Hours of freeze tag, capture the flag, soccer, frisbee, dress up, coloring, games of miniature golf, ice cream, Oreos, and more!  They even gave our girls adorable hair cuts (extra bonus that they are both professional hair dressers)!!! Clearly also fashion experts—just check out those fabulous glasses they are wearing in the pictures below!

When all was said and done, at the end of a super long day of play, these great friends still weren’t done.  I had shared with them my goal of getting the ENTIRE school year planned, organized, and sorted into bins before September rolled around. So, each evening they helped me copy, print, sort, and bind up notebooks to go with each of our upcoming Wisdom Books.  There were so many papers, that we lost count night after night.  So I decided to add it all up just to see how much AMAZING hard work they did. They spiral bound 36 notebooks for our Wisdom Book Units,  as well as 18 handwriting/ABC notebooks for our younger ones to use every month of the year!  That’s a lot of spiral binding!!!  I printed out my monthly calendar plans for each, grabbed related books off the shelf, and stuffed the bins. THANK YOU RACHEL & SARAH for being such AMAZING servants and friends. Our school year is planned till the end of the year! Wow- I set the goal, but I truly didn’t think I would reach it- Thank you for helping me—what a gift!

HOME SCHOOLING FAMILIES : If you are a home schooler and currently use “lap books” or something similar—might I suggest to you checking out one of my FAVORITE sites Notebooking Pages.  It takes any unit or theme you can think of to learn about (from handwriting to presidents to ancient China) and sets it into pre-formatted pages. You could put them in a 3 ring or spiral bind them. I like binding them so they take up less space and lay FLAT on their work space.  So as your kids are learning, note taking, writing, whatever- they can learn to organize all their work.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE – did I say LOVE – these pages.  They help me teach one topic to a LARGE variety of learning styles and abilities. Their site has LOTS of free down loads so you can sample.  Of course being a lover of organized things, I bought the whole set. Check it out www.notebookingpage.com

Enjoy!  

Any one here in  Simsbury, CT knows about “Day Camp”, but for those of you far away, let us share with you a little slice of heaven here at our church we call “Marketplace Day Camp”.

Months of preparation, prayer and persistence culminates in one week every August. This is no VBS people—this is colossal!  The property here at The Barn undergoes a metamorphosis of sorts.  Tents are pitched, costumes, adorned, Drama teams practice, Jesus acquired (yes- we have Jesus visit on site!!!)Artisan tents set up, Tribes assembled, songs rehearsed, and so much more. It is a week set back in Biblical times where the kids experience what it would be like to live with Jesus, walk the streets with those He knew, make things with “local artisans” just as they did when Jesus was there. 

Now of course there are a few “modern” amenities added in. Like, chocolate covered pretzels and popsicles for snack, a giant water slip and slide, microphones for the worship team, inflatable bouncers at a picnic, to name a few.

This beautiful week was here long before the Martins arrived. It is the vision of the church to reach the community. We are just blessed to join in the celebration! Every year it grows, more kids come, more adults serve, hundreds (yes hundreds) of Jr. & Sr. High kids volunteer a week of their lives, and kids leave transformed. In the past couple years it has grown to bring in ANY kid, with ANY disability or challenge- so,  many more volunteers come (sometimes giving up a week of work) just to work one on one with a child who needs something extra. We have sooooo many pictures, but here are the ones that I know I am able to share with permission from their families—or because I know them personally.

We were blessed to see pillars of dripstone 60 feet high.  We saw walls that looked like they were melting because they are covered with flowstone.  There was also an organ connected to mechanical hammers that would tap a stalagmite to produce the sound.  All of the sound from the organ came from the cave itself. It was amazing, and the cave is plays host to many weddings each year.

But maybe the most amazing thing that struck Jill and me was a shallow lake.  This lake was only 18 inches at it’s deepest point.  The water is so still that the reflection of the ceiling above it is nearly perfect.  Jill and I had the same thought as we stood, gazing into this pool; “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” (1Cor. 13:12)  As perfect as the image was, it was not the original.  As well as we might be able to know God now, we will never know Him fully this side of glory.  I look forward to the day when I will see Him face to face and know Him fully, even as I am fully known.

