My Passport to India

It's not what it looks like to most of you-  I'm not planning any trips to India right now...not literally.  A couple of months ago, we got an email from Sonlight (the brand of curriculum we use,) saying that they were going to do a 5 week program called My Passport to India.  They have 2 videos a week, along with devotions, extra information about India and it's people.  So for 4 weeks now, we have been learning about India, and saving our extra change to donate to help send children from India to CBC's (Children's Bible Clubs).  It's  been a really fun learning experience for us.  The girls love learning about different people, places and cultures, and they love getting to help other people.  One of the things we learned was about the capital city of Mumbai.  It's supposed to be the richest city in the country of India, yet HALF of it's people live in slums!  One particular slum has ONE MILLION people living in a 1 square mile area!!!   One million people.  That just blows my mind!  We also learned about Hinduism, and how the vast majority of people in India are Hindus, how they believe there are millions of gods...statues, elephants, cows, etc.  Alia is such a tender-hearted little girl, and one day she wanted to write a letter to send to India.  She drew a picture on it, and wrote "Cow is not your Savior," and told me she wanted to mail it to the children over there.  I told her that was very sweet, but that they probably wouldn't be able to read it-  partly due to the illiteracy of the people in India, and partly because of the different language and alphabet that they use.  So, she then turned the paper over, and wrote the ABC's on the back, so they could learn the alphabet.  It's been a great opportunity for us.  The girls love getting to put any change they see laying around into our "India bank."  We have two more videos before the program is over, and I'll be a little sad when it's done.  If you want, feel free to check it out for yourselves.    http://www.mypassporttoindia.org/  

Character Training

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.


Like I said before, character must be something that God is wanting me to focus on right now!  I'm so excited about a new opportunity that I found out.  There is a lady from our homeschool group that found out about these "MATCH" kits.  They stand for "Mothers Actively Teaching Character in the Home."  Two women in Fort Wayne started making these kits for their own families, and it has turned into a ministry for them.  I have only briefly checked out their website   http://www.familyroomvalues.com/  but it looks like they have a great ideas for teaching good character to our children.  Each month they have a kit that focuses on a different character trait.  This month is manners, and there are a lot of different games and activities in the kits, along with a special family keepsake craft each month.  I'm so excited about this.  I haven't read through all of our materials yet, but already we've talked a lot about what things are good manners, what things aren't.  I can't tell you how many times at dinner tonight the girls would do or say something and ask, "is this good manners?"  It seems like everyone nowadays has gotten so relaxed with manners, including myself, so I'm really looking forward to focusing on this topic for the next month, and looking at the areas in my own life where my manners are lacking, and hopefully teaching our kids good manners along the way!  :)  I'm sure God is going to be revealing to me way more of my faults that I care to know!  ;)

Do you ever wonder if what you are doing matters??!!

I'll be honest, sometimes I wonder if my "job"  is important enough, if it matters, or if I should be doing "more."  It seems like society and the world do not place very much importance on being a stay-at-home mom.  By the world's standards, we are supposed to want something more.  We should want some high power, high paying job.  I have always wanted to be a mom, and when we were expecting Alia, we both knew that we wanted me to be able to stay home with her.  I'm not really sure though that I felt like God was calling me to stay at home, we just knew that for our family, we felt it was best.  As time has gone on, and as Karaline and Ethan have come into our family, I have realized more and more that God has most definitely called me to stay home with them.  I still have my days where I wonder if I'm doing enough, or if I should be doing more, but today is NOT one of those days.  Today, I had the privilege of talking with Alia and praying with her as she asked Jesus into her heart.  It was a moment that I will never forget, one that makes me realize more than ever just how important my job is.  Raising our children to love Christ is the most important thing I can ever imagine doing, and I am so thankful that I am able to be here with them for the big moments like these!!!