Daddy/Daughter Dance

Once upon a time...

Every year, Princesses Caroline and Ava are escorted to a wonderful royal ball by their "King Daddy". Photos containing their precious memories await you...


Duchess Heather is getting Princess Ava's hair just perfect



And I mean, "just perfect"! :)



Princess Ava is ready for the ball. She's only missing one thing...




Her King! :) Aren't they just precious?!




Here they are at the dance... could King Erich look any happier? :)




King Erich has a little "red-face" going on... he might need to take a break from dancing... lol!




Despite the 1,000 other princesses at the ball, Ava finds Haley and Mandy. According to Mandy's daddy, this is good b/c Mandy said she didn't want to dance until she found Ava... good for Gary that she found her! :)




Now it's Princess Caroline's turn... is Duchess Heather the best friend in the world, or what?!

Duchess Heather's "masterpiece"... what a gorgeous mane!

Princess Caroline awaits her King who is arriving shortly.

And, here he is! :)

I just love this one of them... simply darling!

Precious close up of Princess Caroline and King Erich

King Erich with both of his Princesses.

The royal carriage whisked them away to dinner and then to Caroline's ball. So, King Erich truly danced the night away.

(2 dances + dinner = tired and sore Daddy) But he loved every minute of it! :)

The girls are so blessed by their daddy... he loves them so much and takes care of them like the princesses that they are... God's Princesses!

Have a blessed day!

Prayer

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:4-7

Prayer... sigh... I just don't pray enough. :(

I ran across a wonderful blog, Bring the Rain, back in November and was so moved by her commitment to pray over her children 7 times a day. I was so in love with her challenge for us mothers to commit to pray faithfully for our precious gifts from God, that I forwarded her link to lots of friends. But, I failed to take on the challenge myself... instead trading the praying aloud over our children 7 times a day for the quick bed-time prayer that sometimes I fall asleep doing.

Yep... you read it right... I have this horrible habit of praying quietly in my head before bed, and then falling asleep in the middle of it. Ugh!

Quoting from Charles Spurgeon regarding praying while we are distracted, "Our thoughts go roving hither and thither, and we make little progress towards our desired end. Like quicksilver our mind will not hold together, but rolls off this way and that. How great an evil this is! It injures us, and what is worse, it insults our God. What should we think of a petitioner, if, while having an audience with a prince, he should be playing with a feather or catching a fly?"

How insulting to God that I go to His throne in half-hearted, half-wakeful prayers!

Romans 12:12 teaches us to: "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

And, as we read how to put on the armor of God in Eph. 6:10-18, the bible instructs us to pray at all times.

Hmmmm... be constant... praying at all times... about everything. OK... I finally got it!! :)

So, I have taken on the "7x7" challenge. It is an honor to go before God's throne and petition for my children. God desires my whole-hearted prayers. I long for that close relationship with Him. And, how wonderful to pray His words over my children!

This week, I "personalized" the scripture by adding Caroline's and Ava's names and printed them out on card stock. Then, I told the girls ahead of time that I would be praying scripture over them throughout the day. They seemed very flattered and almost giddy about it. I prayed aloud over them when they woke up, when they ate, and when they took their bath, when they left the house and when they were going to bed.

The best part was that Caroline came downstairs and said, "Mom... I'm about to get dressed, will you pray over me?" Wow!!! She was so touched by it all, that she actually asked for more prayers! She had the biggest smile on her face and looked so honored as I prayed for her. What a blessing and praise to God!

So, I challenge you to the same thing: Go to Bring the Rain, personalize God's Word with your children's names... and run to the throne of God to petition Him on behalf of your children. You and your kids will be blessed by it!

And, I have to post Charles Spurgeon's entire devotional about prayer... it's just too good:

"But I give myself unto prayer."
-- Psalms 109:4

"Lying tongues were busy against the reputation of David, but he did not defend himself; he moved the case into a higher court, and pleaded before the great King himself. Prayer is the safest method of replying to words of hatred. The Psalmist prayed in no cold-hearted manner, he gave himself to the exercise-threw his whole soul and heart into it-straining every sinew and muscle, as Jacob did when wrestling with the angel. Thus, and thus only, shall any of us speed at the throne of grace. As a shadow has no power because there is no substance in it, even so that supplication, in which a man's proper self is not thoroughly present in agonizing earnestness and vehement desire, is utterly ineffectual, for it lacks that which would give it force.

