Lenten Project for Children

If you're looking for ways to get children to give or think about others through Lent this may be helpful. I came across these ideas in our local newspaper.

Using Christ's words from Matthew 25:

Week One: "I was hungry." Children can collect canned good for a local food pantry.

Week Two: "I was thirsty." Collect can or bottles of juice for food pantry.

Week Three: "I was a stranger." Write cards or letters to residents in area nursing homes or retirement centers. 

Week Four: "I was naked." Contribute diapers, wipes or baby care products and clothing to a local women's or homeless shelter.

Week Five: "I was sick." Donate health products such as shampoo, soap, lotions, toothbrushes and tooth paste to a food pantry or shelter.

Week Six: "I was in prison." Donate paper products, tissues, toilet paper, napkins and paper plates.

Becoming what you eat! - From BethAnn

BethAnn writes:

I always used to get comments on how I looked. It was nice to be noticed for having a normal body weight. Also others also noticed that I didn’t overeat. I ate the correct portions. 

Well, that as all changed. I am now struggling with my weight. I am involved in a healthy eating program that sets goals to help me with my weight. I pray that I can reverse the damage I already caused my body. This issue has put more pressure on my back and hip. It seems to be a cycle….a never ending cycle. Maybe I need to transform my mind as well. 

And you would think that having numerous family medical issues as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure would motivate me, guess again. Lately, I have been praying for others and not myself because it feels selfish. I have been eating because the change of becoming a mother and staying at home has given a new unknown and stressful dimension of my vocation here on earth. 

Don’t get me wrong I have LOVED being a mother and staying at home and training my daughter in the way she shall go. I thought I could do it on my own. But I have failed miserably! I want to eat correctly again. I want to have the peace that passes my understanding rain in my heart. But I can’t do it without HIS guidance and forgiveness. But there is one last step which is even harder to meet or surpass - forgiving myself!

God's love and my smiles,

BethAnn  

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Rest

Kristi writes:

Is it the weekend yet?  After a busy week of cooking, cleaning, teaching, playing, and more, I’m tired.  I’ve replied to emails; I’ve “liked” pictures and posts on social networks; I’ve answered phone calls.  It’s time to slow down and relax.  When I rest, my mind and body aren’t actively doing anything.  I’m recharging and refreshing.  I’m resting.

For some of us, it’s been the daily grind of keeping up with the pile of Mt. Washmore, keeping up with hubby’s schedule, shuttling the children from one activity to the next, and keeping up with the other work requirements.  It gets tiring.  I get tired simply listing all of the things that women do.

When having difficulties trying to conceive a child, I met with my doctor several times to discuss what could be done.  For a while, there were some daily measurements, some things to mark on the calendar, and some anxious waiting.  It was stressful.  Were the numbers reading correctly?  Was the test administered properly?  There was anxious anticipation while waiting for test results.  Undesirable answers were met with dejected emotions.  When all morally acceptable possibilities had been exhausted, it was time to be done.  I was tired of all the directions and requirements.  I was worn out.  It was time to rest.

The Word of God provides the best rest.  I need nothing more.  In the Holy Word, I hear of my sin and my need for a Savior.  In Holy Baptism, I am made God’s child.  In the Holy Absolution, I am pardoned of all sin.  The body and blood of Christ are given to me for my cleansing.  Nothing is required on my part to make these things come true.  I am simply the recipient.

So get thee hence to church.  There you’ll be recharged and refreshed by the Lord.

That’s true rest.

Dort Preus posting on Steadfast Lutherans

I'm happy to learn that Dort Preus is posting on Steadfast Lutherans. Her first post can be found here. Also last summer I posted a link to a wonderful paper she wrote here. I think we can all be blessed by her wisdom and experience as a wife and mother.

A little about Mrs. Preus from Steadfast Lutherans:

Associate Editor’s Note:  With this post we introduce Dort Preus as the regular writer for “Steadfast Moms”.  She will be contributing much from her years of experience in raising children in the fear of the Lord.  This post is to be paired up with her husband Pastor Rolf Preus’ posts under “Steadfast Dads”.  

  

We are glad to have their valuable experience to provide good resources to our readers.  A little more about Rev. & Mrs. Preus:

Rolf and Dorothy (Dort) Preus met at Concordia Lutheran Junior College nearly forty years ago, fell in love, got married, and were blessed by God with twelve children and twenty two grandchildren (so far).  Pastor Preus was ordained in 1979 and has been a Lutheran pastor in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota.  He received his STM from CTS in Ft. Wayne in 1987.  Dort received her B.A. in elementary education from Concordia, St. Paul in 1975, and learned how to teach from teaching her children at home.  The Preuses presently live in Mayville, North Dakota.  Pastor Preus serves First American Lutheran Church in Mayville, First Evanger Lutheran Church in Fertile, Minnesota and Grace Lutheran Church in Crookston, Minnesota.

