I wanted to update with a slide of our camping trip with our small group and our field trip to Gator and Friends. Both were a lot of fun!!

My Husband Rocks Friday

I wanted to share with you why I think "My Husband Rocks" this week. He has really felt like God has put on his heart to encourage men at our church. We are now at the age that we are in church leadership training as well as raising families to be strong in the Lord. He has been praying for a while for God to show him where he can serve in this capacity. About 3 years ago, FBC offered a course called Raising Modern Day Knights. This is a training course for fathers with sons between the ages of 6-14. In the study they learn how to raise young men to stand up for their faith and be strong in their commitment to the Lord. They even have a really cool "knighting" ceremony for the boys at the end of the course. This study really encouraged Steve to take a more active role in raising our sons and ever since he has looked for ways to be more involved in the boys "man training". So, while praying for a way to encourage men, he remembered this course and thought that it was an excellent way to encourage other men/fathers while learning together how to be better fathers together.

This past week was their first official meeting. They have a group of eight wonderful men that will journey together on their way to becoming faithful servants as well as strong, courageous fathers. I am so proud of him taking time out of his already busy work and family schedule to do this. I can not think of a better way to serve the Lord while at the same time inspiring other men to further the kingdom.

That is why "My Husband Rocks"!!

Virtues

Virtues are definitely one aspect our lives that have been seriously overlooked as of late. I truly believe we as a society have failed ourselves and our children by forgoing the virtues of our past and replacing them with distraction, selfishness, greed, envy, immorality, etc. . The dictionary defines virtue as:

1.a. Moral excellence and righteousness; goodness.

b. An example or kind of moral excellence: the virtue of patience.

2. Chastity, especially in a woman.

3. A particularly efficacious, good, or beneficial quality; advantage: a plan with the virtue of being practical.

4. Effective force or power: believed in the virtue of prayer.

We have been passed down these virtues that are great and blessed country was built on. Ones such as self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty and faith.

If we do not hold these attributes in high regard, then who will? I found the poem below while reading "The Book of Virtues For Young People" to my boys and it was a slap in the face to me. I, for the most part, do not practice these virtues on a daily basis. If I have not committed to making my life a virtuous one, then how can I teach them to my children? I am making a commitment to practice one virtuous deed every day. My goal is to make them habit so that my daily life reflects these things and in turn be an example to my children. That is MY responsibility.

The Bridge Builder

Will Allen Dromgoole

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;

You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,

"There followeth after me today
A youth, whose feet must pass this way."

"This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."

And The Two Became One...

We have officially joined the ranks of families with a missing hamster. We, like several of you, got two hamsters this summer when my boys completed the reading program at the library. Of course my boys were thrilled and quickly claimed one as their own and named them Harry and Ralph. And yes, they actually were two boys!! Harry had already chewed himself out of the cardboard box that the pet store put him in before we got home. Thankfully we had a plastic hamster ball that we quickly transferred him to.

So, needless to say, Harry has been trying to escape ever since we bought him. There have been at least two occasions where we have to hurriedly grab Harry before he squeezed under an arm when changing food or jumped out of our hand when transferring him to the ball to clean the cage. Oh by the way, he bit too!! Not my favorite one anyway.

Well, last Thursday was "clean out cage" day at our house. We cleaned out the whole thing and replaced BOTH hamsters in the cage safe and sound when we were done. That evening I looked in the cage and did not see Harry! I didn't worry much because they bury themselves under the cedar to sleep. Well, we left for camping early Friday morning for the weekend. When we got home we were too busy unpacking to check on them. Ethan finally looked in the cage Sunday night and said he still could not see Harry. So, Steve had the "man" job of digging around in the cage. Well, after a few minutes of digging, no Harry. We examined the cage carefully and found no way that he could escape but there was no sign of him.

So, now we are just waiting for the aftermath of the lost hamster. Thankfully my boys are handling this very well. But for now, we are going to be happy with just one hamster.

My Husband Rocks!!

I am taking on the challenge of posting every Friday about why my husband rocks!! If you want to join me click here.

Where to begin!! Steve has been my best friend for 18 years!! He is my first and only love on earth. He is brilliant, thoughtful, pensive, hard-working, eccentric, forgetful, loyal,funny and down right nutty when he wants to be. I could not have asked for a more patient and self-sacrificing husband. I know he is 100% committed to me. He is an attentive, playful and prayerful daddy too. He is always tweaking his work schedule in order to rush home to spend time with us. I know he would rather be home than anywhere else! That means more to me than any material thing he could buy me. He is a strong leader that people want to be around. He loves to ponder the universe and use really big words ;)

When it comes to spiritual matters, he is strongly encourages and supports me and the boys. He challenges us to commit to his first love is Jesus Christ. He furthers is commitment and study of the Word by challenging conventional Christianity and sharing his new findings with those around him. He has a passion for music and encouraging men to be better fathers and husbands. He loves his family self-sacrificially because he wants to not because he has to.

Sound to good to be true? Well he almost is!! I love him with all of my heart and am so blessed by him. I can't wait to share every Friday about the wonderful things my hubby does every day!!

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