I think we would all agree that there are things going on in our culture today that need changing.  I recently heard it said that if you want to change the world, move to Hollywood.  Well, two of my sons heard the same quote and decided to take it literally.  They are now residing there and hoping to be light in the midst of a wicked and perverse industry. (Philip. 2:15  …so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them.)

Please read this blog post written by our son Jeremiah  http://www.andydarnell.com/?p=2293

If you want to help change the world, but can’t just up and move to Hollywood, consider encouraging other Christians who are willing to go.  When we were there last week, we met several Christians who felt called to the place that many Christians have given up on.  They were struggling to keep their cars running, pay their bills, and just survive as meagerly as possible in order to work in the industry.  Their desire through all of this is to live their lives in such a way that those who have no hope will see and come to know the hope and peace that passes understanding that is only found in Jesus Christ.

If you would like to give to help any of these ‘missionaries’, we have a 501c3 vehicle you can give through.  Just make the checks out to Refocus Ministry and we will send it to the one in greatest need at the time, or we can give you names if you would like to specifically support someone .  You may want to support Tinseltown Ministries which has a powerful weekly Bible study on the Fox backlot for people in the industry.

Refocus Ministry will keep track of your tax deductible gifts and will keep you informed as to how your support is helping to change the world.

Refocus Ministry
2955 Phillips Bend Crossing
Buford, Ga 30519

Susanna Wesley had 15 children and spent an hour a week with each child individually, helping he or she to be totally submitted to God.  When she was asked about her method of preparing her children for spiritual maturity she replied: “No one can, without renouncing the world, in the most literal sense, observe my method; and there are few, if any, that would entirely devote above twenty years of the prime of life in hopes to save the souls of their children, which they think may be saved without so much ado; for that was my principal intention, however unskillfully and unsuccessfully managed.”  (Read more about Susanna in the book, Susanna: Mother of the Wesleys)

May you have a fulfilling year training up children!!!!

TheInvisibleWoman

http://www.trainupthechild.org/2008/11/18/keeping-thanks-in-thanksgiving-thank-you-notes/

Our son Jon proposed to Mallory tonight!  She is an answer to 25 years of praying.  “We didn’t even know her name, but we were praying for her just the same, that the Lord would write His name upon her heart, because somewhere in the course of this life, our little boy would need a Godly wife.”  We are very thankful for God’s gift of Mallory to Jon and our family.

Please listen to this song.  We first heard it when our boys were very small.  It is a father singing about the little girl that will one day become his little boy’s wife.  Becca and I listened to it together when Josh proposed to her;  Mallory and I just finished listening to it together.

11-somewhere-in-the-world [mp3 download available at Somewhere In The World (LP Version)]

Pray for your children’s future mates.  God is faithful to hear and answer your prayers.  Thank you, Father!!!

I can’t believe our little girl has graduated college.  Where did the last 22 yrs go. For that matter the last 32 years since God first made me a mom.

Deuteronomy 6 says we are to teach our children “at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again.”   This indicates that we are to spend much time with our children.  Don’t waste one moment with them  because they don’t stop growing while we are busy doing other things.

I am so thankful for all the tea parties, for bedtime prayers and tucking in, for snuggle times we had, books we read and Bible stories we talked about.

I am thankful for all the tents we made inside with sheets and the huts we built outside, for nerf wars and sock wars.

I am thankful for the picnics and the lazy summer days swinging together as we pretended to take some sunglasses to the sun.

I am thankful for the pretending with dolls and GI Joes, for the hours watching Mister Rogers and eating peanut butter sandwiches.

I am thankful for all the masking tape we put on the floor making Dawsville, and for all the messes with flour, and playing snake pit or avalanche with all the pillows.

I am thankful for the Daws family Christmas traditions, the birthday celebrations, the popcorn and movie nights, the playdough devotions.

I am thankful for the Disney trips, the camping trips, and the walks in the park and in the neighborhood.

