Giveaway Winner and a little surprise!

**Many of you have told me that you've read the book and how it ministered to you or embarrassed you by laughing at inappropriate times. How about sharing that on an Amazon review? :) Thanks!

I cannot tell you how humbled I am at your response to my book. I feel like Michael Jackson linking arms and swaying to "We are the World," with all of you from around the globe. I have gotten to hear stories of people being encouraged, mothers in pain but laughing for the first time in months, dads being challenged in their faith, and people living overseas saying "I totally feel that way!"

The Lord is good my friends.

The real reason you are here is to find out who won the giveaway. I won't pull a reality show prank and talk about former blog postings or why I love my Mom before revealing who won. So, here it is:

LAURA STEIN!

Here are my lovely kids outfitted in their "Young Leaders" scarves from Chinese school. 

Congratulations! You have won a copy of "Redefining Home," a mug from Starbucks China, a Mexican Vanilla candle from Johnston Family Farms and fresh Jasmine tea from the motherland.

Post a comment on this blog post and I won't publish it. I'll need your email address and your preference of the Kindle or paperback version.

AND I have a little surprise. I've decided to pick a second winner that will receive a paperback copy of "Redefining Home."

Jennifer P.! 

(send me your address and I'll send a copy your way.)

I hope that we can keep the conversation going about all things related to faith, being overseas and generally making a fool of yourself in public. I'm going to be posting updates and fun China stuff over at Carrie Anne Hudson on FB and Twitter. Rumor has it, there will be more giveaways on other blogs real soon. I'll keep you posted.

Last Chance to Win!

Ok folks, the bell is about to ring on the giveaway.

Scroll down and get yourself entered to win a copy of "Redefining Home," and some loot from the East side.

The giveaway ends March 21st, midnight ET. So tell the kids you are doing something very important on your computer, like calculating the next solar eclipse, and enter to win.

Kindle and a "Redefining Home" Giveaway

Ok, it's giveaway time. In honor of the Kindle rolling out my e-book this week (I love the irony that the e-book tagged in at last place in getting the book published), I'm giving you some love from the motherland. You'll get a China Starbucks mug, a Mexican Vanilla candle from Johnston Family Farms, fresh Jasmine Tea and a copy of "Redefining Home" (either Kindle or paperback).

If you:

Facebook about the book, 


Tweet it, 


post it on your blog, 


subscribe to this blog, 


comment on this here post,


tell your grandmother's craft circle, 


or if you have done any of these since the book came out, then that's an entry. 


Each time you do one of the above, tell me in a comment on this blog post, and you will get your name thrown into a box. So telling your grandma AND Facebook means two entries and you can just stick those both in one comment. Are you trackin' with me here? This really isn't hard, but to make this feel official I need to make the instructions complicated.

The Giveaway will end on March 21st at midnight ET, so start procrastinating on other things and get yourself entered to win.

By the way: if you don't have a Kindle, you can get the Kindle app for free! You can also follow along at @carrieahudson on Twitter or Carrie Anne Hudson on Facebook.

Kindle Drama

I promise the Kindle version of "Redefining Home" IS coming out. It is up on NOOK though! But I feel  like at this point, Kindle has become the Coke, Xerox, and Kleenex of e-readers. No offense to my Barnes and Noble peeps. So, the giveaway will take place when the Kindle version is released.  

There have been a few bumps in getting the formatting correct, so it's taken longer than expected. I have grown a tad impatient at how long it's taking, but I am reminded that it took Moses 40 years of wandering to return to his task. I think I can wait another 2 days.This Kindle thing has been a traumatic process I will tell you. The other night, I had a dream that I wet the bed at a slumber party. I clearly have issues.

In the next few days, all should be right in the world. Well...at least right in my little Kindle world. 

I like my Stretch Marks

It's funny how our body image changes as we get older.

Or maybe I'm just too tired to care anymore.

But the older I get, the more I appreciate the way people are put together through their stories and struggles and not their matching scarf and Tom's set. There are times when I look at a 20-year old in all her perkiness and find myself glancing jealously in the mirror. I scroll over the stretch marks laying over every patch of skin that makes me uniquely female. I also find that I no longer where spandex because it keeps me from chaffing, but rather it holds the jiggling down to a minimum. Thank you spandex.

