Does God Exist?

Psalms 14: 1 The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. In keeping with our Creationism/Genesis feature stories this month, I wanted to include an answer to the most basic of questions: Does God exist? Does God exist? This is one of the most asked, most wondered about and generally most poorly answered questions in all of history. Could you answer someone today if they asked you? The most common answer is "well, you just have to believe by faith. You can’t really know for sure". You’ve never seen God. You can’t touch God. You can’t "prove" God exists. So if you can’t "prove" it, then you can’t expect people to "blindly" believe in God. So everyone is left to "believe or not believe" that God exists; whatever you feel like without rhyme or reason. Isa 44.6 Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God." What if you could show that God exists as surely as you could prove, say, the fact that George Washington was President? What if you could demonstrate God exists 100 times more convincingly than the fact that Alexander the Great was a conqueror or that Egypt had Pharaohs? Was Napoleon Bonaparte a French dictator? Was Plato a philosopher? Was Abraham Lincoln president? Were you really born in the town you say? How can you prove wind exists? Are there ... | read the rest of this story online

Enjoy Christ's Approval

Flight 961 to Eternity: "You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (James 4:14, emphasis added). Thanksgiving Day, 1996: It was a typical flight—one that occurs thousands of times every day around the world. Ethiopian Air Flight 961 took off November 23, 1996, from Addis Ababa. Onboard were 163 passengers and twelve crewmembers. Among those flying that day were Mr. and Mrs. Andy Meakins. Andy, an elder at the International Evangelical Church of Addis, at one time pastored that large Bible-believing church. In less than two hours, more than 120 people died, including five from that church. Andy, a good friend of mine, did not survive the crash. Somewhere near Kenya, the horrifying hijack began. Escaped convicts, brandishing an ax and a supposed bomb, stormed the flight deck, savagely beating the copilot and throwing him down. They then ordered the pilot to turn the plane eastward. In spite of the plane’s dangerously low fuel tank, he was forced to submit to their demands. The pilot kept pleading for a refueling stop, but to no avail. The hijackers threatened to blow up the plane if he didn’t comply. After trying to hug the coast of Africa, the pilot attempted to make it to the Indian Ocean island of Comoros. When it became evident they would not make it, the captain announced to the cabin passengers: "Listen, guys, we’re all dead people. There is no argument now." "People began to scream," one witness said, "and others began to pray." The crash is now well known: a Japanese honeymooning couple filmed the descent, dip of a wing, the flip, the crash, and the disintegration of the 767 over the water. News reports, however, never contained ... | read the rest of this story online

Creation: Where's the Proof?

When the person you talk to on creation insists that you ‘leave the Bible out of it’, they are really saying the deck should be stacked one way. First published: Creation 22(1):39–42, December 1999 By Ken Ham Over the years, many people have challenged me with a question like: ‘I’ve been trying to witness to my friends. They say they don’t believe the Bible and aren’t interested in the stuff in it. They want real proof that there’s a God who created, and then they’ll listen to my claims about Christianity. What proof can I give them without mentioning the Bible so they’ll start to listen to me?’ Briefly, my response is as follows. Evidence Creationists and evolutionists, Christians and non-Christians all have the same evidence—the same facts. Think about it: we all have the same earth, the same fossil layers, the same animals and plants, the same stars—the facts are all the same. The difference is in the way we all interpret the facts. And why do we interpret facts differently? Because we start with different presuppositions. These are things that are assumed to be true, without being able to prove them. These then become the basis for other conclusions. All reasoning is based on presuppositions (also called axioms). This becomes especially relevant when dealing with past events. Past and present We all exist in the present—and the facts all exist in the present. When one is trying to understand how the evidence came about ... | read the rest of this story online

