The Desert Gem

 A few weeks ago, the girls competed in their first ever speech and debate tournament.

There were over 150 kids competing. Our club hosted the annual event called, The Desert Gem.

 We're so proud of all our junior clubbers!

Miss Mandy, Zach's CBS preschool teacher came to serve as a community judge.

 Little brothers came to support their big sisters.

 And Ellie & Jacob came to support their friends and see the awards ceremony.

These were all of the junior competitors. They were amazing!

 Faith competed in Apologetics, Impromptu & Cold Reading.

 Grace competed in Apologetics and Cold Reading.

Faith won 2nd place for her Impromptu speech!

 These kids rocked it! So very proud of each one of them! #superstars

 We celebrated with froyo on the way home.

Our future little STOA champion. He's a natural talker. 😄 

I cannot even begin to describe how hard the girls have worked this year in speech and debate.

It's been a huge time commitment and investment for our family and something that's not been taken lightly. Morgan and I could not be any more proud of both Faith and Grace. Wowee!! We always knew they were meant for something big-- to impact the world with love, for the gospel and for Christ. Through speech and debate this year, they have learned more effective tools to do just that. 

We can't wait to see what else God has planned for these two world changers. #braveamazinggirlsforchrist #proudparents

  

STOA is a national homeschool speech and debate league.

Click here to find out more about the purpose of STOA.

Around the World {this summer!}

We have 12 countries to visit this summer: Austria, Korea, Cambodia, Japan, Norway, Tibet, Mexico, Spain, India, Nigeria, Peru and Poland.

The girls have been enjoying this colorful new sticker book!

 

This is what a page looks like before the stickers are applied. The people of Tibet in their “underwear.”

 

They even have Korea!

 

In Japan, the bride and groom are ready to get married now.

 

The sticker book also includes a world map. We’ve gone a bit further with the activity and turned it into a geography, art, and presentation lesson.

 

Once the girls are finished with the sticker part of it, we find the country on the globe. We then read a few interesting facts about the country. From these facts, the girls create a presentation page with pictures.

 

Faith’s Austria page: Red skirts made of wool, folk festivals, oldest restaurant, the national flag, and Beethoven.

Later, when daddy comes home, the girls get up and give us a presentation. I love how they get to practice their speaking skills. In order to change the culture around us, the future needs better communicators. 

In order to train up world changers, I think it’s important to get out of our bubbles and learn about the people and the world around us. And if we can’t actually travel to experience the world at large, we can at least familiarize ourselves with the fact that there is a great big world out there, outside of our own.

This activity encompasses some of the girls’ favorite things… stickers, fashion, drawing, and learning.

Fun summer travels!

World Changers

We're raising two of them over here.

How? With God's grace and wisdom.

Why? Because it's what God has called us to do with the children He gave us.

Do what exactly? Raise our children to know, trust, and serve the Lord with all their heart. We want our kids to think outwardly, beyond themselves and our narcissistic culture. To be young women who have a heart for making an impact for Christ-- not only for their generation but for the Kingdom at hand.

Is this too much to ask of our children? It's not me that's doing the asking.

Is it difficult? Of course it is. Everyday is a new challenge. Everyday brings about the obvious... that I am not perfect. However, the enlightening part about endeavoring to raise world changers is the very fact that it's not about me. It's about Him.

The sobering realization... in order to raise a world changer, I must first BE a world changer!

Really, God?

As I sit here writing this on my laptop on the kitchen counter, I would be remiss if I said that I didn't already know this to some extent. Yes, in my small corner of my stay at home mom world, I have the power to be the change for Christ-- one word, one prayer, one smile, one child at a time.

Assessment time- Morgan and I have decided that there are some changes that need to be made to our lifestyle, our home, our time, our mind-set, and our priorities. Change is never easy but for us, we feel that God is calling us to demonstrate (rather than simply be an earful) to our children what a life fully committed to Christ may look like.

It'll be a slow and gradual change but one that I look forward to sharing as I start purging the unnecessary masks that we all sometimes wear. I look forward to being refined as I am actually longing for a simpler, more abundant life that walks whole-heartedly with the Lord.

God often calls us to do difficult things, but they are of His choosing and they are always beneficial and good and right.

I have complete confidence that God will guide us to the center of His will. It's taken me a while but I am finally getting to a point where I'm saying, "Ok, Lord, bring it on. I'm ALL IN. I'm game if You and my husband will lead me."

Hey, whadda ya know? Surrender can be sweet.

Like ourselves, most Christians are troubled by the world's economic, political, and cultural state, yet we sit behind the gates of our well-manicured communities, in our safe and comfortable homes, and do next to nothing. We have the awesome privilege and responsibility to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Not to wait, take cover, and hope for the best until the Second Coming. As a believer, we have been anointed by the Holy Spirit.

"May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people, so that you may wish for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."

We were born for such a time as this.

Can you feel it? It's called revival and it starts in our very own homes.