Crisis of Caring

The Crisis of Caring is a book written by Jerry Bridges, one that has stuck with me since college, when I studied it with my small group.  He discusses how true love for others is a far cry from what we generally think.  First, we have to be aligned with God, knowing that only through Jesus can we even begin to love unconditionally, and only then can we even begin to truly love those around us.

Instilling in the boys a love for others is so difficult since we are all born with major selfishness.  We started teaching them this verse, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves." (Philippians 2:3)  Every day is a struggle for us all to be at peace, especially since we homeschool and see each other ALL DAY long.  :)  There are plenty of opportunities to remind them of this verse all the time!

And of course it's the hardest at home, to consider their brothers as more important than themselves.  :)  I pray that the Lord will continually work on my heart to be a good example to serve others.  Home is the place where all of our sins come out and I know they've seen an abundance selfish acts from their Mama!  They are quick to forgive and I am so thankful for that!

Here are a couple of photos for you all.  My boys have a membership to an online educational program that allows them to earn gold coins when they accomplish a level of math, Bible, language arts, geography, or science.  They can purchase pets, furnish their castle, and see their friends' castles.  I'm sure there's a lot more to do on there that we're not aware of yet.

Check out the pets' names:

Josiah's pets:

I asked Josiah to name his pets and left the room.  When I returned to the dining room, this is what I saw and I exclaimed, "You named your dog JESUS?"   My mom was visiting and began laughing hysterically.  I tried to hold it in since I was sitting with Josiah.  Thankfully, I was behind him and he couldn't see me, but he could feel me shaking!  Yes, it's hilarious and kinda sacrilegious, but it's so sweet that Jesus is a name that is at the forefront of my little boy's mind.  :)

Jadon's pet:

Jadon is so different from his brother.  He has no desire to save his gold coins.  Once he has enough to buy something, they're gone!  Josiah has over 1000 and has not decided to purchase much of anything.  The average cost of an item is 60 coins.  

Childlike faith

Last night Josiah came up to me before heading to bed.  He asked me to look under his upper lip.  I looked and there was nothing there.  He then ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror, then returned and exclaimed, "God healed it!"  I had no idea anything was wrong but I gladly celebrated with him by saying, "That's so great!"  Apparently there was a red mark or scratch there earlier in the day.

While we teach our children to be thankful for everything, I don't think I would so readily exclaim that God healed me right after everything seems ok.  I would probably move on and just be glad that my illness or wound is finally done with.  But yes, God heals!  I should be just as quick to thank the One who made us.  Thank you, Josiah, for reminding me!

Here's my boy playing in a recital yesterday.  I forgot to record from the beginning, so it's way short.  His posture is awful because he's using the pedal and I don't have one of those fancy pedal boxes made for tiny students.

And here he is hanging out in a tree in front of the church, anxious to get some play time after sitting about 45 minutes for a whole recital!

Verbal skills

On the way to church yesterday morning, Josiah was reading street signs.

"Garden Grove"
"Knott State" (abbreviated as St.)

M: "Street"
J: "oh, street"
M: "How did you know the K is silent?:
J: "Because it doesn't make sense."
M: "Yeah, it doesn't make sense."
J: "And because I've seen Knott's Berry Farm before."
M: "Oh yeah!"

The English language is quite strange indeed.  Why do we have silent K's?  Ludicrous!

Here's a happy scene from today.  We're babysitting Brandon and his cousins introduced him to Hungry, Hungry, Hippos!  Now back to homeschooling #1 while the younger 3 nap!

And here is little Judah, blocking out the light with his "pay-pay" and finally falling asleep!