She did WHAT??

I never win anything. It's not sad, just a fact. I enter giveaways. I never win.
I was reading my favorite blog, When You Rise, and briefly scanned through her list of winners for different books that she was giving away. I noticed my name. Well, the "Laurel" caught my eye. Because, #1, is my name and #2, it's not very common. But alas, it wasn't me, it was "Laurel C." But I did go back and look at that because that used to be my name...my maiden is Cowser (there's some trivia for any of you who didn't know that and care to know...as if I have any readers who aren't family or close friends that already know that! ha! I shouldn't flatter myself so!). Anyway, I did think it was an interesting coincidence, but figured that once again I didn't win. No big deal. Then I got an email a few days later saying that if I didn't reply w/ the address that I wanted my book mailed to, my book would be given to someone else. WHAT? I actually did win? And I missed the first email telling me that I was chosen! Too crazy! I must have logged in w/ my FB acct to register for the giveaway and my FB name has my maiden name.
But that is not the reason for the title of this post! While it is unbelievable to me that I won a giveaway, the more unbelievable thing is that the book that I won is the personal story of how a mother read the whole Bible to her children ages 4 yrs old down to 9 months old.
SHE DID WHAT??
Read one chapter a day out loud TO HER CHILDREN. Not her high school children. Not her middle school children. Not her elementary children. Her children that were all preschool age and younger when they began. It took 5 years to read the whole Bible through...the first time...and then they did it again!!!
I had heard the title of this book in passing from different social media sites, blogs, radio, etc. I put it on my ever growing Amazon and Paper Back Swap Wish lists. I had forgotten about it as books like "The Strong-Willed Child" and "Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit" were more on my pressing "to-read-now" list.
But then I won a free copy of this book about a mother who read the WHOLE Bible OUT LOUD to her KIDS!!
I love books, I love to hold them, to read them, to re-read them. I like the "new-book" smell. I'm usually reading at least 3 books at a time stashed at different places in the house. The reading goes ALOT slower now as I can usually only read a chapter at a time w/o being interrupted or needed...not to mention the sense of responsibility that overwhelms me and makes me stop "doing nothing" to go do housework or clean or play w/ the kids.
So, of course, I started reading this book right away! It's a smaller/shorter book with cute embellishments on many pages and a nice cover of a bird and her baby chicks. The chapters are short enough to read in about 5 minutes. The author is very personable, very real, transparent, and just overall likable! She doesn't hide the bad and the ugly. She portrays the good times and the hard times.
Here is one of my favorite parts of the book:
I prayed these two requests almost every morning of the whole five years of our first reading of the Bible. "Lord, allow my children and me to remember more than we think we are capable of remembering. And Lord, let us understand more than we think we are capable of understanding. Help us to believe what we read today and give us the desire and strength to obey Your commands. Use Your Word to transform us into the image of Christ.

I am convicted. I am excited. I want to do this. I can do this. I know it's important to teach the Word to my children, so why not start my "teaching" with reading straight from the Bible. Not a Kids Bible Story with picture version, but my Bible. Instead of them just seeing me read my Bible to myself silently. I need to read it out loud to them as well!
Together: Growing Appetites for God by Carrie Ward
I recommend this book hands down! I added it to my "favorites" on my bookshelf to the right side of the blog. (if you are reading this in an email or viewer, you will have to click over to the website here to see the bookshelf)

The word "Grace", Part 2

To read the beginning of my thoughts on The word "Grace", click here.
I mentioned that I was in a group book study on Grace for the Good Girl, and I will give more of a "book review" on that specific book in another post. But that book study was just the beginning of my desire to search out what it really meant to live a life focused on grace. While that book definitely opened my eyes to ways that I was attempting to "try hard" in my Christian life rather than resting in God's grace, another book made an even bigger impact on me mainly because its focus was on child rearing in light of God's grace. And right now with 4 and 5 year old boys in my house, anything on the topic of Christian child rearing gets my attention quite a bit!
This book that totally rocked my world and I just can't get out of my mind is Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson. I just can't say enough about this book. I will probably end up typing out quite a few quoted passages as the authors of this book said it better than I ever could!

