The Beginning of Family Nights

A few years ago we tried to start a weekly Family Night using the Heritage Builders Family Night Tool Chest book.

I love the book, and it is packed full of fun ideas for spending time together as a family while teaching your kids the principles of God's Word. My kids loved it, but it required quite a bit of planning ahead, which I am...ummm...not very good at. I think we did exactly two of the weekly lessons.

For months afterward my kids would ask all the time, "When can we do family night again? Can we do family night this week?" It just seemed too daunting and overwhelming and we never did it again. I felt terrible.

Until last month.

After reading about the weekly family nights that our youth pastor's family does, I caught the bug again. Starr keeps everything really simple (simple is good for me) and doable, and makes sure the focus is on having fun and spending time together as a family. It is, after all, family night.

Now I know what you're thinking. I know the Word says we are to be teaching our children about God and His ways literally every waking moment. And please believe me, I am so completely for that. And I absolutely DO believe that learning God's Word can be fun. But, you know, sometimes we just want to......well, be silly! Like pushing eggs around with our noses or carrying buckets of water on our heads or playing charades.

I want my kids to have fun learning about God, but I also want them to grow into their teenage years with a boatload of memories of having fun with their family. I am convinced that a sense of belonging and bonding with their families is a major factor in helping kids maintain a sense of stability and security during those tough adolescent and teen years.

Don't worry. We're not abandoning the Family Night Tool Chest forever. And we will definitely have plenty of life lessons incorporated into family nights in the weeks and months to come (stay tuned for a family night about God's TRUTH, coming soon!).

But for now, may I present to you the Posts on the Path inaugural Family Night:

Family Olympics!

(I had no idea what order the colors of the rings went in....and I only got the green and yellow backwards! Pretty good, huh?)

We played balloon volleyball, had egg-roll races (pushing eggs with our noses)....

and cotton ball relays, carrying a cotton ball with a spoon (ever tried it? it's harder than you'd think!)

I don't know how we came out with so few pictures. It was our first go-round, and I think we were just pre-occupied with getting everything to run smoothly. We had so much fun! It's been a long time since our family has laughed so much together!

And that's what I want. That's the whole reason we're doing this. There is so much to be serious about in life - school, work, chores, discipline and training, homework, doctor visits, sibling rivalries, money issues - I want "family" to be a place of joy and smiles and fun and laughter. I think it's working. :)

I'm running a few weeks behind in getting our family nights posted. I'll try to get caught up in the next week or two so that I'm posted them on a more timely basis. If you're interest in starting a family night of your own, or if you already do family night and are looking for some new ideas, check out WhittakerWoman or visit Starr at Lost in Laundry. You'll be glad you did!

Thankful Thursday

My kids went to the most-wonderful-in-all-the-world PDO and preschool (CWM). The school also offers kindergarten (though not any higher grades), and since Kloe's birthday is in August, when it was time for her to start school we decided to send her to CWM to see how she would do and to give us the option of repeating if we felt that she needed to.

She did great and at the end of the year was very ready to move on to first grade. And so the debate began. Public school or private school? The church we attend also has a school, and I so desperately wanted her to go there. I prayed and prayed and cried and prayed, asking God to make a way for us to be able to afford for her to go there.

Along about February of her kindergarten year I began to sense that God's answer was NO. I ignored Him as long as I could, continuing to pray and pretend that I hadn't actually heard Him right - that it was just my fear making me think He was going to say no, and in fact He was going to come through at any moment and show us some miraculous way we could afford private school. After all, God is never late, but He is seldom early. :)

After a couple more months, through some group intervention wise counsel I finally admitted that God was choosing public school for Kloe. I was devastated and petrified all at the same time. I felt like I would be sending my baby girl out into a den of wolves every day. But my sweet friend Ashley gently reminded me that Kloe would always be safer inside of God's will - even in public school - than she would be at private school if that was not His plan.

