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Dear precious Above Rubies readers,
ABOVE RUBIES # 73I was hoping to have the new magazine out to you in January. Unfortunately I had some delays, firstly with being in New Zealand for the passing away of my dear father, and also my Design Artist was delayed. At last the magazine is rolling off the presses and we will be sending it out next week. ABOVE RUBIES RETREATS FOR MARCH
We have a lot of Above Rubies retreats coming up this year which you will catch up on in the new magazine. Here are the ones for March in case your magazine doesn’t get to you in time. 29 FEBRUARY – 2 MARCH
5th Annual Alabama and Gulf Coast Ladies Retreat
Camp Baldwin in Elberta, Alabama
For details and registration form, visit the website at www.gulfcoastrubies.com
Contact: Darlene Barnett at 251-931-3309
Or Rosanne Van Cleave at 251-625-2518
Serene, Pearl and Meadow will be singing at this retreat.
14 – 16 MARCH, WASHINGTON
Ladies Retreat at Black Lake Bible Camp, Olympia
Contact Lisa Strickland at 360-297-2717
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Or Heather Bryant at 360-638-2838
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Serene and Pearl will be singing at this retreat.
28 – 30 MARCH, WISCONSIN FAMILY CAMP
10th Annual Retreat at Inspiration Center, Williams Bay
This is a retreat where families come back year after year to meet with one another again! Children can’t wait to see their friends each year. Of course new ones come too. You will love this Family Camp. Try and come if you live in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana or Michigan.
This camp looks as though it is going to be a wonderful rendezvous of Liberian children as a number of families are coming who have adopted from Liberia.
Contact Roger and Jackie Thelen at 262-723-6557
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SUPER CELL TORNADO
Serene and Sam got hit by the tornado that came through Tennessee and other states on Tuesday evening 5th February. Praise the Lord, all 15 of them are safe and well. God was very good to them. The tornado screamed right around their house flattening huge big trees on all sides, but amazingly, the house stayed in tact, apart from half the roof flying off.
My husband, Colin, and wonderful teams of volunteers were chain-sawing and clearing for a number of days. ABOVE RUBIES # 74
Now that # 73 is in the printers, I start working on the next one. I would like some feedback on the following subjects:
OCCUPYING TODDLERS WHILE HOMESCHOOLING OLDER CHILREN
I have had requests for this topic. If you have any ideas that really work, I’d love you to share them with other readers. And on the same vain, share if you have any good ideas for keeping little ones quiet in church.
Please type OCCUPYING TODDLERS in the Subject heading.
CARING FOR OLDER PARENTS
I have printed the most beautiful t6estimony in # 73 which you receive shortly about caring for a mother-in-law. It is called Grammy and the Fridge. You will be blessed. However, I am receiving a number of requests for testimonies on this subject.
Put CARING FOR PARENTS on the Subject heading. MOVIES
Thank you so much for all the recommended movies that you sent it. I have them all listed and am just trying to put them in alphabetical order. As soon as I have completed this, I will send them out to you. I know you will love having this list on hand. NURSING STORIES
BEARS DO IT TOO!
I am a 53 year old mother of six grandmother of eight and we have two little foster children aged five and three. The five year old is deaf. My daughter-in-law was visiting last night and began to nurse her little seven month old, Lillyanne under a blanket. The five year old turned to me and asked what Aunt Candice was doing with that baby? I explained, in sign language that she was feeding the baby from her body and that was why God gave Mommies milk in their breast. This little girl had probably never seen or heard of such a thing! She sort of turned up her nose and signed to me, "I saw a bear do that on TV!" My poor daughter-in-law was laughing so hard I am sure Lillyanne got a milk shake!
Tess Quarles, Washington
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SHE STILL REMEMBERS
My youngest daughter "Abigail" is 2 1/2 now and I nursed her for 17 months. Around December she saw me getting dressed and I still had my top off. She looked up at her half naked Mama and with her precious voice said, "That's Mama's boobies."
"Yes" I said.
"I drink Mama's boobies" she said. I looked at her in absolute amazement. It had been exactly one year since I had nursed her and I always wondered if I'd ever notice her remembering! Wow! It was so neat, and I hope she'll always remember those special times of bonding that we had even if not always able to remember as clearly as she did this particular morning.
Nicole Lamp, Gainesville, Georgia
James and Nicole have three girls--Carly (8), Claire (6), and Abigail (2)
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A GOOD LAUGH
My 8th child had a congenital cataract and had his 1st surgery at one month old. I was so sad about his health that I had not laughed for the entire month--and we love to laugh at our house. After the surgery, Josh had to have a small shield taped over his eye for two weeks. I have always slept with my little nurslings. One morning, I woke up and the little shield was no longer taped to Josh's eye, but had come off during the night and was taped to my breast! I laughed until I cried!
Sandra Griffitts
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ABOVE RUBIES SPECIALS
I recently ordered your "Be Fruitful and Multiply" book. This book is truly a work from the Lord. My husband and I are going through it together and are so blessed by it. We have four blessings so far. My husband is hoping to get up to 10 blessings.
