somewhere between

I've finished my trek (for now) of hunting through the book of Proverbs for nuggets of parenting wisdom...and wow! have I found the treasure trove! The book is full of responsibilities, blessings and warnings for both parent and child. I'm sure that I have probably missed several verses that should be on the list. But, in its incomplete form, here is what I found - parenting nuggets from the book of Proverbs . Recently in family worship my husband has been taking us through the book of Proverbs and teaching verses to our children. Though not an idea original to us, we've been putting hand motions etc. to some of the verses to help our children memorize. It has been amazing what even our one-year old remembers! A section of Scripture was read the other night at church and she was saying it right along with the speaker. We pray that it will be a great blessing to them to have these Scriptures stored in their minds - even if they don't remember it perfectly later,

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. Amen!

Especially during the last 2 1/2 years (can it be that long!?) with Don gone from the house for 17 hrs each week-day and studying all the time on the weekends, these verses were a real encouragement to me. " May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 15:5-6

" For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves." Romans 14:15-22 A very good reminder, especially when coming in to a new body of believers where one really does not know what person

"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." Romans 13:14 This is a good reminder in the daily battle against sin . As John Owen puts it in his book on the mortification of sin - know your weaknesses, know where you are tempted - not so you can excuse your sin (oh, I'm predisposed to fear therefore it's part of my personality and not really a sin issue), but so that you can wage war against it. Of course, there is a balance to making no provision for the flesh, meaning this...I shouldn't expect my life to be without temptation. I shouldn't expend all my energies so that I think I will never be tempted to sin. I think it's a good idea to make a conscious effort to not walk by the doughnut aisle at the grocery store if you are tempted to splurge and overeat, for example. We still, however, must live in this world and therefore, sin is going to find us - because it is in us. We are sinners. That's

There was a time not so long ago when I did not think I would ever be writing these words....and especially not so soon. The Lord has again been very kind to us and even in the 2 months since we have been here has already started to knit our hearts to some of the people at our new church. To be honest, I'm simply amazed. I'm almost astonished to be writing these words, but it is the truth and I worship God because things that we can't orchestrate He can and is. The words formed in my mind last night to tell Don "Thank you for bringing me here" and while I can't quite go there yet, I did honestly say "I'm glad to be with you." We are getting really good teaching at SW. Our kids are doing great and loving church. Our "care group" is phenomenal even though it is really, really small. We are getting to know those in it and Tom leading it is just an amazing blessing to us - not to mention that he really knows where we're coming f