R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Eph 5:33 says ³³Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to ^(S)love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she ^(T)respects her husband.

phobeō- to be alarmed; by analogy to be in awe of, that is, revere: - be (+ sore) afraid, fear (exceedingly), reverence.

So practically it is an awe and reverence that causes one to follow another. And specifically it is displayed in a wife who admires & esteems her husband so much that her behavior and words convey the esteem she feels in her heart & she joyfully follows his authority.

Now with that definition in mind: Raise your hand if you excel in the area of respecting your husband.

So as you can see by looking around , this is an area where we as women tend to be especially weak and tempted in.

Because we often need to inspired pay attention to this area, we are going to go over a list of practical ways you can show respect to your husbands, and after that I am going to offer some encouragement to those of us who may be struggling in this area.

ABC’s of Respecting Your Husband

Some hints directly from husbands @ church

Written & Compiled by Wendy Petta

1. Admire A man feels respected when his wife gives sincere compliments of admiration both directly to and about him in front of others.

2. Back Your Man A good way to show respect is to back your husband in public and in front of the kids, even if you disagree. Take it up in private if it is something you feel needs to be discussed further.

3. Consult A respectful wife asks her husband his opinion. She runs things by him & gets his advice. She does not live a life independent of her husband.

4. Don’t do the following: Correct, contradict, belittle or criticize. A wife who wants to excel in respect will be very careful how she speaks with her husband in private & in front of other people, especially the children.

5. Encourage Use encouragement rather than scolding or nagging. When a wife encourages her husband rather than scolding & nagging she is honoring Christ. Husbands will actually respond to encouragement. It motivates them to change for the good. Most husbands shrink back from a wife who nags & scolds.

6. FUN! Have fun with him. Laugh at his jokes (even if they are corny!), smile if he embarrasses you & enjoy him.

7. Grateful A husband who feels appreciated for what he does is a happy husband. Tell him how grateful you are that he goes to work every day and provides for his family. Teach your children to show gratitude to daddy as well.

8. Handsome He is handsome isn’t he? Remember the physical qualities that drew you to him in the beginning? Think on these things and tell him you think he is handsome.

9. Instead Invert your fleshly thinking. Instead of waiting for him earn your respect, behave respectfully and watch him grow into the man God designed him to be.
10. Joined Gen 2:24 Remember that God joined you to your husband. Be careful to show preference to your own husband over your family and girl friends.

11. Kisses Stop what you are doing & give him a kiss when he comes home from work. Show him he is important enough for you to wash that raw meat off your hands and greet him with a kiss.

12. Listen Take time to give him your full attention (stop what you are doing) at least once each day. Use ?s that draw him out, like “How was your day today?” “Did anything discouraging happen?” & “How can I specifically be praying for you?”.

13. Meek A respectful wife is a meek wife. She endures offenses with patience & without resentment. She is not overly strong in her opinions & does not insist on her way.

14. Nice A wife should be nicer to her husband than any other person on Earth.

15. Offer Offer to do things during the day to help him. Ask yourself “How am I being a ‘suitable helper’ to my husband today?” Is there anything you can do for him to make his life a little easier?

16. Praise Praise him when you have the opportunity to your family, your friends & to the children. Tell them how blessed they are to have a wonderful daddy like him. Be specific and praise his strengths.

17. Quiet We all know that there are times when the most respectful thing we can do is to simply be quiet. Like times when we want to take charge or perhaps when our husbands are frustrated, have made a mistake, or when you sense the conversation is turning into an argument.

18. Resist Resist the temptation to rub it in when he makes a wrong decision & you had told him so. (see above!)

19. Sex Need I say more?

20. Trust A godly wife trusts the Lord when her husband leads her in a decision that she is completely opposed to, is frightened of, and feels makes no sense at all. She knows God gave her specific husband in all his strengths and weaknesses & trusts that the safest place she can be is under the authority of God & her husband.

21. Understand Understand that your husband is a sinner. He will make mistakes. He will let you down. He will sin against you. Try to understand that this will happen in your marriage, frequently even and then be understanding when he does not do the right thing.

