Thank God for redemption, bought by the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

Rejoicing in salvation, this morning! Halleluia!

Shaking off the heavy chains, Dusting off the every stain of sin.

First Grade Ezra remembering...The Seventh Grader

Making Much of God's Grace!

Ezra is 12 yrs old today!

Gathering at the River of Forgiveness...

I like that thought. Everytime I sang that song, I thought only of the river of Heaven. The river of forgiveness makes me think of our foremothers gathering to do laundry and our laundry list in our souls needing cleansing in Christ. Halleluia what a Savior.

God is Amazing!

What a Friend we Have in Jesus

Covering our world with prayer.

Isn't God good? I should say He is. He is more willing to answer prayer than we are willing to pray.

Let us see the labor of prayer that so many mothers before us have covered our nation and world with. Lord, help us to follow the examples of praying mothers who have gone before us and paved our path. Laboring in prayer is a very great heritage.

Happy Labor Day!

We don't deserve all of the wonderful blessings that we have received because people have labored in prayer before us. Let us pass that down to the next generation.

Parity 9-06---32 years married and it is 9/06/15---and I am still here...God is good.

Mothers of Salem

a hymn

When mothers of Salem Their children brought to Jesus, The stern disciples drove them back And bade them to depart: But Jesus saw them ere they fled, And sweetly smiled, and kindly said, "Suffer little children to come unto Me." "For I will receive them, And fold them to My bosom: I'll be a Shepherd to those lambs, O drive them not away! For if their hearts to Me they give, They shall with Me in glory live: Suffer little children to come unto Me." How kind was our Saviour To bid those children welcome! But there are many thousands who Have never heard His Name; The Bible they have never read; They know not that the Saviour said: "Suffer little children to come unto Me." O soon may the heathen Of ev'ry tribe and nation Fulfil Thy blessed Word, and cast Their idols all away; O shine upon them from above, And show Thyself the God of love; Teach the little children to come unto Thee.

Children should be seen and not heard?

We were reared in the days when the motto "children should be seen and not heard" was just about over. It was over for the liberal and progressive parents, but my parents didn't fall into that category for some reason. SHHHHHHHHHH! was probably the command that we heard more than any other in our lives.

I think we have gone too far in the other direction and children's mouths are allowed to spout and their mouths are trained before their ears are. We miss so much when we learn to talk before we learn to listen.

The silence that was in our house was useful for the listening and the hearing skills that we now possess. maybe?

the babies in my care are just starting to babble and imitate in ununderstandable jibber-jabber. It is the most adorable thing to hear them go on and on. Last Monday, I said what happened over the weekend, guys? And Natty, who is 13 months and not usually the first to answer, went on for about a minute with some unclear jabber. It sounded, adorably like she said that she said no to her mommy. Well, I let her finish her story and the other babies looked like they knew what she said and wanted to see what I was going to say to that. I said, Oh really, which means I don't really know what you said. But I hope you didn't say that you said no to mommy and I went on to tell them how awful it is to say no to mommy for no reason. They listened to me, because I had listened to them. We have a lot of great fun in the day, for the most part. But teachable moments usually come when I have been quiet enough to listen to what they said, even when I don't understand it. That is the rapport of love that is important in growing relationships. Babies are not on social media and you can't text message them. You must listen and you must talk...

just a thought.

Emily and I in 1990

Learning to hammer out the differences..."In the Living Years" Are we listening to our children?

I think, It is not really about what you said, but what you let the children say.

"The Living Years" "Every generation Blames the one before And all of their frustrations Come beating on your door I know that I'm a prisoner To all my Father held so dear I know that I'm a hostage To all his hopes and fears I just wish I could have told him in the living years Crumpled bits of paper Filled with imperfect thought Stilted conversations I'm afraid that's all we've got You say you just don't see it He says it's perfect sense You just can't get agreement In this present tense We all talk a different language Talking in defense Say it loud, say it clear You can listen as well as you hear It's too late when we die To admit we don't see eye to eye So we open up a quarrel Between the present and the past We only sacrifice the future It's the bitterness that lasts So don't yield to the fortunes You sometimes see as fate It may have a new perspective On a different date And if you don't give up, and don't give in You may just be O.K. Say it loud, say it clear You can listen as well as you hear It's too late when we die To admit we don't see eye to eye I wasn't there that morning When my Father passed away I didn't get to tell him All the things I had to say I think I caught his spirit Later that same year I'm sure I heard his echo In my baby's new born tears I just wish I could have told him in the living years Say it loud, say it clear You can listen as well as you hear It's too late when we die To admit we don't see eye to eye"

This morning, because I am sick and at home, we get to talk politics. My husband, my 21 year old, very opinionated son and my very opinionated self talk about fireworks of huge proportions. It is a memory. It is never going to be reconciled. It is an exercise in communication that if it is not practiced now, will never garner respect for age and youth in our future generations. We passed the first bar on this order. Hopefully, our children will do the same.

Friends came to visit...