The actual purpose of our trip to Virginia was the Family Encouragement Weekend.  This is an event we attended last year for the first time and are committed to making it a part of our August as long as it is offered.  Three families work together to make this weekend all that it is.  They are the Wilkes family, the Neely family and the Staddon family.  If you would like to see pictures from the weekend or read other testimonies of God’s work, click on the underlined names to go to their websites.  We are incredibly grateful to all of these families for making this weekend encouraging, challenging and edifying for us as well as all of the other families that attended.

The weekend is structured rather simply.  There were speakers who shared truths from the Scriptures with practical applications, as well as real life confirming testimonies from their own families.  There were times for families to gather with other families for prayer.  There were games for the kids while the dads got together to ask questions and pray.  This is a weekend focused on encouraging families to carry on in the struggle to raise up godly children in this world.  We were incredibly encouraged and challenged to do just that.

The most remarkable thing to me again this year is who the speakers are.  These men would not be given a stage or a hearing in any leadership conference.  They do not come with worldly credentials that would make anyone say, “Wow, I need to listen to this guy.”  What they bring is a testimony of a family living for God, children who love God, and generations following after them who are giving their lives to build the kingdom of God.  When I think of these men I think of Paul, writing to the Corinthians, and challenging their views of credentials:

“Do we begin again to commend ourselves?  Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?  You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men: clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” –2Corinthians 3:1-3

What I am saying is that these men have the greatest credentials any man can have.  The Spirit of the living God has written epistles on the hearts of their children, and their children are writing their own epistles on the hearts of others, all to the glory of God.  I do not say this to embarrass them, though I am sure they will be.  I say this to encourage all of us to look beyond the surface, look beyond the degrees, look beyond the job.  Look at the heart and look at the fruit of a man’s life.  I am honored to sit under the teaching of men like these.  Thank you.

If you would like to listen to the mp3’s from the Virginia FEW weekend, as well as the FEW weekend held in North Carolina in March, just click here.

When we began doing family devotions it was awkward and challenging. I was uncomfortable, not communicating well with the kids, and they were not enjoying sitting for long. I decided we would read through a book of the Bible. We would gather together after dinner was cleaned up and read a passage. I would ask questions, trying to be practical and help them understand how the passage related to their lives. It was challenging, but we were struggling through it together. We would follow that time with prayer, and then we would work on a passage we were memorizing together.

This process often took an hour, which we learned was way too much. I wanted this to be a priority, but I needed to be more realistic. I needed to find ways to allow the kids to be more engaged, have more fun, and shorten our time without sacrificing what I wanted to accomplish. I needed to be creative, which is not my strong suite.

Jill helped a lot with all of this, giving me ideas, helping me communicate with the kids and encouraging their participation. We began to act out passages, being silly at times, trying to make the time together more interesting. Over the winter, when it got dark early, we were reading through Mark and came to the transfiguration. To try to capture the light shining from Jesus we turned off the lights and put on silly glasses that were painted with glow-in-the-dark paint. Is this what Jesus looked like? They knew it wasn’t, but they remember that night, and they remember that story. We are currently reading through Genesis and are in the middle of the Joseph story. Different children are reading the different characters in the story. When Pharaoh chooses Joseph to lead the nation he places his ring, a robe, and a gold chain on Joseph. So the person reading Pharaoh’s lines did the same to the person reading Joseph’s lines. She put a ring, a multi-colored towel, and a…oops, I forgot to get a necklace…oh well, on her brother. They remember the story.

When we pray, each child has a journal. The ones who cannot read have a picture journal. Each one has a day and they lead us in prayer. We are also able to give them updates on how God is answering prayer, which encourages them in their prayers all the more. It is a powerful lesson for all of us, and a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness.

We also do Scripture memory. We have changed the way we do this recently, and it is working great. I found a simple Scripture memory system that I introduced to the family that takes just a few minutes each day and allows passages to stick quickly and be repeated often. To learn more about that you can go to http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/.

You may read this article and still be intimidated. I want to encourage you to simply try something. You don’t have to do all of this. Just start with something. We now take about 40 minutes for all of this. It is an investment that pays dividends every day. Our children are hiding God’s Word in their hearts, they are experiencing God answering prayer, and they are learning how the Scriptures apply to their lives. These are critical life-long lessons for all of us. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it (Prov. 22:6). Start training, men.