I will start out w/ the synopsis that is written on the back cover of the book to give you an overview:

Every way we try to make our kids "good" is simply an extension of Old Testament Law -- a set of standards that is not only unable to save our children, but also powerless to change them. No, rules are not the answer. What they need is GRACE. We must tell our kids of the grace-giving God who freely adopts rebels and transforms them into loving sons and daughters. If this is not he message your children hear, if you are just telling them to "be good," then the gospel needs to transform your parenting too. Give them Grace is a revolutionary perspective on parenting that shows us how to receive the gospel afresh and give grace in abundance, helping our children know the dazzling love of Jesus and respond with heartfelt obedience.

Where I get conflicted and my thoughts get confused is in the fact that my kids are young. For the past 5 years, our child "rearing" has mostly consisted of children learning to talk, walk, eat independently, bathroom independently, and teaching about sharing, caring, and danger to just list a few. The book refers to this stage as "managing". Phrases like "don't run in the street", "don't throw your bat", etc.
"Rules" of this manner are necessary of course. But now we are transitioning into school-age children, I have to loosen my grip on my love for rules as a way to "show" that they love Jesus and go into more of the "unknown" of just resting in grace and what Jesus has already done for us.
And as I re-read what I just wrote, I am about ready to delete the last 2 paragraphs as I feel like I cannot accurately voice what I am thinking...but I will leave it as maybe some of you understand what I am trying to say.
Let's go back to some quotes from the book...which, by the way, as with any book there are parts within the book that I may not agree whole heartedly with or they might *gasp* use a different version of the Bible that I don't personally own or my pastor doesn't preach out of...folks, THAT'S OK!! :-) We are big boys and girls and should be able to discern for ourselves. Compare things to what the Bible says!

We tell them that they can't earn their way into heaven and that they have to trust in Jesus alone for their goodness. But then something odd happens when we start training the miniature unbelievers in our own home. We forget everything we know about that deadliness of relying on our own goodness and we teach them that Christianity is all about their behavior and whether, on any given day, God is pleased or displeased with them.

Let's face it: most of our children believe that God is happy if they're "good for goodness' sake." We've transformed the holy, terrifying, magnificent, and loving God of the Bible into Santa and his elves. And instead of transmitting the gloriously liberating and life-changing truths of the gospel, we have taught our children that what God wants from them is morality. We have told them that being good (at least outwardly) is the be all and end-all of their faith. This isn't the gospel; we're not handing down Christianity. We need must less of Veggie Tales and Barney and tons more of the radical, bloody, scandalous message of God made man and crushed by his Father for our sin.

So how do I transition from constant rules...which were really needed as small children to teach them  initial obedience (learning to obey Dad's and Mom's voice), social obedience (learning the social codes of society aka manners), civic obedience (learning to obey the laws of society)...
transition from those rules that have been a constant part of our life for 5 years to making sure that I do not make rules with an added phrase of "that will make Jesus happy if you do it". And instead I need to constantly talk about what Jesus has done for us and that we do not have to "do" anything more to be found "acceptable" in His sight.
so much more I'd love to share from the book and might do at a later time! I would highly recommend getting your own copy!
2 posts with NO PICTURE of the kids! Sorry Mom! I do however have new pictures in the blog header :-)

The word "Grace"

I have wanted to write a post about this for a while, but always got overwhelmed at thinking of how to put all that I am thinking into words...
I am still unsure of how to accurately portray all of my thoughts on this. I fear this post may be just a bunch of disjointed thoughts, but here it goes:

"Grace is undeserved favor"
"Grace is getting something that you don't deserve"

Both of those definitions have been ingrained in my head from my years growing up in the Awana club program at church and going to Christian highschool and Christian college.

I thought I understand what that little 5 letter word meant. But my world began to be "rocked" sometime last fall/winter when I started hearing more and more about Grace from different areas of my Christian "circles"...books, radio, sermons, etc. It seemed to be a very popular topic as everyone was talking about it. I wondered what the big deal was b/c it wasn't like that word was hard to define. I knew the definition. I knew that "mercy" is when God withheld the punishment (going to Hell when I die) that I deserve for my sin and that "grace" is when God gave me Heaven for all of eternity instead. Easy. Explained. Done. So what was the big deal? What was I missing?