You are giving me a vision to teach these principles at our church and share them with friends. I am thinking I should order a larger quantity of your books so I can share it freely, while the price is low.
Amanda Wolfe
The BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY SPECIAL will finish on Monday 25th! If you wish to cash in on this HALF PRICE SPECIAL which will not be available again, you would need to do something quickly.
Do it through Paypal through the website, www.aboverubies.org or give us a call at 1877 729 9861 to pay by credit card.
The next special starts the next day. This time we are making the DVD set, RECLAIMING GOD’S PURPOSE FOR WOMEN available with a discount of $10.00! You can receive the four DVDs for only $20.00!!!
Reclaiming your Marriage
Reclaiming your Motherhood
Reclaiming your Home
Reclaiming your Attitudes
☺Enjoy watching them personally!
☺Invite friends into your home to join with you!
☺Plan a Day Seminar in your home or church!
☺Plan a Monthly Seminar in your home or church. Play one DVD each week and enjoy a Potluck meal together as you fellowship and discuss the message on the DVD! MIDWIFE TO BE
I have a Midwife To Be course that is by mail.
Go to www.newlifehomebirth.com for more information.
Lisa Aman
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QF BLOG
I wanted to share what I hope to be a resource for your readers who have their own blogs on the internet. I started a quiverful blogroll, to try and connect QF minded families on the blogosphere. If you are interested please consider passing along the web address.
http://www.mamaarcher.com/2007/11/introducing-quiverfull-blogroll.html
Kristine Anderson
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SNUGGLED TOGETHER We are a family of six. We have four children ranging from 11-2. Our only son is six. We live in a three-bedroom trailer. It is on nine acres so we do have some room to stretch out. I believe living in a small home has kept us all close. I get tickled because we bought bunk beds, a set for each of the children’s rooms. But our children all manage to sleep in the same room with each other every night! Even though I put them in their own space, they can’t help wanting to snuggle together.
When we looked at bigger homes with five bedrooms the children all whined about who would sleep in the same rooms together. But when I said, “You will all have your own room,” they all replied, “No thanks.”
Robin
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THE VACANT SUPPER TABLE
I am in the middle of your Bible Study, “The Family Table and Hospitality” and I must say--WOW! We have always had supper together, prayers at the beginning and end, and sometimes with family devotions (however we now do the devotions at bedtime for the children although' your study makes a strong case for changing back to supper-time devotions). There is always much lively family discussion time, and most nights there is also discussion of a Bible topic too.
Both my husband and I were raised with meals being eaten as a family at the table. However, I have a sister-in-law who rarely (only on special occasions) ate dinner with her parents and brothers. Her mom would make the food, keep it warm on the back of the stove, and then whenever someone was hungry, they'd help themselves, eat in the kitchen or the living room in front of the T.V. When she dated my brother, this was their regular fashion while visiting at mealtime at her parents' home. However, prior to their marriage, my brother set down the rules they would follow for meals in their home (sit-down, devotions, and prayers). She mentioned one time how odd she thought that was (at first) but over time has come to appreciate the stability it has given her family.
Although we have always sat down as a family, I have noticed in my family and in my five brothers' families and my in-laws families, that there is a tendency to sort of come-apart at the seams when/if the children attend high school. It's not so challenging to eat as a family when the children are younger (especially if you're like us and homeschool your children). But if children are attending school (public or private) parents feel pressured to allow their children to participate in sports programs. Once this happens, other people then have control over your dinner table! This only gets worse as children get into high school sports and longer daily practice sessions and games away from home.
This also revolves around the fact that too many parents give their children unlimited "sports" privileges. We have found it helpful (when our children got into high school especially) to limit the number of sports they could participate in during any one year of high school. We'd tell them, "Two sports during the school year, and one during the summer." This was beneficial to the whole family, and thankfully, the older children usually had similar interests, so we didn't have "mixed" sports (like basketball AND wrestling) going on during the same season.
All too often, what ends up happening is this: Mom eats with the children who are home at normal dinner time, Dad comes home a bit later perhaps and he eats alone while looking over the daily mail or newspaper. (Mom and children are probably off doing their own thing by then), the older children come home from practice (Mom or Dad runs into town to pick them up or do a carpool loop) and then pop something into the microwave.
Game nights are even worse as the family scrambles to quickly eat something hopefully nutritious and hopefully not swallowed whole as they hurry to get finished so they can leave home in time to get to the game). And how many times is the child-athlete either too nervous to eat, or has left directly from school without having a chance to sit down and ENJOY a decent meal? So, after the game--probably at a fast food place--is when the child-athlete gets to finally eat something filling.
What makes me REALLY sad is to think of most of my nieces and nephews have been in some kind of after school "lesson" activity (dance, music, community sports) since they were in kindergarten. Most of them have also taken up a school sport as soon as it was offered in their school at around age 10. So from the time the oldest children hit fifth grade each of these families (with multiple children involved in various activities) has been scrambling to provide a decent family life. What I notice is that each mother or father will regretfully respond that it is so hard to have a decent family life. Yet NONE of them are willing to limit (severely) the amount of time their family devotes to running all over the countryside to various musical, sporting, or other activities. They are SO worried that they will be destroying something intrinsic in their children, and never give thought to what they (parents) have allowed to become important.
