April 24, 2012

Moore Family Films Review and Giveaway!

Recently, we made the decision to watch more films that encourage our family to action and discussion. So many people mindlessly watch movies, but we wanted more than that. We wanted to bring wholesome God-honoring films into our children’s lives that did more than entertain.

An answer to that prayer came from the Moore Family Films!

When our 3 Pack of DVD’s arrived, we were so excited. We let the children choose what they wanted to watch first and the cute little guy on the front of the More Than Maple Syrup won their hearts.

“I felt after watching the movie that WE could go out and tap a maple tree and have maple syrup.”
~Ty (my husband)

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“Can we have pancakes with real maple syrup in the morning for breakfast, Mom?!”
The Roberts children

More Than Maple Syrup is such a wonderful film. We have watched it over and over! We love how the entire Moore family has a part in making the syrup and the humor and fun they have throughout the film is refreshing.

I sat down with my oldest daughter for a Mother/Daughter night to watch It’s Your Life: The Moss Family. We really enjoyed the film and I found myself thinking how much mom’s facing repeat c-sections needed to see this film!

The final film in the set is Children are a Blessing. I sat and watched this film for the first time by myself. I wept as I felt renewed in my calling as a mother. I wanted to wake all my children up and kiss each and every one of them and tell them right then and there how precious they are to me. Edee Moore looked absolutely radiant as she spoke of the difficulties of pregnancy, but the rewards and blessings that come from allowing the Lord control of the womb. (By the way, Edee gave birth to baby #11 a little over a week ago! Congratulations!) The Bonus Features on this film are a must-see as well – I loved the interview with Shane & Edee – so real and open and honest!

**ATTENTION** The Moore Family is offering free online viewing of Children are a Blessing through the month of April as well as a sale price of $10, so you can stock up and hand this out to others who might need to hear this important message! Click here to watch!

The Moore Family is graciously giving away 1 DVD each to 3 different winners here on Raising Arrows! Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter to win! (Email readers, please click over to the giveaway here.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

April 21, 2012

DrinkBands Special While I’m at the MPE Homeschool Conference!

Me sitting in my hotel room after a long, exhausting, but fun day at the MPE Conference.

I’m at the Midwest Parent Educator’s Homeschool Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. We’ve really enjoyed hearing Israel Wayne and Kevin Swanson speak this weekend. I’ve been handing out DrinkBands to people along with a coupon code for 15% off.

You can get this same 15% off your order through May 31 using coupon code:
DISCOUNT

And take a look at the new Party Pack!

These are great for adding on to the traditional DrinkBands for those who have more than 8 people in their family. They are also just fun!

And shipping is FREE! This is the perfect time to get a whole stash!

We’ll be back next week with the second half of 10 Days of Large Family Homeschooling!

April 11, 2012

Discipleship in the Home {Interview with Doug Phillips!}

Ty_Amy_Doug Phillips

This year at the Teach Them Diligently Convention, Ty and I had the pleasure of meeting Doug Phillips of Vision Forum(as well as his delightful daughter, Jubilee, and son, Honor).

Doug was even so kind as to offer us an impromptu interview for the blog. So, while the video quality is poor since it was taken on Ty’s phone (the one Ken Ham suggested he replace in favor of a “real phone” during a conversation at the AiG booth), and the session in the background is rather loud, the message of this interview is important!

I’ve included a transcript of the interview below so you can follow along, and you can trust that next time we will have a REAL camera along!

Transcript:

Amy:

Hi! I’m Amy from RaisingArrows.net and I’m here at the Teach Diligently Conference…

Doug:

I’m Doug.

Amy:

Yes! I’m here with Doug Phillips of Vision Forum!

Doug, I want to ask you what are 1 or 2 things that families can do right now right where they are that could help them to begin discipling their family?

Doug:

I think the very first thing that needs to happen is moms and dads first need to cry out to the Lord, “Give me a vision to love my children more and to obey You.” And it begins by actually repenting from not doing it and it begins by crying out to the Lord saying, “Lord, help me.”

And then the next step is really to gather your children and to say, “Kids, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to read the Bible every day.” We’re going to start there. We’re going to read the Bible. We’re going to go through the book of Proverbs. There’s one Proverb for every day of the month. We can do it that way.