22. Venerate Okay, I admit it I had to look this one up! Venerate means to regard or treat with reverence; revere. To regard with respect, reverence, or heartfelt deference. Deference means respectful submission or yielding to the judgment, opinion, will of another. So a wife who venerates her husband respectfully submits to him. She yields to his judgment from her heart. Wow! What an awesome definition, one that almost perfectly defines how we are to respectfully follow the leadership of our husbands

23. Willing Be willing to go along with his ideas. Even if you think it is not the best idea or decision. As long as he is not asking you to sin or do something dangerous and do it without complaining

24. eXamine When things in the marriage aren’t going well or there is conflict, be willing to look at yourself. Instead of being an eXpert on his sin areas, take a look at how you might have contributed or responded inappropriately.

25. YAY, YAY, YAY! Cheer for his successes. Be genuinely excited when he succeeds and gets the job done well.

26. ZZZ? My husband said to tell you that I could not think of anything for the letter z and that all wives should refer back to the letter S. J

Was that a fun list? I had several husbands here at Calvary contribute to it, so we are hearing straight from the horses mouth on this topic. Don’t tell any of them I reffered to them as horses, because that definitely would not be seen as respectful! Now, if you find this is an area you are failing in, I really want to encourage you. From a wife of 15 years who has often found herself on the list of America’s Most Disrespectful Wives, I want to offer you hope. You can change. If you are a believer remember that the Lord is eagerly waiting for you to come to Him in repentance. He is eager to offer you forgiveness and has power to transform you into a respectful wife from the inside out.

So what should a wife do who finds herself in sin toward her husband when it comes to respecting him? First, go to the Lord in prayer, specifically confess how you have missed the mark and ask Him to change you. And He will. Here are some other things which will be helpful to you:

· Get some accountability in this area. Most of us need it, few of us seek it.

· Remember this most important piece of truth. Your husband is not required to earn your respect. Respect is not something that is earned, it is something rather that is offered out of love to Christ: Martha Peace had this to say in her book “The Excellent Wife”: “you may be smarter, wiser, or more gifted than your husband, you still need to respect the position that God has given him. You are like the soldier who stands at attention, salutes, and says “Yes, sir!” to his superior officer.”

So we see that we are to respect the position God has given our husband. We are not respecting our husbands because they are so perfect and wonderful and worthy. We respect them because God in His wisdom knows this is what we need to do. It is our God given role.

· Respect flows from the heart. If we trace back the behavior of a disrespectful wife, we usually find that it flows from a heart that is unguarded & thoughts that are undisciplined and running wild. A wife that does not want to find herself wandering down the road of disrespect again and again will be careful to make sure she is not entertaining critical & negative thoughts about her husband. Rather, she will regularly choose to dwell on the wonderful qualities he has.

· Now remember how many of us raised our hands in the beginning saying we excelled in this area? Not many. Many of those ladies who did not raise their hands saying “I have graduated. I am officially a respectful wife in every way” have been Christians who have been working at this respect thing for a long time! This is a journey we are on, to grow. Where ever you have measured yourself as a result of today’s talk just remember that the Lord is not demanding you are instantly perfect in respect, He just wants you to take a step. One more step on the road to being more like Him.