But I feel like as my age increases, so does my freedom in what my body looks like.

I have successfully sequestered my first grey hair and the rest of my follicles have thrown their hands up in  color-defeat. They are ushering me slowly into a lonely grey tundra. But I think I'm ok with that. There is a certain freedom that comes when you stop concerning yourself so much with what physical image you are projecting. It's allowed me to laugh more at myself. It's allowed me to enjoy my husband as he dips his goatee into the salt and pepper pool. It's given me more mental space to play "T-Rex devours Spiderman" with my boys.

I wish I could have discovered this a good 20 years ago. The bang poof, shoulder pads, and endless jelly bracelets were all aching so loudly at me that I didn't enjoy what was right in front of me: others.

Treated like a Servant

I'm pretty sure it was Chuck Swindoll who said "You will know if your heart is that of a servant in how you react when being treated like one." 

(insert hard swallow and the harsh realization that while I read this quote a solid 10 years ago, it hasn't left my mind.)

There are days I wish I could forget this quote. I have forgotten things like which generals fought in the civil war and how to use the Pythagorean Theorem, but this quote has haunted me for the last decade of my life.

When I look at my day as a mom, I realize that so often my frustration stems out of me being treated like a servant. My husband and kids are very grateful and encourage me often. But still I think "I'm gonna get sick for a day and you guys will really appreciate me."

Hello red flag!

Today, when I was cleaning up the mess made from our paper mache pig activity (in case you're wondering, paper mache and jr. high lock-ins were created by the devil), I'm grumbling and impatient. But honestly, it's my job. It's my calling. It's my blessing. My four-year old can help clean, but I'm gonna have to come behind him and finish the job. But so often I see it as my duty and not my opportunity to love and serve my family.

I have found my attitude becomes quickly irritated when I have something else I want to be doing. I see the matted mound of newspapers as sucking my time away from returning an email. If I took on the perspective that James talked about in chapter 4 verse 17 "If anyone knows what is the right thing to do and yet does not do it, for him it is sin," then my attitude would be one of gratefulness at doing the task instead of sinning.

For me to look at the pile of newspapers, spilled glue, dilapidated balloon and think "ugh, not again, I'm just gonna skip this project altogether," would be sin for me. I know that the right thing to do is to complete the project with my kids and do it with joy. And if I don't do that very thing, it is sin.

That is a big ol' nasty, pre-natal-vitamin-sized pill to swallow.

A servant looks at the needs of the house and does them because it's their God given task for that day. Each task that I get to do is a chance for me to offer it back to Him as worship and to teach my kids what it means to serve with a heart of Jesus. Jesus peeled caked on layers of dirt from the disciple's feet and told them to do the same. This job wasn't one for a King; it was one for a servant. But for very non-worldly reasons, Jesus is asking us to humble ourselves into a position of service.

When there are clothes to be cleaned and dinner to be prepared, I shouldn't balk or complain because that is the simple task that this servant has been given. And because I know my Master's heart, I can be guaranteed that each task is innately good, because He is good.

Tomorrow is a new day. A day where (God willing) I will look at the pile of legos that has been vomited across my floor and I will bend down with joy to pick them up because it's my job. It's my joy.

Adoption Link Up

There are some good posts this week about adoption. Today's word of the day is DELEGATION. These people have several hundred more brain cells than I do and can express themselves at a level exceeding second grade, so I decided to let them do the posting today.


Over at Millions of Miles, she unfolds her laundry basket of learning about black culture. From her first experience in the sandbox to entering into a transracial adoption, Making a Lasting Impact makes for a good framing of how we all grew up understanding race.


Rage Against the Minivan is talking about appreciating race. While sitting with her daughter at a performance, she notices that all the dancers were black. Her daughter noted this loudly. describing vs. ascribing: digger deeper into talking about race  helps us understand what things make us cringe and is it right that they do?


Jen Hatmaker did a guest blog here: give1save1. I'm pretty sure Jen and I are soul mates, she just doesn't know it yet. I love her take on preparing for adoption. Listen to Baby Einsteins in utero 24/7! Feed your baby only organic potatoes grown by corn fed farmers from Connecticut!  Your adopted children's hair should look like Hally Barry or your are a white parent failure! These are the lies we pour into our brains on a daily basis when we begin parenting. She stops us in the chaos, looks at us straight in the eyes and tells us to get a grip.


