How I Study

here's a new post on A Declaration of War. It's a small section of some work I did on Acts 20:17-38 for a Bible study class at church. Actually, both "War of the Worlds" and "Shepherding a Flock" are both excerpts from the work I did in the class. The Bible study, "How to Study the Bible So You Can Teach" was taught by our pastor Greg. The "Study Tools" section are links to some of the resources I used to study the passage from the class and I liked them so much that I use them nearly every time I study.

I love to study the Bible so much that sometimes it's hard for me to just sit down and read it. I was finding myself getting one or two verses into reading and then grabbing my interlinear Bible and concordance right away to do a word study. I would do it so often, I could hardly get anything read. Now, when I read, I try to have a notebook with me so that I can jot down notes on things I want to look into further.
I also get distracted pretty easily. There are a lot of really loud kids in the neighborhood, and to add to that, my dogs bark at them. It seems as though things that I would not normally give my attention are a million times louder or more annoying when I am trying to focus on reading and studying. At times like that, I try to remember not to get frustrated or angry and I pray that God will help me to give my undivided attention to His Word.

One thing I do to help me is set a goal for how much I want to read. Unless something that demands my attention comes up, like Caleb waking up from a nap, I commit to meeting that goal. Once I start reading, I usually do really well, but actually sitting down to read is another story. There are so many things that seem to get in the way. Sometimes I will realize that I have just watched an hour of TV that I didn't even find entertaining. I just turn my brain off and sit in front of it. It would be far more profitable for me to have spent that time reading my Bible. In fact, I think I will assign some memory verses to myself today...

Ephesians 5: 15-17

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Love,

Jena's Blog is Working!

uper great news! Jena got her blog, Jena's Formal Hair Design up and running. There are some cool pictures up of updos she has done for special occasions, and a way to contact her for your wedding, prom, or homecomming. Pretty cool, huh? Check it out!

Love,

Refocus

ou may have noticed that I have slowed down on my blogging. This is because I have decided to try and focus my attention on blogging on A Declaration of War. It's been really difficult because I have to be sure that I am a good keeper of my home;
maintaining my duties at home before I focus my attention on anything else. I will still probably be posting on this blog more than A Declaration of War though. Writing this blog doesn't require research and study the way A Declaration of War does. So I hope to see you at the other blog and that you are edified by the posts there.

Love,

A New Post?

hoa! What's that I see? A new post on A Declaration of War? I wonder how that happened. Weird

Love,

Stubborn Shawn

hawn is practically refusing to blog. I slaved over his blog A Declaration of War twice. Originally it was called Biblical Blog, and I set the whole thing up for him. I even gave him some ideas on what to blog about. Then, he decided that he wanted to change his blog mission and theme, so I reworked the whole thing. I made graphics, which I am not good at and so it takes me a long, long time to make them. I changed the name, three time before he settled on one, and I made a new email address to match. I sent his website to various search engines to get crawled by... spiders... ick.

Vanity, vanity. Shawn hasn't written a single thing on his blog. I don't want to be a nag, but it is getting pretty frustrating. He is the first link on my blogroll. Not assuming that is a coveted spot, but I like to think that it is an honorary one at least. All I want to see is a paragraph or two about, well, anything. I did all this hard work and he can't even type a few words? It's not like it would be hard. The guy types, like, 90 wpm, no kidding. His dad was a typing teacher.

So yes, I am aware that the blog was my idea in the first place. That I set it up first and then told him about it when I was finished. But this second time around he was directing me to put certain things in place, and now that I have, they aren't being used. Shawn has so much to say and he is normally pretty entertaining. I just wanted to share him with the world, but he won't let me.

Shawn. Please blog. Blog about whatever. Blog about how your wife is nagging you. Blog about Benny Hinn slaying people with his chi. Blog about that ugly guy in FL who says he can travel through time and kicks people in the stomach. If you don't, I will be forced to assume your personality and blog for you.

Love,

(your doting wife)

Child Training: The Begining of the Begining

ecently, a friend of mine lent me the book, "To Train up a Child" by Michael & Debi Pearl. I'd heard a lot about this book and several of my friends are reading it. I was so excited to get my hands on a copy that I went straight home and read it. It works great! This book changed my whole outlook on discipline. I had an idea evolving in my head about how discipline worked and this book nipped it in the bud before I developed any bad habbits. This is part of the update I wrote to the friend that lent the me book.

