"Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger."
Psalm 8:2

Family and Parenting

Family by the Sea at Sunrise

How Your Family Can Be a Resurrection Family This Easter

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As Christians, we should strive to be resurrection families. What, perchance, is a resurrection family? Resurrection families are families whose central and primary focus is living in light of the reality that Jesus has risen!

We live in light of many other realities. For example, you may find yourself standing on the balcony of a hotel room on the 30th floor. Does your heart race a little when you stand at the railing, or even lean over a bit? Do you jump? Of course not! Gravity is a reality that we all must live with and acknowledge. To do otherwise would be to our detriment.

The same is true, more true, of the Triune God of Holy Scripture. One God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is my Father’s world, as the song goes, and when we deny that fact by our actions and priorities, we are not living as God intends and this is to our detriment.

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Are You a Household of Righteousness?

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The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.

Proverbs 3:33 (ESV)

I was dwelling on this verse the other morning and was astounded that this verse applies to me, and to my household.

Certainly, I wouldn’t classify my household as a house of the wicked. But, if you asked me if I were “righteous,” that is much harder to answer. Am I righteous? Well, no! Obviously! I know myself all too well. I know the dark thoughts that swim around in my head. I know all my past sins and propensities to sin.

Especially we men, who are supposed to be the head of our household, find it hard to see ourselves in a righteous light. We deal with lust, anger, selfishness, idolatry, greed, pride, and all manner of sins.

How can I be considered righteous? How is my household a household of righteousness?

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The Homeschool Family Relationships Summit

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Do the relationships inside your home feel stormy?

Then maybe you can relate to the Ephesian church. When Paul wrote them a letter of admonishment and encouragement he recognized things were stormy.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:25-32 (ESV)

Falsehood. Anger. Corrupting talk. Bitterness. Wrath. Clamor. Slander.

And sometimes our homeschooling days can have their fill of these things, too.

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10 Books I Plan to Read in 2019

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I consider myself to be an avid reader and I like to have a reading plan. This past year (2018) I had a few books planned, but I mostly just rambled through a bunch of books at random. This year I want to be more thoughtful and plan out what I will be reading. I generally read more than 10 books per year, but this will be a good basis to start from. This list is heavy on the Family & Parenting side (you know, since it’s a family blog and all).

Check out my GoodReads Profile

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2019 New Year’s Resolutions

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Happy New Year! This is the first day of 2019, which means there is only one year remaining before we find ourselves in the year 2020 (twenty-twenty). Wow! That sounds like science fiction for those of us who grew up in the previous millennium. 2018 was quite an extreme year for our family, and may be one of the toughest we’ve encountered. It was full of many, many blessings but also many trials and opportunities for God to stretch us and turn us into the people that He wants us to be. I may write about some of the things that happened this past year in the coming weeks… but then I may not. You’ll just have to wait and see.

For this year’s resolutions I wanted to change it up a bit. My resolutions this year are all verbs. Actually, present participles if you want to get technical. These are really just areas that I want to improve upon. To be sure, there are specific steps and goals within each that may or may not be listed below, but the idea is that I just want to get better. They are in no particular order, except for the opening resolution which is really the foundation of them all, and the closing resolution which buttons things up quite nicely. Without further ado, here are my resolutions for the year of our Lord two thousand and nineteen.

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7 Reasons I Am Thankful For Adoption

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God Adopted Us

I am thankful for adoption, first and foremost, because it was really God’s idea. God first adopted us and showed us the blessing of adoption.

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
– John 1:12-13 (ESV)

We are only able to love because God first loved us. I am thankful that God showed me His mercy, opened my eyes, and saved me. I am thankful that “in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” (Ephesians 1:5)

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Why We Are Adopting… AGAIN!

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Just over two years ago, Aubrey and I embarked upon a journey to adopt. In March of this year, our first adoption was finalized, and we have had the privilege of being Mommy and Daddy to a beautiful little girl from her birth. Now, we are beginning the process all over again. That’s right. We’re adopting another child.

I’ve received a number of responses when I tell people this. Some encouraging, some comical, but thankfully, none too rude. I would like to address the reasons why we are adopting again and the things that are NOT reasons why we are adopting again.

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The FREE Homeschool Teaching Summit (Online)

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If you ever feel overwhelmed, burned out, or just generally ill-equipped to balance parenting and homeschooling and the rest of regular life stuff, then the Homeschool Teaching Summit is designed for you. It will refresh your excitement for the homeschool journey, equip you with practical teaching tools, and transform your vision for Christian education and …

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How Far is Too Far in Sanctification?

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What exactly is “sanctification”? This is the process whereby God works in our lives to change us and to transform us in many degrees so that we are like our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know this on an intellectual level, but what does it mean in my life? I’ve known that this was a hard process, that sanctification can hurt. I also know that it is necessary. I thought I’d experienced the pain of this process. To be quite honest, I’d even glamorized this process somewhat, thinking that I was such a good Christian: “Look at me! I’m being sanctified… I’m suffering for Christ’s sake.” That was before this past week.

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