Teaching Your Childean about S** Part 2

Teaching in the Mileu (In the midst of life) continued:
Last year another advertisement that came up was “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. Yeah, we had the pleasure of ride alongside this baby for weeks as it was pasted to the sides of buses for every kid in the world to see. And it wasn’t long before a sweet little innocent voice from the back said “Mommy, what’s a porno?” My heart sank because of the utter depravity of our society and pride of our utter depravity to wear it on our sleeves. Even so I had just been presented with another opportunity to teach in the mileu. “Sweetheart, pornos are pictures or movies of people being immodest & committing immorality” (The only reason I could explain it this way was because I had already laid the foundation for defining the word immorality at a previous time, if I had not, the moment would have been awkward and fearful for me) “And God hates pornography, and we should too. When we see it, we must turn our eyes away from it. When we see it, we can pray that Jesus will come quickly to take us away from the sinful world & home to heaven”
4) Simply define words for them: 4 year old child: “Mommy, What is gay?” Mom “It is when a man wants to marry a man instead of marrying a woman. God says that a man should marry a woman and not another man. It is sin. People who are gay need Jesus, just as we did before He saved us.” 6 year old child “Mommy, What is adultery?” “ It is when a daddy loves another woman instead of the woman God gave him to be his wife. It is sin and God hates it. Sometimes mommys want to love a different man than their own husbands. When you get married you are making a commitment to that person for your whole life long. You are promising to never love another man or woman in that same way. Adultery is breaking that promise.”
5) Set a good example in Your home
a) Do your children see you being affectionate with their Daddy? Do you have an open door policy in your home or do they understand that when Daddy and Mommy have their door closed, they MUST knock. Do your kids know that you find their Daddy handsome and irresistible? I love a story Dennis Rainey tells, it went something like this: “one of my children flew in threw our closed door one day when their mom and I were talking on the bed. I looked that child in the eyes and said ‘Someday you are going to throw that door open and when you do, you are going to get the most embarrassing lesson in sex in your life. When that door is closed it is OUR time!” I am sure the child was an older child…
6) Build sex up. I think when we come to approach the topic of sex, we must have in the forefront of our minds that sex is a good thing. Sex is a gift of God. Because of sexual sin, we can tend to have a fear of sex and of talking about it. Most of the sex we hear about it our society is perverse, sinful and a twisted distortion of what God intended it to be. Because of that we can wrongly project it in a shameful and negative light. But we do not want to communicate this shameful way of thinking to our children. We want to build it up. When I think back to how I was raised regarding this topic, one thing sticks out in my head. Sex is bad, don’t do it and if you do…….!!!!! I know my parents did the best they could with what they knew at the time, so I am not in any way trying to slam my folks. But, I was never offered a healthy perspective on sex and told that it was a gift from God to be cherished within marriage. My parents didn’t talk about it with me at all except for to tell me, “don’t do it”, so it was a very mysterious and forbidden thing that apparently was very evil and should be avoided. I still struggle with shaking those feelings and ideas today.
7) Lay down very specific boundaries early:
• How do I want my child to behave with the opposite sex before she is married?
• Do I want her to use her body, her eyes, and her girly ways to have power over boys and get her way?
• Do I want her to be flirtatious? What exactly is flirting? Talk about it...
• How do I want her to dress when she is 16? Seriously, think about it, and then teach her to dress that way now.
Some of the things we have covered in our house:
• As girls, or young women, we do not do anything with the opposite sex that we would not think would be okay between our mom and our pastor. For example:
o Would it be okay for mommy to write notes during a class with Pastor Jack?
o Would it be okay for mommy to call Pastor Jack, just to see what he is doing today?
o Would it be okay for mommy to tease Pastor Jack and take his hat away?
o How about writing on his arm, or giving him a back rub?
o How about staring at him so that whenever he looks my way, he meets my gaze?
o How about making sure I get to sit close to him during class?
Absurd! So why then is it okay for young people today to act this way amongst themselves with other peoples future husbands and wives?
• Your first kiss is something you give to your husband on your wedding day. That is why the pastor says: “You may NOW kiss the bride” (I KNOW some of my family members are going to chide me on this one, go ahead, chide all you want! ;) I recently went to a wedding where the pastor stressed that word upon giving the invitation to the groom to kiss his bride. He said “You may NOW kiss your bride” I don’t know if this couple saved their first kiss for marriage, but I hope they did. It seemed that way anyway and because of that there was something so much more special about that moment. Something that sent chills up my arms and tears to my eyes. And I am no one to them, not even related to them, imagine how special it was for them!!!
*I recommend The Princess and the Kiss & The Squire and the Scroll, two books for children on purity

