"Write them on the door posts and on the gates"

Deuteronomy 6:9 says, "Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (NIV).

A plaque given to us last year for Christmas

Several years ago when Philip and I began thinking of concrete ways of implementing Deut 6: 7-9 we starting trying to find ways to implement the principles found in verse 9. Traditionally in Jewish culture,  a mezuzah accomplishes this command. The idea is that scripture is to be used in the home in such a way as to bring to mind and aid in the memorization of Scripture. With the explosion of vinyl wall art this is becoming much easier!

Taken from Deut 6 this is right above the main staircase (we live in a second and third floor apt) done in vinyl. It's not finished yet -I'd like to somehow make it look like it's in a large picture frame but still uncertain of how I want to accomplish this to make it more attractive. This is what everyone sees when they are sitting in our living room.

Several years ago we went to the P.Graham Dunn studio here in Ohio and visited their "second hand" section. These were relatively inexpensive.

These are at the bottom of the landing between second and third floors.

The plaques are of Psalm 37:4 and Phil 4:4. I purchased the frames at Walmart and took some mark-down fabric scraps to make the background and match the color scheme for this area.

This plaque of Deut. 6 was also from P. Graham Dunn and placed in a frame  over the main bathroom sink. This protects the wood from getting wet  and the boys can see it every time they wash their hands and brush their  teeth.

Home Interiors used to carry some Scripture decorations (though I've not checked recently). I purchased this heart with Matthew 5:8 above my kitchen sink. The notecards are my memory verses that I'm currently working on - I can wash dishes and work on memorizing them at the same time.

More recently, Philip has begun saying the Hebrew blessing over our family in the mornings after breakfast. When he's done we respond with this verse that I just printed from Word,  put in a frame and placed on the hutch (china cabinet).

In the upstairs bathroom we have 1 John 1:5 above a Thomas Kincaid picture.

This hangs above my ironing board as I'm working (given to me by my brother, Jonathan Slagenweit).

Our goal has been:

1. Keep scripture in front of them that will remind them of principle truths of God's Word.
2. Make it attractive - I'll have to admit when Philip first mentioned implementing this principle (I'm ashamed to admit it!) I thought, "How tacky! It's going to ruin my whole decorating style!" What I learned is - "my style" isn't as important as  A. following the commands of Scripture and B. doing what is going to impact my children for good and eternity. This was before wall art and doing a Google search on "Scripture wall art" produced a million results!
3. Stay within the budget! There are lots of creative ideas for implementing this principle using just a computer and a pretty frame. 

If you're needing some more ideas you might be able to find some at Doorposts (which is a favorite resource of mine!) since they're running a contest with this theme of implementing Scripture into our homes. I'm anxious to see some more ideas that might work for our family.

How do you implement Deut 6:9? I'd love to hear/see your ideas!

Saturday

The boys both have stuffy, runny noses so they weren't up to doing much today. Since Allan starts to school Monday (I told him that I wasn't sure if he would be starting school if he wasn't feeling better to which he replied, "Mommy, God's going to heal me of my disease.") I worked on putting the finishing touches on the schedule for next week and pulling all of the final resources I needed. Everything is ready to go! Did a quick cleanup around the house and am now ready to drop into bed...it's been a long week. Philip has had an equally long week and he just arrived home from making copies of his syllabi for Monday's classes and making sure there are enough books for the number of students in his classes. He'll be teaching an extra full load this semester (18 hours) and one of those is a new class. Daniel is really struggling with him leaving every morning. He wanders around the house calling, "Dadddddeeeee..........Dadddeeeeeeeee" Then he puts his hands out and says, "Gone!, Gone!" At first he cried every morning but now it seems that he's starting to understand that daddy will be gone until supper. Oh, Allan surprised us and said the twenty third Psalm this week. Philip had been reciting it to them before they went to bed for the past week or so and he learned it by listening. Good night!

Trip to Alabama

Our family was able to go to Alabama this year to visit Nathan and Charity (Philip's brother and family) and attend our church's connectional camp. We left on a Saturday and stayed with Nate's family until Wednesday when we drove over to Pell City. The boys travel very well and both enjoyed the new books/toys/gadgets that we had purchased to amuse them.