Uh, and then we’re going to have a time for family worship. A lot of parents say, “Well, I don’t know how to do family worship.” It’s actually as simple as opening up the Bible, reading it, and just talking about it with your children and saying, “Kids, what are your prayers? Let’s go before the throne of grace and start praying together.” And it’s, it’s absolutely transforming.

So, Step 1, “Lord, help me. Lord, forgive me. Kids, forgive me.”

Step 2, let’s just start opening the Bible. Let’s start reading. Let’s start praying. And thus will begin the great journey of discipleship which hopefully, will result in actual home education: walking and talking throughout the course of the day with our children.

Amy:

Thank you so much.

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There you have it folks – it is that simple! Let the Lord lead. Don’t worry that you aren’t doing things perfectly!

If you would like more resources from Raising Arrows on Family Worship Time, you can read these posts:
Breakfast and Bible
Worshiping as a Family
Family Worship Time
Bringing the Day to a Close

April 6, 2012

A Weekend for Celebrating: Passover, Egyptian Celebration, Resurrection Sunday!

seder plate

This weekend is full of celebrations for many families. Our family is doing some extra celebrating as well and I wanted to share that with all of you!

As with most celebrations, food is major part of the festivities. Here is the majority of the groceries I purchased for the weekend’s events:

Passover

This year, we will be celebrating a Passover meal at home as a family on Friday night. Last year, we received the Hand-crafted Seder Plate Set (shown above) from The Jerusalem Gift Shop. I’m looking forward to using it!

Here’s the menu for our Passover:

Buffalo Roast (because I couldn’t find any lamb and decided we’d follow the tradition of not having lamb since Christ was the Passover lamb and there is no need to provide a lamb anymore)

Unleavened bread (rather than traditional Jewish matzah, we’ll be using our Lord’s Supper Bread)

Horseradish

Parsley & Salt Water

Charoset – I am making this myself and it will be non-alcoholic. Here’s my recipe:
2 lbs of apples
1/2 lb of walnuts
1/4 cup cinnamon
enough grape juice to form a paste (consistency of mortar)
Blend apples, walnuts, and cinnamon in a heavy-duty blender (I’ll be using my Vita-Mix). Add just enough grape juice and blend until it reaches desired consistency
note: I’ve never made this – so this will be a big experiment!

And a fun little FYI – earlier this week during school, our family sat in on a live Seder meal at The Homeschool Channel. You can watch the replay by clicking this link. (If that link doesn’t work, try this one and scroll down until you find it.)

Egyptian Celebration

It just happened that we finished our Ancient Egypt unit in time for a celebration supper while family would be here to celebrate Resurrection Sunday with us. We are very excited about this since it has been a very long time since we have had family attend any of our celebrations and homeschool reviews! This event will take place on Saturday afternoon. The older children have put together games, presentations, and even a quiz for the others in attendance. I’m so excited about how nicely this all flows with learning about Passover. I think all of this will really drive home the importance and Biblical significance of Egypt and the events that took place there.

Here’s the menu for our Egyptian Celebration:

Buffalo Steak (not traditional at all, but it sounded really good!)

Cucumber Salad

Palace Bread

Grapes and Cantelope
Radishes
Pita Bread
Hummus

Resurrection Sunday

We attend church in the evening, so with Listening Pages in hand, we’ll be there! However, prior to church, we’ll be fellowshipping with Ty’s mother and Granny over a traditional Resurrection Sunday feast!

Here is our Resurrection Sunday menu:

Relish tray
Ham
Cheesy Potatoes
7-layer Salad
Rolls
Fruit Pizza
Swedish Tea Ring (we used to be night managers at a Bed & Breakfast that served these…fell in love!)

So, that’s our weekend in a nutshell! What will you be doing? How will you be celebrating our being set free by Christ’s blood and conquering of death so that all who believe may live?!

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!

March 23, 2012

Seriously?

I remember as a new homeschool mom meeting all these wonderful Christian leaders in the homeschool movement and being blown away by what they had to say. I wanted to implement every single thing I heard spoken from their mouths.

But, all of that would come crashing down when I was in my own home with my own family. I would quickly realize family worship time wasn’t going to look like all the children lined up neatly and quietly on the couch and my homeschool day wasn’t going to be a streamlined well-oiled machine.

And my husband. Oh, my husband. He wasn’t nearly serious enough to really lead our home the way the men I heard speaking at homeschool conventions led their homes.

We were destined to fail. I just knew it. All because we weren’t serious enough.