Sergei Golovin

After Communism’s Collapse: Creation in the Crimea Ken Ham meets Ukrainian geophysicist and creation warrior Sergei Golovin. (Creation Ex Nihilo Vol.22 No.4, September - November 2000, pp. 24 - 27. Reduced.) Sergei Golovin has a Master’s degree in geophysics, and lives in the Crimea region, Ukraine, where he heads a creation ministry, the Christian Center for Science and Apologetics. Sergei spoke of the vast cultural and philosophical differences between people in the former USSR and the West. ‘Three generations of communist "atheology" has trained people not to search for a logical answer,’ he said. ‘The logical contradictions in communist ideology were carefully explained away as just the "dialectics of history". So even if they see contradictions in parts of evolution theory, many still just accept it.’ ‘Evolution,’ he said, ‘was the "scientific foundation" the communists used to promote their humanistic ideology and attack Christianity. Even though many have suffered much under communism, they still think that science has proved they are products of time and chance. Having heard no alternative to evolution, life has even less purpose or meaning than under communism.’ Sergei said, ‘Capitalism alone is not able to fill the "spiritual vacuum" left by Marxism’s collapse, and the result is the general growth of crime, drugs, occultism, robber barons, moral decay and suicides. In Ukraine, we now have 1.3 divorces for every new marriage, and about two abortions for every child born. Plus a lot of abandoned street kids. Our ministry is also involved in missions to street kids and orphanages, but this is fighting the symptoms; to fight the disease itself we have to ... | read the rest of this story online

Living Faith: Wesley Brainard

Brainard... the first time I heard that name I immediately thought about one of my favorite Christian heros, David Brainerd. It didn’t catch my attention that the names were spelled slightly different. As it turns out, much to my delight, Wesley Brain Ard is related to David Brain Erd. Somebody along the way changed the spelling. I was already wanting to do a story on Wesley, so it was just a bonus to find out he was actually related to David Brainerd too. Enough from me... meet Wesley Brainard. Tell us a little bit about how you grew up… family life. I grew up in Northeastern Ohio where my father was a pastor and my mother was a social worker. I have a sister who is three years older. We grew up in church almost literally. Church was our playground. I’m very grateful for my family. They continue to be a strong source of love and encouragement. Since there were always gatherings of people, whether at the church or at the house, there was always an audience for me. I discovered very young that I loved to make people laugh, so I memorized Bill Cosby albums. Then, whenever I had an opportunity, I would become Bill Cosby and tell the stories. People loved it… my parents loved it… and it set the stage for what would become a love and passion for me. Tell us about your family now. I live in Tulsa, with my wife, Nancy, and our son David. David is two and is the joy of our lives. I could fill a book with all the things I’ve learned since David was born. It seems ... | read the rest of this story online

One Million!

We surpassed one million page views for the 5th issue (March 2009)! Not bad for five issues, huh? Thanks to YOU! We continue to develop new ways for more and more bloggers, writers and photographers participate in the magazine. That’s what makes all this really fun. It’s not just about THIS magazine... we are creating a publication that benefits everyone involved while giving the readers great content, fantastic photos and lots of great stuff to look forward too. We are always on the look out for great articles and we love suggestions from the readers. You guys know a LOT of people who have a LOT of fantastic, interesting stories. We are lining up features for the rest of the year. Give us a holler and let us know about a family, person or group that deserves to have their story told. You’ll notice the serious.photo spreads just keep growing as one of the favorite parts of the issue. It’s amazing how many really good amateur photographers there are. With the availability of great cameras that are easy to use, people are free to be creative without having to know all the technical ins-and-outs. This irks some professionals, but I just see it as a challenge to get even better at my own picture taking. Do I hear "two million" anyone?... | read the rest of this story online

Dear Brent

Dear Brent, I would appreciate your thoughts on "Rejection". One of the young men in prison I visit has a hard time as his mother kicked him out at 12 and his step-father told him how stupid he is, etc. He asked me about it. He is a new believer. A Blog Reader I’m glad he’s a Believer because it makes this much easier. Not "easy" but "easier" than if he was a not saved. For the unsaved person, the answer is still the same, but it won’t make sense. Rejection is probably the toughest of all human experience. Here are some things I want our young Brother to know: His Savior was Rejected The Savior of mankind, the Creator of the Universe, the sinless perfect Lamb of God was not only rejected by the religious leaders, He was rejected by His home town, His closest friends and His entire family. Our new Brother needs to understand that His Savior knows FULL WELL what rejection feels like and there has never been one moment that Jesus has ever quit caring about any rejection we have ever suffered. As a Christian, You’ll Be Rejected by the World Christians will experience rejection because of their faith. Family, friends, employers and society will reject us DURING THIS LIFETIME but an entire eternity of heavenly acceptance awaits us. It is important to be honest about this. We will experience insult, taunting, persecution, rejection and even physical harm in this life. But God sees ALL, and our reward for suffering for our faith will be repaid a million times a million times a million in Heaven. God Never Rejects God will NEVER reject you. You are adopted into His family now and you are His child, ... | read the rest of this story online

