Gaining Respect

And the winner of Raising a Young Modern-Day Princess is… Robin Luftig! Congratulations! Robin please email me at gcartee8645@outlook.com with your address.

Our book for this week is With All Due Respect. Don't for get to subscribe to this blog through email (top right corner) for a chance to win this great book for you and your tween/teen!

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:25

In our fast paced, high tech, multi-leveled communication lives, we can sometimes feel overwhelmed when trying to communicate with our tweens and teens. How can we effectively communicate faith and values? How can our walk reflect the Spirit?  How do we lovingly require respect?

Nina Roesner and Debbie Hitchcock, authors of With All Due Respect, present a 40 day plan to help build a relationship with your tweens/teens. Each day is a short section that includes scripture, a story example, and a “What About You?” section that helps us examine our own motives and expectations. I’ve often heard my pastor say, “When you point a finger, there are four fingers pointing back at yourself.” Each section ends with a prayer. We all need that!

It always takes 2 to Tango. With All Due Respect helps us see that to gain respect, we must also model respect. It takes time, patience, and self-control; all the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22,23).

Hmmm - if this type of communication works with tweens/teens, I wonder if it might also work with adults. Just a thought.

Next week, I won’t be posting. I’ll be taking time out to celebrate our Lord’s birth with my family. I pray you will do the same.

Merry Christmas!

Gail

Hey Kids:

Are you still working on that fruit bowl from last week?

If you worked on the fruit of love, now may be a good time to try joy.

We’re all excited about Christmas, so joy seems like an easy fruit to demonstrate, but in all the excitement it is also easy to lose our joy.

Your parents may need a little more help in keeping the house in order.

Maybe you are needed to watch over a little one while Mom bakes.

Maybe Dad needs help with raking leaves or shoveling snow.

Your parents requirements may not fit into your idea of Christmas joy, but you are needed.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)3 that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-4

God made you a promise if you honor your parents.

Parents, our children need your nurturing love.

and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Colossians 3:23

Do You Have a Princess?

And the winner is... Karen Griffin! Karen if you will email your address to gcartee8645@outlook.com I will get your copy of Tsali in the mail. 

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Luke 1:28 

Mary, the mother of Jesus, seemed to be just an ordinary girl, but in God's eyes she was a princess. She demonstrated the qualities of a girl who was highly favored in the eyes of God. 

This week I would like to offer Raising a Young Modern Day Princess by Doreen Hanna and Karen Whiting. Have you noticed that no two children even in the same family have the same personalities? The authors of this book help us understand the differences in our children's personalities and how to tap into those personalities to encourage our own princesses to grow in the Lord.

The book is filled with activities to help our daughters grow in the fruit of the Spirit. It's not just a book for moms.There are ideas and activities for dads to help them build a lasting relationship with their daughters.

I especially like the way the book is designed with short, quick reads for our busy lives and the materials for activities are easily accessible and age appropriate. 

Don't forget to subscribe to this blog by email for your chance to win Raising a Young Modern Day Princess.

Hey Kids:

Do you know the fruits of the Spirit? 

Take a look at Galatians 5:22,23.

Here at Christmas, we often try to show love, joy, and peace by giving to those less fortunate, wishing others Merry Christmas, and singing carols of peace on earth.

But what about the rest of the year? Don't let the Christmas spirit fade with the new year.

Have mom and dad help you cut out a bowl shape. 

Then cut out nine different fruit shapes. 

Write the name of a fruit of the Spirit on each fruit. 

Display your fruit bowl in a prominent place.

Each week choose a fruit and discuss what it means. 

An example might be: How do you show love? 

Write an example of how you showed love on the back of the fruit. 

You could do this every day for the week. Then you would have 7 different ways to show love.

The next week choose a different fruit, discuss, practice and write.

At the end of the nine weeks, think about how this activity has changed your thoughts and actions toward others. 

 Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,  and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1:5b,6.

We are part of His royal family if we have been washed from our sins.

Blessings, 

Gail

The Season of Giving

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Tis the season of giving and I'd like to give away a book each week this month. Just subscribe to my blog through email for a chance to win. The subscribe by email button is located at the top right of the blogpost.

This week I'm offering my children's book, Tsali: Hero of the Eastern Band Cherokee. It will make a great Christmas gift for any child who is beginning to learn about Native American History. Many Cherokee were dying as they walked the Trail of Tears from the east to Oklahoma. Tsali and his sons made the decision to sacrifice their lives so the Cherokee hiding in the mountains could remain in their homeland. This sacrifice would end the Trail of Tears for the Cherokee. 

Tsali may not sound like Christmas literature, but this story can be used as an object lesson. Just as Tsali and his sons gave their lives to keep their people from traveling the Trail of Tears, so God have His Son, Jesus, as the sacrifice for us so we don't have to follow the path to hell. Through Jesus Christ we can have the promise of the forgiveness of sin and an eternal home with Him. 

Hey Kids: 

True heroes are those willing to sacrifice their lives for others. 

Can you think of 3 heroes? 

They may be people you know personally or historical figures. 

What makes them heroes?

We'd love to hear about your heroes. Please leave us a note in the comments section.