dough (also known as Moon Dough)
The ingredients are
Baby oil and Flour…yep That’s it! ALL stuff I have right at home!
Cloud dough is a great calming sensory play idea….not just for special needs kids, but for all kids….even the BIGGEST OF KIDS! (Hubby and I might have gotten distracted by some at the craft store last week…for a good amount of time, playing with similar Stuff)
So it’s been no secret that I have not been around much. Life has been busy and I wear so very many hats! And sometimes I have to throw off all my other hats in order to take care of a hat that grows exceptionally heavy…..usually it’s the one with a husband, four kids and a house crammed inside of it.
And over the last year or so I have become increasingly uncomfortable with all the…”this is how you should blog”. And the “you aren’t doing things right”. Critics out there. I also have a lot of personal critics in my life wondering “why do you waste your time doing that” and “How can you possibly have time for all that you do?” And to be completely honest I think that Satan has used those critics to spread seeds of doubt, and frankly I have come to the realization that I was letting him!
Did I whine and complain….maybe on the inside a little convincing myself that I had nothing anybody wanted to hear. And everywhere you turn, people are oh so concerned about numbers……numbers! Ugh, I’ve always hated Math! It’s a necessary evil in my mind! Anyway, over the last 8 months I have spent A LOT of time reading and praying. And while we were on vacation in July , I stole away a few times and focused on me. Ways to better me. And one of those things that I did was write my own personal mission statement.
Each year I write out goals but rarely if ever meet them. I pick books based on areas of my life in which I desire to grow…..along with knowing I will review some as well. I choose them according to the areas that are focus points in my life. I then also choose fiction that maybe I either missed out on in school or something that strikes my fancy! (No none of them are Romance novels….ICK)
So I wrote this Mission statement….
It is my mission to live my life with the sole purpose to give God the glory in everything I say and do-to abide in Christ, to grow in my daily walk with Him.
It’s nothing fancy and I know it’s not short and sweet like five words or less BUT IT WORKS FOR ME.
I then added action statements for each of my main focus area in my life. These areas include
My Daily walk with God…it’s a relationship and like any good fruitful relationship it takes nurturing.
My hubby….I love him dearly
The munchkins…yep four smiling, funny, keep me on my toes munchkins!
My home…..I want it to be a safe haven for all who cross it’s threshold .
My ministry….which is 2 fold, the people of our church, and my readers here on my blog!
Here is what my action statement under Ministry says
To intentionally challenge fellow women who love Jesus to grow deeper in their walk with God. To speak truth in love and encourage women to be bold in their faith.
A few short weeks ago before school started we found ourselves in a grocery store. This trip held a different tone , one of sheer excitement. For our 6 1/2 year old special needs son. Hubby and I…..not so thrilled, you see our son had gotten this “passion”. It was a passion to earn Money…how much? 50¢. Yep That’s it. Two quarters was just enough to get him something tiny (he has a thing for ALL things tiny). And a few weeks prior he had spotted something that bears all things tiny…..GUMBALL MACHINES!
Now hubby and I aren’t fans for 1 major reason and lots of other smaller reasons. But the 1 big reason…
It’s all JUNK! Everything you get breaks easily. We believe that you should save your money for something worthwhile. Something you really want that is great quality! BUT as is the case with most kids like our son, they obsess, and obsess, and obsess some more…..and sometimes we break, we go against our better judgement and we cave, because we can’t reason with him until….he learns a lesson….the hard way.
GUMBALL machines advertise the best case scenario On their fronts but in reality there’s a lot of silly stuff with the best of junk hidden in there somewhere. So we made a bee-line right for the machines. (We had spent a better part of a week explaining why we didn’t think it was a good idea) He knew exactly which one he wanted. It advertised little tiny men (go figure…his favorite). But this is what he got…..
Do you, my friends, know what that is?
Tha, my dear readers would be a hair extension….for a DOLL!
What ensued next was not pleasant to say the least. I handed it to ladybug and he began to bawl. Tears of lament.
Did we give him another two quarters to “try again”? Nope that wasn’t going to happen. God had just handed us the perfect teaching moment. We got to teach not one, not two, but all four kiddos about gambling. There was no guarantee he was going to get what he wanted. And in this world we live in all those 50¢ adds up pretty quick. He sobbed the entire time we were at the store! He lamented the loss of his hard earned money. (That was his biggest concern ” BUT I WORKED SO HARD”)
Did people stare? Of course (people are rude like that)
Did some people think he was spoiled? Probably (some people are just that arrogant)
Did some people think we were being mean or just too hard on him? More than likely ( but those people didn’t watch him EARN the money back when we got home)
He learned a lesson, (unfortunately the hard way). But now since then he is fast approaching the $5 dollar mark. He is working towards a pull string Woody (from Toy Story). He’s been asking for him (and Jessie) for over a year now. They went on clearance a few weeks ago and we scooped them up for his upcoming birthday.
A few days after the GUMBALL machine fiasco he came to hubby and asked if he could save towards the Woody (which he has no clue sits a whopping 5 feet from his bedroom door). We said yes. Some days he is more diligent than others, but he is working towards a great reward one quarter at a time. He learned a valuable lesson. He grew as a person. He learned the value of working hard and then loosing it on a silly piece of hair. Yep it was painful.
For him. AND for us ( I hated watching his little heart break). But it was all worth it. Because now he understands that we shouldn’t waste the money God has blessed us with on things that are a gamble!
Ok so I have a pretty strict Privacy standard here on the blog. Actually it was just a few years ago that I let you in on my first name. We do this for one sole reason, we live in a creepy world. You might say Mary Mary Mary, you should not be fearful. I’m not or I wouldn’t be doing this…..I am afraid of hiegts ……I am wise about details here……
All of that being said I want to share about how we chose our names for our children……so let’s start with Ladybug
She has a Greek word used in the New Testament. And her middle name is a thing of beauty. It is through her first name that we have an oppertunity to share the gospel with people who are curious about her name. We didn’t plan it that way it just happened. We had her named picked out long before we were married we just both liked that name. Many seeds have been planted since then!
Now the boys…..
They each have an Old and a New Tesament name. Their initials then in turn spell something special……but I can’t tell you what. If you know us in person ask us, but if you’re a reader here sorry!
But that’s how we picked them. The boys names were totally hubby’s brain child (pun intended). We took naming our children very seriously as do most parents, but we wanted our children to have an everyday reminder of God and who He created them to be….Christ Followers!
