Visiting

Well, I'm still in CA visiting...Having a great time of it too! So glad I was able to come out here! Been wanting to post but everytime I get on here to, my mind goes blank! Guess I'll save up my thoughts : )

Zachary and Kathleen have croup. Zachary is really bad. He sounded so awful last night it scared me! And I'm not easily scared by sickness. Gave him some cough syrup and put on some Mentholatum and he was better. He was very restless all night though. Hopefully he'll do better tonight. Kathleen gets croup pretty frequently. She doesn't seem too bad right now. Just a bad cough at night. Praying they get better quick! I need some sleep!

Guess that's all for now!

Standards or Convictions?

I have really noticed the world invading our churches and lives recently. It seems to me that people are lowering their standards. I think a big reason for that is that they are lowering "standards". Huh? Duh! Did I just say that? : ) Yes, but the problem is, a lot of the "standards" shouldn't be just standards they should be Convictions! What's the difference? Well, without doing word studies, I think that the difference is that a standard is more a way of life and something "YOU" think is right. Something, you try, in and of yourself to do. Whereas a conviction is a belief. Doesn't really matter if you want to do it, you KNOW it's right and therefore have to do it because GOD says you do.

It's so sad to see so many people back-sliding. And there are sooo many of them, which got me thinking about this. People I really thought had these convictions...ie...not going to the theatre, not wearing pants, not listening to bad music, not using birth control, etc... Are doing those exact things like it's no big deal. Which made me question the why of the way they acted before. If it had been a conviction/belief, they wouldn't be able to do it without feeling guilty. However if it had only been a standard...

It's so sad when you begin to feel like you'd rather go to a church where they dress worldly, use contemporary music and so on, than to go to such hypocritical churches, where so many people are just doing things for show. Having their "standards" just to make people notice them. When in the end it really isn't the outward that pleases God, but the inward. The attitudes, the thought processes, as well as the works that come naturally because of the inward rightness. "John 12:43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."

So, where is your heart? Are you doing things to please the Lord or are you doing them to please men? Are you living "right" so others notice you or so that others notice the Lord IN you?

It's October Already!

Wow, I can't believe it's October already! Time just flies! I am still in Cali, having a great time with family. Got more visiting planned for this weekend, lookin' forward to it! Have 2 birthdays and an anniversary at the end of this month. It's gonna be a busy month.

Which really brings up an interesting thought...Do you know the acronym for BUSY? It's B-eing, U-nder, S-atans', Y-oke... Not really something I want to be known for. And while some acronyms are silly this one is pretty realistic and true. It really seems these days that people are too busy doing "stuff", so that they have no time for people. What happened to the days when we could stop at a friends house unannounced and be welcomed? Now you HAVE to call ahead just to make sure they're there, because they are so busy doing that they may not have time to visit!

As a homeschooler I think this is a big problem for a lot of homeschool families. In order to expose their kids to things they think they might miss out on...ie...music, art, P.E., socials, etc... Parents put them in so much stuff that they are literally a taxi-mom and have no time to do school at home. Which means they are no longer HOMEschooling they are on-the-go-in-the-car-or-wherever-schooling. How can that be beneficial? I want my kids involved in some of those things, but it seems to me that people get so caught up being busy doing those things that they neglect other things more important. Such as, school, or the house, or cooking at home, or the kids, or their husbands. I don't want that for my family.

People really need to stop being so BUSY! Take time for family, church and people. I mean really, when was the last time you just stopped by a friends unannounced and had a good visit? Or when was the last time you spent the entire day at home just "being" with your family? When was the last time you actually did all the schoolwork you needed in a day (without leaving your house for some extra-curricular thing?) or finished all the curriculum for the year?

As a wife and mother how can you fulfill the scripture "Titus 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers AT home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." if you're not at home?

I think we need to stop being so BUSY and stay home and do our job! Our husbands and children need that from us, and most importantly God need that from us!