I heard about a book study being led by a mutual friend. A group of ladies from her church was going to read "Grace for the Good Girl" and meet every week to discuss it. I had heard the title in passing from a couple of different social media sites. I googled it and it sounded like a book that I might have written myself had I ever been able to write a book! Ha!
I definitely grew up trying to be  "good girl" to a certain degree. I knew that I did not need to "try" to get to Heaven by being good. But the type of church and school I grew up in had a lot of rules. I liked rules...well, maybe not every rule. But rules are something this 'Type-A personality' girl thrives on. To me, rules are easier. Give me a list, I will follow it to the "t" and get the desired result. A good Christian girls does a, b, and c...ok, then I'll do a, b, and c and that will make me a good Christian girl.
But while I knew deep down that I did not have to do good things in order to get to Heaven (that was something that Catholics did, not us "Christians"), I was trained to believe that God would be happy if I was good and He would be sad if I was bad. So, I knew that I would go to Heaven no matter what b/c I had admitted that I was a sinner and could not get to Heaven by doing "good things". Bur rather, I deserved punishment for my "bad things".  And I believed that Jesus died on the cross as the punishment that I deserved for my sin. But then, I still felt like I had to live by certain rules to please God b/c he sent His Son, Jesus to die for my punishment so I could go to Heaven instead of going to Hell where I deserved to go.

And here is where I am still somewhat conflicted in my thoughts b/c to a certain degree, I should be living in such a way that will glorify God b/c He did create me and He did send his Son to die for me. But at the same time, I do not have to "do" anything to get to Heaven. I used to think that the places where the Bible states, "If you love me, you will keep my commands" meant that my motivation for keeping God's laws was to show that I loved God. But now I am realizing through many sermons I have listened to and many books I have read that a verse like I John 5:2 is simply stating a fact. Those who love God will keep on keeping His commands. It is not a way to show whether or not we love Jesus.

Queue the 2nd book that really, really rocked my world..."Give Them Grace"...wow!! I feel like I don't even want to speak to my kids anymore without first really evaluating what I am about to say. It comes so naturally for me to say, "Be kind. That will make Jesus happy". That's what I was told growing up. That's what I default to saying w/o even realizing it! Don't get me wrong, my parents did they best they knew how when raising me. I am not saying that I was ruined by this at all. It's just a totally different way of looking at everything in your life...so much more to say about this book...but...
to be continued...

Were we've been and a great read!

Since my last post over a month ago, I have been enjoying time with FAMILY…my family of 4, and my side of our extended family. We had a very busy, but great month of December! Cookie swap with MOPS friends (Moms Of PreSchoolers), Christmas banquet at church, lots of Christmas crafts with the kids at home, and one Christmas-like activity (a.k.a. Advent Calendar Paper Chain as a count-down to Christmas…VERY fun and HIGHLY recommended!)everyday leading up to Jesus’ Birthday Then my parents drove down from PA and stayed with us for 5 nights, and my sister’s family came from SC to stay 2 nights with us while my parents were here! We had a full-house…mainly full of male guests, and four of them being under the age of 5! I posted all of our pictures from Christmas on either Facebook or Snapfish, so I will only share a few photos here:

Before the Christmas Day church service

Christmas Dinner

My parents and their 4 grandchildren

Enjoying the mild NC weather the day after Christmas


But so much to be thankful for, which leads me into the book I wanted to share with you…
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp


I actually read this book last Spring, but then had lent the book out to a few people. I had wanted to share some direct quotes from the book when I blogged my review. It was such a popular book, that it was just now returned to me after being read by many!
The author invites us to slow down, to learn how to live the full life of thanksgiving and joy and to embrace everyday blessings and chronicle God's gifts.
The book starts out with pointing out how we often doubt God's goodness and are discontent with what we have...what He has given us.

From all of our beginnings, we keep reliving the Garden story. Satan, he wanted more. More power, more glory. Satan's sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. Adam and Eve are, simply, painfully, ungrateful for what God gave. Isn't that the catalyst of all my sins? Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren't satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other

Then through personal examples in her own life, the author points out how much we have to be thankful for, and that instead of being resentful, we should be grateful, instead of anger, we should have joy. She uses a great example from the Bible...
Less than 12 hours before Jesus is to be cruicified, what is He doing? Luke 22:19, "And He took bread, GAVE THANKS, and broke it, and give it to them. When His Father was about to turn His back on Him, He was thankful. THANKFUL.

Jesus offers thanksgiving for even that which will break Him and crush Him...

Then she ties in the relationship of "joy" to "thankfulness, and a thankful heart produces a joyful spirit. Is the height of my joy dependent on the depths of my thanks? As long as thank is posible, then joy is always possible.

The "One Thousand Gifts" is a list. A Gift List. Not of gifts I want, but of gifts I already have...just the common things and maybe i don't even know they are gifts really until I write them down...Gifts He bestows. Learn how to be thankful - whether empty or full.

