I took Daniel with me to run an errand tonight. Just him and me. As we were walking in the store, a family I semi-recognized was walking in. I said hi. The dad looks and me and smiles, then does a double take and looks at Daniel. He looks up at me, smiling, and says: "He's black."
Civilization depends on the health of the traditional family.Therefore, the wise will recognize that the subcultures that survive the demographic collapse will be those that sacrificially embrace natalist values over materialist ones – which is to say, those whose religious convictions inspire them to have relatively large families, despite the social and financial cost.
Like it or not, the future belongs to the fecund faithful.
Does that scare you? It does Philip Longman. In his 2004 book, The Empty Cradle, he warns fellow secular liberals that demography is destiny and that those who want to preserve modernity must start having more children than "fundamentalists."
See this Dallas Morning News article to read the rest.You Are a Colon |
 You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon |
Just like Ginger and I've adopted Isaac and Maya to be our son and daughter, because of what they've done--accepted Jesus into their life, God has accepted them into His family. We're very proud of them.
Vision Forum is having a great sale on these fantastic Creation DVDs. The sale extends through this Friday, February 29th. Check it out!
Then I send all the kids but two to play. Two big kids in charge of 2 littles. We do phonics and math tutor style. I work with one on phonics while the other is doing their math. Then they switch. When those 2 are done, they go play and send the other 2 to work with me. The phonics/math rotation takes an hour at most.
Today I read a chapter of Trial & Triumph (church history) about Charlemagne. Then they took turns narrating. Then I read "How the Camel Got It's Hump" from Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling) and they took turns narrating. Sometimes we act it out or they draw what I'm reading about (these are both types of narration). This took a little over 30 minutes.
Last night was Isaac's turn to run errands with me. After dinner, we took off to the grocery stores. (Yes, that was plural. Would you believe I go to several because I'm such a tightwad?!) I have been convicted lately that I'm not being deliberate enough in my parenting, so I decided to make the most of our time together. I asked Isaac a lot of questions and I talked, talked, talked to him. I learned a lot of things I'd never heard before.
Born in Liberia in May, 2001 and lovingly adopted in April 2007, Isaac has now been united with his long lost twin, Chloe. Both six years old, Isaac and Chloe are more alike than different. Both have high energy and high distractability, but Isaac is a true firstborn. He is a perfectionist to the core and although fun-loving and very likable, he is very hard on himself.
"You see them on the shelves at the store; they're made to look like those ubiquitous fashion magazine on the racks at every check-out counter. But what's different about this magazine is that it contains a full New Testament, that's interspersed with hormone-charged sidebars designed to "meet teenagers where they are at"...
One of my favorite bloggers, Stacy McDonald (co-author of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God) recently wrote a fantastic article about how to protect our growing daughters. Enjoy it and let me know what you think.
Preparing to go to AWANAs. It was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" night. The girls want to be mommies, thus the baby slings. Isaac wants to be a daddy, thus the tie. (Even if it is a Snoopy tie.) They look forward to Wednesday all week. They just love it and they're learning a ton of scripture. This will be the last activity to go.
There is an adage among homeschoolers: The best way to have a stress-free homeschool is to stay at home. Imagine that! And it's so true. The more we run around from activity to activity, the more stressful homeschooling (read: mom) becomes.
This is my hairdresser, aka my sister, Jamie. She and I both color our hair. In fact, we're getting together tonight to do just that. We both color our hair with henna - an herb. Go figure. But she has chestnut brown hair and I am decidedly red-headed. (I decided that I should be a redhead.) Since I was a young girl, I've always thought I should have been a redhead. It fits my personality. When I turned 21, I started noticing a few grey hairs here and there. I wasn't too bothered by it until a guy noticed it too. He pointed it out, in fact, the rogue! Well, that's when I started coloring my hair. (I was single at the time, and I told you I'm vain.) Here's the prepackaged henna Jamie and I use:
6/22/96
Isaac earned his orange (3rd level) belt at the end of the last Tae Kwon Do session, so this session he's been learning to spar. He's positively giddy about it. He came home from the first class informing me that he needed a mouth piece and a cup. Maya said, "Why don't I get a cup?" I told her it's just for boys. With a look of injustice, she turned to Isaac and asked," What is it?"
Isn't he handsome??
I've just discovered the coolest thing ever for book hogs like myself: Library Elf. It's a web-based program that keeps track of library loans and holds. I told the Elf what library I frequent (I chose from a menu of every US library) and entered my library card number. A few days later I had an email telling me that one of my book requests was in and which books will be due in three days. It's AWESOME! Check it out!
Chloe was born at home in August, 2001, after dancing and grooving in the womb for nine months. She has the same energy today. Chloe is loud, funny, dramatic, sensitive, and easily distracted. She receives more discipline than most any other Clark, as she does not learn her lesson easily. Her parents joke that after being punished for the same infraction 67 times, she will finally get it and decide to change.