A family who has been giving the gift of caring for Chinese orphans that have HIV. Their story is a good reminder that God doesn't call us to what we can handle on our own, but that which will bring Him the most glory. We are Grafted In has highlighted them in the post titled Surrounded. 

I love getting to hear of how people ended up on this side of adoption. The calling, the surrender, the understanding, the sacrifice, the family.

Since we're talking adoption, thought I'd include a picture of why I shouldn't be blogging right now. Maybe throwing some hair milk in her hair and putting something on her besides her bathing suit and tights would be good.

We have a 6 year old!

We have a 6 year old!

At the beginning of February, C had a birthday. This girl has had a monumental year with her homeschooling, traveling and winning the race for the number of growth spurts in one year. She has become a fantastic reader and artist. She also names all of her stuffed animals Mary.  

This girl loves to make people laugh, jump rope, win races, and take of her pants the second she walks in the door. She is an incredible big sister and brings life to our days. When we were in Thailand last month we got to pet giraffes and eat cake with lots of friends. Giraffes and friends is about all this girl needs in a day. 

She is always quick to serve others, see people's needs, comfort her friends, and keep us laughing. I love this girl and thank the Lord daily for Him giving her to us. We love you baby girl! Happy Birthday!

How the heck did you have the time to write a book?

*I promise this will not become a book blog. Just like it isn't a Mommy, China, cooking, homeschool or family blog. I will remain content in the "random" blog category because I hate labels. Clearly. But this week I'll do a few posts and giveaways to get the book thing rolling. Then more stories about enemas in starbucks and Chris Farley in spandex.



So, I've been asked more than a few times, "How the heck did you have time to write a book?"I jotted down a few things that I thought of while taking a bath.

1. It was my sanity. I've discovered about myself that I need a side story to my daily grind. I need to have a creative something that I can work on and donate some brain cells to.

2. I read a great book by Anne Lamott called "Bird by Bird." She emphasizes the value of writing a little each day. So, I did just that. (I love this book except that one entire chapter uses a certain cuss word to describe her first draft. I almost recommended to a mom that her aspiring novelist daughter read it until I remembered this particular chapter. I don't want to be the person guilty of introducing this English word to her poor daughter. I'll leave that to Youtube.)

Each morning, I'd find an hour or two and write. My routine was coffee, my porch, Sara Groves and the background noise of chanting grandpas doing tai qi.


3. I am passionate about the topic. When you are deeply convicted in something, it's amazing how the time seems to find itself. If I truly believed in dying my wonky gray hairs that have taken up a front row seat along my temple, you better know I'd find the time to do that.

I desperately want people to understand what it means to accept a calling to be overseas. I want them to laugh both at us and with us as we expose our foreignness in every country we land in. I want to remind people that you don't have to be afraid if you truly believe that God is that big.

So when you believe those things, you redeem the time in other places so that there is space to write.

And...I got rid of clothes so that I didn't have much laundry. That helped too.

4. Lastly, my loving husband looked at me as I started writing and said, "If you start this, you must finish it." I'm an ENFP, which means I love to brainstorm and start projects. What I don't love is finishing them. I just kinda close my eyes and hope someone more talented and organized comes along to help me finish the task. As a child, I tried to hand copy the book "Wizard of Oz," and make a functioning trash can out of tooth picks. You can now see why my husband threatened encouraged me to not start unless I would finish.

If there is something you feel called to do, but can't for the life of you figure out how to make that happen, my advice would be pray and then get creative. If God is behind it, things will work themselves out as you go along. I'm thankful and humbled that He'd allow someone who can't even use a comma properly to write a book like this.

The Long Hair Debacle

I first posted this on Dec. 6, 2010. I just had this exact conversation again yesterday with two friends over Skype. In their honor, I give you this:







Hubs and I have an ongoing "discussion" about girls and their hair length. Men across the board want women to have long hair. I think they have this fantasy that if our hair is long that we will be morphed into some slinky super model that spritzes herself each morning in coco butter. And then we will walk out the door covered in glittering in the morning sun. And then we will frolic over, lay on a log, and dream of writing prose.

