Child Training from Proverbs

While my mom was here last month I was bombarding her with questions about handling situations with William. I was trying to get as much "been there, done that" advice that I could. Before she left she told me that I should take a look through Proverbs and the notes she had put in her Bible over the years about child training. (She gave me her Bible when I moved to the North in 2009). Anyway, the day after she left I got a pen and a notebook and started reading through Proverbs and writing down anything that I should be teaching William. I couldn't believe how much stuff I could be, should be teaching him. Things about lying, stealing, temper control, attitude, working hard, obeying...basically every thing and situation he will ever face in life the Lord teaches how to handle it in Proverbs. I am only in chapter 13 and I already have over 60 things I should be teaching William! I will share some of my study as the weeks go on, but for now I challenge you (especially you mothers) to go to the Bible and see for yourself what the Lord expects us to teach our children. You know how a coach gives his team a good pep talk before a game? Well, that's sort of how I feel every morning after reading from Proverbs. It's a "here, this is what you need to do- now go do it!" sort of thing. And it's a great reminder and challenge for myself because for me to teach William those things he HAS to see it in my life. Things like working hard, giving to others, holding my tongue...how will he learn these things if I am not doing it myself?

Ok, go get into Proverbs!

Spring is near! Well, almost. Today it is only -24 (C)! I am planning on bringing the kids out to play this afternoon. It will be the first time since December I think. I really really miss being outside. Now that we moved I have been enjoying walking to church each Sunday and Wednesday but that's not quite the same as going outside and letting the kids run around and throw snow and make snow angels. It's so nice the sun has been starting to show around 9:30 or so and not going down until after 7! In just another month or so we will have the sun until after 9! The Lord sure is good. He knew the dark winter would be hard so he gives us the long summer days to look forward to :-)

I have been having a lot of fun learning how to take pictures and edit them myself. I thought I would share a couple of them here.

This was supposed to be an Easter photo but William insisted on wearing his football shirt and my Easterish props aren't very visible lol. Oh well.

William and his best friend, Jolena, wearing their parkas. I made William's and Jolena's mom made hers.

What a busy month!

A lot has happened since I last posted! On January 29th my parents flew in for a visit. That night we moved to a new home. My parents were able to be here for the move (which was just a coincidence) and help with watching the kids. The Lord sure is good to do that for us! My parents stayed for 2 weeks and just left on Monday. I am so thankful that they got to be here for as long as they were here. It was such a blessing and an encouragement. I can't wait until I see them again. Hopefully it will be me visiting them next time!

Here are a couple of pictures from my parents' visit:

Me and Will on the ice road

My parents and Will at our church

Will and Jenna with both sets of grandparents

Better get your pen and paper out if you want the recipe to caribou head soup. Well, it might be easy to remember: caribou head and water. Cook @350 for 3-4 hours. Add rice.

 I am glad I didn't try to do this myself! 

Soup's ready!

Me and my parents at Tuk Baptist Church

William's Fish Pond

Here is a game I made back in October for William and his friend Jolena. It is a fun game that teaches them colors, taking turns, sorting, and coordination. There are all sorts of things you could do with these little fishies, but here is what we do:

I made a lot of these little fishies (7 of each color). A friend let me borrow her laminator so I laminated them all so they will last for a while.

                                         

I dump them all on the floor, we call this the fish pond. I tell them which color to find and they take turns finding one at a time of that color. They put them into the "fish tank" (a plastic container) as they find them.

                                          













They just love this game. Over the past couple months they have discovered all sorts of ways to play this game. I have hid them around the room for them to find them. They really liked that.



Anyways, I just wanted to share this fun game with anyone who might be searching for something to do with their toddler :-)

I'm still here!

I am so sorry that it has been over a month since I posted! I used to think my blog was hardly read but I just looked at the statistics from December. I had over 200 visits to my blog from all over the world :US, Canada, Israel, United Kingdom, Moldova, Germany and Poland! Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my blog. I know I do not post as often as I probably should but I will try to work on the in 2013.

We are currently planning my parents' 3rd visit to Inuvik. I am so excited for them to come meet Jenna. They will also be able to experience the Muskrat Jamboree while they are here (April). It's nice to have something like that to look forward to.

Last month Shane and I were in charge of putting together the Christmas play at church. We decided to do an all kids cast. We had 17 kids, ages 4-11. It was A LOT of work and very challenging but in the end it was worth it (like all things for the Lord are). The night of the play the kids did an awesome job and even better than that, a lot of unsaved parents, family, and friends were there to here the Gospel. After the play Pastor Forney gave a challenge. While he was preaching I noticed one of the men of the church praying. I thought to myself he must be praying for those who are unsaved here. Then when I looked around I noticed that a large portion of the people there were his family: his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. Then the thought came to my mind: when was the last time I prayed for my unsaved family? So that is my "New Year's Resolution", to pray for my unsaved family and to get a real burden for their soul. I challenge you to do the same. Who knows, maybe 2013 will be the year the Lord returns. We can't waste it the time we have.

This past year I read all the way through my Bible for the very first time. Pastor Forney challenged the church to. I had been wanting to do it for a while so I thought that was a good opportunity since a lot of people from church were doing it, too. I really enjoyed it. So much that I am starting it all over again this year. I am so excited to learn more and more about the Lord. This time, though, I am reading it through chronologically. I thought that sounded neat. If you have never read the Bible all the way through, I highly suggest it.

Anyways, that's a little bit of what is going on here. I will post more next week. Happy New Year everyone!!

Happy Birthday William!!

Today William, my little baby, turned 2 years old! Where has the time gone? He's such a big boy now. He is learning his numbers, colors, and letters. He sings all sorts of songs with me and he loves sports (especially football, baseball, basketball, hockey and mixed martial arts). He has such a wonderful, loving personality and is always willing to help. He loves his little sister and always knows how to make her laugh. I am so thankful for this little guy that the Lord put in my life 2 years ago!

He loved helping me make his ice cream cake. First we mushed vanilla ice cream in a pan. Then we crushed oreos and mixed shell ice cream syrup in with the crushed cookies and poured that over the vanilla ice cream. Then we spread chocolate ice cream over that. Then we mixed cool whip with vanilla ice cream for our topping. Everyone loved it and said it was just like dairy queen!

William and his friend Jett helped me decorate the cake

A messy picture but it's all I had of the inside of the cake

Merry Christmas

I know it's a little early, but I wanted to share some of the Christmas photos I took last week. Merry Christmas everyone!!