Monday, April 21, 2008

It Takes a Village...

As I continue to read my book and after the comments that were left on my last post, I am just so excited about the topic of creating Christ-centered homes and continuing to discuss it via the blog.

1. God gives us the gift of community and charges us to use it. The subjects of our marriages and our children are just too important to scramble our way through on our own. The Christian life is hard. It is to our advantage and to God's glory that we encourage one another towards Him.

2. Just knowing that there were other women out there, praying, struggling, and reading over the same things I am, has been a great encouragement to me. And knowing that there are other women wanting to have these sorts of conversations, I am compelled to have these things on my mind, rather than the normal nonsense that rolls around in my brain.

So, if I may, I am going to continue this dialogue by posting the books that were recommended. All of them sound amazing! I can't wait to read them. (Have I mentioned that I love books?!!!)

For parents (and future parents!) :


For the kiddos:
This Big Picture Story Bible is one that we have. Casey heard Piper recommend this one. I really like it, but even though there's not too much writing on one page, it's still a little much for Braelyn. She gets antsy before I can finish reading. But still...it's good.
I think that the following are music CD's that help kids memorize Scripture:
(I may get this for myself! :)
This one is done by Willow Creek. I believe it's another Scripture memory resource.

I think for my "May" book I'm going to read Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas. Casey and I read Sacred Marriage and it was excellent (we highly recommend it), and I've heard good things about this one as well. I was thinking that if anybody wanted to join me, it would be fun to have a little book club right here on the blog. We could just take it slow...like one chapter a week, and throughout the week people could comment on the chapter. Please let me know if you're interested. (YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE KIDS TO READ THIS!) If not, no biggie...I'll still read it and let you know what Gary had to say. :)

Blessings~

8 comments:

Coffman Family said...

You know I could use all the biblical help I can get! I'd love to join in the reading. Thank you for bringing this topic up. It has really got me thinking.

Anonymous said...

Count me in Steph. I would love to read a Christ centered parenting book!

Abba's Girl said...

You go girl! I don't want to use the word proud in the secular sense because it's really meaningless, but I don't know how else to express myself. I am so proud of the Christian woman you have become and will be.

I think of the prayers I used to pray over you girls to be saved and made whole in Christ and to serve Him. Your life is a whole lot of answered prayers. I know I am not the only person who prayed for you, I am not filled with pride, I am filled with joy.

Love you!

Mrs Annette

Abbie said...

I JUST finished 'Sacred Parenting' and LOVED it! We actually did it as a kind of a bible study with women at church. I was so curious to know if the 'sacred marriage' was just as good, and now I know! I'll definitely have to keep my eyes open for that one!

Steph said...

Cynthia and Alicia...I'm SO glad that you're gonna read this with me! It's so much better to process this hard stuff together...I think :)

And Mrs. Annette...thank you for your prayers, both now and years ago! You are always so encouraging and always directing my attention back to Jesus. Thank you thank you!

And Abbie...ooh yea! I'm glad that you liked Sacred Parenting! As we go through and post over the chapters, I would love for you to chime in and share with us some of the things you discussed in your study! And yes, you should definitely add Sacred Marriage to your library...it's a good one. :)

Ashlee Liddell said...

I think it is a fabulous idea to read a book together via blog community! I don't know if I can join you this time, but will certainly follow the discussion.

While I am not a mother (or wife, actually!) I believe so much in the power of the ministry of parenting.

As a children's minister I like to be in the know about wonderful resources to pass along to parents seeking to raise Christ followers.

Love your blog...

Steph said...

Thanks Ashlee,
I'm so glad that you've stopped by AND made yourself known! :) And I appreciate your CD suggestions. I looked for them at our little Christian bookstore here in Brenham, but no luck. I think I will go ahead and order them online.

Please, please comment on our book discussion! As a children's minister, I know you have so much to share!
Blessings~

Anonymous said...

Thanks Steph,

I hope that they put the segment on the web, but you never know. Yes, the week has been not really great. Last week was so good, so it is really annoying when it's not after that...

Thank you so much for inviting us last night. I am sorry that we did not make it. I am not sure if Andy has had a chance to call Casey back yet, but he had a conference in Austin and got back to town about 6:30. We were just tired and decided to stay home, but we are sad that we missed out.

I hope to see you soon, and thank you so much for all of your encouragement.

Love,
Gabriele