passing the baton

I have really been thinking lately about my role as a mom and what this entails. One of the biggest parts of my job as a mom for me is to be a protector of my family. While I do try to protect them as much as possible physically, I feel that protecting their hearts, minds and spirits is my most important job. Aubrey often gets aggravated at me because I won't let him watch certain shows, or wear certain clothing, but what we bring into our own homes is something that we can control. I'm not the best at it, but it is really on my heart to be on guard against things that do not promote the values and godliness I pray we have as a family. I also feel that protecting our family time is a major issue, and one that we as a society do not do a good job with. We are all so busy that our family life can really suffer.

I have been reading a book called Engraved by Grace, Creating a Legacy of Faith for Your Children, by Esther Burroughs. I had the privilege of meeting and hearing Esther speak at a WMU conference this past spring. I went to the conference on Saturday morning because I was asked to sing the special music, but left so encouraged and excited because of her message. I am loving her book because it is about how we can pass the baton of faith down to our children, and their children, and so on. It is filled with Scripture and stories, but also practical ways we can use to teach our children about Jesus and our faith in Him. This morning I was reading the book and it had this Psalm from The Message translation of the Bible. It was so neat, I wanted to share it.

Psalm 78:1-8

"Listen, dear friends, to God's truth,

bend your ears to what I tell you.

I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb;

I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,

Stories we heard from our fathers,

counsel we learned at our mothers' knee.

We're not keeping this to ourselves,

we're passing it along (the baton) to the next generation-

God's fame and fortune,

the marvelous things he has done.

He planted a witness in Jacob,

set his Word firmly in Israel,

Then commanded our parents

to teach it to their children

So the next generation would know,

and all generations to come-

Know the truth and tell the stories

so their children can trust in God,

Never forget the works of God

but keep his commands to the letter.

Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,

bullheaded and bad,

A fickle and faithless bunch

who never stayed true to God."

Whoa, huh? Esther reminds us in the book that we need to be teaching our faith stories to our children and teaching them to be looking for what God is doing in our families daily. It's a bit overwhelming, but I'm praying that God will help me do that with my children. When this is what they look like on a day to day basis, how can I let it slip by without teaching them?

This is a peek into the day to day of what our summer is like. Miss Mallory walking around with a purse (just like her Aunt Leah used to do) and Aubrey with some sort of tool and mud. For the record, as soon as I finished taking the pictures I made him put the hoe away. (I know some of you are aghast right now that he's holding that thing)

Oh deer

I used to like deer. We have them in our yard all the time, and I used to just love to watch them walk or run through, or even stay and graze in our backyard. Now I strongly dislike them. I would say hate, but hate is a word I try to stay away from. Our garden has been doing so well until the past week when the deer visited. Our beans have been decimated, our tomatoes have not fared much better, and our okra is halfway gone. It just kills me! I have been so excited about our garden and all we were producing and then those animals just came and wiped out all that work. D. didn't want to put a fence up even though I strongly suggested we do so. (you wives know how that goes) So, go ahead and get the animal rights activists after me. I don't care. I no longer want any deer in my yard.

P.S. - The good news is that the yellow squash, turnips and cantaloupes are growing like crazy. We had squash and turnip greens last night for dinner and it was delicious.

P.P.S. - I have strong reason to believe the deer may be getting some help from the local rabbits. They are all in cahoots, I tell ya.

Exhibit A - my decimated green beans.

My beautiful squash plant!

My turnip greens which are overflowing!

Tassels on our corn!

These boys

These boys are the sweetest, funniest boys I know. They are having so much fun playing together this week. Jay came to stay with BonBon and Bompie this week and has been spending lots of time with us as well. This afternoon they had a blast riding Aubrey's four-wheeler. Jay was pushing the gas pedal and Aubrey was steering, which made for a hilarious combination. Aubrey would yell, "Stop, Jay, Stop!" and Jay would just laugh. Aubrey finally had enough and said, "That was crazy riding." Boys and their toys. So much fun.

aaah

Last week was such a flurry of busyness. It was great - VBS and a visit from Aunt Beth, but it was really busy and we had 2 very tired little ones by the end of the week. Friday night we went out to dinner and before our food could get to the table, Aubrey was sound asleep sitting up. We couldn't wake him up to eat. It was so cute.

So we are really going to enjoy this week of doing nothing but whatever we want. Sleeping in, enjoying the pool and working in the garden are the only things on our list. (I do have to do laundry so we have clean clothes.) Other than that, our schedule is clear. Just the thing to make me say, "Aaaahh."

Back from the beach!

We made it home safe and sound from our beach trip. It was wonderful and consisted of lots of things.

Lots of riding in the car to get there.

Lots of luggage.
Lots of visits from Aqua Man. (Aubrey loves, loves his goggles)

Lots of putt putt. (Aubrey had never played before, but quickly became hooked)

Lots and lots of swimming.

Lots of playing in the sand.

Lots of kite flying and walking on the beach.

Lots of looking for sand crabs. (He's right at the end of the stick. Totally camouflaged. Isn't God's creation amazing?)

Lots of duck feeding. Both children loved watching and feeding them.

Lots of cute looks from our bathing beauty.

Although I didn't take any pictures, there was lots of lounging in the lazy river pool for me. I need one of those in. my. backyard. It was truly the life for me. I also got 4, yes 4 books read while we were there. My favorite way to spend time at the beach or the pool.

There was also lots of seafood eaten by me and D., and avoided by the children. Having children who are allergic to fish and shellfish is a challenge when dining out at the beach, but we didn't have any problems, thank God.

Now we're back and in the midst of Vacation Bible School. We're also anticipating the arrival of Aunt Beth today! Yippee! We haven't seen her since last July and it's just awful. We are going to have a great rest of the week. Please be in prayer for Chris and Leah as they try to sell their house, buy a new house and manage as a family while Chris is working away from home at his new job most of the week.