It makes me so sad, to realize that in the course of my life time (I'm almost 49 now), things have so drastically tipped AWAY from encouraging family life, to encouraging individuals to function individually. For example: where team sports were encouraged at the high school level that has slowly crept down to younger and younger children. In our school district for example, there is now a sanctioned football program for third graders! In bigger cities near us, there are YMCA flag football and soccer programs for kindergarteners!
Don't get me wrong, I think children need to be active and healthy, and certainly these sports activities boost the health of children who would probably otherwise spend a good share of their time sitting and playing video games. I just think how sad it is that SPORTS team participation has taken over the family dinner hour.
We adopted four older foster children before having three biological children, so we have already grown children with children of their own, while still having youngsters at home. The older children had very chaotic lives before coming to live with us. I have noticed with the four older children that even though we were "religious" about our sit-down-together meals, they have ALL reverted back to the rather chaotic meal times they were raised on prior to joining our family.
It must have seemed very much like Night and Day to them, because we ALWAYS eat at the table (except Friday nights when we have home-made pizza and watch a video). What is sad for me to see at this point in my older children's lives (two divorced, one engaged, one newly married), is that they have mostly all reverted back to their FORMER training in their own homes now: chaotic meals, haphazardly prepared, lower quality. This makes me realize how very important it is FROM INFANCY onward, for parents to make sure that their children participate in the sit-down-meals.
This was clearly brought home to me about 14 years ago. At that time, we had the two youngest of the four older children still at home (the older two having graduated by then, off on their own), they were about 14 and 10 years old. My oldest biological son, Sam, was nearly 23 months old (sitting at the table in a clip-on high chair) and my youngest son was just about 2 weeks old. As we sat down to supper that night, I was standing by the table, rocking the baby who was fussing. Hubby started the meal by encouraging Sam to say his little prayer (we always taught the babies to do a special table prayer). Even though he was barely able to speak in clear words at that time, he put his chubby little hands together, said his little prayer and kept his hands folded while we said our "regular" table prayer as a group. And Sam chirped in with "Amen" at the right time, too.
When my husband and I signed up for adoption, we had (wrongly) assumed
that if we got a child by say, age three or four, or even as old as six (as our youngest adopted child was at the time of her placement in our home), that there was still ample opportunity for us to train and mold and teach them everything they needed to know. Wow....were we ever naive in our thinking!!!!!!
Nancy, as I stood near the table that night when Sam so sweetly said his little dinner prayer...and my older two children also sat there so sweetly with their hands folded... I was struck by the realization of just HOW MUCH my not-quite-two-year-old son had ALREADY absorbed, learned and been influenced by the training...and he was barely able to speak!
And it made me sad to think of ALL that our older children had been deprived of during their baby-hood, toddler years, preschool years, early childhood and for the two oldest their pre-teen years, too because of their chaotic home situation before they were placed with our family. AND it made me realize how very MUCH learning takes place when our BABIES are still cradled in our arms, cuddled on our laps, and snuggling at our breasts!
It is SO important for young mothers to know and realize and appreciate the extremely IMPORTANT job they have--from the very first day of a child's life outside the womb--of training and nurturing their love for the Lord.
It is plain to see that our society blithely dismisses the importance of mothers and fathers in a young child's life. Witness the number of parents who are unwilling to sacrifice a bigger home or nice furnishings and instead claim they simply MUST have Mom's paycheck which means they place their little ones in day-care situations. I fully realize many mothers feel they have "no choice" (being single or divorced.) However, the fact that they are unmarried and have children STILL goes back to the training they received at home. If their mothers and fathers had properly trained them from infancy, unwed mothers or divorced mothers would NOT have gotten into the situation where they find they "must" work in order to survive (literally). Young women will not put themselves into a situation where they COULD get pregnant if they have been properly trained. Young women who have been properly trained to be obedient to their parents' wisdom would not consider for marriage any man who is not a God-pleasing choice.
I once heard or read a story from Satan's point-of-view. It went something like this... Satan is advising his cohorts that since they would be unable to prevent God's word from spreading that they must find some way to keep the believers from spending time alone with God. His plan was to find ways to "fill up their time" with other things. So he told his cohorts to tempt believers with music to fill up the ears and hours, so believers couldn't have quiet time to think Godly thoughts. And fill their eyes with tempting pictures to keep them from reading God's Word.
I would add to that list, take the children away from them as young as possible to have the most direct influence on preventing them from becoming or remaining believers after leaving home... sports at younger and younger ages, day care, baby sitters, television and videos, twaddle-filled books and such.
Debra Hofland
Taylor, Wisconsin
I trust this little newsletter will encourage you as you wait for your new magazine to arrive. Be watching for it.
Blessings from NANCY CAMPBELL
Founder and Editress of Above Rubies
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