What’s Happening at FFS?

The kids are picking strawberries. The picture doesn’t have anything to do with this post, but I thought they looked sweet!

Readers, I thought it might be time for a quick update post.

Spring has sprung and life is crazy as public school and church activities end for the summer. Awana will be ending in 2.5 weeks. We’ll be having our awards ceremony and it will be exciting to watch the kids receive their awards. Because of Awana breaking for the summer, I will not be posting any new Bible lessons, except for the one I did last week. (I’m late, I know.) I will resume posting lessons when Awana begins again in August.

A big change for me is my decision to step down from being an Awana Commander. In fact, all four of us Pink Ladies will be stepping down. Being Commander is a big job and our ministry is to the point that it needs a fantastic manager and someone with different talents than the four of us have. This is a “sad for me,” but “great for the ministry” type event. The man taking over as Awana Commander will be able to lead the ministry as God works to enlargen its territory. My leaving the Awana Leadership will allow me to focus more on being the Awana Bible Teacher. This is where my heart is and where God has equipped me to serve.

My son will be turning 6 tomorrow, so another birthday party will be taking place this weekend. If you remember last year’s, it will be quite the event.

Another event happening for our family is our taking a two week vacation to the United Kingdom. My husband and I will be taking the two kids and his mom across the ocean for some cultural expansion and history immersion. We are excited, so be sure to look out for posts from England!

Later this summer, my husband will be going on a missions trip to Nicaragua, I will have family driving up from Florida to visit and explore our state, I’ll be teaching a Ladies Bible study for 6 weeks, and the annual Messy Party will take place some time in July.

As you can see we have all kinds of fun stuff coming up during the next few months.

I appreciate all of my Readers who have stuck with me over the past year. Thank you.

~ FFS

I Will Boast in God ~ All Things For Good

Here is Angie’s story from Raising Sticky Hands to Heaven. I have been loving these stories that show God in His glory and at work in all areas of life. Angie’s story is no different. Enjoy!  ~ FFS

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After the birth of my last child, I just didn’t seem to “bounce back” as quick as I had with the other 4. At first I thought it was probably because I was nearing 30 and not the young whipper snapper I was when I had my first. After a few months, however, I decided it was time to see a doctor. After over a year of many tests and attempts to “fix” my pain, I was given the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Chronic pain can be so overwhelming and exhausting at times that I’m unable to think straight. To not admit that I have questioned why this has happened to me would be a lie. There have been times that I’ve questioned my capabilities because of my disability. The Lord knows what He is doing though, and I’ve learned to have faith in His plan.

There have been 2 scriptures that I’ve been clinging to since the pain began. The first one is Isaiah 53:5, ” But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” I know I can be healed, however, until then I will continue to do what God has called me to do. I will boast in God and HIS abilities, not mine. In spite of my pain and fatigue, I will do His work! I will raise my children to walk in His ways, teach them at home, be a good wife to my husband, and help others in any way I can. I don’t care how much this pain tries to keep me down, I will keep going.

Building Character in Our Kids…One Story at a Time

I am excited to be going to the Teach Them Diligently Conference this week! One of the presenters will be Mark Hamby of Lamplighter Publishing. If you get to go to the conference, please try to make one of his sessions. After listening to him, I bought two of the books recommended, and quite a few of the Lamplighter Theatre productions, and they have been wonderful! Here are some thoughts I had after his presentations:

Mark Hamby was fascinating to listen to and very passionate about his topics. The sessions were about building character and excellence in children. I really have a desire to introduce my son to real heroes. Heroes of the faith and heroes in history. So this was my motivation for going to Hamby’s sessions. I went to 4 of his sessions and ordered the 5th one to listen to.  Now I am even more motivated to teach character to my children and I feel more prepared to tackle the responsibility. His sessions were more like a Bible Study to me, so I soaked up as much in as I could!!

One of the truths I had to grasp was that I cannot force character traits onto my children. They have to be intrinsically motivated and have a “want to” for change. Instead, I am going to need to come up with ways my kids can emulate good role models. This could take place by dealing with people or by reading books. TV is a waste of time and detrimental to the thinking process, so it’s not the best way to go about teaching character.

We Are Worth More Than…Cookies?

I have always prided myself on my Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie making skills. I’ve always been told by people that mine taste better than theirs. They ask me what I do, etc. Perhaps they are just being nice, but my husband sure likes the chocolate chip cookies. I have to fight him off just to have dough to cook.

So I’m embarrassed to show these.

I was 1/4 c short of flour with no other substitute except Bisquick and I didn’t think about that until I had already put the cookies in the oven.

