Choose Christ, not Curriculum for your Homeschool + Giveaway!!!

 

Over our long and continuous homeschool journey (over 18 years!), we have used many different curricula and types of curricula--workbooks, textbooks, and a mixture of Charlotte Mason/classical/ and unit studies.  Last year, I had been reading more about Charlotte Mason's method of education and found so much that resonated with me--including nature study, art instruction, music, narrations...And so I set out to make last year our first purely Charlotte Mason year.  I purchased membership for one of these Charlotte Mason curriculums and hurried on to purchase all of the books and supplies we would need for almost the entire year.  Then the books started coming in, and I started prereading.  "Huh.  I don't agree with that," I thought.  There were things I was finding that didn't line up with the Bible.  I contacted the company with my concerns.  Well, just discuss them with your children, I was told.  But these books were teaching something blatantly opposed to God's Word--evolution, for one.

After some time, I decided I would need to choose something else for our family, and I did so.  Curriculum try number two:  ordered all the books and supplies again.  Books came in,  and I started reading.   Hmmm...more things contrary to God's Word.  A majority of these books seemed to have a "woke" flavor, plus some other issues.  But these were "Christian" companies...again I contacted the company with my concerns, but they didn't share mine.  I just couldn't use such material to teach my children, and so I ordered something else.  This curriculum seemed a bit better.  There was no blatant evolution, and the book selections seemed a bit more conservative.  We used this for awhile, but they were really only learning about God in the short Bible readings we had every morning.  Everything else was secular, without any mention of the Creator and Lord of the Universe.  I decided to add in some books from another Charlotte Mason company to give my children more to read, to see if that would help.  But it ended up being too much, and again, there were issues with content I was not comfortable with.  For example, if you do purely Charlotte Mason, you are supposed to have your children read mythology.  My youngest at the time who I was homeschooling, kept asking me, "Mom, why are we reading these weird stories?  I don't like them--they're ridiculous!"  I really agreed with her, but, we were "supposed to" read mythology because somehow it was going to benefit her.  But would it benefit her spiritually?  

After doing a lot of research, I switched most things over to a more conservative Charlotte Mason company, which worked fine for history because we were in the same time period.  The book selections were a bit better, without as much questionable material.  But there was still plenty, without any warnings!  We also tried a Shakespeare play, because if you are doing Charlotte Mason, you are supposed to learn Shakespeare!  Even though I chose a milder play, there were still blasphemies and other course talk and situations in it, which I tried to explain to my children.  But most them told me afterwards that they did not like going through that play and didn't think a Christian man would write such things.  I also fully expected with this company that there would be more mention of the Lord along with our history readings, and a pointing out of His working in the world.  But there was next to nothing of this.  I started thinking upon all of this more seriously and hearkening back to our main purpose in homeschooling our children and why I started in the first place...

It dawned on me that while I was homeschooling my children, they were receiving much of a type of education that they'd get in a public school setting--not receiving a Christian worldview or God-honoring material in their books.  Their "peers" in these books were not a good example to them.  They were not learning that God made the world and everything in it.  They were not being stirred on to holy living.  I knew we had to change something, and it all weighed heavily on me while I purused through curriculm for the upcoming school year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why are you homeschooling, or if you haven't started yet, why are you interested in it?  Is it because you want your children to have a better chance academically?  Do you want your children to not be stuck in a classroom?  Do you want to have more time with them?  Do you want to have more control over what they are learning?  Perhaps you've learned about a certain method of education and want your children to be taught that way.  Maybe you want to make school "fun".  Or, maybe you want to keep your children away from peer pressure.

While none of these reasons are wrong, and some of them are very good and may be helpful for your children, the above reasons may not be enough to keep you going through the years when difficulties arise and you have challenging days.  I think there is one overarching reason that we Christian parents should homeschool our children and that we must keep at the forefront of our minds.  In all of our plans and curriculum choosing, this should be the most important aspect.  What is this "Reason for Homeschooling"?