Who Needs Effort?

heard a commercial today that is indicative of where we are at as a society. It was all about the "proven success" of a program that allows kids to "easily and consistently" scores "A’s" on school tests. How to take tests, how to pass tests, how to get A’s every time, using proven techniques. The commercial declared that the reason for academic failure was that there is just too much to learn. It’s too hard. Too much. The answer? Don’t learn, don’t cut back, don’t change the education system... just use proven techniques to pass tests. America in a nutshell, 21st century style. Self esteem; quick and easy; image over substance; recognition instead of effort... get the grade; don’t work hard; get the goal without the actual sacrifice. Do whatever it takes to get ahead without actually striving, learning, sweating, failing, trying over and over, learning from mistakes. Since when is "getting the grade" the real goal? I thought the grade was the measurement that showed you achieved the REAL goal? (learning, creating, producing, trying, etc) Of course it is promoted that your kids self esteem will soar. They’ll be an IDIOT, but at least they will have good grades and feel good about themselves... and they won’t have to "suffer" through the hard work of learning when there are parties and movies to tend to. Give me a kid, or person, who will try, try, try, try and try again... failure after failure, never giving up, and I’ll take them ANY DAY over the kid who has a sky high opinion of themselves (self esteem), who shortcuts everything ... | read the rest of this story online

Money: The Truth About the Credit Industry

n October 2008, many of the problems that have long been hidden in the credit industry finally showed up in a big way. The immediate response was for the government, the very same people who caused the problem to begin with, to now "solve" the problem by taking $700 billion of your money and mine and giving it to the people who created this disaster. Yeah, that works... Since this book (Life Without Debt; this article is an excerpt) is about personal finance, I’m not going to talk much here about the problems with the mortgage industry and the government bailout. I’m going to focus on the credit industry which many of our politicians wanted to include in the bailout. The cause of the big financial crash is the exact same cause that will eventually burst the credit bubble: easy credit to people who lack financial discipline and the ability to repay it. As I said at the beginning of this book, I’m not one of those people who run around saying "it’s not your fault you’re in debt" (excluding those who have experienced a medical catastrophe or some accident through no fault of their own). To whatever degree you are in debt from using credit cards to purchase lifestyle, it is your fault! Until you change your mindset about credit, no amount of good information on the predatory practices of the credit industry and how to avoid them will keep you from getting in debt. So keep the number one foundational principle in mind as you read this section: you must change your attitude about debt in order to get out of debt and stay out of debt. You must accept personal responsibility for being in debt and not blame it on anyone else, including the credit industry. With that said, ... | read the rest of this story online

God Took Me to Heaven...

By Laurel Diacogiannis June 2007 … "Mom, when will I go to heaven?" asked 5 year old Elijah. "Whenever God decides to take you there." "You could have gone there already." added his 7 year old brother, Josiah. "I know. Two times." As Jim gripped the steering wheel and focused on driving quickly, yet safely, to the hospital, I sat in the back seat next to Elijah’s car seat. My hand rested on his chest, praying for every breath that he took. I knew that every minute was critical, that a seizure could happen at any time, and that the hospital was 30 minutes away. It was almost 1:00 a.m. on August 15, 2005, when we realized that our 3 year old son’s life was at stake. After battling flu-like symptoms for 24 hours, purple spots appeared on Elijah’s torso. As the parents of 10 children, we had seen many rashes, but nothing like this. For an hour, I tried to reach the doctor on call. No one returned my frantic phone calls. We faced a critical decision: do we put Elijah to bed and take him to the doctor’s office in the morning; or do we drive him to the emergency room tonight? We later learned that our answer to that question made the difference between life or death. Doctors assured us that had we put Elijah to bed that night, he would have died in his sleep. His body was shutting down. As we unknowingly faced the parenting question of a lifetime, the Lord brought to mind a random conversation with a friend several weeks before. Her son, Derek, ... | read the rest of this story online