I'm usually only glittering because of the sweat that has formed on my overgrown eye brows as I lug my babies to the grocery store in the summer. And the hair that he loves so much...ya, it's tucked into a nice half pony tail. A half pony tail because it feels a tad bit like I actually did my hair that morning. And because full pony tails make me feel like a cheerleader. If I'm draped over a log, it's because my kid has thrown his shoe from the stroller and I'm trying desperately to find it and to save myself another trip to the store to buy the third pair this season.





If I thought I was going to be a cute as Sinead O'Connor in this above picture, I'd shave my hair all off. Seriously, look at that specimen of femininity. But I'd look like a bull dog. Or a party balloon. Either way, my husband would shackle me to the closet until it all grew back if I decided to pull off a a hair cut like that.

But I'm not gonna say I'm not tempted to cut it all off sometimes.




And I am training him to understand that when you get older, you just shouldn't have long hair. Unless you are a librarian or a yoga instructor living in Portland. It just shouldn't be. Like Chris Farley in Spandex.

"Redefining Home" Giveaway

My friends over at Getting Through the Day are holding my first "Redefining Home"giveaway! Put the laundry down and head over there. There are several ways to win, so yes, you could actually win this. 

It ends on Monday morning, so seriously, stop folding the sweater and walk over to your computer.

Redefining Home: Squatty Potties, Split Pants, and Other Things that Divide my World

Well, the book is officially out! It just got uploaded to Amazon and Barnes and Noble this week. The Kindle versions will take another week or two. I'm going to have a giveaway once the Kindle version is uploaded. In case you missed the summary, here it is.

I've decided to give you a sneak peek at the Table of Contents too:

Who we are

Our American Culture Shock

Moving in with Uncle Sam

Transition and Moist: Two Words I Hate

Letting the Dust Settle

Squatty Potties and Other Realities

Family Ties

Rescuing the Holidays

Your Day Tomorrow

In the next week, I'm also going to include a "How the heck did you have time to write a book" blog. 


I've set up Twitter and a FB page if you want to follow along:


Twitter: @carrieahudson


FB Page: Carrie Anne Hudson

Poem for my Double Wide

Stroller oh stroller 

You time has arrived

To pack up your wheels

And yell "I survived!"

From the Great Wall to Thailand

You've been many places

Plodded through puddles, 

And lugged dirty faces. 

I have to admit

I'm not all that sad

To put you away

And not make others mad,

When I clip stranger's heels

And splash on their skirts.

Carrying you through markets

Until our spleens hurt. 

Stroller oh Stroller

You've been a good friend.

But your time is over

The good times must end.

Your wheels are all wanky

Your fabric all torn. 

But a new family will come

New babies soon born. 

So keep on movin'

Crusty milk stains and all

You've run your race strong, 

So stand proud and stand tall.

Guest Blogging: We are Grafted In

I had the privilege of guest blogging over at We are Grafted In. This site is chalk full of resources, encouragement, challenges and small pep rallies for all people interested in adoption. I know they have reached into the lives of many to remind people that adoption is important because of God's fingerprints are over every step. He adopts His children, Jesus was adopted by Joseph, we are adopted into a royal priesthood.

Check out the post and then stay awhile. It will be worth your time.

My Book is Coming Soon!

My book is set to come out soon on Kindle and shortly after that in a hard copy. I figured it was about time to share what it's actually about. It's called:





Redefining Home
Squatty Potties, Split Pants, and Other Things that Divide my World






I've had been wanting to write for a long time, but all of my brain cells were being used birthing children and staying awake past 8 pm. Now that I have packed away the diaper bags and sleep in one continuous block of time, I decided to write. Here's the summary on the back of the book:




My first attempt at speaking Chinese resulted in my telling a street vendor that I wanted to buy a daughter instead of milk. It was at that point that any semblance of self-respect was swept into the well-filled gutters of my new culture. Redefining Home follows our struggle as comfortable Americans moving into the chaotic streets of urban China. From the early morning cadence of funeral drums to being accosted by an 80-year old man armed with a toothless grin, China has become home in many ways. As outsiders, we get to take in the culture with the naivety of a child while trying to avoid the cynicism of a middle-aged bowler. After several years, we returned to the States for a brief time only to discover that it no longer felt like home. Having conversations about intestinal parasites or my fascination with American gas stations was not a great way to fit back into the lives of our friends. We quickly realized that we had changed...as had the people around us. Flying across the ocean to return home to China reminded us that it's the space in between the two cultures that defines our family. 