Her husband, Rev. Rolf Preus is posting there as well, his post can be found here.

Welcome Baby C!

Praise to God for Emily's new baby girl born at 10:39 p.m. on December 7th. She weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and is 20 3/4 inches long. 

She was baptized just after 12:30 a.m. on December 8th.

We rejoice with you and your beautiful family Emily!

Marriage

Bethann S. writes:

Happy Anniversary!

By the way I had to spell check anniversary. Anyway, the reason for posting this is because Nov. 21st is our anniversary. And this year we decided to make it low key. Which was nice. I made him a nice breakfast and he made me dinner. We watched our wedding DVD & first dance. Wow! What two years can do to your figure! That again is not the point. 

There are days since and before Rachel was born that being in a marriage has been hard. You think that we should still be in that blissful state of the Honeymoon...but it didn't last long...first NO call....then the long wait in the mother-in-law's basement.....then moving....getting used to being in rural town.....then pregnancy in the hottest summer on record.....then a newborn....so needless to say marriage takes hard work. And like our Pastor said in our wedding sermon...marriage is not always happy. 

That is true and sometimes transitions in life can make us act like little children kicking and screaming but our spouses help support, and love us, even if we don't recognize it. And today as we watched our wedding DVD right there on the title screen...a quote that was printed on our wedding bulletin....a quote that I forgot...."There is no more lovely, friendly, & charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage." said by Martin Luther. 

So why then do we feel the need to have more when God blessed and instituted marriage for us?

Welcome Baby Esther!

Just wanted to let all know that our new baby girl, Esther Muriel, was born on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 2:23 am, 6lbs, 14oz, 20in, healthy and home now. We are so blessed!

She will be brought to the waters of Holy Baptism on Sept. 25th.

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good and His mercy endures forever." Psalm 107:1

Welcome Baby Rachel!

BethAnn's baby girl, Rachel Ann, was born on August 23rd!
She weighed 6lbs. 12 oz and was 21 inches.
New mama and baby are doing well.

What a blessing!

21st Century Weddings - Kristi L.

Kristi writes:

I know that June is the month of weddings, and I know this post would be more appropriate in said month. However, I am extremely irritated by a news article I happened to see on the news this morning. A young couple stated their vows this way... (Names have been changed because they are morons.)

Bride: I, Jane, take you, Dick, to be no other than yourself......

Groom: I, Dick, take you, Jane, to be no other than yourself.....

What!!!! Whatever happened to becoming someone's wife or husband? Are we so selfish that we can't become something to somebody else? When I got married, I was still myself, as well as being a wife to Jerome. I wasn't afraid that I was going to lose myself just by getting married. Call me old-fashioned, but this type of vow disgusts me.

No wonder our husbands dread doing wedding services. The wedding service has fast become self-serving. So sad.

Preserving a Christian Home

I wanted to share a wonderful paper with you all by Dorothy (Dort) Preus on how to preserve a Christian family. Dorothy is married to Rev. Rolf Preus. They have 12 children.

You can read it HERE.

An excerpt:

The reality is the world is cursed against man and it is full of sin. The reality is our children are sinners. The reality is that parents are sinners. The reality is that women marry sinful men and that men marry sinful women. Comfort is the reality that God forgives us all our sins for Christ's sake. We can cling to the cross and praise God for his love and mercy in the death of His dear Son and our precious Savior. We can’t do anything right! But God looks at us through Jesus and is well pleased. We humbly look to our Heavenly Father through our brother and His dear Son Jesus knowing He loves us as a loving Father. The reality is our children will sooner or later see us as sinners. In preserving the Christian family for Jesus’ sake, we must teach them that we live under God's grace. It is by God’s grace we are saints who are washed in the blood of the Lamb in Holy Baptism. We must teach our children to treasure the Bible, the historic liturgies, the Catechism, the hymns that confess and comfort, and to boldly pray to our heavenly Father in order to preserve the Christian family. In doing this we preserve our children from their flesh, the devil, and the world.

Independence Day! - From Kathy F.