The reason is to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  To show them, in all subjects, and in all ways, the Lord is King and the Creator of all.  That this is His world, and He has been working in it since the beginning of time.  We must also show them that we are not living for ourselves and our pleasure, but for the One Who made us and all things.  We must help them in all their studies to learn about the Lord and their place in His world.

So, I believe we cannot just follow a curriculum, but we need to be actively involved in each step in knowing what our children are learning, and if it is something beneficial to them spiritually.  We must not fully embrace a curriculum, but embrace Christ!  Of course, there are some good Christian curriculum companies out there, but it seems they are getting harder to find.  And I always recommend prereading your children's books, especially if they will be reading them on their own.

If you'd like me to write more on this subject, please let me know in the comments.

But now, on to the fun part for you...

Autumn Blessings Homeschool Giveaway

We’ve teamed up with a wonderful group of homeschool bloggers to bring you something special this fall—the Autumn Blessings Homeschool Giveaway!

Between October 7-13, 2024, you can enter for your chance to win one of two $75 gift cards that could be just what your family needs to bless your homeschool journey.

Click here to enter!

It’s simple to enter, and we’re excited to bless two of our amazing homeschooling families with this gift! 

The winners will be announced on October 14th, so make sure to mark your calendars and join in.

We’re praying this blessing finds its way to the right family!
Terms and Conditions are outlined on the KingSumo Entry form. 
By entering this giveaway, you agree to allow Sponsors of this giveaway to add your information to their email lists and grant them permission to contact you.

 

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At Home Earning Opportunity

Hello Dears,

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  The Lord has been keeping me busy, but in a good way.  We've welcomed a new little baby into our family this year, and I feel so extremely blessed.  Oh, I am so grateful.  How good God is to us.

 

Mother with Child by Leon Perrault

 

While I don't think a Christian wife should ever be required or relied upon for an income for the home, sometimes it is nice if she can receive a little something, whether it's a small amount of money, or a product for free.  In years past, I used to take surveys from home when I had a few spare minutes (which I didn't have much of), but this allowed me to get some items for free at times that we needed (diapers, baby wipes, paper towels, to name a few things) to try out for the manufacturers.

I have received a survey invitation that I do not qualify for and thought I would pass along the information to you in case you are interested.  I have been asked to pass it along, as they are looking for study participants.  I will paste the information below.  Surveys do not normally pay this much, but these are studies you participate in over time and then provide feedback. I hope this is helpful to someone. 

Survey Information:

We are now enrolling women who have low iron levels and are local to middle Tennessee. This study has no placebo, therefore everyone receives a two months supply of an iron supplement and $300 for completion of this study. 

We are also enrolling women for a sleep study which can be done from your home no matter where you live. The sleep study consists of taking a supplement every night for 28 days. Compensation for completion of this study is $120.

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Blessings Abound-- Happy New Year

 

painting by Renoir(?)

Dear Readers,

I hope this New Year's Day finds you well.  I love fresh starts--new weeks, new years, new planners...I don't know what it is about them, but a fresh start always seems motivating.

Last night our family stayed up and did some puzzles together after Bible study.  (We also ate homemade cookies, of course, which is a family tradition of ours over the holidays).  We've taken three weeks off from school, for which I had so many plans of playing catch up!  But, alas, it was not to be, as we all came down with the flu.  It was a bad one, but not as bad as it could have been.  I'm very thankful that over the past several years I've been learning homeopathy which has enabled me to provide a means of health and healing to my family in many areas--including the effects of the flu!

 We're all back to health now, thankfully, and tomorrow we will go back to our studies.  Today I have so much I want to get done because school days don't allow for much time to do much else.  I'll plan school for the upcoming week, as well as hopefully take advantage of our warranty for our vacuum, which has stopped working.  We very much need a working vacuum!

 This morning, with a late start for everyone due to staying up late, I am grateful for the beautiful sound of two of my daughters playing Christmas songs together--one on piano and one on violin.  It's just lovely that they all want to go on celebrating Jesus' coming down to earth for us.

I hope you all are doing well and have a blessed new year 💜

 

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Gone Before You Know It

 

 

One day, it will all be gone.  