Attached String #1- Diligence

Attached String #2-Great Attitude

Attached String #3- Commitment

Of course, upfront that seems easy, but when you are in the thick of it, it can be easier said than done!  Sometimes the challenges of life make you mentally, emotionally, or spiritually tired.  Then, diligence, great attitude, and commitment become extra challenging.  Jacob learned quite quickly that you must be INTENTIONAL everyday. Starting your day by plannoing on being diligent, planning on having a joyous attitude no matter what comes your way, and sticking to it (endurance) even when the going gets tough!

The month was chalk full of “life lessons” for Jacob.  Times when something that had seemed easy when only contemplated, then in reality was a little more challenging.  We are so proud that he kept an open and honest relationship with us the whole time.  He talked to us about everything, even the hard life lessons when he tried to stand us for what was right and found himself in the minority.  We are proud of his diligence and commitment to growing and learning A LOT. In the end, his anchor held! He did not waver.  

Most of all, Jacob learned that when God gives you a gift, you must work hard to take care of it, learn about it, and be willing to be challenged in order to allow God’s gift to grow in you.  He went in planning on allowing God to challenge him in his giftedness, and he was joyously surprised at what he experienced.

Jacob we are so proud of you!!! You are becoming such a diligent and joyous young man of God (and cellist too) !

Here’s our top 10 reasons why you should consider sitting down as a family and setting goals.  Goals for the months to come and goals for the year. Maybe even goals for a few years out.  Involve the WHOLE family.  You would be surprised how much kids enjoy this.  They just love planning on great things to come.   

1.) It helps you stay focused and say “No” to competeing affections. There are a lot of “good” things out there, but you have to make a choice.

2.) It is very motivating to you and your children.  Just like the excitement of preparation for a big holiday, kids LOVE planning on great things to come!  You will be pleasantly shocked at the drive that is instilled in your children!  As well as how much they learn in the planning process. 

3.) Peace. Sometimes the  chaos of life and all the choices that drag us in different directions makes our brains dizzy!  KNOWING where your priorities lie and having them written down is a huge source of peace and erases the chaos of choice making.

4.) See God answer prayer in your family. When something is just around he corner we get ready for it.  That usually means part of our preparation is praying for that upcoming thing.  When we pray as a family for the upcoming events that we have committed to for the year, we quickly begin to SEE so many MORE answers to prayer.  Why?  Because we are LOOKING!!!  God always answers, we forget to look.

5.) Blessing a family member–If someone in your family loves to plan and organize a calendar- Then this will be a HUGE blessing to them.  They love to know what they can count on!!!

6.) Your children will automatically reach higher and higher each time you sit down to talk. It started in our house with simple things like finish this book, go the the butterfly museum.  Then, it turned into bigger things.  Sophie’s story below is the perfect example.

7.) Meaningless, meaningless, meaningless.  Sometimes people feel like they are so “full of life” that it seems meaningless to them- what does it really matter in the end?  Goal setting is perfect to combat this!  You go from one or tow things all the way to running out of paper because your family plans so many meaningFULL things.

8.) Family Unity.  Our world divides up family members left and right.  From sports, to school, even church events.  They are all good things, but they divide up the family.  Setting goals helps you make sure that you work together as a family!

9.) Your kids will not just “know” but they will experience how much you value their ideas, goals, and opinions.

10.) You will grow in wisdom and stature. Truly you will. Throughout Scripture, there are countless examples of people “stepping forward in faith" in some great adventure” and then you see how much they grow.  In the end we grow to because we learn from their example.  THAT COULD BE YOU!  God calls us all to step out in faith.  What is HE asking you to COMMITT to,  not just “intend” to do?  You will surely grow by committing your time to Him!

SOPHIE’S STORY OF GOAL SETTING:

We have this Christmas CD of beautiful harp music. Sophie listened to it all season.  When we set Goals in January, who knew that she was going to say “ I would like to learn the harp”. Wow, really? Yes really Dad & Mom, I really do. Alright, lets write that down.  Anything else?  Yes I would like to meet Betty-Ashton (the harpist on the CD). Well OK Sophie!! That sounds Like a great goal. Now what do we need to do to reach that goal? We must insert that Sophie is not normally an initiative taker and surely doesn’t like new things-  this was a HUGE goal! So we set about planning, learning what it would take, writing letters, etc.

Then  in early spring Sophie began lessons.  Her violin teacher “just happened” to be friends with a harp distributer in the area who “just happened” to give lessons and have “just one slot available”.  They “just happened” to have a student sized harp we could rent as we learned and “just happened” to live nearby.  And Sophie “just happened” to see HOW AMAZING God’s perfect timing is when you pay attention and how NOTHING “just happens” in life!!!  Of course she had already been taught that, but now she had a life story to prove it!

