Motivated to Start Stamping!

WOW! We had our first homeschool group meeting of the school year Tuesday night with almost 60 women! It was so cool to look across the room and see friends I have known over the last few years and then brand new faces...new friends for the year to come.

The excitement in the room was high, which set the tone for the rest of the night. We heard from a beautiful young lady, Amanda, about how her home education has shaped her into a godly woman. I think we could have all gone home after she shared how vital her mother was to her spiritual development and success. There were few dry eyes when she gave her mom a painting she had done to honor her. Yeah. WOW!

The cool thing about the evening--the God thing--was how He gave a message that touched hearts to leave an imprint on the generation we serve. We are to "impress" His Word on our children's hearts as we go about life. (Deut. 6:4-9) First we ourselves have to be in the Word in order to impress the Word on our kids. As we disciple our children day in and day out, we are stamping the image of Christ on them.

I readily admit, the image I often stamp is not of Christ, but of Kim. Parenting is such a reality check!

Here are some practical ways to stamp the image of Christ on your children.

Prayer--don't neglect praying at bedtime with them. I shared how this has been my struggle over the last year, until God bopped me upside the head with conviction. It seems as though before sleepyland, their hearts are so open. Don't miss the opportunity to talk, share, and pray.

Scripture--we gave out stamps and stamp pads to use creatively with the kids to send a note filled with Truth or a word of encouragement. Post it on their doorframe on their room (Deut. 6:9), post it on their mirror, on their car dashboard, or by their breakfast plate.

Service--find some area of service to do as a family. Visit an elderly friend once a month, serve in a soup kitchen, volunteer at church, stuff envelopes for a church department, make a meal for a new mom, send cards to soldiers serving overseas...the list is endless. Find something and do it together for God.

Friends--not only my children's friends should stamp the image of Christ on them, but my own friends have shown the power of the stamp! We are so blessed to have friends who love on our kids and encourage them in their lives. Our kids count our adult friends as their friends, too.

Take Care of YOU--as homeschool moms, we put ourselves last on the list most days. I have found when I continue to do that over and over again, I end up on empty and ready to explode! That usually does not leave a pretty stamp! ;) Whatever you need to do for yourself this year, whether it is get in a Bible study, exercise, or having some needed down time, make it a priority and do it!

How about you? How do you stamp the image of Christ on your children? We would love to hear from you!

Pouring Out Our Hearts To The Lord

On Monday July 13th, we met at Kim Mayfield's home for a wonderful time of goal setting & prayer for our homeschools. Thirty ladies gathered for fellowship and yummy desserts.

Afterward we all sat down and Kim and I taught a little about goal setting. There are many types of goals that you can have for your children. Some we went over were: artistic, curriculum, family, life skills, ministry, physical, job training & spiritual. Kim read a wonderful email from Carol Smith about how she gets away to plan out the year ahead of her.

We talked about how to set goals. Goals start with a vision of what God is going to do in your life & your kids' lives. Once you have the vision, then you can make choices so much easier. As Nehemiah said in Nehemiah 6:1-6 when his enemies were trying to distract him from building the wall, "I am doing a great work right here and I cannot come down." Nehemiah knew clearly what to do: if it contributed to the vision, then the answer was "Yes," if not (distracted from the vision), then the answer was "No."

The application for this is threefold: 1. Pray that God will give you a vision of your life in the key areas you feel He is calling you to work on. 2. Write it down. Make a bullseye/target of what the goal is. 3. Act accordingly. If the decision moves you toward it, its a "Yes!"

Obviously, this whole process is to be done prayerfully. And if possible, bring the ideas God gives you to your husband and ask for his feedback, advice and consideration as to whether he thinks this is what God is saying to you both.

Don't be discouraged when any goal is not met in the timeframe you were thinking. You can be assured that God is at work in your life and in His timing things will work out. Trust Him when you go through those disappointing valleys.

We handed out notebooks that had: lists of goals, a section on making a Vision statement for your life from Linda Dillow's book Calm Your Anxious Heart, an excerpt from the book 401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work at Home (regarding goal setting for practical life skills), a handout on character goals to think about based on George Barna's book Revolutionary Parenting, a handout on a Scripture Memory system, and some verses to pray for yourself & your children.

Then everyone separated for some private time with the Lord. We prayed privately and listened to His voice regarding the homeschool year ahead. Then we joined back together and prayed over all the prayer requests. Kim & I were so touched by how open everyone was and how many folks poured out their hearts for the families represented there. The Holy Spirit was definitely present and working that night!

We pray for you as you make the final countdown to the start of school that you would take some time to hear from the Lord. It is not about the curriculum you choose but about the hearts of your children!!