So....now you're all caught up on the story behind today's Thankful Thursday post. I am humbled and grateful to be able to say that I am SO THANKFUL for the school Kloe (and now Jacob) goes to. God has been so faithful to provide for us in awesome ways. We have had fabulous teachers, many of whom are Christians, and a principal who is a Christian too. We have made some great friends, I've gotten really involved with PTA, and last year a couple of other moms started a Moms in Touch prayer group for our school.

It's still public school, and there are definitely things about it that still frustrate me. Like some of the movies they show the kids. Or the book that Kloe's reading class is reviewing right now. Jacob told me yesterday that his teacher "doesn't even let us pray before we eat!" That just doesn't make sense to him.

I still sometimes long for my kids to be learning science from a Biblical perspective and to have chapel every day. To be in a place where their teachers will pray with them and train them in Godly life principles. But God has them there for a reason. I pray that He will use them to be His light in the dark places. To be His witnesses to those kids (and teachers) who need to know Him. If every Christian kid only went to Christian schools, who would take the light into the public schools? Today Jacob told me that he used the "moment of silence" they have every morning to pray that God will be with him and help him do his best. How great is that?

God knows what He's doing. He has a purpose for my children. And for that, I am so very, very thankful.

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever -- do not abandon the works of your hands. Psalm 138:8

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you and appointed you.... Jeremiah 1:5

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares 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." Isaiah 55:8-9

What are YOU thankful for today?

Will you pray?

Dear Friends, will you please pray with me for Linny at A Place Called Simplicity? Linny and her family are trying desperately to bring home their new daughter, Jubilee, from Ch*na and have just received word that the previous acceptance of their application has now been withdrawn. They are understandably devastated.

Will you please join me in asking God to move on their behalf? I would be so grateful, and I know Linny would too. If you feel so inclined, I know she would also love a word of encouragement and support from you in her blog comments.

Thank you so much!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

See? This is one of those reasons I wanted to start a blog! It's so fun getting to participate in blog carnivals!

Today's carnival, Tiny Talk Tuesday, is sponsored by Mary at Not Before 7, but I learned about it through reading the posts of my new bloggy friend, Anna, at Sincerely Anna. (my first bloggy friend - how fun!)

So here it is - my first Tiny Talk post!

Jacob went to a private kindergarten last year and is moving to public school (the same school Kloe attends) this year for first grade. At the end of kindergarten, he was all gung-ho about starting first grade but as the summer has gone on and school time has gotten closer, he's become more and more nervous about it. New school. New teachers. New rules. No friends. The unknown. :(

He was getting dressed for the first day of school yesterday morning, being so careful to choose just the right clothes. Can I wear these jeans? Does this shirt look ok? New tennis shoes, hair combed just so.... I was in my bathroom getting my own self ready when Jacob came in, a worried little furrow on his brow, and asked:

"Mom, are you allowed to tuck your shirt in in first grade?"

poor little guy. :)

For more Tiny Talk Tuesday posts, visit Mary at Not Before 7.

Thankful Thursday

Oh my goodness, I missed Thankful Thursday! We had "meet the teacher" night at school last night, and so I forgot all about it.

Today (and yesterday....and tomorrow) I am profoundly thankful for this:

The cross of Jesus.

You know, there were three crosses on that hill that day. The Bible says two thieves hung on either side of Jesus. I have breezed over those words probably every single time I've ever read or heard that passage. They were two thieves. Criminals. These were the kind of men we might see on the 10:00 news, wearing handcuffs and being pressed into a police car to be hauled off to jail after being caught robbing a convenience store. With a gun. I'm glad they got caught, we might think. They deserve it.

One of the men taunted Jesus. "If You're really the Son of God, get Yourself down from here and....oh yeah, save ME too!"

But the other man.... The other man knew he deserved what he was getting. He had become keenly aware of his failure. His sin. The ugliness of his heart. He knew he had no hope without the mercy of Jesus.