The Tubre Quads

Type: (Family Blog) A post Serious.Life picked to share with you (unedited from the blog): Trucking Right Along Well, hello out there. This is Jaclyn. It has been some time since I have felt up to writing, but I know Torey has been doing a fantastic job keeping you updated. He has been so amazing through this process and I can’t believe how often he heads to the NICU. He would live there if I let him. He is fully aware of their feeding schedule, their nurses, he has done an excellent job of looking after and keeping up with them. He gives me updates every few hours since I can only go visit once or twice a day. Well, a lot has changed since my last update! 27 weeks 3 days was definitely not part of the plans, but my body said it was time. I had a scary few days, but my blood pressure is becoming more stable (now around 150/90), I am overcoming the pulmonary edema with frequent coughing and walking (always fun when you had a C-section 2 days ago!) and am hoping to be discharged Sunday. Anyway, enough about me – lets talk about the little ones! Dr. Elliott carefully delivered each baby, gave me and Torey a quick peek and handed them off to their neonatologist. Each baby had a neonataologist and 3 nurses. I had 2 doctors, 2 nurses and an anesthesiologist, there were also a few medical students along for the ride so you can imagine how busy the OR was. What was most amazing to me is how organized everything was. No one had to speak – they all knew ... | read the rest of this story online

The Lord Mighty In Battle

Type: (Family Blog) A post Serious.Life picked to share with you (unedited from the blog): Tired But Grateful I haven’t written a lot lately for a lot of different reasons. We have been traveling a lot....and then have had company for the last week. Honestly, y’all are probably sick of hearing me say this.....but I have been really struggling. There are probably many reasons why.....but I am so tired of it. I am suffering with a fatigue problem, which is right now attacking me in full effect!! Please pray for my health. I am sleeping a lot right now (and when I am not sleeping....I am chasing sweet Eliana all over the place). In the loneliness and fatigue, I often forget how many things I have to be grateful for. Today we got a package from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It was all of the original documents from Eliana’s adoption file. I have just spent the last hour reading each word on each page....and can’t stop crying. I am so grateful for this child God has given to us. There is a new picture I have never seen of her when she was tiny. Oh, I love her face. I am grateful that her biological mother selflessly gave her to us. Honestly, I forget that I am not her biological mom (that might sound weird).....but she feels like she has ALWAYS been a part of Chris and me. After I read through everything.....I started looking at pictures (lots of crying again). Thank you Lord for choosing us for her. I can’t ... | read the rest of this story online

Soli Deo Gloria

Type: (Family Blog) A post Serious.Life picked to share with you (unedited from the blog): Purpose And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 I am having such a difficult time trying to decide how to write this post. The appointment yesterday was interesting. The neurologist hasn’t changed his bedside manner or view of himself in the last 4 months, but praise the Lord, Moody and I are completely in a different place! We got to the office and unfortunately Abe was fussy as he had missed his nap. My pride kicked in immediately as I wanted my boy to "perform, show off his skills, wow this man!" Why did I care? Pride. Sin. He was really tight as he often is when he gets tired, and I just knew the Dr. wouldn’t see all of the progress that we see on a daily basis. Ugly, I know. Moody and I waited in the office for awhile for the Dr. to come in and literally 10 seconds after he entered the room, Abe fell fast asleep. HE WAS OUT!!!!! The first thing the Dr. asked us was if we were ever contacted about Abe’s MRI. He couldn’t see in his notes that he had ever talked to us about the results. Yes, we have been sitting by the phone every day for the past 4 months hoping that somehow, someway this will be the day that someone calls to let us know how the image of our sons brain looks!! PLEASE. Moody simply told him that a good friend goes to church ... | read the rest of this story online

Building The Blocks

Type: (Family Blog) A post Serious.Life picked to share with you (unedited from the blog): When you have to let go All of us take risks in our lives, some are big and some are so small I doubt if we even realize we are taking them. We might risk lending a hand to a stranger not knowing if it will be appreciated or offend them… We might send our money to a ‘cause’ and not know if it ever got into the right hands. But we know that each time we ‘step out there’ God knows too and it is always worth the risk if your heart was in the right place. Always. Life in general is a risk- because if we fail- if we fall, there will be pain. And sometimes the fear of that pain keeps us stranded- afraid to move. But as I look back over my life and all of the risks we have taken- some ended up working out and some ended us up in a place we never wanted to be… Yet through it all God was there by our side, holding us through it, knowing that we knew He was always worth the risk. God doesn’t always promise us a happy ending, but He promises that He will never leave us. And when we are finally able to stand again we can look back and see how we have grown and changed and slowly, ever so slowly we begin to heal… Risk is often associated with the unknowns- ... | read the rest of this story online

