Luve Project Update: Kindness

If my three boys were allowed to pick whatever they wanted to drink, at any time, here are the choices they would make;
Big Brother: Milk (with chocolate sauce)
Medium Brother: Apple Juice
Baby Brother: Milk - the strong stuff - 3% all the way baby! 
My nephew Micah's beverage of choice: water.
I remember him being so proud about a dentist check-up because the dentist was impressed with how much water he drank.  More water = less cavities. 
Thankfully, his parents have tons of clean, bacteria-free water to give to Micah.
Not all parents have this privilege. 

This has been our kindness week and part of learning about kind is learning to be kind to the poor.  We let the boys watch this video...

My oldest son's first words were; "Yucky! Look at that yucky water!".  We explained that the scum filled hole was the only water the young girl had to drink. 
"But she can't drink that mom, it's too dirty!" 
We know.  But that's all she has. 
The boys watched intently as 'Fiona' poured her filthy water into a small bucket with a filter.  They were pretty excited to see clean water come out the other end.  We told them that a part of kindness was helping that little girl and others like her get clean water to drink.  We gave them 10 nickels each and they got to choose some to put in our 'water' bank. 

(p.s. we need a new battery in this bank)

They were pretty excited to be shoving those nickels into the bank.  When we get to $55 (naturally mama and daddy are helping too as nickels would take a long time to accumulate), we'll buy a water filter for a family so that they can have clean water for life.  Kindness.

Do Not Fret...

I have been known to fret and worry occasionally...maybe more than occasionally.  One of my employers called me; "worst-case scenario Christie."  I've been reading a new book called; "A Better Way to Think" by H. Norman Wright.  I think this should be prerequisite reading for...everyone! 

The basis of the book is to replace your negative thoughts with God's truth and promises.  Anyway, I came across something in the book this morning that was so exciting to me, I couldn't help but share.
The book has a space with questions to answer at the end of each chapter.  One of the questions was; "Look up Psalm 37:1-9.  What are four alternatives to fretting that the psalmist suggests?  What do these mean to you?"

Let me show you the scripture...the answers are all. right. there!

¹ Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret —it leads only to evil.
⁹ For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. 

So, when I start to have worried thoughts I have a few options;

1) I can find scriptures about trusting God, memorize them and meditate on them.

2) I can bring to mind all the things about God that delight me...sunsets, His provision, my family, etc.  Another version says to "feed on His faithfulness" (I love that). 

3) I can commit whatever I may be worrying about to Him.  Here it is God, now what do I do with it? 

4) I can be still and wait for God to show up.  Not try to make things happen myself (remember Sarah and all those servant girls she made miserable? Check out Genesis 16).

 5) Refrain from anger.  Anger at God, anger at anyone!  Anger pretty well only hurts yourself.  Not that it's as easy as pie to let it go.  But, at least, start trying.  Anger in itself is not wrong, it's just a sign that there's an issue to be dealt with.  It's the holding on to it and acting it out that destroys your sense of peace and the peace of those around you. 

What's so amazing is that God really does have all the answers for us in His Word.  We just have to search for them.  Books like this help me with my search.  Hope you have been helped to have a frettless day... :)

The Luve Project: Kindness

Before I had a grocery cart full of babies to carry around a store -  I enjoyed perusing the greeting card aisle.  I leisurely read the cute and quirky little sayings, opened up the music cards (..."give me a kiss to build a dream on...") and laughed quietly at the funny ones.  One of my favorite lines on a thank-you card was "You may say it's no big deal...but kindness is always a big deal."  Isn't that great? 

1 Corinthians 13:4 says;
" Love is patient, love is kind."

According to studylight.org, the word "kind" in 1 Corinthians means:

"to show one's self mild, to be kind, use kindness"

Oh boy...can boys be mild?  :)  This should be fun...but I am sure I will be afforded many opportunities to remind my boys (and myself) to be mild. 

In reading up a little on the word "kind" and "kindness" in the Bible, I saw some common occurrences.  Kindness comes up a lot when God talks about how we should treat the poor.

"Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done."
Proverbs 19:17

Also, the word describes God's dealings with us over and over again.

"The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."
Jeremiah 31:3

And, in general, how we should be treating everyone around us.

My goals this week to teach the boys that "love is kind" will be to;
1.  Remind them to be 'mild' when addressing their parents, brothers and friends.
2.  Set up a project to help the poor.
3.  Remind them of God's kindnesses to us.
4.  Provide opportunities for them to do acts of  kindness.  

I pray you see at least one instance of God's kindness towards you this week. 

(Here's biggest brother being 'kind' to little brother when they were just babies...he was helping him hide in the cupboard.)

I'll let you know how our little project goes at the end of the week.

The Luve Project Update: Patience

Yeesh!  I think this project may be more about me than the kids.  I am discovering a couple important things about patience.
1.   This mathematical equation;

# of hours of sleep=level of patience. 

Yes, the number of hours I slept was in direct correlation with the level of patience I had (can I get an 'amen'?).

An important thing to remember is that it is not my kid's, husband's, the traffic guy's, cashier's, or God's fault that I was up too late..

watching

surfing

or reading

I can't use lack of sleep as a viable excuse for impatience.  I am a big girl and I need to make the hard decision to get a healthy dose of sleep so that I can more effectively model patience for my children.
This also goes for the kidlets.  I know schedule's are a little off-kilter for the summer but it is my responsibility to allow my children opportunity to get enough sleep so that they are more easily able to be patient. 