The book chronicles how as a family we find ourselves "Redefining Home," and as followers of Christ, how we have become strangers and aliens in this world. Both take a re-calibration of our identity. 


Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting a few short excerpts from the book and a few giveaways here and there. So check back and I'll promise not to talk about my children's and their mom's obsession with potty humor.

Creative Journaling

I wanted to share a way that I get through the mundane walls of journaling. In my mind, all the writing prompts will spur my children onto Maya Angelou level of prose. For now, I'm just trying to get my son to delete the word "poop" and every other unmentionable body part from his writing. Baby steps. Very small baby steps. I had exhausted all the writing prompts my pion brain could muster up. I had also borrowed every prompt I could find appropriate from the world wide web. 

When we were in the States last year, I picked up these from Dover Books:

These babies have revolutionized our journaling time. I want my kids to write everyday. This writing will not be corrected for grammar or handwriting. I only remind them that every form of the word "rear end" or "passing gas" may not be included. Besides that, the world's their oyster. Each day they will either draw a picture or write a short story to go along with the picture. I have some other journaling activities that we do, but this is by far my children's favorite. Each book has a theme. The one my kid's are doing now is called "Things that Go." Each page with have a prompt. The one my daughter did on the right starts like this:

"Mrs. Morgan is about to enter her house. People say it is haunted. Draw what you think it looks like."

They have lots of different theme like creepy creatures, animals, fantasy, etc. 

I would love to hear from others on how they make daily journaling interesting. And if you want to include your favorite synonym for "passing gas," I will promise to pass them along to my boys. You will forever be their favorite person in the entire world. 

Pumpkin Pie, Candles and Tuna Mac'n Cheese

I am having a slightly prolonged food crush on pumpkin. From the day my mom decided that pumpkin pie was an acceptable post-Thanksgiving breakfast, I've been smitten with this frumpy vegetable/fruit creation.

I'm not so much going to make pumpkin tuna mac'n cheese. I mean, let's not go crazy now. If I'm eating pumpkin, it's because the poor thing has been beaten, mashed, and slathered in sugar. Or it's gooey syrup is hijacking my innocent latte in the fall.

Because I was avoiding unpacking, repacking and looking at the cheese induced ring of comfort that now sits above my waistline, I decided to make a pumpkin pie.

For.the.love.

Here's the allrecipe.com recipe:

I even made the pie crust out of these graham cracker cousins that we call "wheat digestive crackers." Marketing fail on the name, but when you add sugar and butter even wheat digestive crackers will taste good. But then again...so would cardboard. 

• 
  

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
• 
  

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

I purposely ate a small dinner so that I could have more than one piece of pie after the kids went to bed. Pathetic...yes. As I was eating, I decided to burn one of my new candles. It was of course a pumpkin spice candle. I ordered these from a company called Johnston Farm Candle Company and I'm in love. I burned the mulled cider today during homeschool and I swear it made me a better teacher. They are hand-poured candles and they smell amazing. They even come with a short wick, so that you don't singe your eyebrows when forgetting to cut a new candle wick. I mean, who would do that anyway?! Certainly not me. 

While I realize that pumpkin is supposed to be a seasonal thing, I've decided to rise up and buck the system. My pumpkin candles, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin lattes will be here all summer long.

Commitment Issues

I'm finishing up my final edits on my book and then I'll be done. As I sit here at Buddy's Internet in Thailand, I feel uneasy at the finality of writing a book. The nauseated feeling might also be related to the skinny guy near me that is wearing pumas and looking at inappropriate pictures at a public internet bar.

But let's pretend my uneasiness is based in my inability to commit to permanency. Those of you close to me are going to roll your eyes because you've heard this diatribe a few hundred times. It makes me nervous to have something out in black and white. Something out there that sits on it's own and doesn't give me a forum to sit over coffee and explain myself.