Colbert Family

Type: (Family Blog) A post Serious.Life picked to share with you (unedited from the blog): Abigail Dear Friends and Family, My hands are shaking as I write this. This afternoon I was home watching new carpet be put into my house and eating homemeade popsicles with Jacob and Abigail and it is now 4:30am and I am sitting in a hospital room. Today our sweet Abigail was diagnosed with Leukemia. I will back up a little so you know how we got from there to here in one short day. About two weeks ago Abbey came down with a fever followed by a cough for about a week. In that weeks time, I had her at the doctors office two times because at first I thought it might be strep and the doctor ruled that out and said it was a virus that needed to run its course. I took her back after about 4 days because I felt like she wasn’t getting better and was concerned. I also noticed that she was sweating at night (if any of you follow our blog then you know that each night I go into her room to turn her light off before I go to bed) and each night her head would be wet with sweat. That upset me so when I went the second time to the doctor, I mentioned that. At that point he said it had turned into a sinus infection so she was put on antibiotics. We left that day praying that she would get over this quickly and didn’t think much of it. On Tuesday I noticed some bruising on her arms ... | read the rest of this story online

Dancing Barefoot

Type: (Family Blog) A post Serious.Life picked to share with you (unedited from the blog): What Can Be Gained Through Heartache? It seems like a lifetime ago, but there was a time when I was a self-centered, materialistic, newlywed. I thought too often of my career, my clothes, my future dream home, and all the other things in life that don’t give a person true joy. I didn’t know Jesus and I didn’t realize just what kind of life I was missing out on. I was lost and on my way to an unhappy marriage and ultimately an unfulfilling life. God began to intervene. In January of 1990, I found out I was pregnant. It wasn’t a planned pregnancy, in fact I was still on the birth control pill, but God was beginning to do a work in our lives and his plans would supersede ours. My husband and I had talked about having children, but we only discussed what we thought would be the most attractive blend of our features… his green eyes with my dark hair seemed like the most beautiful combination for our future child. I think we thought we could place our order. It was while I was carrying our first son that my husband and I both began to think about our relationships with God. We didn’t deny God. We also knew that Jesus died for the salvation of all those that believed on him. However, we were fickle in our faith. It was merely head knowledge and hadn’t penetrated our hearts. We discussed what we would teach our son about God and decided we needed to know more, so we began ... | read the rest of this story online

Blog Directory

Brent Riggs Blog Professional http://www.brentriggs.com The serious pursuit of a happy, fulfilling, meaningful life. Great advice, questions answered. For Keeps forkeeps-michelle.blogspot.com/ Adoption We are a christian family hoping to expand our family through fostering/adopting. The Needham Family 5 needhamfamily5.blogspot.com Adoption, Orphans Adventures in our international adoption. Neither Here Nor There peachneitherherenorthere.blogspot.com Adoption Adult adoptee in reunion with my first family for almost 20 years. How adoption has impacted ... | read the rest of this story online

Are Coal And Oil Deposits Millions Of Years Old?

Within the Flood-caused sedimentary strata of the continents are vast mats of coal, and pockets of oil and gas. These formed from massive accumulations of organic material (plants and animals) which had been covered by more sediments, and thus compressed, and were subsequently heated. If the oil and gas pockets are millions of years old, all the gas pressure in the pockets should have been relieved, as the gas would have percolated up through the semi-porous and semi-permeable over-lying rock layers. In fact, all of the gas within the strata should have bled up through the overlying rock layers, and escaped into the atmosphere, in less than 100,000 years.1 And yet, when exploratory drill pipe enters a pocket of oil and gas (which is supposedly hundreds of millions of years old), great gas pressure often releases up the drill hole, a "gusher." The presence of this gas pressure, within the sedimentary strata, tells us that these deposits were formed less than 100,000 years ago. Imagine an oil and gas field 10,000 feet underground which is said to be 300 million years old. Highly pressurized gas within this deposit would percolate up through the sedimentary rocks (as escaping gas can be monitored on the earth’s surface). If this gas percolated up at a rate of only one inch per year, it would escape within 100,000 years; if it percolated up at a rate of .003 inch per year, it would escape to the atmosphere within the alleged 300 million years that the deposit is purported to be. One inch per year is plausible; .003 inch per year is not, as much more viscous matter (water and oil) percolate through rocks at much greater rates than ... | read the rest of this story online