Kathy writes:

I was getting my haircut the other day when my haircutting friend said something about teaching her 8th grade daughter to do the laundry. My response to her was that my 3 kids know how to do the laundry too...at which I was glad she had put the scissors down...because she could have easily chopped a extra chunk out as her mouth almost dropped to the floor...she knows my 3 children are ages 7, 9 and 11. "YOUR children do the laundry????" At that point I realized just how important it is to teach our children skills they will use for the rest of their lives.

We are getting ready for an almost 3 week vacation starting July 5th and it is times like this when I am thankful that I have taught my children some life skills that have not only made them INDEPENDENT, but also helpful and more self confident. They will be doing their own laundry and packing their own suitcases (with an inspection by mom before it all goes in the bag), just for starters.

Whenever I take the time to teach them a skill that is useful, I can almost physically see their confidence, self-value, and perceived worth to the family increase. They are capable, they can help, they can be trusted with this task, that up until this point was done only by an adult. They are INDEPENDENT.

Does it take more time and energy to teach than to do? This IS most certainly true (spoken by a true Lutheran Pastor's wife), It is more trouble, and possible more dangerous...will they hurt themselves, will something break, will the kitchen be a BIG mess...yes, yes, and yes. But in the long run, it is so worth every mess and every extra minute it took to train them.

We get so used to doing things for our infants, toddlers and small children, that when our kids get to be school age we just keep doing things for them...this is not only bad for us (we simply can't do everything required of us everyday), but it is also not good for the children.

So what do my 7, 9 and 11 year old do around the house? Well let me start by saying it's not done perfectly...or the way I would do it..or as often as I would like....but it is done. My kids do their own laundry from start to finish...from dirty laundry basket to their drawers and closets when clean. Hannah is learning to make some very basic meals and this week she will learn how to make bread in our bread machine. All 3 kids can make coffee. Each child weeds and cares for their own squares in the garden. Of course cleaning their rooms is in there. They also all know how to run the vacuum, make their bed (not just pulling up the blankets, but actually washing their own sheets and then replacing them on the bed....the person on the top bunk gets a little extra help). Collecting and taking out the trash, cleaning the mirrors and bathrooms sinks are all done here too.

I have discovered one simple trick to making the kids excited about doing these things...they are no longer called chores...but rather privileges. It is a privilege to run the washing machine, the bread maker and coffee pot.

When they see how much their contribution is a blessing to our family, and they get praise for their efforts, they are so willing to help....most of the time. I read recently this quote and I have decided to adopt this philosophy:

Whenever a child can do for himself (or others who cannot), he should do.

Maybe it is time, for their own good, and yours, to allow them the thrill of being useful and capable.

Celebrating Father's Day

Jenny S. wrote with a great idea she came across for keeping a memory book of Father's Day treasures throughout the years. It can be filled with pictures taken, what your family did that day, notes written or cards given each year. What a creative way to keep memories together!

I'd love to hear what some of you do to make Father's Day special!

Modesty

Kathy F. writes:

Modesty? In this day and age? Is it even possible? Why is it so hard for me to find clothing for my 10 year old daughter that makes her look 10....and not 10 going on 18? Does nearly every piece of clothing out there in the stores need to scream out to the hormonal boys "Here I am! Look at my body!!"

This society that we live in is growing up kids at an alarming rate and it seems like the harder we try to keep our kids...well...kids, the harder the world forces them to become little adults. I can't turn away fast enough when I see some of the prints on the t-shirts, the sayings that encourage less than right behavior....printed on clothes size 6.

When Hannah grew into the size 8-16 I dreaded it. Clothes that MIGHT be more appropriate for a girl wearing a size 16, most certainly isn't appropriate for a girl wearing a size 8 (but they are all the same pattern in the varying sizes). Shopping for my daughter is a nightmare....and I don't expect it to get easier as she gets older...and what is hard, is that I don't want her to look like an Amish girl or a girl from the early 1900's...but I want her to fit in with her friends too. And although I don't struggle with the modesty issue with my boys, there is certainly the appropriate issue with their clothes. It is getting harder and harder to avoid skulls, sayings and phrases that are not good and symbols that are "cool" but not Christian.

Is it just where I choose to shop, or is this an issue others struggle with too. I suppose if I could afford more expensive clothes, I might have more options...but as we all know...Pastor's families don't roll in the dough (unless you are the pastor at a Mega-church...which none of us are)....sigh....and then there are swimming suits....which I won't even touch...

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Offering Positive Criticism to a Pastor-Husband?

A question for those of us married to a pastor.

How do you offer criticism or help correct a flaw that you may see in your husband's pastoral roles? For example in his preaching or Bible study teaching. As a help meet, how do we fulfill our role in this area?