Guess what? Neither do I.

It seems like recently I have come face to face with my own depravity way more than I'd care to. Anyone else? I feel like the tax collector in the temple, beating his chest and crying out, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"

And that's why I am even more thankful for this:

You see, without the empty tomb, we would still have no hope. Without the empty tomb, Jesus would have remained in the grave, just a lifeless martyr who died for.....nothing.

But the tomb IS empty! He IS risen! And because of that, you and I have been offered the indescribable gifts of cleansing, redemption, restoration, and wholeness. Healing from that horrible sense of shame the tax collector felt. Forgiveness.

This Thursday I am thankful for the Cross, for the empty tomb, and for Gods mercy toward me, a (former) sinner. :)

Great Mom Award

In my last post I mentioned that this Friday is Kloe's birthday. She's decided to have a Webkinz party, mostly because after she got Webkinz #7, we told her NO MORE. So she figures if she has a Webkinz birthday party, we can't control how many of the little critters she gets.

It may also have the tiniest bit to do with this conversation we had a few days ago:

Kloe: Mom, I want to buy some clothes for my Webkinz.

Me: (great mom award winner) You do? Wow, Webkinz clothes are pretty expensive. An outfit costs just about as much as one of the animals.

Kloe: Yeah, I know.

Later….

Me: (calling into the bedroom) Kloe, what are you doing?

Kloe: making some clothes for my Webkinz out of toilet paper.

toilet paper?

great.

why can’t I be like all the other moms and say something supportive and encouraging, like “well, it’s not long until your birthday, is that what you’d like for your birthday?”

or

“maybe we can find some on sale”

or

“maybe on ebay”

or

“maybe we can buy some with that coupon you got in the mail from Justice”

but noooo.

I’m the mom who says things like, “I’m sorry honey, clothes for your little stuffed animal are too expensive. You’ll have to dress them in toilet paper.”

See? Just one more bit of supporting evidence for that Great Mom Award I'll be receiving soon.

Countdown....

I can't believe there are only....

• 7 more days in all


• 6 more non-school nights


• 5 more days to practice our new morning routine


• 4 more with-the-kids-all-day days


• 3 more long work days


• 2 more "Kloe and Jacob" days


• 1 more challenging trip to the grocery store

....until school starts!

Summer always goes by so fast. There are lots of things that are great about summer, but for a working mom there are also some really hard things about summer. Like my kids asking why we can't go to the park or swimming or even just stay home and play every day, like their friends do. And why I have to go to work when none of their friends' moms have to. It's hard for them and for me. But this is part of our path for now, and so we make the best of it and have all the fun we can squeeze in!

I always want to do so much more during the summers than we ever have time to do, but this summer I have only worked 3 days per week so we actually have been able to do more fun things than we have in the past.

We have gone swimming, traveled to a small water park in a nearby town, taken two trips to the mountains, made the annual trek to my brother's house for the 4th of July, participated in a few fun programs at the library, went to an early morning (well, 9:00 is early for us!) dollar movie, had popcicles and ice cream and shaved ice and homemade orange juliuses, and had several different versions of "Jacob Day" and "Kloe Day", where the kids each got to choose one fun thing they wanted to do.

So it has been fun....I just always wish there was more time. Even so, both kids are ready for school to start and for mom to go back to working short days, so that when they're not at school, they're with me. It looks like this year's work schedule will be a bit easier than last year's, so hopefully "back to school" won't equal "end of fun".

And we do have one more fabulously fun thing yet to do before school starts....Kloe's Birthday! My baby girl will turn 9 on Friday, and she will finally get to have that swimming party she's been wanting for so long!

Now that's the real thing we're counting down to! :)


[By the way, "Kloe" is also a pseudonym....this time chosen by me. Kloe is actually the girl-name we had picked out for our 2nd child....who turned out to be a boy! :D ]

He loves me

This was the scene as I tucked Jacob into bed recently.... (by the way, Jacob is the blog pseudonym my baby boy has chosen for himself)

Me: Goodnight, Buddy, I love you. You’re my best boy!