Humor

Top 12 Things Not To Say To A Cop who has pulled you over: I can’t reach my license unless you hold my beer. Sorry, Officer, I didn’t realize my radar detector wasn’t plugged in. Aren’t you the guy from the Village People? Hey, you must’ve been doin’ about 125 mph to keep up with me. Good job! Are you Andy or Barney? I thought you had to be in relatively good physical condition to be a police officer. You’re not gonna check the trunk are you? I pay your salary! Gee, Officer! That’s terrific. The last officer only gave me a warning too! Do you know why you pulled me over? Okay, just so one of us does. I was trying to keep up with traffic. Yes, I know there are no other cars around. That’s how far ahead of me they are. When the Officer says "Gee Son...Your eyes look red, have you been drinking?’ You probably shouldn’t respond with, "Gee Officer your eyes looked glazed, have you been eating donuts? If Biblical Headlines were written by Today’s Liberal Media On Red Sea crossing: <p ... | read the rest of this story online

Reader Recipes

The following recipes were taken from the "Adoption Cookbook". The pics are from the cookbok. If you would like to purchase it, go here . Pumpkin Cheesecake Ingredients: ¾ Cups graham cracker crumbs ½ Cups Ground pecans 2 tbsp. Sugar 2 tbsp. brown sugar ¼ Cups butter, melted Combine these first 5 ingredients, mix well, firmly press into 9 inch spring form pan. ¾ Cups Sugar ¾ Cups Canned pumpkin 3 egg yolks 1 2/2 tsp. Cinnamon 1 tsp. Allspice 1 tsp. Ground cloves ¼ tsp. salt 3-(8 oz) pkgs. Cream cheese ½ Cups plus 2 tbsp. sugar 2 tbsp. whipping cream 1 egg 1 egg yolk 1 tsp. vanilla extract ½ tsp. lemon extract Directions: Combine ¾ C sugar, pumpkin, 3 egg yolks, spices, salt and mix well. Set ... | read the rest of this story online

Building Bridges In Your Marriage

How is your marriage doing today? How sturdy is the bridge that leads to your spouse? The husband and wife relationship is the most important earthly relationship we can have. You may have a good marriage or a bad marriage, but even the best marriages sometimes need extra reinforcement. How would you label your relationship with your spouse today? ROMANCE – Sparkle in your eyes when you talk about or think about your spouse. There’s passion. There’s intimacy. ROUTINE – The sizzle has turned to fizzle. It’s stable but has no spark. It’s okay, but not great. Things could be worse, but then again they could be better. ROOMATES – It’s dead. Gone flat. The bridge has collapsed. Fact is, if nothing changes in your marriage, it is going to: (1) Decline (2) Maintain (3) Grow. Even good marriages hurt some of the time, but bad marriages hurt most of the time. I realize that one visit to the doctor’s office will not heal your marital infirmities. You might need surgery and then recovery. Today is just the first cut. Afterwards, you’ll need to begin to medicate and treat the wounds that plague your marriage. Relationships get stalled. You can buy an expensive shiny new car that looks awesome on the outside, but until you put fuel in it, you’ll not be able to enjoy it. Sometimes relationships get stalled and go nowhere. If it’s a car, it could be as simple as putting more fuel into it or as expensive as rebuilding the engine. What Fuels, Builds, Repairs, And Rebuilds Relationships? #1 COMMUNICATION Communication ... | read the rest of this story online

The Cool, Young & Hip Family:

By Brittany Claire [Brittany is Mom of six kids and wife to (she says) a smokin’ hottie. Their blog is fresh, creative and fun. Brit is going to write something for our younger (or young at heart) families! Hope you enjoy. ~ BR] Getting out the door with kids is fun. Getting out the door with six kids, five whom are in car seats, is an all out party! If I have you whistling the tune of the seven dwarfs in your head, then you are right on pace with our party. Can you picture the whistling, marching to the beat, and single filing out the door with a pack over your shoulder? There is an uncanny correlation with my family of eight getting out the door and the seven dwarfs heading out to work. It’s no wonder I’ve adopted their song as our get out the door theme song. Like the gun shot signaling the beginning of the race, when I open my mouth and let out those four little words -- "Hi! Ho! Let’s Go!" the race DOES begin. I can hear it now, the scampering feet coming from all directions and the chorus of whistlers. The adventure has officially begun. As I sing and whistle and sometimes clap my hands if they need an extra boost, I find myself chanting "socks, shoes, coat, hat, gloves." At this point I’m not sure they need the reminder, but then something ends up lost or forgotten in the rush to get on with the show. On occasion I’ll catch one of them singing, whistling or chanting to themselves; I can almost hear them doing the same as they lead my future grandkids out ... | read the rest of this story online