I’m so ashamed! They are flat, the chips are all in the middle, and they are chewy around the edges. They do taste ok. My husband has already eaten three of them.

I’m so glad my worth is not based upon my cookie making skills!!

What recipe have you made that totally failed?

Out of the Mouths of Babes…

I went looking for the kids this afternoon as they were playing outside. I found Sweet Cheeks hoeing in the garden.

Me: Whoa! What are you doing?
Sweet Cheeks: Mama! There’s grass growing in the garden. I want to hoe it for daddy.Me: You don’t need to do that. Daddy can till it another day.
Sweet Cheeks: No Mama. I want to hoe it for Daddy so he doesn’t have to till. I want to take his place, just like Jesus died and took my place.

I had no words after that.

I Will Boast in God ~ Divine Protection

Clay Writer (aka Doug) has been a faithful follower of FFS and I am happy to introduce him to you! He has many years of experience with Children’s Ministry and has published his first book. Be sure to visit his blog and read about his recent trip to Africa. It will bless you! Enjoy!  ~ FFS

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For most young men attending college in Southern California the ‘party-life’ was as natural as breathing. You went to school, studied sometimes, worked whatever job you could get and went to parties.

Me; well I was shy and avoided those challenging social encounters that most people my age considered to be important.

I was a Christian. I knew there were drinking, drugs, and other enticing things, (girls) at parties that probably would lead to trouble. I chose to say no whenever I was asked to attend a party.

This time was different. This party was going to be at the beach at night.

I loved the beach. I felt as comfortable in raging surf and ten-foot breakers crashing over my head as any other place. If I felt uncomfortable at the party I could jump into the surf and ride some waves. I decided I would go to this beach-party.

God told me not to go.

God’s Wisdom for Mothers: Launching Our Kids Toward Their God-given Dreams

Be sure to check out Week 6: You’ve Got a Friend

Introduction:
What do your kids want to be when they grow up? Probably they will change their minds 3 to 4…6 or 7, times before they settle on something. What are you doing to help prepare them for God’s future? How are you helping your children to identify their dreams? Are you encouraging them to live for an audience of One?

Mom Time: Growing Up

What is a lesson you have learned about yourself since you became a mom? For me, I have learned how selfish I really am. I have also become more aware of my rebelliousness toward God and how amazing it is that God is patient and loving towards me. It is our job as parents to represent the character of God to our children. Through our guidance and training we want our children to grow in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:40) What dreams did you have as a child? What dreams are your children dreaming? “The most important thing I want for my children is for them to be holy. Happiness will follow if their hearts are right.” (114)

Are You Ready to Die? I Don’t Think I Am.

A good friend of mine and I were walking yesterday. The topic of the bombing in Boston came up. We both couldn’t believe that someone would do something so awful, but we also recognized that we live in a world of sin.

And I made the comment, “Perhaps this is just one more thing God uses to remind us that this is not our home.”

My mind and heart have been wrestling over this topic for months now. Ever since my husband’s father died back in August it’s been in the forefront of my thoughts. I’ve spoken with my husband about it, but I still feel the fingers of fear creep over my heart when I think about it.

Death.

Are you ready? Those of us who claim to be Christians, and have Jesus living inside of us, should be.

I Will Boast in God ~ He Can Even Use a Frog

I’m excited to introduce Laura to you! Her boast is a great example of how God can use little things to teach big Truths. Be sure to click on the link to her blog and visit her. Here is her boast in God! Enjoy!  ~ FFS

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The other day I was having attitude problems. I was upset with something someone else wrote. I felt hurt, upset that they would be so careless. I wanted to confront them. I vented to my husband, for quite a while. I wanted to have a facebook debate, or at least leave a smart comment. I wanted to be witty and rude, all at once. Yes, my sin nature is alive and well!

I waited, counted to ten. Prayed for guidance.

I decided to get going with our school day and deal with it later, simmer down a bit. My sweet little, blond-headed, freckled boy grabbed his kindergarten* lesson book and crawled into the rocker with me. I opened the page to the day’s lesson: on frogs.

F is for Frog: “I will use my tongue wisely.” *wham* *palm*to*forehead*

Retrospectives for Life

Retrospectives. Have you ever heard that term before? I had not until just recently because I think it’s more of a term from the business/computer world. We reflect all the time. It’s built into our human nature. But sometimes we need to sit down and intentionally think retrospectively.

Retrospective: To take a look back at events that have already taken place.

People like to say we “learn by experience.” Is that really true? Think of a yo-yo dieter, or the person who has been married three or four times, or the last time you had a “discussion” with your child over the exact same thing done incorrectly. If we learned by experience, perhaps we wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. But we do. At least I do.