 

Those sleepless nights you thought you'd never get through.  

The waking babies who constantly need you. 

The sick little one with an earache or tummy trouble in the night. 

Days where your toddler wants you to read the same book twenty-one times in a row...

Gone.

 

Those days when you think you will always be pregnant and you think you can't get through another one.

You can choose to skip a few years of babies, can't you? 

You think your fertility will last forever.

But one day it will be gone.

One day you'll be sad at the negative tests and wish for just one more sweet babe to hold in your arms...

Or maybe the babies will come but they'll die in your womb, leaving their broken bodies behind with your broken heart...

All gone.

Those days when your house is full of many little ones, 

each needing your attention and help for many things.

How will you ever get through these days of so many?

But one day, those days will be gone.

The unkind words, the arguments amongst your children.

The dirty floors.

The piles of laundry.

The spills and the broken glasses.

The piles of school books all over the house.

It will be gone.

The children will grow up and grow out of needing you all the time.

You'll wonder if you did enough, cared enough, taught enough.

To your dear little ones and growing up ones.

Hopefully they will marry, and you hope they will live close by!

But they may move further

And then they'll be gone.

So, let us treasure, each day, each hour, every moment...

Because one day, it will be all gone.

 

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Happy Mother's Day 2021 ❤️

Dear Christian Mothers at Home,

I hope you all have a blessed Mother's Day.  It is such a blessing to be a mother, isn't it?  Some days and seasons are hard, but we do our work for the Lord.  Just remember that even if your husband doesn't give you special honor on this day, or if your children forget, the Lord sees your toil day after day.  Our work at home taking care of home, husband, and children, is so important!  Just remember it is pleasing to the Lord.

Below is one of my favorite quotes:

"I work for a King. He has put me in charge of his home. When He comes to see how I have managed His possessions and His children, I do not want to be found wanting. I want to do my best. Everything I have is on loan from Him. I have room and board and a job to do, but it is all for Him. Therefore I want to dress my best and do my best in all my work. I also want to be creative, for this is a sincere attempt to glorify Him and His beautiful creation. How I manage my home is a form of worship to Him." 

--Lydia Sherman

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Created by God

 

"The rest of the populace is more wicked than even the heathen themselves. For most married people do not desire offspring. Indeed, they turn away from it and consider it better to live without children, because they are poor and do not have the means with which to support a household. But this is especially true of those who are devoted to idleness and laziness and shun the sweat and the toil of marriage. But the purpose of marriage is not to have pleasure and to be idle but to procreate and bring up children, to support a household. This, of course, is a huge burden full of great cares and toils. But you have been created by God to be a husband or a wife and that you may learn to bear these troubles. Those who have no love for children are swine, stocks, and logs unworthy of being called men or women; for they despise the blessing of God, the Creator and Author of marriage." 

~ Martin Luther

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Not Enough Money to Have Children?

 

"Those that trust in God, though they have great families and small incomes, can cheerfully hope that He who sends mouths will send meat. He who feeds the brood of the ravens, will not starve the seed of the righteous." 

~Matthew Henry, comment on Genesis 30:25-26

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How Many Babies Should You Have?

 

There IS an alternative to scheming & plotting how many babies to have & when to have them. It can be summed up in 3 little words: trust & obey. If God is willing to plan my family for me (& we Christians all do believe that God loves us & has a wonderful plan for our lives), then why should I muddle up his plan with my ideas? Only God knows the future. Only he knows how much money we will have next year or when I will reach menopause, or when his Kingdom will desperately need the unique talents of my yet-to-be-conceived son or daughter. Why not leave the driving to him? 

~Mary Pride

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What God Says About Children

What does God say about children and Who creates life?