2.  Patience is hard work!  It is only going to come by sacrifice. 
Sacrificing my urge to YELL at the kids when they're not listening.
Sacrificing time by not rushing them through a story just so I can fold one more load of clothes.
Sacrificing some leisure (leisure?  what's that) ;) to hear another superhero story.
My children will learn patience when I am able to show them patience.

So that's my update.  Let me know if you have any stories about learning patience.  I'll leave you with a little nugget from Proverbs...

"Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city (16:32)".

Disclaimer:  I'm not saying that I should never watch t.v., surf the Internet or read a book.  I was talking about when it keeps me up past a decent hour.  Neither am I saying that I can never have free time or tell my children to wait patiently while I have a little break.  Everything in balance friends. :) 

The Luve Project: Patience

I was one of the weirdos in school who loved literature.  I loved to read.  Anything.  So, all the short-stories, poems, and haiku's assigned to us in class were a treat. It also helped that we had a fantastic teacher (who by the way, would come into our classroom every Christmas wearing a sombrero and singing, "The Hat I Got for Christmas Was Too Big").   I remember him showing us Robert Burns' famous poem, Red, Red Rose.  The first line in this piece was "O my luve's like a red, red rose."  I just couldn't get past ye olde english "luve".  I think I may be an editor at heart and I couldn't fully enjoy the poem for the spelling of 'love' (told you...weirdo...). 
I was thinking about that poem today when I read 1 Corinthians 13. 
"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
I was thinking that if my boys could be loved and love like this...they would be pretty set for life.  Love doesn't hit their brother.  Love trusts that when Mama says wear your life-jacket...it's a good thing. Love does not cheat on a math test.  Love is not proud when big brother gets in trouble.  Love doesn't erupt in anger when something doesn't go his way.  If we can teach them how  to love, God's greatest commandment, then I think we will be successful parents. 
So, I've decided to try a little project.  I'm going to break up the "luve chapter" into the different traits of love and focus on one a week with our boys.  We'll write out the verse and memorize that little part.  Then, my husband and I have a frame of reference when our little guys provide an "opportunity" for teaching about love. 
Our first trait is patience.  Samuel helped me 'decorate' the little love poster this morning.  We'll stick that on the fridge and see how it goes. 

I'm hoping to be able to update you each Friday about how our week went.  Maybe you would like to try too...you don't need kids either...try it yourself!  Let me know how it turns out. :)

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[e] 30} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^{[f] 31} The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”

Peace Anyone?

You may have the best husband ever (I do),
You may have a chubby cheeked baby and fun little boys (I do),
You may have sweet, wise, godly friends (I do),
You may have parents that love you (I do),
You may have in-laws that love you (I hope I do ;),
You may have enough food (I'm making a pot roast today...),
You may have clean water (I do),
You may have new shoes (that would be nice),

But...you still may not have peace.  

Psalm 62 says,
"Truly my soul silently waits for God;
From Him comes my salvation.
² He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be greatly moved."
.....
"My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.
⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be moved."

Sometimes, when we sorely need peace and rest, we grasp frantically for something to help ease the struggle. 
The right man, the right vacation, the right kids, the right new outfit, the right friend.
These things are most assuredly blessings, but they cannot bring us true peace.  
Only God could see the things that would disrupt our peace and put them on Jesus' shoulders.
Only Jesus could take them from us and put them on Himself. 
True peace will come when we can finally hand over our burdens to Jesus, who longs to take them from us.

I pray you find peace today friends.

What to Make Monday...Bread!

I LOVE bread.
 I have a beautiful cousin who has a scar on her chin because of my love of bread. 
It was a fine day in a quiet inlet.
4 little girls, 3 sisters and a cousin, were playing like all little girls play on fine days.
The little cousin with bouncing brown curls gets a sudden longing for her auntie's delicious, warm, soft and light homemade bread.
Auntie, being the good auntie that she is, graciously rewards her little niece with her heart's desire.
What cousin and auntie were too busy to see was... oldest sister falling off the deck...
True story.

So, for years, I have stayed away from making my own bread.  I think I felt that there was some kind of bread making intuition that I didn't have.  Also, the thought of making bread even close to the same caliber of Aunt Wanda was intimidating.  I had watched my mom make bread too.  It looked pretty tricky to me.  "How much flour mom?"  "Oh...just enough to make it look like this..."  I needed cold, hard facts.  You know?  Actual measurements.

Well, I finally got up the courage and decided to give it a go.  I looked to a favorite website - www.allrecipes.com and found this recipe of cold hard facts.  Samuel (my sous chef 3 year-old) and I followed it exactly and IT WORKED!  I was ecstatic.  My husband was delighted.  And we chowed down those 4 loaves in just a couple days (just cause' it was the first time...) ;)

Here's the recipe folks.  Let me know if you try it. 

2 packages of active dry yeast
(or 4 1/2 tsp of yeast)
4 1/2 cups warm water
6 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp salt
1/4 cup butter, melted, cooled
12 cups flour

In large bowl, dissolve yeast in water.
Add sugar, salt and butter, stir until dissolved.
Add half the flour, beat until smooth with a spoon.
And remaining flour (enough to make soft dough).
Turn on to floured surface.
Knead 8-10 minutes (it will seem like a long time...but it's worth it.)
Place in greased bowl.
Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours).
Punch dough down and allow to rise for another 30 min.
Divide into 4 parts.
Put in greased loaf pans and allow to rise until doubled (about 30 min).
Put in 350 degree preheated oven for 30 min or until nicely browned.
ENJOY!!!!

"Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."  Matthew 4:4