Hope for the Desperate Mom

At the beginning of the new century I was a new mother, and a lucky one at that. My baby started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, complied with my strict feeding/sleeping/playing schedule, and was (thankfully!) not colicky. At the time, of course, I didn't realize how good I had it. Stories from friends since those days have made me realize how lucky I was.

In the years that have followed, we didn't add to our little family. Not necessarily of our choosing (I've always joked that evidently the Lord knew Kiddo was as much as I could handle!), but we were happy with just Kiddo. I never had the struggles so many young mothers do with more than one young child. Even though Kiddo was a challenge as he got older, I don't remember the feelings of desperation I know so many mothers have.

Until I hit 39. Yep, fast forward ten years from those days of schedules, a clean house, laundry kept up, suppers on the table, etc, etc, and it's a different story.

It may have started before that, but my memory is so foggy of that time in my life, I'm not sure. I was dealing not only with a mother dying of cancer, but also a body that decided to flake out on me. I had no energy, and trying to make it through the day of educating my son, keeping a house clean, and putting supper on the table at night absolutely exhausted me. I fell into depression, only getting things I HAD to accomplish done. My husband made supper more often than I did, and we ate out a LOT which wrecked our budget. Sound Man also did a lot of the house cleaning and laundry, as well. Guilt on top of depression on top of grief for my mother made my days unbearable. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease (a really scary name for having a thyroid your body thinks is a foreign object and tries to destroy), critically low Vitamin D (normal is 35...mine was 8), and anemia. Not to mention my child never did decide to suddenly become a compliant kid. All of that equals one messed up blob of a woman.

Desperate? Yep...I'd say I was. I wouldn't be lying if I said I still am sometimes...okay, a lot of the time. While my doctors have gotten my thyroid under control, and Momma is happy and whole with Jesus, I still have health issues (and more likely than not, heart and mind issues) that keep me down.

Which is why the words of a book aimed at mothers with young children are underlined with my pen and covered by my highlighter's marks.

Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe is the new book, just released yesterday, by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson. I am so excited for Sarah Mae, who has been a bloggy friend of mine since 2008. Meeting her in person at the Relevant Conference (now called Allume) in 2010, not three weeks after I lost my mother, just solidified to me what a precious person she truly is. I haven't met Sally Clarkson yet, but I know many of you have read her books, such as Educating the Whole Hearted Child, Seasons of a Mother's Heart, The Mission of Motherhood, and many more. She is a mentor to so many women just through her writing. I can learn so much from her!

I won't even try to summarize the thoughts I have about this book, because that would take forever, but I will share one or two quotes, just because they stood out to me like a spotlight was shining on them.

On raising my boy:

•  In the chapter called, "Oh Right, There's Sin," Sarah Mae points out that "...our children struggle just like we do. They have to fight the ugly in themselves, and it's no fun for any of us...This means we need to offer them loads of grace and affirmation, so that they can be confident that we get it and we are on their team" (page 42). My reaction is usually of the get-mad-discipline-first-ask-questions-later genre.
• In the same chapter, Sally says, "I believe that if moms understand how strategic their roles were in this battle for the hearts and minds of the next generation, they would grow in excitement about this great job God created them to fulfill. For me, it changed my whole perspective to understand that this was a job for which I was designed before the fall, and that I played a key part in God's plan of redeeming this world back to Himself" (pp 45-46, emphasis mine). WOW. Just...WOW. Oh, if I would make that part of my belief system!

On depression:

• In "When the Dark Invades," Sally says, "Hiding away in God's goodness and protection is an act of the will, choosing to turn my heart away from the dark toward the light" (page 60). 
• Previously in that chapter, Sarah Mae declared, "...I am not my bad days. I will not let the dark tell me who I am. I will give only God the authority to tell me who I am. I will choose to be a participant in my own life; I will not let this life or my dark days control me" (page 59).

Oh my goodness, there are so many more quotes I could include, but I'd rather you read the book for yourself. Other chapters deal with selfishness (Sarah Mae says she thinks she has a double dose of it...me to, girl, meeee tooooo!), the voices we listen to ("...there is only one voice that matters..." page 133), and, yes, housework. Each chapter begins with notes written by Sarah Mae and Sally to each other, and ends with questions to help you dig deeper into Scripture to see what God's Word says about it. There's something even more special at the very end of each chapter, but I want you to discover that for yourself (have your smartphone handy!).