 "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:3-5

"And [Jesus] unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great." Luke 9:48

"All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters." 1 Chronicles 26:4-5

"Moreover the sons of Obededom were, Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, and Sacar the fourth, and Nethaneel the fifth, Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peulthai the eighth: for God blessed him." 1 Chronicles 26:4-5

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" Colossians 1:16

"Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?" Job 31:15

"As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all." Ecclesiastes 11:5

"Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion." Isaiah 8:18

"Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;" Isaiah 44:24

Couples can read these and more verses and agree that it is God who is the Creator of all Life. When asked, however, if they think God alone should ultimately be in control of the number and spacing of their children, the reply is negative. “God gave us common sense, after all,” has been a much used response line. Well, no, the Bible does not say that God gave any such thing. Actually it says the opposite...

~Mary Pride

Isaiah 55:8-9 states, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." And Proverbs 14:12 tells us, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” So if we cannot trust in ourselves to make the right decision in this matter, whom can we trust?

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A Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving 2020

Dear Ladies at Home,

I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you how thankful I am for you.  It is a blessing to be able to share about homemaking online.  Many of us do not have ladies nearby who attend faithfully to their homes and families, so what a blessing it is to meet each other online!  Let us be thankful to the Lord for all things today, and especially that blessing of being able to be at home, nurturing and caring for our families, no matter how big or how small.  We are unable to have guests with us this year, so it will be just our family gathered together around the Thanksgiving table.  But my husband picked up a large boneless turkey for me to cook!  That is a new one for me, so I hope it goes well.

Here are a few links you might enjoy:

• 16 Traditional Thanksgiving Recipe Favorites Made Healthy
• 4 Thanksgiving Read-Aloud Stories From American History
• Some cute coloring pages for your children here
• Past Thanksgiving posts from Blessed Homemaking

Hoping you all have a blessed day...

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Abortion Debate Solved

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:

'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.'

So the doctor said: 'Ok and what do you want me to do?'

She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this.'

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too.'

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.'

The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!'

'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.'

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point.
He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb. The crime is the same!

Love says, 'I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person.' Abortion says, 'I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself.'

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A Woman's Worth

 

Feminists have deceived women to believe that motherhood is second-rate, yet they themselves are deceived. They are actually annihilating womanhood. They purport that a woman can only find status in doing what a man does, whereas a woman doesn't have to do what a man does to find her worth. She finds her worth in who God created her to be--a woman! She has been given the wondrous gift to conceive life, to nurture it in her womb and to nourish, mother and train this life.  

~Nancy Campbell

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A Woman Interested in Eternal Things

 

“The most radical thing that will set you apart as a raving revolutionary is to be a woman at home with your children, bucking the whole system of materialism, bucking the whole system of secularism . . . and saying: I’m not interested in me, myself, and I, my body, or whatever. I’m interested in eternal things because what these children are, are the only things in this life that I can take to heaven. And so they are the only investment.”
-Frank Schaeffer

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Healthful Food~ A Gift

 

“We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.”
~Adelle Davis

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{Artwork by Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675)}

Children are an Heritage of the LORD

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. (Psalms 127:3) Heritage: "Inheritance; an estate that passes from an ancestor to an heir by descent or course of law; that which is inherited." ~Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language

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{painting: Ernesta by Cecilia Beaux 1894} 

Happy Mother's Day 2020

Dear Christian Mothers,

I hope you may have a blessed Mother's Day. How sweet that someone some time ago came up with a day to honor their dear mother. The Proverbs 31 woman's children arose and called her blessed, and so did her husband.

I wanted to share something with you below that I came across the other day. I know we are not truly angels, for we need our dear Saviour Jesus to save us from our sins. But the below little article had me in tears--it was a reminder for me of the great duty the Lord gives us when He gives us a new child--OH! What a blessing! It is such an amazing blessing--a great duty and a privilege. Every day we should be asking the Lord for His help to be a sweet and wise mother for our children, and every day we should be thankful for this great privilege and gift to be called "Mother".
~*~NEWBORN'S CONVERSATION WITH GOD~*~

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow,
but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?"

God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

The child further inquired, "But tell me, here in heaven I don't have
to do anything but sing and smile to be happy."

God said, "Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you.
and you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the small child asked, "And how am I going to be able to understand
when people talk to me if I don't know the language?"

God said, "Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words
you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will
teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"

God said, "Your angel will place your hands together and will teach
you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?"

God said, "Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."