Caleb and I used to watch sesame street on the laptop everyday, but he started banging the keys so hard that I had to stop. Eventually, his desire for the computer was so great, I had to keep it out of the room or he would cry if it was not in his reach.

I read To Train up a Child during his naptime and when he woke up I used the computer in his first training session. After about 10 or 15 corrections he would reach for the computer and when I told him, "No, no. Don't touch that" he would withdraw his hand and cry.

We went out to dinner and when we came home, I was able to hold him and use the computer at the same time without him reaching for it... until he decided to try to sneak and touch it with his toes. Can you believe it?! He would sneak just one little toe out and touch it. All I had to do was tell him "No, no" and he would withdraw his foot. This turned into our second training session.

Today, we were able to watch Sesame Street again. Caleb reached out for the computer, but withdrew his hand when I said, "No, no." He tried a new alternative, touching the computer with his stuffed animals, but was not upset or discouraged when he discovered this also was not allowed. The reason I felt compelled to write this blog is because now when I tell Caleb, "No, no. Don't touch that" He doesn't cry, he doesn't rebel, he turns around and KISSES ME!

This is a great start. I am so thankful for this book. I am going to have such a happy time raising and training my child!

Love,

Fixing The Fish

oday I fixed the fish situation. I got a replacement beta, moved the pregnant guppies into a 3-way breeder, and got Caleb a nice new goldfish name Mr. Wigglesworth. Here are the pictures...

Here is the new beta. I haven't named him yet because I didn't think he was going to live very long. I moved him from his tiny little container into his new home and he... sunk. Yes, he sunk to the bottom and sat there. He sat there; I'm serious. He sat on his tail with his face looking upward. After he settled in, I fed him and he struggled, swimming vertically, to the top of the water to eat and then sunk again. My brother had a beta that did the same thing and he said it was because the fish was kept in such shallow water while in the pet store that he had to bend unnaturally to stay submerged. After being this way for so long his back was permanently deformed. I thought about taking the fish back, but knew they would kill him if I did. Since the only thing wrong with him was the swimming thing, I decided to keep him. Bad news: I saw him jumping in the bowl earlier. I will have to try to find a way to cover the opening of the bowl Good news: I saw him swimming horizontaly this evening after about 6 hours of being able to stretch out. Soon I will give him a name.

So, here is the guppy tank. It's just a little 2 gallon thing on the kitchen counter. Lemme tell ya, every time I get guppies they give me nothing but grief. Someone remind me of that next time I try to buy some. The first time I got guppies was to cycle a 30 gallon tank. I got attatched to them after a month of cycling and when it came time to put in my tropical fish, I decided to keep the guppies. They killed everything. They killed fish ten times their size. I saw a sunburst guppy bite and hold onto the eye of a powder blue gourami. The poor gourami spun around and around trying to shake the guppy. I should have flushed that little jerk right then and there, but I kept him and he eventually terrorized every fish in the tank to death. This time, I am going to end up with at least 2 tanks. One for the adults and one for the fry until they are big enough to feed to the turtle. Heartless I know, but just sing The Lion King song to yourself. If everything goes well, I might keep a male and breed them again. Comander Turt Turt loves to chase these little suckers.

Last, but certainly not least is Mr. Wigglesworth. He is definitely my favorite fish besides the emperor plecostomus in the turtle tank. We call little baby goldfish "wiggles" because of the cute wiggly way in which they swim. That is how Mr. Wigglesworth got his name; from wiggling around all cute-like. He is bigger and brighter than a guppy and so he is a lot easier for Caleb to see. He is also a lot more active and that makes him more fun to watch. Tonight when I put Caleb to bed he just rolled over onto his side and watched Mr. Wigglesworth swim around. No fussing, no crying, no complaining... just silent watching until his eyelids get heavy and he goes to sleep. I took a short video so that you can see for yourself how cute and soothing Mr. Wigglesworth is as he swims in his tank.

Love,