Teaching your child about the S** word~ Part 1

Last year a mom approached me and asked me about how we approached the topic of sex with our girls. From that conversation we planned to have a informal moms night where I would teach how we did it in our home and provide an opportunity for moms to share what has worked for them. Last night, a mom mentioned to me that she noticed how open we are about talking to our kids about the topic of sex, love & relationships. She asked me some questions and it got me to thinking about this topic again. What we are doing in our home is STARKLY different from how I was raised and how this subject was broached by my parents as a young person. Many parents find this topic intimidating and awkward to say the least. And because it is so awkward they postpone bringing it up. Moms, I want to challenge you to rethink waiting and ask yourself if now might be the right time to begin to introduce your children to the topic of God's view on sex.
I pulled up the file I had written and wanted to share it here with you, whoever you are... :)
This is how our family has fleshed out what we feel is a biblical approach to teaching your children about the subject of sex. You may not agree with me about all I will share with you and that is okay. I do hope however that you are able to glean a few things from what has worked in our family. Ultimately you are responsible to God and your own husband for how you teach your children about this topic of sex, but this is what has worked for us:

1) Be sincere, and honest. Sincerity and honesty should permeate every word that comes out of our mouths. I would rather make a sincere mistake than to be dishonest or give half truths. I believe this is something that our children will pick up on as we communicate about the topic of sex. If a sex topic comes up that it is difficult for you to explain to them, such as “Mommy, what is pornography?”, tell them “you know this is a really difficult thing for me to try to figure out how to explain to you, but I am so glad you are asking me and trusting me to come to me with these types of questions. Can you give me a minute to think about how I want to answer this?” or “Can I talk with Dad about this and get back to you?” and then write it on your calendar, so you don’t forget and go back when you are comfortable. The more you do this, the easier it will get. Soon, you will feel very comfortable speaking about it and answering all their questions.

2) Formal Teaching: Some formal teaching is okay and even good, but there are some cautions to be mindful of when you approach the topic of sex in a formal manner. This leads me to my next point is going to be. Don’t make a big deal out of it.

3) Don’t make a big deal out of it. If talking about sex is an awkward, uncomfortable & formal discussion that is how it will feel as a subject to them. Awkward, uncomfortable, formal and something to avoid. They will not feel comfortable to ask questions as they arise, they may even begin to feel shameful about the subject, there might be secrecy and hidden things. This is not what we want! Treating sex this way can even carry over into their marriage beds and affect them their whole lives long. We owe it to our kids to give them a healthy biblical perspective on sex. Use natural opportunities to bring it up casually. Do not make it something that is uncomfortable to talk about. Bring it up as often as it presents itself. God’s word teaches us to teach our children “in the milieu”. The word milieu means middle. This means we are to teach our children in the middle of life, as life presents the opportunity. Let’s look briefly at Deut 6, verse

6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

7"^(J)You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

8"^(K)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

9"^(L)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Now while this verse teaches specifically about teaching about the Lord, we can benefit from the idea of how we are to teach. This gives us a picture of teaching during life. When we sit, when we walk, when we lie down in bed at night, when we rise up and are in the car on the way to school. This does not give us a picture of sweaty palms, pulled shades, hushed tones and pulling out a large sex book that weights 14 pounds thumping it down on the table and saying “Alright honey, now we are going to talk about SEX!”

Here are some specific examples of ways to bring it up naturally:

• When reading the Bible and words like Adultery, lust, immorality, or “let her breasts satisfy you”come up. Maddie was in the garden one day singing the phrase “let her breasts satisfy you” . I laughed and said Maddie, “Why in the world are you singing that?” She told me she read it in the Bible and I used that casual opportunity to tell her one of the reason why God gave women breasts was for their husbands to enjoy. Simple and yet slowly over time building a RIGHT biblical perspective of sex for my child. After that I light heartedly told her it was a phrase that she probably should not be singing about, but she was always welcome to come to me with any questions she had. ***Note: Maddie has given me permission to share this story with you.
  

• When passing Billboards:

  Recently we passed a billboard for the movie Juno. It is a story of a teenager who gets pregnant & has a huge picture of a pregnant teenager on it. Because I did not take this opportunity to discuss this with one of my children, she carried a burden for almost two months totally unbeknownst to me. She finally came to me bawling because she is innocent and even though she knew the basics of sex in her innocence, did not fully understand the details of how one gets pregnant, she had been carrying around the fear that that might happen to her. Looking back I could have said something like "Do you know why that young girl in that movie is pregnant?" or "Do you think that young girl followed God's plan for sex in marriage?" These are the kinds of things our kids are seeing on a daily basis unless you board up your windows and never leave your home

So don't be so foolish as to think talking about sex from a Biblical perspective is going to rob your children's of their innocence. You are right in thinking there is someone who wants to rob them of their innocence but it is not you! Get to your kids before the world does.
~To be continued.....