"Fervent prayer," says an old divine, "like a cannon planted at the gates of heaven, makes them fly open." The common fault with the most of us is our readiness to yield to distractions. Our thoughts go roving hither and thither, and we make little progress towards our desired end. Like quicksilver our mind will not hold together, but rolls off this way and that. How great an evil this is! It injures us, and what is worse, it insults our God. What should we think of a petitioner, if, while having an audience with a prince, he should be playing with a feather or catching a fly?

Continuance and perseverance are intended in the expression of our text. David did not cry once, and then relapse into silence; his holy clamour was continued till it brought down the blessing. Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation.
As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we addict ourselves to prayer. We must be immersed in prayer as in our element, and so pray without ceasing.

Lord, teach us so to pray that we may be more and more prevalent in supplication."

Mighty to Save

I read a wonderful devotional authored by the brilliant Charles Spurgeon this morning and wanted to bless others with it:

"Mighty to save."
-- Isaiah 63:1

By the words "to save" we understand the whole of the great work of salvation, from the first holy desire onward to complete sanctification. The words are multum in parro: indeed, here is all mercy in one word.

Christ is not only "mighty to save" those who repent, but he is able to make men repent. He will carry those to heaven who believe; but he is, moreover, mighty to give men new hearts and to work faith in them. He is mighty to make the man who hates holiness love it, and to constrain the despiser of his name to bend the knee before him.

Nay, this is not all the meaning, for the divine power is equally seen in the after-work. The life of a believer is a series of miracles wrought by "the Mighty God." The bush burns, but is not consumed. He is mighty to keep his people holy after he has made them so, and to preserve them in his fear and love until he consummates their spiritual existence in heaven.

Christ's might doth not lie in making a believer and then leaving him to shift for himself; but he who begins the good work carries it on; he who imparts the first germ of life in the dead soul, prolongs the divine existence, and strengthens it until it bursts asunder every bond of sin, and the soul leaps from earth, perfected in glory.

Believer, here is encouragement. Art thou praying for some beloved one? Oh, give not up thy prayers, for Christ is "mighty to save." You are powerless to reclaim the rebel, but your Lord is Almighty. Lay hold on that mighty arm, and rouse it to put forth its strength.

Does your own case trouble you? Fear not, for his strength is sufficient for you. Whether to begin with others, or to carry on the work in you, Jesus is "mighty to save;" the best proof of which lies in the fact that he has saved you. What a thousand mercies that you have not found him mighty to destroy!

And, if you scroll down the right side of my blog and *pause* the Playlist music, you may play the below YouTube video and listen to Hillsong's "Mighty to Save".

Be Blessed because He truly is Mighty to Save!

Back to School... and Back to Routine

After a long and wonderful Winter Break... we woke up this morning to start our Back to School routine. And, boy were we glad not to have to leave the house with the icy rain and dreary weather! Too bad the dogs still had to go outside for potty breaks! :)

We started our break the week of Thanksgiving, and we continued that break (except for some Bible study, Math, Reading & Foreign Language here and there to keep our minds active) all the way up until today. Whew! Our goal was to have as much time as possible to serve others during Christmas and really dig deep into God's Word to prepare for the Celebration of Christ's glorious birth. We also had plenty of fun baking days! It still flew by way too fast, yet the girls were happy to get back to our school routine and have some order around the house again.

The girls were so excited when they awoke this morning... they always have such a zeal for starting the new term with new books and new schedules. Everything "new"! Here was a recap of the "buzz" around the house:

~Had blueberry waffles for breakfast... yum!

~We got back on our chore chart routine that I just love from Managers of their Chores. That means that the girls get everything done in the morning, from Bible devotional to brushing their teeth and the dogs... all without me asking... yea! :)

~Ava recited the Old Testament Books of the Bible (she was afraid she had forgotten them) and Caroline recited the New Testament ones.