Triumph Through Failures

Why is parenting so hard? Because we fail in so many ways! But why do we fail? Because, until heaven, we are all imperfect. So as we look at one of the hardest jobs on earth—raising children—here is my perspective that keeps me going through the hard times and the easy times. I am an imperfect husband. I married an imperfect wife. We have an imperfect marriage that has produced imperfect children — which we have raised imperfectly. However, we have a Perfect Father in heaven, who has given His flawless Word as a guide to light the pathway for us to follow His plan. That plan is to have a Word-filled way of life. And that is what we have found in God’s Word: Our God is the God of New Beginnings! He shows us every way He can that He wants us to know we can start over again with Him. Every day starts new and fresh with a new river of time flowing by at 60 minutes per hour. On Sunday every week we get to start over with a new day that starts a new week. Every month we get to start over with a brand new first day of the month. Every 3 months a new season begins with freshness and variety and newness. Winter melts into spring; spring blossoms into summer; summer sails into fall; and fall fades into winter, and over we go into a new year. So when we fail, we need to repent and start over again. To help us remember, God’s Word records countless failures that the Lord graciously uses. One of my favorites is Peter. I hope this reminder of the new beginning of a Word-filled life stirs your heart as it has mine. Peter will always be an example in the Bible of one who loved Jesus deeply—but struggled with submitting to His plan. He is a trophy of grace. The Gospel by Mark is the premier Book ... | read the rest of this story online

Potty Training 101

By Jennifer McKinney Potty training can be rough. Don’t get me wrong, pre-potty training is wonderful. Post-potty training is delightful. But, right in the thick of potty training, things can get messy. Literally. Early potty training has worked very well for our family so far. Both Big Mac and MckNugget were trained before they turned two and Small Fry is already taking beginning courses in potty training. And, although I am no toilet expert, I am about to embark on a post devoted entirely to potty training. Why? a) Why not? b) Gobzillions of you have asked me about early potty training and, this time, I’m obliging! c) I love to read about, talk about, and blog about all things mothering. Truth be told, I’m just a mama who has knelt beside a child on a toilet countless times already, with many more to come in the near future. I have found that, for our family, getting the training done early works well. It works well if for no other reason than having only two babies in diapers at any given time is a powerful selling point for me. Having three in diapers might just send me careening off the Cliffs of Insanity. You know, if Small Fry’s repeated public tantrums (Read: This morning at Once Upon A Child) don’t send me there first. Ahem. I have broken down my potty training tips into three categories. Happy reading! And, don’t forget to wipe. Pre-potty training: Prior to beginning to actually train our children to use ... | read the rest of this story online

The Funny Things Our Kids Say

ach month we go back and find some of the comments and feedback from our blogs that we think you wil enjoy reading. We never cease to be amazed at the good stuff readers respond with. The following are excerpts from "Funny Things Our Kids Say." DONNA SAID... While at Wal-Mart, I was keeping my 3 year old nephew occupied while his mom finished checking out. As he was standing on the ground looking up at us, I saw his eyes jot back and forth between his mom and me (comparing) and then he raised his little finger, pointed right at me and very loudly said, "Momma, Aunt Donna’s boobies are WAY bigger than your boobies. Aunt Donna, I want to SEE your boobies!" Needless to say everyone within earshot was laughing hysterically! While changing one of my twin boys in a public restroom, up high on those changing tables with the nice bright florescent bulbs, I went to remove a piece of fuzz that had gotten caught in his privates. Imagine my mortification as he clearly authoritatively repeated back to me what I have told him on numerous occasions (and you know how bathroom walls amplify noise), "No, Mommy! No play with my penis!" ANONYMOUS SAID... My daughter (4) told me she wanted a "grill" cheese sandwich and my son (3) said, "no, Mom, I want a "boy" cheese sandwich." On ... | read the rest of this story online