Rain in July? Memorial #1

Written on 7/23/07

Two nights ago before dinner Maddie and I were talking about how we missed the rain, and wished it would rain. Right before we began to pray she said "Mommy can I pray that God would make it rain?" I said yes you can, but Maddie, it probably won't rain. So Maddie prayed, "...and God can you please make it rain?" Tim and I told her don't be dissapointed if God doesn't make it rain, because it would have to take a real miracle for it to rain in the middle of July. God will probably answer your prayer with a no.

Last night while Kayla was taking out the trash cans, I felt a wet thing hit my arm. I looked up and saw nothing. I felt another, I said "Kayla I felt a raindrop! It is raining! Let's run to tell Maddie" All the way home (she takes the neighbor cans out) we felt drops, and I couldn't stop from tearing up and felt as if my heart was going to burst.

We celebrated in the front yard with the few sporadic drops of rain that were coming down. I told Maddie as I looked intently into her eyes "You remember this day little girl! God is real and he answers prays of little 8 year old girls in Sylmar, Ca "

Last night Maddie said "Mommy I am going to pray that God would make it rain more" I said "ok Maddie you pray that". She prayed that God would make it rain more and said "..and Lord, I would really light some thunder and lightning and can you make the electricity go out too?"

This morning I woke up (5:11) a full wet rain shower. I got maddie up and again my eyes filling with tears we celebrated in the front yard.

Mark 10:13-16) Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. {14} But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. {15} "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." {16} And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.

I hope you will all take a moment to rejoice with us, have your faith increased in the great, kind, compassionate God we serve, who answers the prayers of little girls in Sylmar, Ca. And please get some candles out because we might just loose our power today!

PS: In my life I have noticed that I need to bring every little thing I want and need before God. He is just waiting to say yes to them and it delights Him to give His children what they ask for, yesterday He brought me and Kayla 2 pairs of jeans for 20 cents a piece after I prayed for them, but that is another story..... :)

Setting Up Memorials

Joshua 4
Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, ..... and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.

I have often pondered the Old Testament ritual of setting up memorials for remembrance of what the Lord has done in the lives of His people. I ponder this because I so easily forget the mighty things that God does on a regular basis in my life. I wish that I had memorials to remind my feeble sin laden mind of the wonderfully kind and personal God I serve.
In the thick of the day to day when life is hectic for me and it is difficult for me to obey God, I need to remember the wonderful, personal acts of kindness God has specifically orchestrated in my life for me, Wendy Petta.
Not coincidences.
Not luck.
Not chance.
But purposeful acts of God.
Times when He reaches His hand into my life and moves on my behalf to say:
"I love you"
"I will never leave you, nor forsake you."
"I am going to provide for your every need"
" I delight in delighting you......."
So, while I cannot pile rock upon rock. I can pile words. And this is what I am going to do for the next several posts on my blog. Here is my monument to my great God and King.
Here is where I will pile my real life true stories upon stories to remind myself of His UNWAVERING faithfulness in the life of a nobody.

All Things Lawful

1 Cor 10:23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

Maddie was given an Alvin & the Chipmunks Christmas Cd recently. The old unreformed legalistic me would have promptly thrown it into the trash because it is not Christian, and thus inherently evil. The new reformed non-judgmental me thought it through and decided there was nothing inherently immoral and evil about the CD and allowed it into my home.
After a few weeks of playing it, I found many members including myself were having the songs repeating in our minds when our minds were idle.

Christmas, Christmas time is near
Time for toys and time for cheer
We've been good, but we can't last
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast
Want a plane that loops the loop
Me, I want a hula hoop
We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don't be late.

We would sing in our minds and out loud. It was something our brains just went to when they were on autopilot. After a few weeks it struck me that even though this CD is lawful for me and my family, it was not profitable. It was occupying our minds with words that had no eternal value and pushing out songs with words that will never die like the words to this Seeds song below:

Be Joyful Always
Pray continuously
Give thanks in all circumstances
Give thanks in all circumstances
For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus
For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.