Then this June, for Sophie’s 9th Birthday. She met Betty-Ashton. She wrote to her just after the new year.  She found out she lived in Nashville, not too far from where we go to a homeschooling conference and Emi & C-Dub live!!!  Then, to Sophie’s shock, Betty Ashton offered to meet with her for an afternoon free of charge!!!. She went to her home, got to hear her play, learned that Betty Ashton started playing when she was 9 too,  learned about teaching & harp therapy, learned how to make the harp sound like a spanish guitar, and even got to play on her harps.  She went home with a t-shirt, a new CD of songs composed by Betty Ashton, and IMMENSE JOY and ENCOURAGEMENT.  She set a goal.  She worked toward it.  and WOW- how blessed she was when it came to fruition!!!!

It was filled joy and play

So much to do it made time fly

All the days passed in a blink of an eye

There once was a day called May

Here are a few of the May highlights from our family:

We had the privilege of being a part of Nauna & Nat’s wedding in New York.  Jacob had his first ever “live” performance to play cello for the ceremony, and Sophie got to stand up in the wedding.  We all had a wonderful time seeing friends from Mom’s childhood, and visiting with family.  We even got to play on their BIG grassy hill with their new dog Fritz, and a little baseball too!

Then we traveled to Ohio/PA area to see the extended Martin family.  What a BLAST!!! We stayed at Uncle Dave & Aunt Betsy’s.  They have a HUGE & FAST new zip line, plus a trampoline!  We had a great time catching up with family.  We were also blessed to see our dear friends, The Ellis’s and their four little kids, who just started in the pastorate. 

Stay tuned for Zip line pix……soon to come!

Then we were off to Nashville!  Where we spent time bowling with Emi (mom’s sister) & C-dub.  They have a lot of friends that are musicians.  So while the other kids played, Jacob interviewed a few of them on their instruments and techniques! There is always time for nurf gun training.  In addition, Sophie had the privilege of spending the day with Betty Ashton a harpist (that we will place as a separate blog entry).

Then we were off to our homeschooling conference. The kids had such a great tie making new friends and seeing old ones, as well as learning about the blessings of God. The family’s highlight was seeing Robert & Clayton perform on dueling pianos!  WOW AMAZING!!!  Dad and Mom got to hear some great teaching and were thankful to reconnect to friends met in years past.  I see a few road trips coming up!!!  To see some great pictures from the conference, our friend James Staddon took some great shots.  Click here- Pix from Nashville from James

To see some great shots of real guns (verses nurf) check out The Neely’s recent blog entry- you can click here-  The Bigger Gun!!! by the Neely’s  

Stay tuned for Events on a Zip line and A Day of Harpping with Sophie

We, like every parent on earth, are very aware that parenting is a refiner’s fire.  God uses children, as well as many other life circumstances, to teach us where we need to grow.  As our children model our words, actions, emotions, responses, we are held accountable to a higher standard every day!  There is nothing like a child mimicking your attitude to put you in your place with God!!!  Sometimes you don’t even need to be a parent yet-  just an older sibling.

Last month we spent learning about the process of refining metals and making glass.  We learned how metals are purified multiple times to increase their value, how sand is turned into glass, and how we, as Christians, are refined throughout life.

We went to a local artist workshop on making glass.  He was a wonderful host to our family and took time to teach each child the process of glass making. He even gave us a tour of the historical church where his studio is located.  At the end, he allowed us to stay extra and watch him work on a project.  We decided to split up the family and we will do a second visit in a few months.  Since there was a 2000 degree furnace involved- we thought that was a wise choice for our family!  In the end, we came home with BEAUTIFUL stained glass flowers to give as a present to Nauna and Nat for their recent wedding. 

We can’t wait to go back with the rest of the kids.  In the meantime, we have no doubt that God will continue to supply us with our own personal “furnace” to refine us day by day!

OK- there is another family favorite….cinnamon rolls.  Every work day we bake oodles of cinnamon rolls and deliver them to all the church volunteers.  It is a great way for our younger children to be involved and show gratitude and hospitality.

Sometimes school is in a text book, and other times school is in daily life.  Being responsible for the things God has entrusted to you.  Wise Diligence, Joyful hearts, Endurance, Alertness, and being a servant first. Lessons to last a lifetime!