I'm going to wrap things up today and then the publishers will finish their part. The book should be ready in a couple of weeks. I'm going to post soon on what the premise is.

For now I'm trying to forget that my 10-year old daughter just used the "F" word in public because she read it on a wall. Between explaining transvestites and English curse words this has been a very cultural week.

If you want to follow along, I've set up an author fb page under "Carrie Anne Hudson"or on Twitter at @carrieahudson.

There ya go.

Telling Fear to Move Over

This is a post specifically to women. I am tired of fear. I see it in myself and I see it in the hollow-eyes of strangers. Fear is something that strangles women and leaves us grasping for breath in the everyday.

Fear that we will fail.

Fear that someone won't like us. Or that people are all pretending they like us and then use our names in front of the phrase, "Bless her heart."

Fear that we won't measure up.

Fear that our kids will grow up to resent us. Or maybe worse...resemble us.

Fear that one day people will see through our facade of self-sufficiency.

There are hundreds that could be listed here. These fears lurk like a stray cat in our minds as we restlessly try to sleep at night. They crawl into our conversations about how our kids are doing in school. They leap into our laps as we dream of pursuing a new hobby. They claw at us as we look at other moms who have it all together on their crafty little blogs.

All of these create a chaos in our minds that keep us inactive. We are trying so hard to pacify each of these fears that dreams and callings cannot be heard over all of it. I have talked to dozens of women who feel called to do something and yet find every reason under the sun to talk themselves out of it.

I want to exhort to you that if God is calling you to something today, do it.
Don't look at your watch and wonder if you have time. God will take care of those minutes.

Don't think of what your parents will say. God will be a gracious Father to you in times of uncertainty.

Don't assume that just because you studied something in college that it means you are actually called to use that degree directly.

Don't think that just because you are single that God wouldn't call you to live overseas.

Don't reason that God owes it to us to do things that make rational sense.

Decisions made in fear will be wrapped in either guilt or self-sufficiency. Jesus frees us from this bondage. Remember good 'ol 2 Tim. 1:7? God gives us a spirit of POWER, LOVE, and SELF-CONTROL. I find it interesting that none of those things can be done while living under fear. At least they won't be done well.

If the Lord is calling us to do something radical today, then we need to trust that He will meet us at the other side of it all. He is that big. He is that able. So go and do it.

Birthdays and a New Year

In my mind I'm organized, contemplative and I sing like Sara Groves. In reality, I do none of these well. That is why this post will contain 3 celebrations, a few of them rather tardy in nature. 

We celebrated Selah's birthday in Thailand with my parents and my sister's family. She has become an amazing girl that leaves her Dad and I proud to call her our daughter. She is thoughtful, giving, responsible and compassionate. I love seeing the fruit of the Spirit growing and bringing life to those around her. She turned 10 this year and from this point forward we will work backwards. Next year is 9. This makes me feel much better about the whole thing. 

This little dude just turned 8. Dad is out of town, so we laid low and ate pizza while watching old school "Parent Trap." He is passionate, analytical, caring, creative and convicted. Watching this little guy think through things in Scripture and come to conclusions that glorify the Lord is both humbling and encouraging. 

It's Chinese New Year around these parts. It's fun to see every one decorating their houses and eating dumplings all day long. We won't be here for the festivities and what that means is no 2 a.m. firework wake up calls. Bummer for us. But this is the year of the dragon. It is my year (each birth year is represented by an animal and it rotates every 12 years), so I'm thinking good things will happen. Or maybe just that I will be able to buy a little stuffed dragon at the store all year round. Either way Happy New Year! 

新年快乐！

Traveling in a Caffeine Stupor

We are heading out this morning. And in order to define the word "we," I mean my 5 ewoks and me.  At 5:30 a.m. we will pile our arms with luggage, bags, and 55 ounces of coffee. The Lord desires to sanctify me as we travel through 4 airports and two countries without my husband. So if you don't hear from me for a little bit, it's because I am balled in the fetal position, wearing coolots, and sucking my thumb in a hotel somewhere.

What's in the Storm?