Does this sound like it might speak to your heart? Please head over to desperatemom.com to order the book. And should you decide to do a small group study with Desperate (which is an AWESOME idea!), some great gifts are included when you purchase multiple copies (this week only!)!

Speaking of gifts, if you've read this far, you deserve some fun stuff! Head to SarahMae.com to enter today's giveaway (massages for a YEAR!), and yesterday's (one year of FREE HOUSE CLEANING! WOOT!)! There are new giveaways every day, and they only last 48 hours, so you better get on over there! The winners will be announced Saturday, and next week, on Monday, January 14, the BIG GIVEAWAY winner will be announced. 

What BIG GIVEAWAY is that, you ask? Well, it's a spa getaway for you and a friend with Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson!

But don't bother entering, 'cause I'm going to win. Just kidding! Get on over there and enter to your heart's content! More giveaways announced each day!

Let me know if you read Desperate, and how you enjoyed it! I can't wait to see what God does with this book!

As a disclaimer, I received a copy of Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe in exchange for my honest and objective review. The opinion I've shared here is completely from my heart and was not influenced by anything else but the words on the page. 

Clubhouse Magazine (for tweens) Review

My review "week" continues...(I told you I had a lot!)
Clubhouse Magazine, one of Focus on the Family's printed resources, is one of the best investments I've made for my son's spiritual growth, even if it's "just" a kid's magazine. Through the articles, fiction stories, "Adventures in Odyssey" clips, and more, my now 12-year old son learns more about the world of a tween-ager from a Christian world view.

What's missing is the celebrity gossip of other "teen" magazines, as well as photo layouts of not-so-modestly dressed young girls trying to look "hot." Nor does Clubhouse constantly try to hawk mindless products that cause discontent in my son's heart. He gets that enough from watching television. I love that I don't have to worry about it coming from his favorite magazine.
My son tells me what he likes best about the magazine are the "Average Boy" stories (in his words, they are "HILARIOUS!"), but he says he likes everything in the magazine. When asked why this magazine is better than a secular magazine, he says that Clubhouse has funnier jokes than other magazines he's read, and it doesn't talk about the earth being "a billion, trillion, gazillion years old." We love the art of exaggeration around here. Heh.

How refreshing to invest in a magazine that actually cares about my son's spiritual growth instead of wanting to make money off of him or make his heart discontent with what he has already been blessed with. He doesn't know that he's "supposed" to be all into girls at his age. He doesn't know he's "supposed" to try to figure out life without God. On the contrary, Clubhouse emphasizes our need for the Savior. I love that!

If you have a child between the ages of 8 and 12 and are looking to add to their reading material (or if they complain EVERY DAY they don't get anything in the mail. Not that I know anything about THAT one. Ahem.), Clubhouse Magazine is a great option.

Right now you can get it for just $14.99 for a year subscription from Christianbook.com in partnership with Focus on the Family. That's $1.25 an issue! Well worth the small investment.

If your kids are younger, we also loved Clubhouse Jr. Magazine (also $14.99), geared toward children ages 3 to 7. Same kind of content, just made where younger ones would be interested.

AND, since I'm on the subject, all three of us love reading Thriving Family, Focus on the Family's parenting and marriage magazine. It has great reviews of new books, movies, and music (secular as well as Christian - Kiddo loves these); not to mention the other relevant articles and regular features that Sound Man and I like. At a price of ZERO dollars, what have you got to lose?

If you haven't checked out these resources yet, I encourage you go now!

O and M Woodworks

I have a new favorite Etsy shop. Oh, I have a LOT of favorite Etsy shops, but, see, this one's different.

Not only does it offer cute little birdhouses...But it's run by two of the most handsome men I know.

My husband and son now have their own Etsy shop! They call it O and M Woodworks. If you're in the need for a sweet, rustic bird house, they are your guys!

As of right now, they only have three houses in the shop, but as they have time they will add more and more, especially the closer to Christmas it gets.

And if you'd like a custom order, just ask! Go check them out!

Grace Imparted

Yesterday was a very special day for me. Usually on Sunday mornings I'm very busy with singing and practicing and generally running around in my happy place. But yesterday was different. The youth took over church. Not really, but they did lead us in worship (oh, MY but we have an awesome youth band!) as well as served the Lord's supper.

For those of you who aren't familiar with that, it's the ordinance that we observe reminding us of the sacrifice Jesus made for us by giving his life for us. Only recently did I connect what Jesus said at the Last Supper to the sacrifice God told the children of Israel to do at the first Passover. But that's another post...