~We said our Christian, American and Texas flag pledges and it was Ava's turn to hold the Bible as we did our Bible Pledge of Allegiance.

~We also had the blessing of Erich playing guitar and leading us in our Praise Song this morning, How Great is our God.

~The girls loved drawing the Tabernacle from our Exodus Study. It's amazing how elaborate and beautiful the Israelites created it according to God's detailed instruction!

~Caroline read her Longfellow poetry and Ava read A.A. Milne's poems... they both loved them. (especially Caroline b/c she loves it when her poets have rhyming stanzas... it's that left brain of hers)

~Caroline reviewed her Algebra that she swore to me that she hadn't forgotten... she hadn't. :)

~Ava read Aesop's Fables of the Ant and the Grasshopper... then we read Prov. 6:6-11 and discussed the biblical basis for diligence. (Diligence is a character trait that Ava is working on... so am I)

~Caroline did her spelling while Ava did her copy work... that sounds boring... moving on...

~We studied our Botany lesson and learned about how wonderfully God designed flowers, pollination, bees, and creation. Bees are very fascinating... I won't go into it all here, but the girls were amazed!

~The girls even suited up to brave the cold and collect icicle specimens... that didn't last long. :)

~Caroline read and narrated about The Alamo and The Gold Rush in California. She just loves history!

~Ava worked on counting out change and paying for items in our pretend store. After Ava finished paying for everything, Caroline handed her the items she purchased as if we were in a real store. It was just precious... Ava's eyes lit up when she got a teddy bear, gum, a purse, and even some peppermints... everything she had "purchased". That was a great Math lesson... no wonder Math is Ava's favorite subject! (she likes shopping, too... lol)

~Ava read and narrated her History story. I typed exactly what she said to me so that she could work on grammar and clarity of thought and speech. Here is what she composed:

Narration of “Bruce and the Spider” from Fifty Famous Stories Retold

There was once a King of Scotland whose name was Robert Bruce and another King of England who were at war together. The King of England and his army fought Robert Bruce. Six times the King of Scotland’s men got beaten. So, the King, Robert Bruce, went up to the mountain to hide in a shed. He thought to himself, “I just give up.” Then he saw a spider who was making a web. She tried six times to hatch her string on the other end of the web, but it fell every time. She tried it a seventh time and it hatched onto the other side. He learned from the spider that people shouldn’t give up. So, the King of Scotland told his army to fight one more time and then all his people won.

~Caroline and I finished off the school day reading Oliver Twist... wow... that's a challenging book to read. We had to look up a lot of words... its amazing how many words Dickens writes since he was paid for each one. (If only I was paid for each word I said... lol)

~And, we had some friends stop by for a quick visit... brrrrrrr for them!

~As an after-school treat, we snuggled up in bed, popped Kettle Corn and watched a movie! It was a great first day back to school!

I just love homeschooling my precious children! God has truly blessed their hearts with a desire to have good disciplines, character and a love for learning! I wouldn't give up this precious time I have with them for anything! And that was a sample of our blessed day!

Oh, and since I love looking at schedules, here are our Term 2 Schedules:

The Perfect Christmas Gift

Mrs. June Fuentes authored the most wonderful post:
*The Perfect Christmas Gift*.

Read it and have a blessed Christmas focusing on Christ... His Birth, His Life and His Gift to all who believe in Him for Salvation! May He be Glorified!

Merry Christmas!

Homemade Christmas

My dearest friend, Heather, gave me some of the cutest ideas for "Homemade Christmas" gifts that the girls can make. I thought I'd share them:

Painted Napkin Rings

Dough recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp oil
1 cup water
food coloring (optional)

Directions:

Mix in a saucepan and cook over LOW heat until it forms a dough-like consistency and is not sticky. Store in airtight container. To harden, form into shape and leave out for 24 hours, or bake at 200 degrees until hard. Paint with acrylic paint and seal with spray polyurethane.

Hot Cocoa Mix

Ingredients:

1 25.6 oz instant non-fat dry milk
16oz jar of powdered non-dairy creamer
2 cups of powdered sugar
16oz Nestle quick

Directions:

Mix together in a big bowl. Makes 17 cups of hot cocoa. (3 tbs per 8oz mug).