In Matthew 8, we see a roll call of miracles that Jesus performs. One after another, Jesus reaches into the physical life and turns the tables. He removes the leprous reputation of a man, strengthens the legs of a servant, cools the fever of a mother. The list goes on and on and if you read it in succession, it plays out almost as a task list for the day. A simple day in the life of Jesus.

And then I get to Jesus calming the storm. Cue thunderous rainstorm, rickety fishing boat and 12 panicky disciples.  Out of their desperation, they spoke out what was churning in their hearts: fear. 

As Jesus slept peacefully in the bow, the storm was enveloping both the waters and the hearts of His followers. We see them screaming at Jesus, "Save us, we are perishing!"

He wakes up and peers into their souls, "Why are you afraid? O you of little faith?" I imagine him speaking softly, with His words resounding loudly among the waves, "Be still." 

I got to thinking about Jesus' rebuke to the disciples. And then I was brought back to so many other instances of Jesus commending people when they say, "Save me! Lord, show me mercy!" Why was this situation different? Why did Jesus not commend their desire for the Lord's rescuing? It was at this point that my heart was both convicted and sorrowful as I realized that the disciples asked out of fear and not repentance. There was no faith present for the Lord to commend. Only 12 men wrapped up in fear for their lives. 

Where is my desperation rooted, fear or repentance? When I call out to the Lord, what am I truly wanting from the Lord? Is it just a removal of my present circumstance or a changing of my heart?

Final Manuscript Victory Dinner

When I submitted my final manuscript last week, the kids and I decided to celebrate. This is what I made for dinner. For those of you who are both from the southern part of the US and have also resided overseas, you will join with me in saying that there was a halo surrounding that Dr. Pepper. I savored every sip. I told the kids to respect my drinking with a few minutes of silence. It was a holy moment. 

Guest Blogging: "Feeding Kids Bigger Portions"

I guest-blogged "Feeding Kids Bigger Portions," over at my friend Joy in the Blink. We are talking about removing Beyonce from your kids repertoire of truth and replacing it with Truths that never fade. She and I have been having a few years worth of conversations about what Christian parenting looks like in the trenches.

Have a little look see.

A Few of our Favorite Apps

The app world is just flat out overwhelming. This list I wrote could easily be ten times as long, but I wanted to share some of the apps we have enjoyed of late. We only do educational games in our house. I told my kids that they were born into the wrong family if they wanted to play shoot 'em up games. Sorry kids.

These first three are websites that give a more extensive list of apps for kids.

smartappsforkids

funeducationalapp

ipadsforeducation




Here are some of our favorites:






Solar Walk 


This app is a scale model of the Solar System where you get to manipulate space-time, learn details about 39 celestial objects, and watch 7 different videos. This was great to have while we studied Astronomy last year. The kids can line all the planets and compare rotation, size, surface, color, and texture. 


Story Chimes


Several choices  of fairy tales that you can read or have read to you. The narration is fun and upbeat. Some of them have memory games or short activities for the kids to do at the end. These are great for the little ones to listen to while I'm working on a more one-on-one intense subject with and older one. 


Math Bingo/Sight Word Bingo


I hate flash cards. They make me want to poke my eye with a Q-tip. So, the kids do these bingo games to work on math facts. All 4 operations can be used. The sight word one works the same way, but with words. At the end, they calculate your time and you get bingo bugs according to how fast you completed the bingo board. Once you've earned enough bingo bugs, you can play a game where you slingshot them around the screen to earn coins. My kids enjoy this one a lot.


Toontastic 


Toonstastic gives your kids a chance to both narrate and animate a story. The app will walk kids through the process of storytelling (setup, conflict, challenge, climax and resolution), pick their own theme music for each scene, and watch their story come to life. Sometimes I'll take one of the stories the kids has written and ask them to go animate it. Or, instead of writing the journal entry down, go animate it instead. Keeps things fresh. 


Ultimate Dinopedia


This one is great is your kids are into dinosaurs. There are fact cards, pictures, and 3D videos that bring these creatures to life. It's put out by National Geographic and the visuals are exceptional. There are tons of dinosaurs to pick from and I feel like it gives a good overview of how they lived.


Word Magic


This is a phonics and spelling app for early readers. On one level, they will have a picture and a word, but one letter is missing. The child is supposed to touch the letter that is missing in each word. As a parent, you can set the word length, level, capital or small letters, and several phonetic options. 


