“C” is for Contentment July 17, 2008

Today, at the McKinney household, we began learning the letter ‘C’. The character value that we are learning about is the value of contentment.

This process of instruction for Aralyn is so beneficial for me because as I am instructing her, I am being convicted myself. How do I model contentment for her? How often does she hear me speaking of the things I would like to have? On the flip side, how often does she hear me praising God for those things that I do have?

The definition that I read to her for contentment is, “Realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness.” We are using the character value definitions worksheets that the Duggar family provided in the Christian Home Educators conference we attended last month.

When I begin to feel like things would be good “if only I had this or if only things were this way”, I have been trying to remind myself that God has already provided everything I need for my present happiness. He has for you too.

‘B’ is for boldness July 3, 2008

So, I quickly realized a couple days into teaching Ara the letter “A”, that it was going to take more than a week to really stick. We are now doing two letters a month, spending two weeks on each. With each letter we are talking about a character quality that starts with that letter and focus on developing that quality those weeks.

When we were talking about the letter “A”, Ara learned the quality of ‘attentiveness’. These next couple of weeks we are talking about the letter “B” and the quality of ‘boldness’. (Thanks to the Duggar Family for the list of character qualities and their definitions.) The scripture verse we are studying along with ‘boldness’ is Deuteronomy 31:6 with a song that my mom taught me as a child.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The Letter “A” June 19, 2008

If you haven’t visited biblicalwomanhood.com, I highly suggest it. Today, she inspired me to go through one letter of the alphabet with Aralyn each week for the remaining 26 weeks of the year. Today is the letter “A”.

After breakfast, Aralyn and I talked about what the Big “A” looks like and the Little “a”. She calls them the Mommy A and the baby a. Then we read/sang a song that starts stanzas with the letter A- “All Things Bright and Beautiful”. When she went down for her nap, I got on you tube to find a recording of the song that I like and I came across this beautiful one. I am not sure that the code will work so bear with me.

Today I hope you can enjoy the beauty of God’s creation and praise all things bright and beautiful!

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL
All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all

Each little flower that opens
Each little bird that sings
He made their glowing colors
He made their tiny wings

The purple-headed mountains
The river running by
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky

The cold wind in the winter
The pleasant summer sun
The ripe fruits in the garden
He made them every one

The tall trees in the greenwood
The meadows where we play
The rushes by the water
To gather every day

He gave us eyes to see them
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty
Who has made all things well

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made the all