*I thought this would be cute in little Christmas tins as gifts. You could even
buy a cute Christmas mug and put some in a Ziploc inside. Wrap the Ziploc in tissue paper with ribbon. Be sure to include directions.

Bubble Bath

Ingredients:

5 lbs of Epsom salts
1 small box of ivory snow
scented oil (you can get it a Wal-mart)

Mix salt and snow. Add scent as desired. Store in airtight container.

*And I found THIS precious hand print calendar you could make for grandparents. (You know how they just love their grandchildren's hand prints)

Have a blessed time with your children making homemade Christmas gifts!

The Santa Religion

re⋅li⋅gion
-noun
1. Something one believes in and follows devotedly
 
Santa Claus is a religion… yep, I’m going there. This is such a taboo subject. Here's the irony: we preach that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life… but we get all up in arms when people try to take away our Santa Clause… who is NOT truth. Why is that?...

When Caroline was little, Erich asked me why I wanted to teach Caroline that Santa is “real”. I said “Because it’s just fun.” He explained to me that using logic like, “it's just fun” or “that’s what everyone does” is simply NOT biblical. Then, he threw the clincher in: “Have you ever prayed about it or searched scripture on the subject?”

Ooohhh…that did it for me. Surprise, surprise… there is NO scripture ANYWHERE that promotes lying to our children!!! Especially not relating to a religious holiday. The Jews had specific instructions how to worship God through their offerings, feasts, rituals, etc…. and NONE of them included adding a mythical creature, who steals God’s glory, wrapped in a package of a lie to children.

I even tried to convince myself that I wasn’t lying to my kids… gasp! I’m just pretending, right? Wrong! Not only am I lying but I have to tell lie upon lie… sometimes very complex ones, to try to get the innocent children to buy into it all. But, I didn’t want to believe I was telling lies to them…it’s amazing what you will do to convince yourself about something that you don't want to give up.

Why was I holding on to this Santa Clause myth?... It was against scripture, against Truth, promotes selfishness…. Yuck! The truth of the matter was: I was holding on to it for my pleasure. Yep, that’s right, MY PLEASURE! It must be more fun for me and the kids to wake up Christmas morning to see the many presents that Santa gave them. I mean, without Santa… Christmas would just be… well, um… hmmmm…

Christmas would be about Christ!

Funny… it’s not called Santamas… it’s called Christmas. Isn’t it strange that any person, regardless of their Christian beliefs, can participate in a religious holiday that’s supposed to be about Christ’s birth, all because they can do Santa?!

Do you hear any non-Muslim people celebrating Ramadan?... non-Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah?... NO… because those are sacred holidays only participated by followers of that religion.

But, add Santa in the mix… and ANYBODY can celebrate Christmas… and they’ll tell you it’s even better with Santa.

What?... something BETTER than Christ’s birth alone?...

Ohhhh, I get it… is that what God had in mind when he commanded us not to have any other gods before Him and to not fashion any graven images? (Exodus 20:3-4)

Wait… if I’m not willing to give the Santa Claus lie up… then that makes Santa Clause… an IDOL. Yep, it’s that simple! If I’m confronted with truth that I’m lying to my kids, that I’m trying to “share” God’s glory with a false image during Christmas, and that it’s completely unbiblical, then I MUST give it up. Otherwise, it’s an idol!

SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKERS: Let’s look at what the Santa religion teaches vs. what God is:

~Santa is always watching you.
~Only God is Omnisciencent (Psalm 147:4-5).

~Santa gives gifts when you are good and coal when you are naughty.
~God freely gives grace to us because our good-works won't save us (Eph. 2:8-9) and He gives us forgiveness when we’ve sinned (Psalm 103:8-12)

~Santa promotes indulgence and selfishness.
~Christ promotes sacrifice and selflessness (Luke 14:27).

Wow… Santa is the OPPOSITE of Christ… AND he’s a lie!