This way of thinking...of always being thankful, really does produce joy in your life. This book has changed my way of viewing alot of things in the past year. Even the well known verse, "Rejoice in the Lord always..." (Philippians 4:4). I just thought that verse meant be thankful, be happy because of what God has GIVEN me. But that's not all...Maybe you can't "rejoice" in the plans that are made for today, but you can always be thankful for LORD!

I saw a quote somewhere online, "What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things that you thanked the Lord for today?". I've found that I am thanking the Lord more often for the little things like my dishwasher, and hot water from indoor plumbing, etc, etc. This book has really opened my eyes to how much being thankful really will change your attitude towards things.

At different seasons of your life, it's hard to be thankful. And very hard if discontentment has become a habit. Because that habit of discontentment can only be driven out by hammering in one iron sharper. The sleek pin of gratitude.
Paul says we have to "learn" to be content (Philippians 4:11), and learning requires practice. Taking Ann Voskamp's challenge of writing down 1000 gifts that we have to be thankful for is a great practice to learn to become more thankful.

In Daniel 6:10, Daniel knew that the law to pray to only the King had been signed, but he still prayed to the Lord in sight for all to see. And what did he pray? Deliverance? Protection? No, he GAVE THANKS. THREE TIMES A DAY!! What a great example! In the words of my kids' Patch the Pirate CDs..."I will be like Daniel, and follow God's commands".

Then the real kicker...for me...My TIME...
...more time to manage just the life I already have. The work, the kids, the meals, the laundry, the ministry, a life so full it can seem empty. And then, on top of all that, who has time to take on yet one more thing and keep a gratitude journal, count gifts?
All throughout this book, Ann Voskamp is very real, very much a mom with normal struggles like me. I love that about this book and her writing.
Then she really hits home...Time is life. And if I want the fullest life, I need to find fullest time...the busyness of your life leaving little room for the source of your life. God gives us time. And who has time for God?...Giving thanks for one thousand things is ultimately an invitation to slo time down with weight of full attention...I can always give thanks because an all-powerful God always has all these things under control

Add this book to your "list"! It's a thought changing book!!
And one last picture...the boys were told that this present was for both of them and they could open it together...notice their different personalities/temperments!

Paperback Swap

We love books in our house! I distinctly remember packing and unpacking 10 boxes of BOOKS during each of our moves over the past few years! Yes, TEN boxes!! We have coaching books, history books, Christian romance novels, marriage books, parenting books, home improvement books,children's books, and many, many other BOOKS!!
We start 'em young around here! This is Wyatt at 7 months old in the picture below. I'm proud to say that he is reading short sentences on his own and started a few months ago at age 4 1/2!!


We love books, yes! Books can get EXPENSIVE...

I have been meaning to write a post about www.paperbackswap.com for almost a year now! I started "swapping" through this site last fall and have gotten close to 20 books for "free" (I'm too lazy right now to get up and check the bookshelf upstairs to get an exact count!).

From their own words... "We help avid readers swap, exchange, and trade for free. It's easy, list the books you'd like to swap with other club members. Once a book is requested, mail it to the club member (you pay media mail rate shipping). In return you can choose from 5 million available books. Books you chose are mailed to you for free. No late fees. No hidden charges"

In order to sign up and start with Paperback Swap, you do have to have 10 books that you are willing to swap. The easiest way I can think to explain the process (aside from you going to their website and checking it out yourself), is to just go thru the time-line of what I did...

Last November, I went thru my bookshelves and picked out 10 books that I would be willing to part with. For me, they were mostly fiction books that I had read once and would probably not read again. One of the books I posted was "The Everything Wedding Etiquette Book" that I wouldn't use again now that my wedding is over. If you have alot of books, just look thru them, you'd be surprised how many you might be willing to give up.
As soon as I signed up for an account and listed my 10 books on paperback swap, I immediately got 2 free book "credits" with which I could "order" 2 books for free! Yes, I probably paid some money for the 10 books I listed that I will be swapping, but for me, it was worth it.

I have heard some people say that there are not many Christian books available on Paperback Swap...I disagree. It might take longer for them to be listed by another member, but all of the books I have "ordered" for free have been Christian books, such as: "Calm My Anxious Heart", "Spanking a Loving Discipline", "The Journey of a Strong-Willed Child", and "Making Children Mind without Losing Yours".