Back to our day. Since my Kiddo will be in 7th grade this year (WHAT??? This can't be happening!), he was asked to serve the Lord's supper with the other youth. Oh, how that made my heart happy! Seeing him standing there with his funny cafeteria-lady gloves on, handing out pieces of unleavened bread...it almost made me cry. I normally do during the Lord's supper, but I guess I was focused too much on Kiddo. He was supposed to say something like, "This represents the body of Christ, that was broken for you," and if he had, it would have been all over for me. He said he did during first service, but since the boy handing out the juice didn't say his part, he felt too much peer pressure to say it second service...sigh....anyway, it was enough that my son served me the Lord's supper.

Sorry for the not-perfect picture...there were SO many people in line,
and he was having to break pieces of bread to have enough to serve.

Then, that afternoon, we had what we called iServe Volunteer Training, where we took people who were interested in serving ANYWHERE in the church, from nursery to technical stuff to greeting to missions to...well, you get the idea. We also gave people the opportunity to rehearse with the worship team and sing in a huge choir that evening in a celebration service. We included any and all youth who wanted to come, even if they weren't old enough to be in the adult choir. We will be having a youth choir every few months and wanted to let them know we value their gifts as much as the adults'.

Since Kiddo is now a youth (again...WHAT???), he wanted to be a part of that! He was excited (and not a little nervous!) to be learning a specific part for the first time. He can sing alto with his momma like nobody's business, but learning the tenor from someone other than his mom was going to be brand new, and he was almost sick with anticipation. But he persevered, and by the time the whole choir got together, he was still nervous about singing the right part, but he was up there with all the adults and the other youth.

You can't really see Kiddo in this pic...but take a look at how many altos there are!
From the girl in front in pink over to the left, that's the alto section!

At the time, I didn't have time to focus on the fact that my son was singing with the worship team that I was directing. But then, as the service started and we were singing great songs like "God of This City," and "O The Blood," it hit me...my son was singing in the worship team...I was directing that team, and my husband was helping run sound for that team. All three of us in the same ministry, doing different things, serving the Body of Christ.

And it was almost more than I could stand. I just stood there, with my hand raised in the air, huge smile on my face and tears streaming down my cheeks, thanking the Lord God that He saw fit to bring not only myself into this ministry of leading worship, but also my husband and son.

What grace He has poured on me!

If you'd like to read other stories of Grace Imparted, Richella at Imparting Grace would love for you to visit and even share your own story. I'd love for your to share a story in a comment on this post, as well!

M.O.B. Society Blog Hop!

In the fall of 2010, I was introduced to one of the coolest blogs around...the M.O.B. Society. In case you haven't heard of it, that would be Mothers of Boys. Since I are a mother of a boy, it was right up my alley.

Today we are hopping around the blog world of other M.O.B.'s, and if you're here from that par-tay, I'm excited to introduce myself to you!

I won't go into why I call myself "Heathahlee" because you can read that here, but I will tell you a bit more about myself and why I love the M.O.B. Society.This is my Kiddo. He is our only kiddo, much to his dismay most of the time. He feels like we have deprived him by not having any siblings for him, but I try to tell him that we really didn't have much to do about that and that evidently the Lord knew he was enough for us to handle. Heh. He rolls his eyes. He's eleven...'nuff said.

We homeschool him, and it's as rewarding as it is challenging. He is an extremely bright boy who sometimes has to be pushed to do his best. I can't wait to see how God uses him as he matures. My Momma always said he was going to be the next Billy Graham. Hmm...don't know about that, but maybe the next Chris Tomlin! :) (He has a gorgeous singing voice and has a natural talent for the acoustic and bass guitars.)

My blog is about my life...the good, the bad, and the crafty! And I throw a homeschool post in the mix every once in a while. Along with my Kiddo, I talk about my husband....(He ROCKS!)

my dog, (Isn't he cute?)

my ministry, (I'm the alto section leader of our choir and direct every other time we sing. I'm also on the Praise Team. I adore what I get to do each week!)

and my tassels. You can see more of them at my Etsy shop, Butterfly Genes. I lurve making, giving, and selling these pretty things for your home. Among other things like recipes, reading the Bible in 90 days (yes it can be done!), and other random stuff.