Monkey Preschool Lunchbox


This is geared  more towards preschoolers. There are matching games, memory games, shapes, colors, groupings, and lots of other beginning level skills. This is also a great starter to get the younger ones comfortable with a computer. I know it seems crazy, but just think about 18 years from now. Computers are going to dominate every sphere of life. We've got to surrender to that and get our kids prepared.


McPea Preschool 


This is fairly similar to Monkey Preschool. There are numbers included in this one though.


iWrite Words


Your kids will write their letters (both capital and lowercase), numbers, and short words with their fingers. They are learning the stroke order and basic hand eye coordination. There is also a small music portion where the kids can tap on a piano and it plays the alphabet song.


ABC Phonics is similar to iWrite Words


Cute Math


This has several levels of basic math operations. I would say preschool to kindergarten age. There are a few counting levels where they count balloons or penguins. There are also a few where you work on addition and subtraction of birds. 


 As our kids get older, there are some fantastic ones for anatomy that I can't wait to dive into. If you homeschool and can afford an ipad, I would highly recommend one. We have used it even more than I anticipated. The apps available for schooling are incredible.


Hope these help you navigate the ocean of apps available now. 

Parents, Grow Some Kahunas!

I just got home from running in the rain and listening to rap music. I am feeling both empowered and opinionated. As I ran, the music started talking about all the trappings that temptation throws at us. I began to think about parenting and protecting our children from the nets that ensnare their hearts.

As a Christian parent, our aim is NOT to make our kids the most popular, the best athlete, or the most talented piano player in the state. Should they do these things for the glory of God? Yes. Should these things require you to sacrifice your family and your God? No. Never.

When I worked with youth, I would get parents calling me in tears because their kids had found some guy on the internet and they were exchanging inappropriate emails. Or a parent who couldn't get their kids to make eye contact at the dinner table because their eyes were locked to their cell phone. I would look at these parents in the eye and say, "Then take the computer out of their room. They can write reports for school in the kitchen on the computer. Take the tv out of their room. If you want a relationship with your kids, you've got to take away other distractions. Kids don't need a tv in their room. Take their cell phone away after 5 p.m. If their friends want to talk about physics on the phone, then they can do it in the living room with their physics book in front of them and you in the kitchen doing dishes so you can hear the conversation."

And you know what? I would get parents arguing with me that their children need privacy, their own lives, to be able to make grown up decisions. There will be plenty of time for them to do that after they leave your house and start paying their own bills.

Here's another thing: chances are, your kid isn't going to be the next Nolan Ryan. Sports have become the American God. Parents get frustrated when, at 15, their kids want nothing to do with God or the church. Well here's the deal, the parents have taught the kid that church is second priority to baseball games, soccer tournaments and cheerleading competitions. You teach your kids how to prioritize by looking at where we as parents decide to spend our time as a family. You've only got 18 years to set these types of life habits for your kids.

Parents, we need to GROW SOME KAHUNAS and take the wheel from our children in their upbringing. They will be steering the ship after they leave the house. For now, they don't need their doors closed, they don't need video games in their room, they don't need to go to "the party of the year." They need to be loved, guided, taught, steered and disciplined.

Some of our parenting heros once wisely told us,"Parent now, be friends later." Don't fall for what the world tells you is a priority for you kids. Look to the Bible and figure out what God deems most valuable. Some of those things being, loving justice, showing mercy, serving orphans, and praying continually. Those things are radically different than what the world is shouting at us as parents. But I will submit to you that these are the things that will last both here on earth and in the scope of eternity.

What to do if You Wake up Feeling Fragile

You know that one time that you woke up and pretended to not hear your child asking for breakfast in the other room?

Or maybe that one time that you woke up and your stomach felt like it had been hit by a two by four because you are anxious about your day?

Then there's the rest of us who wake up feeling this way on a consistent basis. Here is a great article reminding us of God's promises. While He doesn't promise to do our laundry for us, He promises us more than we could ever imagine.

What to do if You Wake up Feeling Fragile

Working...Keep Away

I was thinking of making this sign into a t-shirt for my friends with nursing babies. The logo would be on the back of the shirt while they feed their little one. 

What do you think?