Jacob: Goodnight. I love you. You’re the best mama I ever had.

Me: I’m the only mama you ever had. Maybe I’m the worst mama you ever had. (*smile*)

Jacob: No, you’re the best Mama in the whole world!

Me: What makes me the best mama?

Jacob: You love me.....you’re nice…..small….

small?

…..cute, pretty, a good cook…..

what? is he kidding? he must want something.

.….you should make a cookbook….

A cookbook? This, from my pickier-than-a-bird, approximately 7th-percentile-in-weight, six-year-old son, whose most frequent words at the dinner table are, "I don't like that. Can I have a cheese rollup?"

A cookbook. yes. ahem.

Let’s just say no one….no one….ever suggested that I should make a cookbook.

he loves me. :)

Thankful Thursday

I am so excited to be participating in my very first Thankful Thursday, sponsored by Linny at A Place Called Simplicity! (I'm sorry, I couldn't get the link to work that would take you directly to Linny's "Thankful Thursday" category. You can find the link in her sidebar.) Linny encourages us to choose to find the things in life we can be thankful for, rather than complaining about things that aren't the way we would like them to be.

So today I am choosing thankfulness, when the natural tendency of my heart would be to grumble....

Today I am thankful for piles of dirty dishes - even though our dishwasher is broken (ugh!) - because it means we have had plenty to eat.

I am thankful for mounds of laundry, because it means we have plenty of clothes to wear.

I am thankful for an unmade bed, because it means we have a warm, soft place to sleep.

And I am thankful for this messy room (and a very similar blue one :) because they mean two sweet little ones live in our home, bringing smiles and giggles and cuddles and wonder along with their messiness. :)

I know many of you have seen the email that this post is drawn from, and I so appreciate the way it shifts my focus onto the things that are much more important than the things I tend to grumble about. I want to continually make the choice to be thankful...

You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Psalm 118:28-29

Whew! It's 11:39 p.m. on my clock - barely made it!

What are you thankful for today?

On the Path...

Welcome!

I'm Valerie. I'm so glad you stopped by - it's nice to meet you! You may be wondering what I’m doing here. Well, I’ve wondered that myself, actually.

You see, I’m not really the type of person you would expect to author a blog. I'm not an awesome writer, like Angie. I’m not funny like Starr or an adoptive mommy like Anna or Linny. I don’t have a ministry, like Lysa or Beth or Mary Beth or the other Mary Beth. I don’t have a bunch of kids, like Linny or Jen. I’m not a creative crafter, like Jen. I’m not a deep thinker, like Jen. I’m not going on a mission trip or starting my own business or writing a book or homeschooling or foster parenting or…..or anything like that.

So what exactly am I doing here??

Well, the first reason I decided to blog is that I want to create a place to record our newly-founded family nights (yay! more about those later). And maybe this will also be a way that I can keep in closer contact with our families and far-away friends, since I’m so bad at doing that otherwise. But mostly I just want to join in the fun! Everyone’s doing it, right? And I don’t want to be left out. :)

Plus, I want to make those cute little lists on the side of my blog, like what other blogs I follow, what books I’m reading right now, what craft projects I want to try. oh wait. No, that’s Jen with the craft projects. You guys know me better than that.

So what's the "Path" that I'm on?

My heart's deepest desire is to learn to follow Jesus on the daily Path of Life.

You will make known to me the Path of Life; in Your presence is fullness of joy. Psalm 16:11

Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation. My hope is in You all day long. Psalm 25:4

Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105

And I'd love for you to join me.

By the way, I’m new to all of this, so please be patient with me....and don’t be too hard on me at first, ok? Hopefully I'll get much better as I go! :)

Stay on the Path!