Brooke asked us to share what our sons' favorite books were, but that would take three forevers to put on here! I'm blessed to say that Kiddo is a reader. He will read almost anything you put in front of him, but his favorite authors are Chris Fabry (any of his young adult stuff!) and Frank Peretti (his youth fiction in particular, but he also loves This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness). He also loves The Chronicles of Narnia books. He also likes to read biographies, his favorites being C.S. Lewis's and Tony Dungy's. I know, two totally different people, but that's how my kid rolls.

I love being able to connect with other M.O.B.'s! To know that I'm not the only one who has a child who sometimes makes me crazy, but other times makes me want to hold on to him forever.

Thank you, Brooke and Erin, for creating this place for us boy moms to get encouragement, prayer, and laughter!

If you're a boy mom and need any or all of the above (and by the way...you don't have to have just boys! If you have just one boy, then you are a M.O.B!), come on over and see what I'm talking about!

My New Craft Room! Part 2

Yesterday I shared with you the beginnings of my new craft room. You can let your breath out now, 'cause I know you've been holding it until you could see the finished product. Or not.

Let me finish the story. I left you with my guys holding my hands and making me close my eyes. They led me to the guest room and then told me to open my eyes. Trust me when I say I screamed like they do on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. And of course I cried. I loved it.

I looooooooooove the color. It looks different in almost every one of these pictures. It is the prettiest blue and I am in love with it (Thank you, Tonya!). But not more than I'm in love with my hard working men who worked ALL weekend to pull it off. For the longest time afterward, Kiddo would ask me every once in a while, "Do you really like it Mom?" And would ask me about specific areas that he had worked on..."What do you think about the baseboards, Mom?" No, they're not perfect but I wouldn't change a thing because my precious son did them.

Now, don't be expecting a Martha Stewart room. This room suits me just fine without being magazine worthy. And the pictures don't do it justice. So, without further ado...

My craft room! And...a dog tail. What can I say...everywhere I go I have a "helper"...

If he really wanted to help he'd get the vacuum out. Slacker.

You'd think I'd have cleaned up the room a little before inviting the world to see it. Nope. 'Cause that's how I roll. And because I was too tired to clean anything when I was taking these pics. Anyway, the above picture shows my craft table area. On the wall to the left my husband hung a rack so I can hang the things that seem to walk away (or get lost on the table) like my scissors, glue sticks, wire and wire cutters, and my awesome $40 pinking shears I got for $8 with a JoAnn's coupon.

And see that sign in the back? The "Tassel It" sign? A couple years ago The Nester decided she was pretty much done with tasseling and sold me most of her stash of fringe, toppers, ribbon, etc, etc. I was THRILLED to get it all...and in one of the boxes that came was that cute little sign.

Um...I really should dust more in there. Actually, I think that may be stray hot glue strands.... Anyway, Kiddo decided that it needed to go above the craft table. It reminds me to stay at it even when I'm discouraged. I love that kid.

Just to the left of the table is my ribbon dresser. Four drawers filled with nothing but ribbon. It's one of my happy places in that room. It looks a mess, but it's really organized. Each drawer has it's own color or combination of colors. Top, blacks, whites, browns; second, reds, pinks; third, blues, greens; and bottom, yellows, golds, and twine/string.

Just left of the dresser is my stash of fringe. This is another of my happy places. Oh, what pretty fringe I have in here! Some I had bought on my own, some was from the Nester stash, and ALL of it makes me smile. These are also in drawers according to color.You can see that on top of the fringe drawers I have a mishmash of stuff I use for decorating. The painted twigs I've used for Christmas parties (I love how those came about!), my Life to the Full plates (on sale now for 50% off! Woot!), and a few other little things that I'm just holding there because I know I'll need them later.

To the left of the drawers is my tassel grid. It's not very full right now but you can see how great this will be when Christmastime is here and I'm working my fingers to the bone (or burn, as it were. Heh). This is so much better than the set up we had before (If you click here you can see it in the first picture of the post).

Moving further left past the door, you can see my HUGE stash of toppers. More about that tomorrow (or maybe Monday). Please excuse the blurry picture, giant bear in the middle (he's a leftover from Christmas) and the very dusty, very old Singer sewing machine (I have no idea why that's sitting there).

And moving left past the closet, the bay window with my Mimmie's chair in it. And a giant snow-leopard-that-I-drew-and-pretend-it's-a-tiger. And some birds. Oh, those birds.

