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Saturday, 08 January 2011

New Year . New Blog . Moved on... www.xanga.com/afieldsday

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

What I Like to Call "A God Thing!"

Earlier this month, while scanning the updates on the Home page of my Facebook account, I spotted a link an online friend of mine posted. It was to a blog entry by one of my FAVORITE Christian authors, Sally Clarkson! I didn't even know she had a blog! When I clicked on the link to read her post, I noticed an ad to the Mom Heart Conferences she's doing at the beginning of next year. Out of curiosity, when I saw she was having one in California, I clicked on the ad to see where it was. To my surprise I discovered that it was going to be held in Irvine, February 4-5! Okay, so it was close, but what about the price? Once again I was surprised to learn how affordable it was! Only $79, if registered early, by Friday, December 17! Excitedly I emailed a couple of friends from church who I knew had some of Sally Clarkson's books. One of those friends was actually the one who introduced me to Sally's writings when I was still pregnant with Leala. She gave me The Mission of Motherhood as a gift which was SUCH a blessing to read the weeks leading up to my due date, especially since Gregg and I were stepping out in faith by making the decision that I would be a stay-at-home mom after Leala was born instead of going on maternity leave! We had prayed about the decision and felt it was what God was leading us to do. That same friend also got me The Ministry of Motherhood, which we went through together about once a week during my pregnancy. That book impacted me so much with the view that our children are our disciples.

Well, that one little link on Facebook connected me with other moms in my church who were planning on going to this Mom Heart Conference! Maybe this little blog post will get you connected too.

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

It Arrived!

In an email, I was told that I would receive this book in the next three to four weeks, but I've gotten a book from Revive Our Hearts before and knew it would come sooner, and it did! Yay!

To my further excitement, Gregg handed me the book, that was sitting on the dining room table, and told me to start reading it to him. [laughs] We only got through the three page Foreward (by Kurt Bruner), but it's already so good! This is going to be great reading material for our road trip out to Texas for Thanksgiving starting Sat-ur-day!

Here's a glimpse (as if Amazon wasn't enough):

The Christian life is about conforming our lives to the image of Christ; to mature beyond a lump of self-centered sinfulness to an icon of self-sacrificial sainthood. [I thought that was some pretty clever alliteration!]

What, in my view, is the most direct and intentional path to that end [in marriage]? In a word, parenthood... parents are called to "be Jesus" by sacrificing their own sleep, interests, free time, hobby budgets, peace and quiet in order to be and do what their children need. Raising kids makes us, like Christ, "humble ourselves" and "take on the form of a servant."

Maybe that is the unspoken reason many in our generation de-couple marriage and parenthood. We want the companionship and mutual support of a loving spouse. But the prospect of dialing down a promising career, trading a coupe for a minivan, or buying diapers rather than Starbucks [Gregg really liked that part] is too much to ask of ourselves.

Or is it?

Isn't this a cute picture? I came across it the other day and wondered why I never posted it [taking a moment to relish in the memory]. Awww, this was when Leala was still "tiny," as Gregg put it. Well, I just couldn't post about a book with the title Inspiration for Having Babies without posting a picture of the poster child for attracting pro-baby sentiments!