These words above, when played on the CD player of my mind, edify my soul, instruct my heart and speak truth to my idle mind and the minds of those around me when I am singing it.
Our minds only have the capacity to hold and bring to the surface certain amounts of information at one time.

1 Cor 10:23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

So even if I am a reforming legalist, I still choose to pitch Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas CD in the trash.

Sorry Alvin.

SORRY ALVIN!!!!!!

AAAALLLLLVVVVVIIIIIIINNNNNNN!!!!

Enjoying the Fruit of Biblical Parenting

Today I had one of those moments when I got to get a glimpse of what my life might have looked like without Jesus Christ. Of what my children might be like if I had not received good teaching that taught me that the Bible has the foundations for Christian parenting in it. That God's way in parenting as in all things is the BEST way.

I have to give a disclaimer here.
I am about to boast.
But I am not going to boast that I am a wonderful parent.
I am not going to boast that I have wonderful children.
I am not going to boast that I was smart enough to figure out how to do it right.
I am going to boast in the Lord.
1 Cor 1:31 says “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
And I have to tell you that I am boasting in the fruit of Biblical parenting.

Today we stopped by Walgreens. The minute the door opening I heard this piercing scream and I instantly turned to see who was being assaulted. Surely someone's life is being threatened! And my eyes met an all too familiar site.
I see a little 4- 5 year old boy was screaming at the top of his lungs as his mother tried to ignore the scene he was making. Wow! Was it loud! As Maddie(10), David (4) and I (not telling) walked by them it was hard not to stare.
The boy screamed and whined.
It was one of those screams that says,
"my heart is really not in this, but I have to keep this up so I will get what I want".
He would take breathes, look around, see that the situation with his mom has not changed and then scream some more.
It became quickly apparent that he had wanted a toy which the store did not have and the mom was saying "maybe we can get something else".
"NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"
He screamed.
So we walked on by and went to the toys isle.
We were drawn to the toy isle by the big 50% off Toys sign at the front of the store. (we were killing time) In the toy isle David found a really fun looking basketball game. He has a birthday coming up in March so I figured at 50% off it must be a steal.
I said to David "Do you want this?"
He said "Yes!"
I handed it to him to carry and we began to look at other toys because Maddie currently has $ 20.00 burning a hole in her pocket from Christmas.
Soon the screamer showed up and he and his mom continued bargaining over toys.
At this time I was feeling burdened and hoping that this woman would spontaneously come up to me and say "HELP ME!" and then I would share the gospel with her and teach her all about Biblical Parenting and save her from her fate.
But that did not happen.
My heart was also rejoicing in the fact that God saved me and that I had life abundantly because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
And rejoicing that I am not in her shoes. Not in that place of helplessness. Of feeling like nothing any of the experts have to tell about how to parent work! Of knowing I hate this behavior, but am helpless to do anything about it. That hopeless helpless place....
So we walked up to the cashier to check the price of the basketball game.
She scanned it and told me the price was 16.00.
I looked at David and told him "Sorry, David we are not going to buy it. It is too much money."
I held my breath and waited for David's response. Now mind you David is a sinner. He does not always respond the right way. But he has been trained. he has been taught and he has a lot of experience that tells him what is okay and what is not okay when it comes to these types of situations.
He looked at me and with the cutest little nasally voice said "Okay."

Woo-HOOO!!! My heart rejoiced in the fruit of Biblical parenting displayed in David's life as I looked around to see if perhaps the screamer and his mom had been watching us as we had been watching them.
They were not.
As we walked outside Maddie commented on how disturbing the screaming had been.
I turned to her and quoted this verse "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child and the rod of correction will drive it far from him" .
She smiled.
"Maddie aren't you glad that Mommy disciplines you ?"
"Yeah" she said.
"Are you going to discipline your children when you are a Mommy?
"YES!" she said.
"And you know why we discipline you right?"

"Because you love me!" She wisely responded.......

1 Cor 1:31 says “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

Thank you God for allowing me to boast this day in the Lord and in fruit of Biblical parenting.