Frustration and Marriage

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Sometimes life gets hard. And having a good, strong marriage can help you through the hard times. At other times, it seems that your marriage is what is making life so hard.

So what do you do when it seems like life and marriage aren’t turning out the way you expected it to despite your best efforts?

Here are some things you can do to help improve your attitudes and make life more pleasant for yourself, for your husband and for your whole family:

  1.  Adjust your expectations.
  2.  Accept that some things about your mate may never change.
  3.  Take on the leadership role (e.g. spiritual leader)  if you have to even if you wish your husband would take it on.
  4.  Encourage your husband to read the same books about marriage, relationships, parenting, family, etc. that you are reading so that the two of you are on the same page. Pun intended.
  5.  Talk to your husband about how you are feeling in a non-threatening, non-accusing way.
  6.  Pray for God to help you to see your husband the way He sees him. And love him the way God does.

Please watch the scope I did about this topic here:

https://www.periscope.tv/penneymaried/1RDGloQwzEdKL?

Poetry Teatime: The One Where Daddy and Emma Read Together

Gary and Emma read a book called “Ask Me” together. This book is by Bernard Waber, who is known for his book, “Ira Sleeps Over”.  The audio is not good because of a video game playing in the background interfering with the sound. Sorry about that! I didn’t know until I listened to the replay. I will make sure nothing is playing in the background the next time I record a video or do a scope. We also have some squeaky doors in our house. I hadn’t noticed how noisy they are until I listened to this replay.

 

Abby spins her eyes around and around and says she is seeing the world!

 

And I read a poem by Jack Prelutsky called “The Lynx of Chain”, from the book, “Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant”.

 

Then Morgan reads a poem called “Me” by Walter de la Mare and another one called “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” by Maya Angelou.

 

Watch the video here:

https://www.periscope.tv/penneymaried/1djxXEpnnXBKZ?

 

 

Selah! Things I’m Thinking About

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I should be careful not to make my kids my world. Because the day comes when I’m not their world.

I can’t control my kids’ choices, but I can control my own reactions to them. I can choose to keep my love on. I can keep the connection strong between my children and myself by loving them and showing affection no matter what and listening to them.

Selah.

Helpful Reading:

Families Where Grace Is in Place: Building a Home Free of Manipulation, Legalism, and Shame by Jeff VanVonderen

Keep Your Love On: Connection Communication And Boundaries by Danny Silk

Experiencing Father’s Embrace by Jack Frost
and Jack Frost videos on YouTube

Translating God: Hearing God’s Voice For Yourself And The World Around You by Shawn Bolz

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Are You Enough?: Encouragement for the Overwhelmed & Exhausted Homeschool Mom by Roxanne Parks

The Day We Went Mad for Monarchs

https://www.periscope.tv/penneymaried/1zqKVVXrOaaKB?

We went to Brazos Bend State Park for an event called Monarch Madness. It rained the whole time we were there, but Gary took the girls into the Nature Center, and they petted caterpillars, a baby alligator, and a snake!

I talked to some people who are as crazy as I am about caterpillars and butterflies at the first table we stopped at, so I didn’t see much else there. But I found out some interesting things that I didn’t already know. The lady I talked with was starting a butterfly garden for her town. She had very bad luck with Monarch caterpillars this year. She had 25 in a row that had OE spore which kept them from being able to eclose (which means emerge) from their chrysalises. She raised other caterpillars instead. The town had provided money for plants and flowers that caterpillars and butterflies like to eat or get nectar from. We had a nice conversation while Gary took the girls around. Then it started raining really hard. And it got really crowded under the eaves, so our conversation was cut short.

Abby saw some insect and butterfly and moth collections, so now she wants to make one of her own. So we are trying to get a box put together for that.

New ideas and inspirations and projects came from the day we went mad for Monarchs!

In Lieu of Halloween We Do Freedom Day

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1RDxloXDnErJL#

As a Christian mom, trying to decide what to do about Halloween can be difficult. We know about the origins of the holiday. We know about the terrible practices of occult groups on that night. When I think about those things I feel more like grieving and praying than celebrating.

I prayed about it and decided to do something altogether different. I knew that some Christians celebrate Martin Luther’s birthday and the Reformation, and some have Harvest parties at churches. But I feel that the Lord led us to celebrate something that we feel very strongly about. And that is FREEDOM!

The link at the top of this post is to a video on Periscope.tv in which I explain some of the things we do to celebrate Freedom Day. I have also written other posts on my blog about Freedom Day under the category, Freedom Day.

My younger kids are excitedly preparing their lists of questions for me to ask them on Freedom Day. I have already bought lots of CANDY. They are counting down the days until Oct. 31. I have read some books about Freedom to them. We talk about how important Freedom is. One of the very important Freedoms that we have in this country is Freedom of Religion. Another is Freedom of Speech. And under these Freedoms, we have Freedom to homeschool our children. Woohoo, one of our favorites!

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1RDxloXDnErJL#

Please watch the above video, and leave a comment. Do you think this is something your family would like to do instead of Halloween? Would your kids like to try this? What do you think?

All of you, have a wonderful Autumn!

Enjoy the changing seasons and the winds of change that God is sending as things get better and better!

Autumn blessings to all of you!