But, I was determined to try to be just what I saw of these godly families. I would starch and iron my entire family into this mold because surely this was the only way we could ever achieve true success as a homeschooling family.

And my husband. Oh, my husband. I would scowl at him and put him in his place until he stayed there. I would make him be the serious leader of our family, the head of our household, exactly like those other men.

We would all be perfectly…miserably.

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

Sadly, I know I’m not the only one who has tried to recreate perceptions of homeschool leaders based on an hour or two spent listening to them speak from a podium some 50 yards away. We believe we have a true picture of these leaders when really we have about 1% of their lives shown to us in that amount of time. They don’t want to be on the pedestal we homeschool moms have put them on. And they certainly don’t want us to hack away at our husbands in the hopes that someday our husbands will be just like them.

In fact, here’s a little secret…their children do not always sit in neat rows and their homeschool day is not always a well-oiled machine. And they are not serious all the time. Certainly, they are serious when they talk about serious things (just like my husband), but at home, they are different (just like my husband). And sometimes they mess up (just like my husband…just like me!)

It is wonderful to have godly men and godly women and godly families to learn from and grow through, but we must never forget that only God is perfect and it is in His image we are created; therefore, it is Him we seek to reflect and not Mr. Homeschool Convention Speaker.

Your family is unique. Your family is precious. Don’t squander them running after false perceptions. Love them where they are. Be challenged and grow without stomping on them along the way. Pray blessings upon them and thanksgiving for their lives.

And enjoy them.

Seriously.

March 19, 2012

Not Just Surviving Motherhood {Welcome Home Link Up}

I’ve asked you before if you like your children.

Today, I want to ask if you like being a mother.

You can love your children and even like your children and yet find no joy in motherhood.

If you wake up in the morning dreading the day ahead full of children who need you, you might be just surviving.

If you live for the hours when the children aren’t awake, you might be just surviving.

If you dream of days without the responsibilities your children bring, you might be just surviving.

If you cringe when your children call your name, you might be just surviving.

If you cry yourself to sleep at night, you might be just surviving.

Motherhood is hard. I would be lying to you if I said otherwise. It doesn’t take much to get lost in dirty faces and dirty diapers, spills and messes and sippy cups. We go from task to task, just barely getting by. We drop into bed utterly and completely exhausted, only to find it starting all over again the very next day.

It wouldn’t be difficult to drown in motherhood if we never look past the here and now of a day full of surface issues. Yes, we most certainly run damage control, but that is not the essence of motherhood, nor is it a way to move beyond simply surviving.

If you really want to stop just surviving motherhood, you have to find meaning in motherhood that transcends the day to day-ness of your life. Cooking and cleaning have to stop being tiresome chores, naughtiness has to stop being a personal offense, and the needs of your family have to stop being interruptions to your day.

But, you wonder how you can ever get to the place where you aren’t utterly exhausted and stressed. You wonder if there really is joy to be found in your life. Maybe you’re just really bad at this motherhood thing.

Or maybe, just maybe, you have lost your focus and your vision. You don’t see motherhood the way God sees it.

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psalm 127:3

These children you are raising are a gift, a reward. What do you do with rewards and gifts? You treasure them. You look forward to a future enjoying these gifts. And as Christians, you realize these gifts are not yours, but His.

That is humbling.

You have been entrusted with tomorrow’s fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers. You have been entrusted with the next generation of believers, the future servants of our Lord and Savior, the Light-bearers and Truth-speakers of tomorrow. They just happen to bundled up in little, foolish, needing-to-be-honed packages you get to unwrap!

Mamas, get yourselves in God’s Word and seek after Him and all He has for you as a mother. Hold those tiny, sticky hands that reach for you, guide those little hearts and minds, speak His Truth into their lives and tell His story and how they are a part of that story.

Be transformed. Be renewed. Move beyond survival and into a life lived with purpose and meaning – the blessed life of motherhood.

Beg the Lord to show you how to see motherhood through His eyes, how to care for your children with His hands, how to love them with His love. When you do this, you stop surviving and you start living…for Him.

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Join me this week in linking up your posts aimed at making home a welcoming place where Christ shines through in everything you do.

And don’t forget to visit this month’s sponsor: DrinkBands!
I heard from many of you at the Teach Them Diligently Convention about how much you love DrinkBands! They really are a terrific and inexpensive investment to help rid your counters of cup clutter. All this month, get 10% off with coupon code: ramarch – HURRY!