Most often on my "New Favorite Book" list...

Adam laughs, but I often have "new" favorite things. Do you??
I'll say, "This is my 'new' favorite food, resturant, movie, book, etc, etc". I guess the 'new' part is the fact that I'm saying it's my favorite right now. Or I like it so much that it's a favorite of mine, but it doesn't mean that something else in that same category that was my favorite a few months ago is no longer my favorite.
Make sense?? If you are a female, it will probably make a little more sense I guess.

Well, I have been re-reading a favorite book of mine the past few weeks. I think it's the 3rd time I have read it completely through. I often open the book and turn to dog-eared pages or flip thru to find the sections that I have underlined on a prior read-thru. The way I'm describing it, it sounds like a text book that I am studying. And in a way I am!

"Don't Make Me Count to Three" by Ginger Plowman.


I love it b/c she is really down to earth and the way she writes shows that she just a "normal" stay at home mom that struggles w/ the same things that I do. She is funny and keeps it real too. And most importantly she uses lots of scripture references, and quotes verses all throughout the book.
She points out that we should NOT have to say "don't make me count to three". When we say that or repeat ourselves, saying, "I told you to..." Then our children grow to expect that they do not have to obey when they hear us the first time. They know we are going to count to three or repeat our instructions again b4 we really "mean business".
She also points out how the phrase "Who had it first?" is really not best. Both children are NOT "preferring one another" as the Bible instructs. It doesn't matter who had it first. They are both being selfish.
I just love this book so much with all her real life examples and how she puts the focus on "what does the Bible say?" that I just had to post about it! I am not getting paid for this and didn't get a free book or anything. Just had a "day off from my job" and wanted to share something that has helped me in hopes that it will help you too! It's very similar to the "heart training" talked about in the book Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp.
Below is an exerpt from her book that gives the underlying tone that she set throughout the whole book.

I would like to encourage you to keep searching and learning from your holy instruction manual, the Bible. What a blessing it is that God has not left us to figure out how to raise our children on our own. He has provided us with everything we need for life and godliness. Please know that this book does not contain everything that you need to know for raising your children. You can't do step A and then step B and always get C as a result. If you depend only on the information I have provided, you will wind up defeated and confused. You must be 100% dependent upon God and His Word. His will is not for us to be defeated and confused, but dependent upon Him. And when we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He promises to give us wisdom and make our paths straight. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5-6
Training our children in righteousness is a process, but God promises that just like laboring in a garden, we will reap what we sow. Let us keep on sowing the seeds of righteousness. I can think of no better garden to plant those seeds in than in the soil of my children's hearts. To God be the Glory!