The Key to a Happy Home?

Christ.

Who is the First and Best of Beings?

Vince has been asking the kids and me these questions and we have been memorizing them along with Scripture proofs during our family worship time together.

"Who is the first and best of beings?" This is the first question in The Baptist Catechism of 1689 which is a slightly altered version of the reformed Westminster Catechism. Hopefully, this question is easy for my readers to answer. The formal answer with Scripture is:

"God is the first and best of beings."

Is. 44:6 "Thus sat the Lord, the king of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last and beside me there is no god."

Ps. 97:9 " For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods."

Other good ones are Ps. 8:1 and Ps. 96:4

I like to attempt to answer the questions on my own then see how my answers compare to the given answers and their Scripture proofs. This helps me correct any false thought patterns that I may have going on in my head. Here is the next question:

What is man chief end?

Try answering it then head to this link to find the answer- http://www.desiringgod.org/about/our-distinctives/our-beliefs/a-baptist-catechism

Home Management and the Domestically Challenged

As we add children to our family, we are forced to deal with weaknesses that we were able to ignore or disguise before.

My name is Misty Smith, and I am domestically challenged. On so many levels, too, but I can only deal with them in baby step portions.

Home management is an area that I should have tackled with baby #3... NO, baby #1! But, I didn't so we have been suffering all of this time. Now baby #4 is a year old, and I am finally making some moves toward progress.

Recently, I have acquired the book Large Family Logistic which has helped me to improve.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!

The changes that have brought us a bit of success?

Giving each day of the week a theme: Monday is Town Day; Tuesday is Laundry Day; Wednesday is Kitchen Day; Thursday is Office Day; Friday is Bed, Bath and Beyond Day; Saturday is a day of fun/rest and Sunday is for the Lord.

If on one of these days "life happens" as it often does--like sickness, ministry opportunity, birthday, field trip, ect.-- I don't have to stress because the day will come again in its rotation soon enough; and I will have another opportunity to tackle that day's jobs in a more comprehensively manner.

For instance, on Laundry Day last week I was unable to get the shower curtains washed because I had a few sick children who kept me distracted. They weren't too bad and could wait a week and I DID get 4 huge loads washed and folded and culled unmatched socks while I sat on the couch snuggling my sick ones. Tomorrow is the next Laundry Day so I will wash the shower curtain, Lord willing along with a whole host of laundry goals I hope to accomplish. I am the type that thrives on 2nd chances... and 3rd chances and 4th chances... which is why this works well for me.

The other feature that I have added to my home management scheme is the use of a timer. On Office Day, for instance, I alternate 15 minutes of playing and teaching the littles with 15 minutes of bill paying, school planning, couponing or whatever seems office-like. This way kiddos are getting their fix of my attention and don't seem to notice when I turn away for 15 minutes to do my chore. I will come back to their world before they realize my attention had been elsewhere. Maybe, during my time segment with them I might have an office job that I can include them in, like opening junk mail envelops or throwing away a pile of expired coupons.

These Home Management improvements have worked beautifully. The question is, can I maintain these changes long enough for them to morph into ingrained habits? I think so... pray for me.

The Bible and Birth Control

I am assuming that there are not many who care to read about the topics of which I post and even fewer agree them. That is okay with me.

If there is one person who might be a little curious and is wondering what the Bible says about Birth Control, grab a cup of tea or coffee, prop up your legs and get comfy. Here is a free audio book called The Bible and Birth Control, The Classic Christian View. You will hear commentary from great theological students like Charles Spurgeon, Calvin, Luther, Wesley, the Pilgrims, Owen, Henry, Baxter and more. This is fairly comprehensive, so if you take the time to listen you are proving yourself to be serious about seeking after Biblical answers to the common practice of birth control even if you may not fully agree. Link below:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=Charles^Provan

The Joy of The Boy

I want to share a testimony of how God has used our little boy to do great things in our family. As always, I cast no judgment on the practices of others, but I do not wish to be silent about how God is working in our lives.

Today is our little boy's 3rd birthday. Aaron is our 3rd of 4 children and he is the only boy.

He is such a joy to have in our home. His energy, activity, humor, emotions, silly antics and manly nature keep the ladies in our family entertained. How we love our little boy, yet...

his Dad and I cannot celebrate his life without an underlying feeling of remorse and sorrow.

This boy is a mercy child. He is our first child born after a vasectomy reversal. We almost rejected him as we had for many years been rejecting the potential for other children in our family. When we gaze upon this boyish blessing we come face to face with the fact that we almost prevented his life and we even had to be convinced by the Holy Spirit through His Word to accept him. If left to our own plans to do what merely seemed right in our own eyes, we would have closed the door on him not accepting him into our family. This is a humbling reality.

This is the reality that leaves a bittersweet mixture of joy and regret in our hearts.

How merciful God has been to us to open our blind eyes to His Truth, His Design, His Will, His Enlightenment, His Provision?!?!



Not only do we celebrate Aaron's life today, but also, how God has used him to lift us out of the worldly rut of rejecting life and into a challenging, yet deeply rewarding place where all of His blessings will be received into our home from now on despite the cost. We will continue to give God ALL the credit for every child He delivers to us because He alone is the giver of life, not us. We destroy, prevent and waist life, but God is so merciful to send His Son to give us a new heart and to show us His Ways that lift us out of our evil destruction.



Aaron is more than just a birthday boy. He is a testament to how God is working in our household!!

Highschool from a Biblical Worldview

I have been long-range and short-range planning for high school. My daughter is entering the 9th grade which begins a new season for us.

Our new curriculum consists of unit studies spawning from Proverbs 31 called Far Above Rubies. There are 20 units for the 20 verses and sooooo much content that the hardest part of planning is deciding what to eliminate. There are six years of great project to do here and only four years left to work. I am thoroughly excited about these projects.

Just this year she will:
Read Origins of Species and refute each of Darwin's points with God's Word.
Write a Letter to Darwin refuting his theories and sharing the Truth of Jesus Christ.
Study state court cases and laws on teaching creation and evolution.
Memorize Genesis 1 and 2.
Read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and analyze the female characters in light of Proverbs 31 and other Scriptures.
Learn to analyze water purity and build a water purifier.
Build new dinosaurs using two different dinosaur kits or without all of the pieces and research species that were fabricated and taught, yet we now know do not exist.
Create a scale of the size of dinosaurs.
Compare and contrast Freudian, rogerian and skinnerian psychology or counseling and study how each would determine right or wrong, good or evil. Learn why a Christian cannot get her ideas of virtue from either of these systems.
Learn about nouthetic counseling.
Outline OT biblical books.
Study technology that went into building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Mausoleum at Halicarnasussus.
Tons of health and fitness projects.
Design and teach lesson plans for teaching the Beatitudes to children.
I could go on and on.

Love that these projects invite the student into critical thinking while washing everything with God's Word. The topics lead to REAL knowledge that affect our day to day living truly preparing her for adulthood.

Noah Websters once said, "An education without the Bible is useless."

Emergency!! MY Baby Has A Zipper on the Back of Her Dress

Took my 8 month old to the doctor with minor symptoms that she might have swallowed something.

See anything unusual in the throat area on her x-ray?? Yes, that would be a strange metal object!!!

Needless to say, we rushed to Children's and the diagnosis?? Victoria has a zipper ON THE BACK OF HER DRESS!!!

What an emotional roller coaster!!!! Thanking God that she is fine!!