Raising Godly Seed: Vacation in Floyd!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Vacation in Floyd!

This past week we took a second trip to Floyd, Va. where our friends, the Hyltons, have a cabin. It started out rainy but we had a great time. We were meeting Grandma Brenda, Granddad Bill, Kelsey and the Hyltons there. On Friday, we ate breakfast at Mabry Mill, toured the Chateau Morrisette winery on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the children fished with Granddad Bill in the lake. When the sun came out on Saturday we were able to boat, swim, fish and four-wheel.

This is our family with Darlene and Buck Hylton. They have been so generous with us. They are great fun to be with and they love our family! The two dogs belong to them, but our children treat them as their own when we visit.

Besides the four wheelers and the lake, our family, and Mr. Hylton, this photo includes the Hylton's daughter, Kristy, and her husband, Walt. They are expecting their first baby in July and we enjoyed sharing parenting advice and talking about pregnancy.

Grandma Brenda loves to ride too. This time she took Joy and Mary.

Sunday, on our beautiful drive home, we stopped to eat with Carrie and Brian in Richmond. They grilled a yummy dinner for us, again. :)

Then, we met friends at Busch Gardens at the "Mercy Me" concert. After a couple of songs, the children and dads enjoyed rides until closing.

This is our family and the Ward family (six boys, one girl, and one on the way) at Busch Gardens.

It was a fun-filled four days! We were blessed!

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Our growing testimony

We are not able to raise this family in our own strength, determination and knowledge. But all things are possible with God! "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it." I Thessalonians 5:23-24 Although onlookers will try to categorize all homeschoolers or large families together, we know that He lovingly and specifically leads each one of us in lives that will fulfill His purposes. We were married in May of 1990. I could barely wait to complete one year of my first job, out of nursing school, and start a family. Fifteen months into my career, I was pregnant and too sick to continue working in the pediatric stepdown unit. I changed to a slower paced, part-time job, and our first baby was born in December '93. Both of us had been raised in Christian homes and had individually accepted Christ as our Savior around ten years of age. However, we did not know that embracing the responsibility of God-led parenting would change our entire view of life and all of our desires. God has captured our hearts by calling us to raise children for His glory. Has not the LORD made [husband and wife] one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. Malachi 2:15 That same year, I heard a radio program about homeschooling on Focus on the Family with James Dobson. We'd never heard of homeschooling before. That day marked the beginning of an incredible faith-filled journey of seeking God's specific will for our family. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Psalm 105:4 In seeking, we've found that He calls us to many habits that have become "non-traditional" in modern America. For example, we embrace and work toward a father-led family, daily family Bible study, training/educating/discipling our children at home, God-planned family, modest dress, multi-generational corporate worship, courtship, back-to-the-basics food preparation, simple living, and natural medicine (as often as possible). We have felt abnormal in many situations. We're comforted by the definition of holiness: to be set apart for the Lord. The Apostle Paul says that we are aliens and not of this world. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2 Thankfully, we've met many precious families throughout the last nineteen years who are being led similarly. While it is comforting and encouraging to fellowship with like-minded families, we also see the creativity of our God in the many different ways He leads families which resemble one another outwardly. The "big" decisions that set us apart are not made easily, nor quickly. It is not in embracing any man-made laws or legalism that we have peace and joy, but in utilizing the liberty of His grace that we can choose to walk as He directs us. "So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord...who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace." II Timothy 1:8-9aAs of January 2013, we have been married twenty-two years, have nine children, atleast three in Heaven, have been living on one income and have been homeschooling for thirteen years. Our eldest is in her second year of post-highschool studies and the youngest is 2 1/2 years. The oldest six have made professions of faith, saying that they believe that Jesus died for their sins, that God raised Him from the dead and that they identify Jesus as their Savior and Lord. And we recognize this is just the beginning. The Lord has begun a great work and He will be faithful to complete it.

Raising Godly Seed

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Vacation in Floyd!

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