That Kimba. She started it. And they multiplied. But now they are manageable and will find new homes come Christmas. Right now the ones who are left are keeping my sewing machine company. Its table is still in the mud room waiting to be dug out. Poor baby.

So, there you have it. My own creative space. Thanks for sharing my joy.

Next post, I'll share about that huge stash of toppers. And give you a sneak peek at something I've been hinting about for a while. Stay tuned!

My New Craft Room! Part One

I have been taking forever to tell you about my "new" craft room. It's new to y'all, but it's been finished since the first weekend in April. And it was a surprise.

Let me give you a little bit of background for this room. It was our guest room for as long as we've been in the house...15 years. Here's a memory that I will treasure from this room:

This is Kiddo reading to our brand new puppy Jonathan in 2008. He was in this room because he and Sound Man were still working on his loft bed. He was afraid Jonathan would get lonely without his brother and also wanted to make sure he got to know his voice. You can see in J's crate he's curled up asleep...I think Kiddo had a perfect idea.

Now who's curled up asleep? : )

We've had several guests in this room, but the one person who spent the most time here was Momma. This was her room no matter when she came up here. When I was on bed rest for three months (pregnant with Kiddo), she would come and stay for days at a time to wash clothes and clean the house. Then, after she got sick the first time, she stayed with me so I could take her for her radiation treatments. And as her days came to a close, she was here with me. As I remember the good memories, the bad ones come as well. This was the room Momma left earth to meet Jesus face to face.

It was time for a change.

So, Sound Man and I started talking about moving out all the junk that somehow had accumulated over the few months since Momma's death. But we never really acted on it. It was a little overwhelming for me to think about.

After I saw a post by Tonya at Love of Family & Home, I fell in love with a blue color she had used as an accent color in her kitchen. I commented about how much I loved it and she sent me a paint chip in the mail since it was from a smaller home-improvement store and wasn't sure I'd be able to find the right color. When I got it I couldn't wait to get working on some stuff (which still hasn't happened...at least not finished products), but retreat was looming and all my thoughts were focused on that.

My husband had casually asked me what color I wanted to paint the guest room, and I said I would love to see it painted that gorgeous blue. I wasn't sure what he was up to, but I made sure he knew where the paint chip was before I left for the weekend.

When I got home on Sunday, my men stopped me in the hallway and made me close my eyes, then took me by the hand...

And I'll show you what they showed me tomorrow! ; )

But first, here's some "before" and "during" pictures that Sound Man took with his phone since I had the camera at retreat! : )

When we moved in 15 years ago, I LOVED this wallpaper. Not so much now. See that rectangle on the wall? We live in a high tech house, let me tell you! intercom system/radio throughout the house! Oh yeah, baby! Trust me, this was the height of home technology in the 60's! And the system still works! We love blasting KLove throughout the house!Since the wallpaper was still in great condition and didn't have any noticeable seams in it, he just painted right on top of it. We had already talked about this and I for sure wasn't going to peel all that wallpaper off!Kiddo working on the room. He was so precious when I came home, but I'll tell you about that tomorrow.I love my bay window!
Sound man built a grid with the same stuff I had my tassels hanging from originally.
A view from the door. That window lets in so much light! That chair was my Mimmie's and is still in there because I don't know where to put it. It's holding more stuff that I don't know where to put. Heh.

Tomorrow I'll share my new room with you.

See the rest of the story...
My Craft Room, Part 2!
My Craft Room, Part 3!

Kiddo's Last AWANA Awards Night

My Kiddo has been in AWANA (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, from II Timothy 2:15) for seven years, starting with Cubbies when he was four years old. Over the course of seven years, he has learned about 600 verses. Yes...SIX HUNDRED verses. Now, of course, he can't recall every single one of them at the drop of a hat, but the point of AWANA is to get God's Word in kids' hearts. And it has done the job with my Kiddo. He has taken comfort in Scripture when he's been afraid, when he's been sad, when he's praying for a lost friend. Speaking of praying for a lost friend, he has become so confident in sharing his faith because of what he has learned in AWANA that he was able to have an intelligent conversation with a 15 year old agnostic cousin about his need for a Savior. I was so proud of him as I eavesdropped (Oh, yes I did!).

Last Wednesday night was our AWANA Awards Night...Kiddo's last as he will be moving up to Jr. High and we don't go further than 6th grade T&T at our church. He has worked so hard that he got the highest award for his age group, the Timothy Award. He has completed so many books of verses and activities I've lost count, but I know that it's at least 600 with the regular books and workbooks he's completed.