I am thankful for fun times with all our varied animals through the years. (frogs, newts, gerbils, iguanas, snakes, fish, bunnies, ferrets, turtles, dogs, and cats)

I am thankful for the hours of homeschooling and even the struggles with math, for the time making costumes for Halloween or Christmas plays or just because we wanted to play civil war or Star Trek in the backyard and really dress the part.

You know, I don’t have a very impressive resume.  I have not spent the last 32 years teaching at a major university, or meeting with heads of state, or making major business deals.  I don’t have awards or degrees on my wall, but I have 32 years of making memories with my children,  and  nothing I could have been doing with the prime of my life could have ever been more important or rewarding than this!!

Thank you, God, for  calling me to the most important and awesome  profession in the world
- being Jenny’s, Jon’s, Jer’s, and Josh’s Mom!

Building Memories
By Sandra D. Romans

So much to do – I have no time
To listen now, I say,
And hurry back to the chores
That always fill my day.

No time to listen? A small voice
Seemed to whisper in my ear…
Soon your little ones will be gone
And you’ll wish to hold them near.

I left my broom – the chores undone
And found them under the apple tree.
I held them close and listened while
They shared their love and we built a memory.

“Your children love you, they want to play with you. How long do you think that lasts? . . .  We have a few special years with our children, when they’re the ones that want us around. After that you’re going to be running after them for a bit of attention. It’s so fast . . . It’s a few years Peter and it’s over. And you are not being careful. And you are missing it.”  from Hook

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

I was reading a book to my two year old class this week about a rooster who wanted to see the world, so he set out one morning on his adventure.  As he went along, he met other animals and invited them to join him.  When the sun went down they got hungry, cold,  and sleepy.   Then they all began to, one by one,  go back home.

Having just said goodbye to my son who left for his adventure, I liked the fact that they all decided to go back home . . . that sounded good to me.  But at the end of the story, all the rooster did when he got home was eat a good meal of grain and go to sleep and only dream about a trip around the world.

God has a “dream” for each of us – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  (Jeremiah 29:11) We need to encourage our children that even though they might get hungry, cold, sleepy, or whatever, they should still follow the dream God has for them.  This might not be pleasant for us as parents.  But as my brother-in-law once said as his daughter was moving to another country to work with a missionary, “I would rather have her in the center of God’s will in a foreign country than here at home out of God’s will.”

I have decided I don’t want my children just dreaming about their adventure in life like the rooster in the story.  I want them living it to the fullest even if that means they are not at home.  I want them following the passions that God has uniquely placed within each of them, even if it is sometimes difficult for them . . . and for me. (Someone may need to remind me I said this in the days ahead!)

Two weeks ago another one of our children left home.  He moved 2300 miles away!!  Now Billy nor I have ever been the type of parent who couldn’t wait for the children to get out of the house and be on their own.  I started dreading the empty nest the day our oldest, Josh, was born.  I have thoroughly enjoyed every single minute with my children.  So as we drove out to California with Jer, enjoying God’s beautiful world, we were dreading the goodbye scene at the airport at the end of the week.

As the children were growing up I would think about the time in the future that they would leave home and I would burst into tears;  I didn’t have the grace at that point to deal with their leaving because I didn’t need grace for that then.  But God is always just on time and He has proved that once again in my life, for as I  have needed to deal with this separation,  He has poured out His grace to enable me to do so.    Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

With a new grand baby in our family, sleep has become a big topic of discussion.  At the top of Becca’s Christmas list was “sleep”.  Grant has now given them some nights of sleeping all night!!!

The night feedings are a great time to memorize scripture and pray.  I think probably one of the main scriptures and prayers I had at that time in my life was Psalm 127:2 . . . He gives His beloved sleep.

Psalm 4:8 (I will lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe) is a great verse to have  young children memorize if they have a problem sleeping.  Guide them  to memorize any “I will” verses as it helps bring their wills under God’s control.

There are also foods that are supposed to help you sleep.  Here are a few I found in my research: lettuce, bananas, oatmeal, turkey, warm milk, and chamomile tea.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful if you or your child are having trouble with insomnia.

We can trust God to give us the rest we need.