What is Family Integrated Church?

Our family practices what some people call Family Integrated or Non Age-Segregated worship when it comes to church. We have been asked what this means and/or how we practice this. Basically, we believe that the father is responsible for the training of our children in these matters. Therefore, we do not participate in in age-segregated Sunday School or in Children's Church. Instead, we keep our children with us during these services so that they can also participate in the singing, preaching, and seeing lives changed by the gospel message. We are seeing that children, even from good, godly, Christian homes, are leaving the church as young adults at alarming rates! What can we do to stop this trend? It is my opinion that after the entertainments of Children's Church and such are finished, they become bored with "big" church. Again, this is my opinion and what my family practices-you need to do what is right for your own family.

We know that all children do not have the same type of family unit-Dad, Mom & kids. There are many in the church today that have only one parent in the home, which no doubt is a challenge. Children also come to church on bus ministries, with no parent coming to church with them. How can we better minister to these folks? We could take some of these kids under our wing and have them sit with us. We could help these single parent families by providing a meal and some fellowship. The ideas are endless.

My husband has written an article on the topic called "10 Reasons Why: Family Integrated Church". This is something that we have practiced for a few years now and our new church plant also practices this. We have seen good fruit come from it. I pray that it is a blessing to you.

Unexpected blessings

At our missions conference last September, my husband met a missionary from Bearing Precious Seed, a printing ministry that prints tracts, Bibles, and John & Romans booklets; in various languages. This missionary told Jason that when we get closer to our start date of our church, to let them know and they would give us some John & Romans booklets to pass out. Since then, we have been in contact and they had 5,000 of these booklets ready for us to pick up at any time. Bearing Precious Seed is in Milford, Ohio, about a 2 hour drive.

Jason got off work early yesterday and decided to call and see if it would be a good day to go and pick them up. He was planning on just him and a friend to go and pick them up but his friend had plans yesterday. So he said we could all just go and enjoy a little drive. One of the beauties of homeschooling...you have so much flexibility. They said it would be fine to pick them up and he told them we would arrive around 1:30 p.m. I packed a few snacks for the kids and we were off!

When we got there, they loaded our van with 17 boxes of John & Romans booklets and asked us if we wanted a tour of the place. SURE we would! It was amazing to see how the Lord took this small printing ministry back in 1973 and grow it and use it to reach the world with the gospel. They print in so many different languages and send Bibles free of charge to missionaries all over the world.

After our tour, the director asked us if we had ever been to the Creation Museum, which is located only 45 minutes from BPS. Well, no, we hadn't. He said they have free passes and we could use them anytime we wanted, we could even go today! Jason looked at me and said, how about today? Like right now? Well, SURE, I would LOVE too! So off we went to the Creation Museum and it was fabulous. If you have not been there, it is a must. We really only had about 2 1/2 hours to spend there since they close at 6, so we flew through there trying to see as much as possible. I am eager to go back when we have more time to look at everything.

On the way back to BPS (we had to take the passes back), we discovered that their midweek Bible study was on Thursday instead of Wednesday. We looked at each other and thought, why not, we'll just stay for church too! After a quick call to my mom to let the dog out, we were ready to spend the evening at First Baptist Church of Milford, Ohio. The pastor was out of town, so an assistant pastor gave the message. At the end of service, the pastor announced who we were and that we were planting a church in Columbus and to make sure to stop by and say hello. What a huge encouragement for all of these people, whom we have never met, come by and let us know that they would be praying for us and our church plant.

When our church is able to start supporting missionaries, Bearing Precious Seed will be one of the first that we support.

What a wonderful, wonderful day. God is just so good.

All
the
time.

Daylight Savings Time ending...

Three Children Break off from Their Game of Battledore and Shuttlecock to Admire the Cuckoo Clock

Just a reminder, we get an extra hour tonight! Set those clocks! We are using our "extra" hour for our family fun night. Perfect timing ;o) How will you use your extra hour?

Homeschool: Scheduling and other stuff

There are many different approaches to homeschooling, there really is no "one size fits all". We have tried several approaches within our own family over the last 10 years ourselves, and I am sure that we will try other things in the future. During the time that my husband pastored, we did a lot of work in the church. While this is good, our basic school suffered.

Here is what we are doing this year:

• Mostly textbooks, Rod & Staff (with a little Abeka for my high schooler)
• Non-fiction DVD's from the library
• no classes, field trips, gym days, etc...
• no homeschool group

Doing this has really helped our family to get back on track. Not that homeschool groups, gym days, etc are bad, those were just things that we had to cut out to get our family back to where we need to be. Maybe next year, we will add those things back in. We will see. We will be taking a week off at the end of each quarter to do some fun things. The important thing to remember (and it can be sooo hard at times!) is that you need to do what is right for your family!