God said, "Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach
you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth
could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to leave
now, please tell me my angel's name."

God said, You will simply call her, "Mom."

Author Unknown


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Puckered Sewing

"There is a home of wealth and splendor in which the most sacred and precious household treasure, is a piece of puckered sewing...

Please join me today at Christian Homemaking for the rest of today's post.

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No Greater Task Than Making a Home

It is the simple fact that there is no greater task, responsibility and privilege in this world than to make a home. It may well be that when women are involved in the hundred and one wearing duties which children and a home bring with them, they may say: “If only I could be done with all this, so that I could live a truly religious life.” There is in fact nowhere where a truly religious life can better be lived than within the home. 

In the last analysis there can be no greater career than that of homemaking. Many a man, who has set his mark upon the world, has been enabled to do so simply because someone at home loved him and tended him. It is infinitely more important that a mother should be at home to put her children to bed and hear them say their prayers than that she should attend all the public and Church meetings in the world. 

It has been said that consecration is that which makes drudgery divine; and there is no place where consecration can be more necessarily and beautifully shown than within the four walls of the place which we call home. The world can do without its committee meetings; it cannot do without its homes; and a home is not a home when the mistress of the home is absent from it.

~W. Barclay, in The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

Oh, what a beautiful and blessed quote!  So often, we Christian women, even in the church, are discouraged from our great homemaking duties.  We receive no encouragement from the pulpit, no recognition of our great duties, no realization that we are doing a great work at home, raising up the future generations which will hopefully fill the churches.  Instead, we often only hear how our children will be taught at church instead of by us, or that we women must be at every church meeting or we are thereby neglecting our Chrisitan duty.  There are so many things trying to take us away from home and being keepers there.  But at home, at home, is our blessed duty unto our Lord.  Let us be happy making a beautiful, Christ-centered home for our families.

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Something Every Christian Should Know

(a post for mature persons, and not for children)

Few realize it today, but before 1930 all Christian churches opposed contraception as an unnatural and thus impermissible interference with God’s design for human sexuality.

That changed when, at their 1930 Lambeth Conference, Anglicans began permitting the use of contraception on a limited basis; other denominations quickly absorbed the secular sexual morality that flooded into the Protestant world. Today no Protestant church maintains the historic Christian faith on this issue.

Things grew so bad in the Protestant world that by the early 1970s some Evangelical leaders were advocating not only contraception, but even abortion. At that time abortion and contraception were viewed as "Catholic" issues. When abortion was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973, these Evangelicals rethought the issue and became firmly prolife.

In recent years, as the prolife mindset has grown strong in Evangelical circles, some are even reconsidering the issue of contraception and are rejecting the contraceptive mindset. In doing so, they are returning to the historic position of Christianity and the position of their own Protestant forebears. Below, we look at what historic Protestants—those prior to the twentieth-century—had to say on the subject.

Martin Luther (Sixteenth Century Founder of Lutheranism)

"[T]he exceedingly foul deed of Onan, the basest of wretches . . . is a most disgraceful sin. It is far more atrocious than incest and adultery. We call it unchastity, yes, a sodomitic sin. For Onan goes in to her—that is, he lies with her and copulates—and, when it comes to the point of insemination, spills the semen, lest the woman conceive. Surely at such a time the order of nature established by God in procreation should be followed. Accordingly, it was a most disgraceful crime. . . . Consequently, he deserved to be killed by God. He committed an evil deed. Therefore, God punished him" (Commentary on Genesis).

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John Calvin (Sixteenth Century Founder of Calvinism)

"The voluntary spilling of semen outside of intercourse between man and woman is a monstrous thing. Deliberately to withdraw from coitus in order that semen may fall on the ground is doubly monstrous. For this is to extinguish the hope of the race and to kill before he is born the hoped-for offspring" (Commentary on Genesis).

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Lukas Oslander (Sixteenth Century Lutheran)

"[Onan’s contraceptive act] was an abhorrent thing and worse than adultery. Such an evil deed strives against nature, and those who do it will not possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9–10). The holier marriage is, the less will those remain unpunished who live in it in a wicked and unfitting way so that, in addition to it, they practice their private acts of villainy" (Commentary on Genesis).