So, I listed my 10 books, got my 2 credits, requested 2 books with those credits and received them in mail free of charge! No money spent up until this point, and 10 books I didn't really need anymore, gone, and 2 books I had been wanting taken off my Amazon.com "wish list" (when I hear about a good book, I put it in my Amazon.com cart for a later purchase. This also serves as a handy-dandy list to give family and friends if they ask for gift ideas for the kids or me)

Then slowly, over the next few months, I would get emails from Paperback Swap letting me know that someone had requested one of the 10 books I had listed. At that time I would print out a mailing label (provided by Paperback Swap), and pay the media rate postage to send the book. I have never paid over $3 for each book for shipping. So, yes, you do pay for the books that you are shipping, but then in return, you get a book sent to you free of charge. This may not be for everyone, but it has worked out wonderfully for me!

The prompt for this post today was that I just went to my Amazon.com cart and took OFF 2 books that I had had in there! No need to spend the $21.26 for those 2 books on Amazon!!

Oh, and when someone requests one of the books that you have listed...after you print the mailing slip, pay the media mail postage, and they receive the book, then you get another book credit to order another book for yourself at no add'l cost!

I joined last November, and still have 4 books of my original 10 listed. There was one book I requested/ordered that after I read it, I posted it to swap. All of the other books I have received I will be keeping to re-read...such as "The Strong Willed Child" :-) (have any of you met our Levi??)

Another cool option that costs MUCH less than Amazon (and to me, Amazon has the best prices of most things)...you can purchase book credits...
In order to request/order a book, you have to have a book credit, but if you have already used the 2 you got for signing up and listing your 10 books and no one has requested a book from the ones you listed yet, you can purchase a credit for approx. $3. I forget the exact amount.
I had "Night Light: A Couples Devotional" by Dobson on my wish list(s) both at Paperback Swap and Amazon. Cost $10.19 on Amazon. On Paperback Swap, no one had it listed as an available book when I put it in my wish list. Eventually I got an email from Paperback Swap letting me know that someone had listed that book. I did not currently have any book credits from the reasons I explained above. So I purchased a book credit for approx $3, and that book will arrive in my mailbox tomorrow!

AND you can post, request/order, swap, trade, etc. CHILDREN'S Books too!! Yippee!! I think it's more of a cost savings for adult books, but if there are some kids books are your favorite that are hard to find in the store...put it on your wish list...you never know, someone might be swapping theirs!

So, check out Paperback Swap.com!! And if you have read this far into the post, enjoy the pictures below of our book loving family including my mom and my sister!

Books...

I still have to write Part 2 of my "Seasons" post, but I MUST share an awesome book review with you first!!

There are many, many things I wish I had had or done when the boys were in their toddler stages...one being MOPS...wish I had gone sooner and not been so concerned that going to MOPS would make them miss their AM nap...oh well, can't go back, but will totally encourage any of you w/ babies, toddlers, preschoolers to check out www.mops.org and find one that meets near you. The friends I have met thru MOPS have been such an encouragement to me!
I also wish I had read the following book back when the boys were toddlers, but oh well, can't go back...but can share the blessing it's been to me now...and it's still VERY applicable to the preschool stages and beyond, but it's so wonderfully encouraging that I wish I had read it sooner...esp. when I had 2 in diapers, neither child walking, etc, etc.



Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenchesby Rachel Jankovic

Read the first customer review listed on the Amazon.com link above...couldn't have said it better myself!!

The things I'll attempt to say about this book...
The chapters are so short, allowing you to easily read one chapter during the one time you might get to be alone (in the bathroom?) :-) And the shortness of chapters is perfect for the "mommy-brain" that is often forgetful. There are only a few things to focus on, so it's easy to remember and think on as you go thru out your day.
The author is very, very REAL and admits to the daily struggles that we all face.

Here's a little excerpt: Don't think that the endless trips off to the bathroom for correction with a toddler or two are just a waste of time and energy--it is a gift that you are giving to your children. They will need these life skills! You are repeating these things for them just like a teacher circling missed math problems with a red pen. They will get it eventually, they just need lots and lots of repetition.