Why did I ever think teaching my children Santa was real was a good thing?... Why did I ever think adding his myth into Christ’s REAL birth would be a good thing? If I try to convince my children that Santa is real, then I am truly and simply teaching my children to believe in a false religion that completely contradicts God’s character and His Will and His Word. WOW!

I was disillusioned by the World in thinking that Santa was “OK”. But we are to be set apart from the World (Romans 12:1-2). We are not to look to them and how they celebrate Christmas, or Santamas, and mimic what they do.

Col. 2:8 says: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

So, after much prayer and bible study… I was strongly convicted that low and behold, I shouldn’t be lying to my children about Santa. And, in case I wasn’t fully convinced, God orchestrated something beautiful that year:

Caroline came up to me, looked me dead square in the eyes, and asked with a heart of searching and sincerity: “Mommy, tell me the truth… Is Santa really real?”

Oh, yea… that was it. There is no way I could look back into her sweet eyes and lie. There is no way when she asked for truth, that I should give her something false.

Why should I tell her to believe in Santa?... the Santa Religion teaches that he gives you gifts when you’re good, that he has the power to watch you always, that he will fulfill your every Christmas present desire… all of these attributes go against everything I’m teaching about God’s goodness. And then, there will be a day I say, “Oh, I was just telling you a story about Santa… but God is really real, and He is watching you always… TRUST me this time!”

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the Elf on the Shelf… gosh, those marketing geniuses got bonuses that year for their creepy invention. Even a quick Wikipedia search will give you the background on why the world gets so Santa-crazy… it’s commercialism! Santa promotes over- indulgence and consumerism. No wonder retailers put Santas up everywhere and I don’t see any pictures of Jesus decorating the store shelves.

How about this one: WWJD? Yea, what would Jesus do? Luke 18:16 reads, "But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Would Jesus turn to those kids and lie to them about Santa? Would He promote good works for gifts… would He promote selfishness?... Nope… I’m sure on this one: Jesus would NOT be lying to the little children about Santa. He would be telling them that He is the way, the truth and the life and only through Him can they come to the Father. (John 14:6)

So back to the moment of truth with Caroline asking me for an answer on Santa's "real-ness": I gulped and replied, “No sweetie, he’s not real,”. She said with a smile on her face, “OK, that’s what I thought.”

That was the end of Santa being “alive” in our house. I am confident God was pleased with that Truth!

So, how do we celebrate Christmas?... with LOTS of CHRIST! We do an Advent bible study each night preparing our hearts for the story of Christ’s birth . We have an Advent Calendar and Wreath that we do with the girls. We teach the children that Christmas is about celebrating Christ’s birth and sacrificing to help others, like he sacrificed to save the world (John 3:16). We spend the month finding ways to serve others to show Christ’s love for them… either local charity ministries or abroad. Christmas morning we wake up, read Luke Chapter 2 about Christ’s birth, sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and sing some Christmas carols. Then we open 3 gifts each that symbolize the 3 different gifts the Wise men brought to Jesus.

Are we doing it perfectly?… no way! We re-evaluate our hearts, motives, spending, gift purchases, etc. each year to see what we can improve on to honor and glorify God. As the imperfect people we are, we find something each year that we could do differently to match up with God’s Word. Our goal is to celebrate Christ's birth in the most God-honoring way possible.

Christmas is a wonderful season of truth and life. And we celebrate Christ and Christ alone. We promote loving sacrifice for others, and we thank God for sending His Son for the purpose of teaching us more about Him and for sacrificing His life for ours! What a glorious time!

Santa is just a character to my girls… he has no power, only God has power. He is the same as Frosty the Snowman and Jack Frost… just a story, a myth, a legend.
God is TRUTH… Christmas is about that TRUTH ALONE!

Here are some wise words from John Piper on the subject of Santa Clause being a diversion to Christ: How we See Christmas Symbols

John MacArthur Jr. has something to say about Santa Clause being Evil during this sermon: Santa Clause is Coming to Town

R.C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries has a wonderful article about are we really worshiping Santa or Jesus in: Santa-Christ


I pray this post encourages you to focus on Christ this Christmas… to remove Worldly myths… simply celebrating Jesus’ birth. What would Jesus do?...

John 4:24: "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Have a truly blessed Christmas!