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James Ussher (Seventeenth Century Anglican Bishop)

"How doth a man exercise uncleanness in [the sexual] act? Either by himself or with others. How by himself? By the horrible sin of Onan (Gen. 38:9), lustful dreams and nocturnal pollutions . . . arising from excessive eating and unclean cogitations or other sinful means" (On the Seventh Commandment).

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Synod of Dort (Seventeenth Century Calvinist Council)

"[Onan’s contraceptive act] was even as much as if he had, in a manner, pulled forth the fruit out of the mother’s womb and destroyed it" (Dutch Annotations on the Whole Bible, authorized by Dort).



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Cotton Mather (Seventeenth Century Puritan)

"It is time for me to tell you that the crime against which I warn you is that self-pollution, which, from the name of the only person that stands forever stigmatized for it in our Holy Bible, bears the name of ‘onanism’" (The Pure Nazirite).


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John Wesley (Eighteenth Century Founder of Methodism)

"Onan, though he consented to marry the widow, yet to the great abuse of his own body, of the wife he had married, and the memory of the brother that was gone, refused to raise of seed to his brother. Those sins that dishonor the body and defile it are very displeasing to God and evidences of vile affections. Observe, the thing which he did displeased the Lord—and it is to be feared; thousands, especially of single persons, by this very thing, still displease the Lord and destroy their own souls" (Commentary on Genesis).


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Remembering Mother's Day

Many Mother's Days have passed for me, come and gone.  I have before lost a baby to miscarriage around Mother's Day, and sometimes it still brings me grief as I remember the loss of our little one.  But thankfully, I still get to be a mother to our children here and enjoy them.  There is something so amazing about being a mother and getting to be with your children every day and watch them grow up. There is time to instruct them and encourage them.  There is so much blessing in it, even if you are never thanked or appreciated, but I have noticed little children are very good at appreciating their mothers.

In years past, I have been given the most wonderful memories.  Where memories fail me, I thankfully have some sweet pictures of all the little children huddled around me on Mother's Day, hugging me and giving me gifts.  The gifts were almost always something they made with their own hands, with little notes that were such an encouragement to me.  These gifts were so special and the thought of them making them is something I will always treasure.  One year when the children were young, they decided to plant garden seeds into several mugs and little pots for me for Mother's Day.  I think there were peas and carrots, onions, garlic, and perhaps some flowers.  I have several pictures of us surrounded by these little containers of not plants, but dirt (smiles).  I don't think anything ever grew out of those mugs, but the thought was so sweet, along with all the effort they went to to make my Mother's Day special.

Wherever you are and whatever your situation, I hope you have a happy and blessed Mother's Day.  Even if no one remembers your motherhood on this day, just think how the Lord knows and is happy for His daughter to be raising up her children in His ways.  He even blesses a repentant heart for when we have made mistakes.  And for those of you not yet blessed with earthly children, remember you can be like a mother to others in some way--with that nurturing and loving spirit the Lord gives to women who love Him. 

This Mother's Day, I think I will spend some extra time in prayer over my motherhood, thanking the Lord for this gift and also asking for His trusted help this year to come of raising our children, for I know I cannot do it without Him.

"You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, and training them up in God's fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts." 

-Charles Spurgeon

"O dear mothers, you have a very sacred trust reposed in you by God! He hath in effect said to you, “Take this child and nurse it for Me, and I will give thee thy wages.” You are called to equip the future man of God, that he may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. If God spares you, you may live to hear that pretty boy speak to thousands, and you will have the sweet reflection in your heart that the quiet teachings of the nursery led the man to love his God and serve Him. Those who think that a woman detained at home by her little family is doing nothing, think the reverse of what is true. Scarcely can the godly mother quit her home for a place of worship; but dream not that she is lost to the work of the church; far from it, she is doing the best possible service for her Lord. Mothers, the godly training of your offspring is your first and most pressing duty."

~Spurgeon

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