The summer Podcast series on the 10 Gifts of Heart has come to a close and you might be wondering...what next? With all the issues springing up in our world that cultivate fear, separation from others, how do we maintain a strong spiritual and emotional life? How do we cultivate in ourselves what we want our children to learn and draw from? ...
Prioritizing God's Word
I have come to believe that the success or failure of every woman who hopes to build her children into a godly legacy depends to a great degree on whether or not she is spending time in the presence of the Lord and filling her mind with His Word ...
WWII Books for Children
No More Words, Please!
As I am watching all the pictures sweet friends are posting about their children's back to school days, this story I wrote many years ago about a day full of talking, talking, talking seems both far away and closeby--especially because our days still seem bound to be full of conversation ...
A Heart for Reading {And Music}: Sarah Clarkson Remembers
This is the last week of our series, 10 Gifts of Heart. This weeks' gift is giving your child the heart for reading and thinking. Because Sarah Clarkson, Sally's daughter, just graduated from Oxford and has said that a love for reading was what gave her a desire to ...
Food for Thought
It seems many are preparing for the eclipse which will take place in a few weeks, and there's a meteor shower happening this weekend, as well. Such a gift, to be able to plan ways to enjoy such displays with our children, whether waking them up in the middle of ...
Storyformed Podcast Episode #12 - Encouraging a Love of Art Through Stories
In this episode Holly Packiam and Jaime Showmaker encourage and inspire listeners to cultivate a love of art through stories. The ability to participate in God's presence through viewing beautiful works is a gift of being created in His image ...
Practicing Believing and Walking In Faithfulness
Life with children can be, or perhaps just plain is, messy. It is one drama after another with teens. Inevitably there's one mess after another with all ages of families, as they always seem to keep eating and ...
A Heart for Gratitude- The Gift of Living Thankfully
Do your children hold wonder about God? Do they have an imagination that allows them to enter into the mystery of all He has made and all He has done?
The End of a Busy, Exciting Week!
Here we are, at the end of one wonderful, wacky week! I've been hosting Nathan's wonderful film crew, making meals, picking up visitors, having great conversations, and sharing the bursting life that's been filling our four walls all week long. What a joy to have so much happening, even when I find myself collapsing into bed at the end of such busy days!
"From the time they were little, our children were included in our hospitality efforts. When we were expecting guests, each child was given a task to complete to make our table ready. Setting the table, cutting flowers, lighting candles, putting on music, cooking, meeting guests at the door, and making them feel welcome in our home were standard responsibilities shared by us all. Because we wanted our children to learn conversation skills, each one was to think of one question to ask our guests. There were even times when they were asked to give up their room or their bed for someone who was staying with us—a great lesson in serving.
Another important way we taught hospitality to our children was encouraging them to invite their friends over as often as possible. We served juice and cookies to toddlers, lemonade and sandwiches to ten-year-olds, pizza and popcorn to teens, and enough chocolate chip cookies to fill a fleet of semis. We opened our rooms and our yard to study groups, kids’ clubs, and lots and lots of games. In the process our kids learned even more about what it means to welcome and serve others." ~ The Lifegiving Table
And so here we are once again, practicing what we've preached, and loving every moment of it.
I hope you are enjoying these last few days and weeks of summer! There's been so much happening here I don't want you to miss:
This week's podcast, here: A Heart for Patience
A very exciting announcement about my upcoming Membership site
Bible memory printable: Week 9 Bible Memory