And her idea of the "twenty-minute rule" is AWESOME:
If things started seeming really out of control, I would look at the clock and note the time. Then I would tell myself that in twenty minutes this would be over. If I just kept my head down and did the work, twenty minutes was all I needed. And actually, it was true. Twenty minutes is enough time (if you are moving quickly and not moping) to change three diapers and one complete outfit, spank one disobeyer, tuck two people into naps, and sit down to nurse the other two. The storm would have passed in twenty minutes if I was cheerfully getting things done. But that moment when you first discovered the blowout, and then the two-year-old hit the one-year-old (who is now having a naptime meltdown with a dirty diaper), and both of the babies were mad because we were in the car when they decided it was lunchtime, and now, thirty minutes later, you still haven't nursed them, but first you've got to change the whole outfit and maybe can't find the clothes...well, that moment. What was it? A moment It passes. But when it passes, you will be very glad if all you did was work right through it. No self-pity, no tears, no getting worked into a dither. Look at the clock, look at the work you need to do, and bear down. That super intensity will almost always be over in twenty minutes.

I would love to include more excerpts from the book, but you just need to read it for yourself!! It's less than $10 on amazon.com! A great gift for a new mom too! And if you are local and want to borrow my copy, please ask!

FROM THE AUTHOR:I didn't write this book because mothering little ones is easy for me. I wrote it because it isn't. I know that this is a hard job, because I am right here in the middle of it. I know you need encouragement because I do too.

This is not a tender reminiscence from someone who had children so long ago that she only remembers the sweet parts. At the time of writing this, I have three children in diapers, and I can recognize the sound of hundreds of toothpicks being dumped out in the hall.

This is a small collection of thoughts on mothering young children for when you are motivated, for when you are discouraged, for the times when discipline seems fruitless, and for when you are just plain old tired.

The opportunities for growth abound here but you have to be willing. You have to open your heart to the tumble. As you deal with your children, deal with yourself always and first. This is what it looks like, and feels like, to walk as a mother with God.

"Loving the Little Years is a delightful book. That may seem a strange comment on a book that deals with life with such candor. It's all here: the fights in the back of the car, the dirty diapers, sinks full of dishes, runny noses, exhaustion--all the stuff of having five young children. It is a fresh and honest book, because it faces the problem of sin (both in kids and in parents). It is filled with profound insights into living wisely as a Christian parent. It has all the things I look for in a parenting book the focus is nurture, not just control; the motivation and empowerment is grace and not efforts. This book will help any mom (or dad for that matter) with loving the little years." --Tedd Tripp, pastor and author of Shepherding a Child's Heart

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!

Books

I love books! Although I haven't been able to read as much as I would like to in the past 3 years (little distractions named Wyatt and Levi :-) They have give me more of a reason to read, but less time to do it in! I used to read fiction, alot of Christian romance novels with Karen Kingsbury, Lori Wick, and Beverly Lewis being some of my favorite authors. But once I became a mother and was going thru the baby/toddler stages, I love(d) reading books on godly child-rearing. If I hadn't read Babywise I probably would have tried to feed my babies everytime they cried! ha! The Ezzo's books (Babywise, Toddlerwise, and Preschoolwise) have really helped me get my kids on a schedule, and for someone like me who thrives on time managment, it was wonderful! I think having children on a schedule helps develop character and provides structure for the home. Take it or leave it...I know some of my friends do not like the Babywise "method" at all. Seems like you either love it or hate it b/c they are quite extreme in their teachings. I did read a book completely opposite to Babywise, The Happiest Baby on the Block, and I think that helped me balance out some of the extremes in the Ezzo books. Those 2 books are completely opposite on newborns and sleep habits, but were helpful to me as a clueless mother w/ little to no expirence w/ children.
Anyway, this post was meant to be a list of books that I have on my "wish list". I hope to order these little by little over the next year as I earn Swagbucks I'm listing them here b/c I know how much I love reading other's book recommendations, and most on this list have come from just that. Keep in mind, I'm not truely "recommending" these as I haven't read them thru cover to cover yet. As you will see, some in the list are just for the boys. I made them hyperlink if you want to click on them and get more info.

-Big Thoughts for Little People
-God's Wisdom for Little Boys
-God, I need to talk to you about...
-Little Blessings series
-ABC Memory Verses

-Creative Correction
-Teach Them Diligently
-The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections
-Heaven At Home
-Creative Family Times

-Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit
-Slow and Steady Get Me Ready
-For the Children's Sake: Foundation of Education for Homeschool

-The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook
-Family Feasts for $75 a week
-The Complete Tightwad Gazette

-Calm My Anxious Heart
-Me, Myself, & Lies
-Feminine Appeal

Here's a picture of the boys with some of their cousins. Had to include a picture :-)