I just received this letter from my friend, Jenny. Really convicted me about our true purpose:"Mom, why does our neighbors' Mom and her boyfriend act goofy like
this all the time?" Gabriel asked me yesterday as he impersonated
them.
"Because they are on crack son," I explained.
"I can understand why those kids want to come over all the time, it's
so dark over there and so light over here. It's the difference
between Jesus and no Jesus," Gabriel said as his eyes got very wet.
Brad and I have been praying about what Christ would have us do for
our neighbors. There are 7 people living in a tiny 2 bedroom
apartment upstairs and 8 people squished into a one-bedroom
downstairs. The older kids are taking care of the younger ones while
the adults get high; there is neglect and violence. Social services
may or may not make a positive difference, the love of God for sure
will. One of the little girls broke down weeping at the prayer
center a couple weeks ago, interceding for her lost family. Whether
across the street or across the ocean, there are orphans everywhere
in need of the Father of the fatherless.
There are countless scriptures about the necessity of caring for the
poor, the imprisoned, the broken, the helpless. It is our business,
it is our duty, it is our delight. The more impossible something
looks in the natural the better the scene is set for God to show up
with an impossible answer.
Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE books. So when my birthday rolled around, the people who know me best (my family) gave me book money. Woo-Hoo!!! The first chance I got after ripping the cash out of the birthday cards, I dashed on over to Amazon to fulfill all my Wishlist wishes. Now I have a full armload of books, a permanent grin on my face, and lots of reading on my "to do" list.
"Me Time" is a myth. It is an unattainable, always interruptible, never satisfactional piece of junk psychology. Me Time, by its very name, suggests that who we are during the daily grind is not WHO we truly are. It tells us that we are someone other than "WIFE" or "MOTHER." It begs us to search for fulfillment outside of those titles. It blames precious little ones and God-given spouses for suppressing us. It points out a perceived "hole" in your world that needs to be filled, a tank that must be fueled up, a monster that will swallow you lest you neglect to feed it precious Me Time. But, it will never be enough.
Lydia received this big bear as a gift from Pedro. Not being a big fan of giant stuffed animals, I wasn't thrilled. I quickly changed my mind when I saw how Liddy fell in love with it. She called it "Paddy Bear" (Paddington), although it is clearly Winnie the Pooh. I thought it was so funny that I didn't correct her.
Maya never can get enough time with Lillian. She loves being a junior mommy, and she's so good at it!
And Chloe will take any chance she gets to be the boss of somebody. She prefers hanging out with younger kids, so she can be the leader. Ha!
It was really windy.
I would say this is my favorite little monkey, but that might be misconstrued as racism. He's really cute though isn't he??
Playing "Store". Profits were down today. Way down.
Those are Elena's boots. Don't they look like they're having fun?? She and cousin Max are 10 mos. apart; they love playing together.
Daniel has such a sweet personality. He is laid-back and easy-going. He's quiet and tolerant. He's had to be quite tolerant, unfortunately, as he put up with quite a bit of abuse from his younger sister, Lydia, in the first few months following his arrival in America. Daniel and Lydia now act like twins; they do most everything together and have a special bond as the babies of the family. Daniel idolizes his brother, Isaac. Isaac has been the one constant in his life, through all the painful changes he's had to endure at such a young age. Because of their birth mother's destitute poverty, Isaac and Daniel lived with their grandmother prior to being relinquished to the orphanage. Maya stayed with her aunt prior to the orphanage.
This is Nia, my friend, Angel's most recently adopted daughter. Nia is 8 years old and was adopted from Liberia, where she spent a large chunk of her life in an orphanage. Not an Acres of Hope orphanage, where our three were."Mother Brown" used to beat children all over their bodies, including the face, and she, herself, was the recipient of such a beating on her backside. Mother Brown would tell children that the witches would come at night and carry the children up into the air to be sacrificed if they didn't obey. Nia told us about 2 children at the orphanage who were supposedly Witch Princesses and Witch Prince, the children of a witch.After reading this post of Angel's, I was curious what my kiddos had been exposed to while in the orphanage. I do know that they learned a lot of Bible verses and daily praised the Lord at the Acres of Hope orphanage. I also know that Acres of Hope is run with much more love and integrity than most Liberian orphanages.
There seems to be a big debate among Christians about homeschool vs. public school; why one is better than the other. Honestly, I just don't get it. We have never entertained the idea of sending our kids to a government-run institution for eight hours a day so that their developing brains can be filled with information that contradicts what we are teaching them at home. We are not of the mindset that our children need to be in the public schools as "salt and light" (aka victims). It's just too dangerous a mission field for our little ones. Jesus started his ministry when he was 30 years old, not 6. We want our children to be brought up with a godly education, so the only options for us were Christian school vs. homeschool.