Something else to consider is that for many families, the family dynamics are constantly changing. One school year you may have babies & toddlers (which puts a lovely twist to any one's school day), the next year, that baby will be a toddler and the toddler will be a pre-schooler. There could be a new pregnancy, your olders are maturing more, etc... Constant changing.

This year, we have no pregnancy, babies, or toddlers. I have to admit, it is a little odd. We have been able to get much more done. Something that I wish I knew then is: Don't beat yourself up for not getting "enough" done! Treasure the little times, make memories with your kids, don't say no to things just for the sake of saying no. A friend and I were recently talking and we both admitted we have done this. I have found myself saying no for absolutely no reason other than my own laziness. How sad.

A wise saying that I heard from MOMYS several years ago is "While the days are so long, the years are very short". How true! What is the goal? What is the bigger picture? What vision do you have for your children? Do you pray daily for each of your children? Do you want them to "do school" well? Of course, we all want our kids to have a good education, but we also want them to love the Lord, to be able to minister to others, to be compassionate to their siblings, to honor mom and dad, etc...things that you can't learn from a textbook.

If only I knew then what I know now...

Apple Pickin'

Pick Your Own


It's a yearly tradition around here to go apple picking. It's fun for the whole family, especially fun if you go with friends, and it's so much cheaper than buying them in the store. At only $16 per bushel (I got 2 bushels), we can make plenty of applesauce and apple butter this year; not to mention apple crisp, apple cobbler, caramel apple pie, etc... is your mouth watering?

I saw this sign in the market, my husband didn't think it was as funny as I did.

Another yearly tradition...a picture of my son Jonathan ;o)

Last blast of summer

We spent Labor Day relaxing with just us. While we love to hang out with other families (!), sometimes it is nice to just be with each other. Our plans were to go to the fair close to where we live (within an hour or so) but when we saw that it was going to be in the 90's, we changed our mind! We went here instead...

It is always a little cooler close to the water, even when it's 90+. Oh yeah, and it was free. Family fun time, all together, a pleasant day...God is so good...all the time, isn't He?

We're Home!

Ahhh...home sweet home!



We had a wonderful time! We had a months' worth (Counting Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night) of sermons in less than 48 hours. And the singing, skits, etc... Just great! We had 4 teens, 2 young adults, 1 college student that goes there (but from our home church) and 3 chaperones that went from our church and it was just a great group. There were 9,000+ teens there altogether! Amazing seeing all those people there for the purpose of youth conference.



I am really glad that I went. Yes, the sermons were geared to teens, but, I think I really benefited from hearing them too. It brought me back to my own teen years and the struggles that come with it. Even though my teen is a pastor's daughter and has grown up in a Christian home, she still deals with the emotions of growing up. I was foolish to think otherwise. Especially being a pastors daughter, more people are watching her and sadly, some people are just waiting for her to mess up.



It is so easy to forget our own teen years (maybe we wanted to forget?!). I definitely have a bit more compassion for her and the other teens represented there. Kayleigh is my first teenager, we lovingly call her the test child :o) I have never had a teenager before but I was one many (many) years ago. I will try my best to be more understanding of her needs, without "loosening up" on my convictions. It is a fine balance, but well worth the effort!

Kayleigh and another teen on the way there

Kayleigh and me outside the hotel we stayed in. We were waiting for the van to get jumped :o(

don't ask...

Outside the front of the church with Kayleigh and some of the teens in our group.

Leaving today

Today, my 14 year old daughter and I are going to Indiana for a youth conference with our church. I am excited to get to spend this time with her, yet I am sad to leave my husband and other children behind.


Whenever something like this come up, (although it's rare!) I always feel torn. On one hand, I think it is good to get away for a little while, sort of "recharging my batteries" type of thing. We will be attending meetings and getting preached at (I love good preaching!).

On the other hand, my heart is here at home-with my husband and other children. What to do? I really feel that at this time in this time of her life, it is important to have a little one-on-one time with her.

I'll let you know how it goes...

* I wrote this before we left but waited to post it until today.

Happy 4th weekend!

I hope you have all had a fun long weekend so far! Since we have a birthday on the 3rd, we usually have a fun-filled July 4th holiday. We went to the fireworks at the Lake on the 3rd and then we went to the parade on the 4th. We always have dd's birthday party after the parade. My youngest sister's birthday is on the 4th so we celebrate her birthday too. She turned 17 this year! For the party I served grilled kabobs! YUM :o) I'll have to post that recipe next week.

Today we are going to another cookout with Jason's family. I hope you all have fun spending time with people that you love :o)



A few pics from our festivities...



