Part 2....How We Do It !!!!!

Three cheers for John D........hooraahhhhhh!!!! And for the Lord for making John D's heart sensitive to the Lord. The truck has been resurrected!!!!! It is suppose to be delivered to their job site and they will bring it home. While it has come back to life the van is dead now, but we are hoping it too can be fixed. We are certainly thankful that at least one is working!!!! Vehicle troubles are just apart of life and it is way to temporal to let it bog you down. We are saving gas money with only one running anyway!!!

As some have made comments about life with "little ones," I am somewhat struggling with having the opportunity of the being the "older woman" teaching the younger women, because I still have one in diapers and since my body is still working, I am really hoping one more might come our way. I guess I just need view it as "getting" the opportunity to fulfill the scripture. Thinking back to our early days when Caleb, Daniel, Bethany, Elijah and Anna were small, and yes the babies were coming quickly, there were overwhelming times but what incredible times we had, so please hang on, you have so much to look forward to in the help that is on its way. I am somewhat on the other side now and am reaping the wonderful blessing of having so much help. I want to give credit where credit is due. I really did not have a mentor that I talked with when we started out, but there was one family that was on staff with Terry at the church we were at in Arkansas that was of great influence to me, the Stinson family. I did not sit down and ask or talk with the lovely wife specifically about child rearing, I learned by observing their sweet family. They were different in their dress, seeking to dress modestly, adorning themselves to bring glory to the Lord for the woman and little girls that the Lord had created them to be. The children demonstrated obedience with eye contact with their parents, they were respectful with "yes sir and no sir," they had good manners and were a delight to be around. If the parents had a need to discipline them, they took them aside and took care of the situation, another idea that these parents instilled in to their children was the fear of the Lord, they taught this to them daily, that the eye of the Lord is upon them, beholding the good and the evil, they also taught their children to have a work ethic even at a small age. So it is from this family that I draw from, we have been blessed by there diligence in going before us and being an example. Thank you Bill and Mary, we love you!!!!! Of course Terry is one to search out the scriptures when there is an answer needed. We have sought to discipline our children with the "rod of correction." We use some sort of object and not our hand and seeing that the Lord designed a most padded area on the body, the discipline is applied to that area, seeking not to injure their precious bodies. There was a time that I disciplined with an angry spirit and a scripture I read in Heb 12:10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. As I read that I saw that I was disciplining out of anger because I wanted my children to not embarrass me with how they would act, so I would get angry with them, I was disciplining them of my own pleasure, but what I needed to do was discipline them with the motive that I wanted them to be a partaker of HIS holiness. The Lord has brought me through that season and I fear now I might tend to be more lax, but with his grace they will come forth as bright arrows for his kingdom. I do like to share with them during the discipline time the principles involved that they have violated to help bring that healthy fear of the Lord upon them. I see young mommies now and they are doing such a great job, expanding even more that Terry and I. I wish even now I would have done some of the things they are implementing. So you see we are always learning. There are no perfect parents or children, its grace and prayer and Terry's famous phrase is "whip and pray and pray and whip." I sure hope you all understand it is scriptural to give biblical discipline to a child, plenty of scriptures to confirm that action!! And most importantly affirm that child in love, hugs and kisses that has received the discipline! Along the lines of what can a little one do, teaching a work ethic is the most important idea when they are small and then being alert to what they can handle. Share with them scriptures that talk about work and instill that truth into their little hearts. Josiah, (4) he cleans up the boys room with Jeremiah each morning, he puts the utensils away in the dishwasher, he and Hosanna fold all the kitchen towels, and bathroom hand towels and washcloths, and today on our cleaning day, he took the vacuum and hose and vacuumed around all the facings in each room, he cleans and straightens his clothes shelf, those are things he can do at his age. They might not fold the clothes perfectly, but its clean and on the shelf, I got over perfectly folded clothes along time ago. Before Joel became sick in Oct. 06, I ran a very tight ship, for now we are still trying to recover in many areas in schedule and getting back to some of the routines that we had before, or else all new ones. School has been the biggest challenge for me right now, as I am just not motivated to be the teacher, so we are functioning on the minimals. Lord willing this fall we can get back to full schedule and I can be "fun." I do want to give to the younger ones what I gave to the older ones, but it has been hard. Its like I am dragging my heels, but hopefully things will smooth out! One thing that we try to do in the evenings and it takes purpose, Terry leads in a family time together around the Word, reading and discussing and having a prayer time together, we call it "Wisdom Time." Last night Hosanna was excited to read because she wanted to find out what happened to Esther, as that is the book he has been reading in the evenings now. On Sunday evenings we call it doctrine night and Terry seeks to read Spurgeon and teach about Biblical doctrines. Some have asked how do you get the children to sit in church? It takes time training at home in these evening sessions with the family, it takes going in and out of the service many times to discipline, but finally they get it. Our poor Andrew, had it the worst.....he finally figured it out, but he was hard!!!! I guess one of my great hopes is in all the areas that we have failed or could have done more or differently, my desire is that our children will go beyond what we did and carry the banner higher and forge deeper and reap greater results than ourselves. What joys to look forward to. Thank you for the inquiries, it has made me think of what things the Lord has done in the past, his faithfulness, and it has helped me to think of something else besides my grieving. I have enjoyed the questions, you have ministered to me by allowing me the opportunity to "remember." I will be happy to answer any more as best I can.

We are waiting for the guys to get home, we had a yummy supper, garden red potatoes with sugar snap peas, BBQ meatball, Bethany's homemade rolls and taboli and Anna made cookies that look like they are fit for a birthday!!!

Hi, Burnett family, in Mexico visiting and working....we miss you and can not wait to see you and hear all the stories. You better put us on you calender soon to come over for a visit!!!!! I love you "shrub," my dear friend Mrs. B!!!!!!!!!! You can not believe I wrote that can you? :)))))))))

I love being a mommy and wife, I love the wonderful times we have had and look forward to what the Lord will do for us in the future!!!!!! I love you...... my family!!!!

Cindy