Not only do the kids learn verses, they also play games, and Kiddo was asked to help demonstrate one of them for us. He's the last one on the left, the last one to throw the bean bag to the runner.

They have a lot of fun and even participate in AWANA Olympics, which in our area is a BIG deal. Churches from all over the area participate.

Kiddo couldn't have done as well as he's done without the help of his leader, Mr. Mike. He pushed Kiddo when he knew he needed to finish, and has encouraged him along the way. Yeah...um...whatever.

I'm so proud of my son. He has worked so hard...by the way...because of the weird way we did school he started AWANA a year behind his actual grade. When he entered 5th grade T&T, we all realized he needed to catch up in order to earn his Timothy Award. He learned all those verses in 7 years...it normally takes 8.

Oh, yeah...Momma and Daddy are two proud parents!

Congratulations, my precious Kiddo! I am so proud of you!

Milk on Tap

No, this isn't a post about nursing. This weekend we sent our son away to my sister's for the weekend, seeing as how it was our anniversary Friday and Sound Man's birthday today (Sunday). All three of us had a great weekend, in our respective places.

My sister told me about a conversation she had with Kiddo and my Nephew. It went something like this:

Kiddo: Can I have something to drink?

Carlyn: Yes, you can have some ice water.

Kiddo: Can't I have some milk? (He thinks the milk at my sister's house is SOOOOO much better because they drink whole milk instead of the "nasty" 2% we have.)

Carlyn: No, just ice water.

(It gets a little fuzzy here, since I wasn't there and didn't hear it first hand, but Kiddo asked if it was tap water or something like that.)

Carlyn: Yes, it's from the tap.

Kiddo: I wish whole milk came from the tap.

Nephew: (wait for it....)

It's called a cow.

BAHAHAHAHA!

My Son's Mission Field

The other day my 11 year-old Kiddo went down to the end of our cove to meet the kids that live down there. He is not what I'd call shy, but he's not the most outgoing person when it comes to meeting new people. Kind of like me. I'm as loud-mouthed and crazy as anybody else when I'm with my friends, but put me in a situation where I don't know anyone, and I'm a regular wall flower.

Anyway, these boys have lived there for several months, and Kiddo had just gotten the courage to talk to them. He came home a few minutes later, saying he really didn't want to be friends with them because they "cussed." A lot.

Now, I have to say that I'm proud of my son for not wanting to be around that kind of language. His daddy and I have hopefully taught him that is not honoring to God, just like watching t.v. shows (or commercials for that matter!) with scantily-clad girls on them is not honoring to Him. He is almost paranoid about that one. That's fine with me.

Sorry...back to my story. Sound Man and I talked a little about Kiddo reaching out to them, but then we sort of didn't bring it back up for one reason or another. Well, evidently it's been on Kiddo's mind. Yesterday we were eating lunch at my favorite establishment and we started talking about those boys again. Kiddo finally decided that he needed to do something. He decided that talking to his pastor, Bro. Jack (our children's pastor) was what he wanted to do. Mom has only so much to say on the subject, after all. Heh.

But it's what he said next that broke my heart as much as it made me happy. He said, "I need to talk to Bro. Jack as soon as I can because they could die tonight and not ever know Jesus or go to heaven!" Oh, that I would have that urgency for those around me!

We did go see Bro. Jack today, and now Kiddo has some ideas of how to get into their lives without them (or more specifically, their language) getting into his. He does want them in his life...just not their influence.

I have no way of knowing if my sweet son (that my mother thought from the day he was born would be the next Billy Graham) will stay on the path the Lord wants for him. We as his parents can do our best, parenting the way God teaches us, but ultimately he will make his own choices. One thing I can do now to ensure I am doing all I can is begin praying Scripture over him.The other day I introduced you to Brooke McGlothlin, author of the new e-book, Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys. She has issued a challenge for the month of April: "21 Days of Prayer for Sons." If you want to begin praying for your boys in earnest, I encourage you to hop over to Brooke's blog and read about it.

Oh, and you don't even have to have boys to participate. Do you want your daughters to marry men who've had their lives prayed over? I would!

Don't forget that I'm giving a copy of Brooke's book away! You must go to the giveaway post and comment to be entered to win. If you are reading this after February 25th, you can buy Brooke's book for only $5.97 here.

I'll keep you posted on how Kiddo reaches out to his neighbors.