Excitement builds whie waiting for the fireworks.

My new 10 year old :o)

The birthday girls: My daughter, 10 and my sister, 17

Summertime Fun?

I am one of those people who hates summer. I mean, I enjoy watching beautiful sunsets, relaxing fun with the family, gardening & preserving foods, and just taking in the beauty of the multitude of colorful flowers. Our Lord is just so creative, isn't He?

Here is why I don't like summer:

• We eat a lot of casserole, soups, lentils, etc... and it just seems too hot to eat those things in the summer. I have to get creative to get some summer time meal ideas. (any input is much appreciated!)
• Lack of schedule! Generally we have finished school and it seems that I can't get a workable schedule together. It's really kind of funny, I feel like I don't have enough time when we do school but I have way too much time on my hands when we are through with school. This includes the children and myself.
• Hot weather.
• Although I enjoy gardening & preserving, it can be a very hot and tiring process. It seems like when the harvest is here, you just can't pick it fast enough.

However, this year I am going to change my attitude! I do not want to spend the next three months being grumpy because it is not my favorite season (fall).

I am going to stay on my schedule and tweak it to fill in the gaps and have some fun! I think I may even use some of my time to (gasp) find some new summer/budget friendly recipes.

As for the weather, I really should not complain. We had some hot days there for a while but this last week or two have been absolutely beautiful! When it does get hot, I will thank the Lord for a working A/C.

Instead of complaining about the hot process of canning, I am going to praise the Lord that I am able to grow food and preserve it for my family without have to worry about E.Coli and Salmonella poisoning.

It is all about attitude. Philippians 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings. Ouch. I think it means ALL things.

In my next post, I am going to list my ideas of what our family will be doing this summer for fun. I also have some ideas at the bottom of my blog.

Happy Summer bloggy friends!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! My daughters and I attended our home church's (Bible Baptist Church) Mother/Daughter Luncheon today and had a good time. The lunch was good and there were ladies that gave testimonies about their mothers. We also had a Spring Fashion Show (more about that later). After quickly changing back into my regular clothes after the fashion show, I walked into the sanctuary to find my 14 year old daughter up on the stage ready to give a testimony about me! She, my husband, and the pastor's wife have known about this for weeks! She said some very kind things about me, thanking me for being a patient, loving, teaching mom; I only wish that I were those things all the time. I fall short.

Now for the fashion show. Have you ever read any of the Amelia Bedelia books? Amelia Bedelia takes everything very literally. Our fashion show included a nylon dress, seersucker dress, Sundress, etc... I was a "tea length dress".

My daughter took this pic at the "show". I am holding a red teapot and passed out teabags on my way down from the stage. She took this one too, to be able to better see my "tea length" dress. I took an old jumper and sewed on the teacup ribbon and various teabags and packaging. Notice my teabag necklace? I cannot believe that I walked in front of 100+ people wearing this! It was a lot of fun!

She takes 3rd!

My 14dd took 3rd place in our local library's' "Teen Poetry/Short Story" Contest. She wrote a short story called, "A Dog's Daring Rescue". She didn't realize until we got there for the reception that she would have to read it in front of everyone!! She just might not have entered if she knew that. (She's just like her mother). She got up there and read beautifully! I was so proud of her. The pic is from my phone so the quality is not so good, but you get the idea. All the contestants got a free book and as a 3rd place winner, she won a leather bound journal. They took her picture to possibly be on the library's website and the local paper. I'm a proud mom :o)

Home Sweet Home

It is soooo good to be home! While it is nice to go away for a little while, it is always GREAT to come home! We had a very good time visiting with other MOMYS families in Williamsburg, but our whole family was sick through out the week :o( so we did not get to do as many things as we had hoped.





We did something a little crazy...we were within an hour of the Atlantic Ocean, so we just had to go see the ocean. The kids all have colds, but off came the socks and shoes and in they went!

My husband still had another day off and we did absolutely nothing yesterday. Ahhh...we need days like that every now and then, just a day to chill with the family, no school, no laundry, etc... but today was back to some routine. We will start school again tomorrow.

Cookin' with the Boys!

My boys are always feeling a bit left out when it comes to baking or making special treats for the family. They always see their older sisters and want to help but I always say NO! Sad to say, I am quite selfish :o( I have prayed about this, me saying "no" all the time-really for no reason other than not wanting a mess, etc...

The Lord really has worked on me in this area over the last few years (yes, years! very gradual).

Yesterday, when I asked my boys, "would you like to make some no-bake cookies?", they were SOOOO excited!! It was something so easy and they had a GREAT time making a special treat for the family!

Willing workers!

Hard at work...

Our finished product!

oops!

They had so much fun! (and I did too)