Minivan Moments

" Walk with Joseph as he goes from a prince in Canaan to slavery in Egypt and then to the courts of Pharaoh. Your students will enjoy this engaging Bible study! Follow Joseph as he travels from the tents of Jacob to the house of Potiphar and eventually becomes second in command to Pharaoh. Watch to see how Joseph reacts to slavery and false accusations. See how God uses difficult circumstances in Joseph ’s life to prepare him to save thousands of people, including those who mistreated him. Joseph ’s story is one of betrayal, forgiveness, and restoration. Take a look at this fascinating Bible story today! Multi-Level Book: Designed for ages 7 and up "  ~ Grapevine Studies   I recently received a copy of the Joseph Multi-Level Bible Study by Grapevine Studies to use and review in anticipation of its launch on August 1st. As always, I just love using their units! With the recent knowledge of my oldest two children's learning barriers, the units from Grapevine Stu...

By about this time of the summer, the kids are a bit heat-weary, and everyone is less enthused about the outside stuff than they were in May. Coincidentally, this is also the time of the summer that Target begins to mark their summer fun stuff down. You know what that means: time for a trip to Target! We recently stocked up on bubbles, sidewalk chalk, water blasters, and soaker balls in an attempt to drag out the summer fun for at least another week or so. With 100-degree days fading into one another with little respite, we've learned to make the most of the water fun we can engage in in our front yard. (Three kids and sunblock do not a happy mommy make, so we stay close to home.) Slamming each other with splashy balls of water, running amok around the yard in an all out Water War, and sticking our butts over the sprinkler are all ways we enjoy a good cooling off in the afternoon.When evening arrives, the sidewalk chalk, balls, and bicycles come out... and an occasional Popsicl...

Not a single person on earth is faultless. Not one is without error, sin, faults; whatever you want to call 'em, we've all got 'em! So, here i sit in my comfortable life, messing up with the best of 'em, and my Heavenly Father remains faithful. I screw up. Sometimes terribly. Yet He forgives. I make mistakes. Sometimes huge ones. Yet He forgives. And even better than that forgiveness, at least to someone like me, is His teachings. He never lets me escape the opportunity for a lesson. I yearn for and appreciate those lessons sometimes!! Other times... not so much. But, He is faithful to provide just exactly what i need, even when i don't know what that is. How anyone can live a life without knowing Him is beyond me. He is the very Air i breathe, the One to whom i can turn when i am struggling, the Nourishment to my soul, the Rest in times of trouble. There is nothing this world can put me through that i cannot endure with the help of the One who created me. H...

I'm really struggling with something lately: How do i put a price tag on my child's health and well-being? Let's say, for just a moment, that i found out my child had cancer (God forbid!). Let's then assume, for the sake of this conversation, that my insurance doesn't cover the treatment. Further, the treatment is just over $5,000 and will take weekly therapy for 8-12 months. What would i do? Quite obviously, i would treat my child to get rid of the cancer! Now, imagine the health concern is merely that her eyes don't function properly. I don't mean she needs glasses; i mean, she has eyes that do not operate physically the way they are supposed to and it interferes with her brain's ability to understand what she is seeing. Basically, she sees everything as if her eyes operate independently of one another, and her brain thinks she is seeing double (and that is really only one of the problems). That may not seem life-threatening, and certainly, she...