Allan enjoyed listening to an unabridged audio version of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with us as we drove along. The following pictures are of the trip down to Alabama. I have no pictures of camp meeting. Philip and I agreed that when you have children it's important to expose them to the camp meeting experience/atmosphere but you as a parent have to adjust your expectations of how much you will gain from the services and how many services you'll be able to attend. The boys did very well considering all of the adjustments they had to make and the amount of sitting they had to endure. It was so terribly hot that they really didn't feel like playing outside a whole lot and that made things even more challenging. I'm glad they have this opportunity to make some wonderful memories as I did with my Grandparents at Roxberry Holiness camp growing up.

April 7, 2004

Allan entered this world 4 years ago on April 7th. I will have to say that none of the books I read, or advice I was given prepared me for what becoming a mother would do to me. You can't explain the feeling that comes when they place the little guy up on your chest for the first time and you realize this odd little creature belongs to you. Becoming a parent for the first time is tough - but he was the perfect child to break us in. Probably too perfect! Everyone warns you that the years pass so quickly but now I know it's true. Sleeping newborns become alert babies who become giggling toddlers who become talking machines who become best buddies. And here we are four years later - I'm so happy for a healthy, happy, moldable child who has brought so much laughter and is being a blessing to others.

We celebrated at Poppop and Gramme's house with a teddy bear cake (he wanted another train cake but I thought three out of four years was enough - we'll give the trains a break). We bought him the Little Bear series of books and so it went right along with the theme. We also spent the morning at the zoo and had a wonderful time until some (stupid - was what he called it) goat reached out and ate his zoo map. For whatever reason this distressed him to no end and he wished all kinds of horrible things on the poor creature. His main wish was that "I hope it gets really sick for eating my map." So though everyone around him was hilariously amused he was crying bitter tears. Oh, at the end of the video clip he gets a very alarmed look on his face - the wax from the candle splashed on his fingers and it surprised him.

His physical and verbal development are normal but what I've enjoyed watching most is his spiritual development. The other day Philip was taking one of his mentorees out to lunch and when Allan found out his daddy was leaving he ran out of the house, down the steps to the driveway hollering that he needed to pray with his daddy before he left. Philip stopped and then told me later that Allan had run up to the car and said, "I need to have a word of prayer with you. 'Dear Heavenly Father, Give daddy and Mr. Joel a safe trip out to eat. Amen.'" Where he heard that or learned is a mystery to us but we found it fascinating.

Several nights ago our family devotions were late so Daniel was already in bed when we gathered in the living room. Allan popped off his seat after we read the Scripture and finished singing asking, "Are we done?" Philip told him that we had to pray yet and was there anything that we needed to pray for. His response was, "Yes, we need to ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins." Since he's never said anything like that we affirmed that it was important to do this and Philip then asked him if he had any sins he needed to confess. Interestingly his head dropped and in a lowered voice he said yes. Philip and I both perked up and we questioned him what it was he had done that needed forgiven. "I'll tell God but not you" was his reply. Philip quickly reminded him that we tell mommy and daddy everything (in our house we have surprises but no secrets) and that the Bible says we're to confess our sins to one another so that we can pray for each other. He looked at us with such sad eyes and said, "I've been taking toys from Daniel and God told me not to do that." My mommy's heart was leaping for joy now knowing that God is talking to my little boy even when I'm not there to train and guide and his conscience is tenderly listening.

He's anxiously looking forward to starting school in the fall (we're homeschooling) and questions periodically how long he has to wait until the wonderful day arrives.

So though this is late...Happy Birthday Allan! We love you and are so thankful God gave you to us!

Allan

Allan has developed a new fascination with babies and what is happening to mommy right now. Several times he's stuffed his brother's purple rabbit under his shirt and announces he has a baby in his tummy. We've enjoyed telling him the story of his birth and everyone in the family gets involved telling him what he looked like, how he cried, his stay at the hospital, how pop-pop prayed a patriarchal prayer over him when he was about an hour old. And he asks for the stories again and again. Some of the interesting things he's said lately:


1. Philip has been telling him the story of the crucifixion and yesterday as we were laying down to take our afternoon nap he asked me to tell him. I gave a very shortened version and we talked about how terrible the suffering was that Jesus went through. (Of course in his mind if he had been there he would have "poked" Pilate and the bad soldiers and it would have never happened.) I made the statement that what Jesus had to go through was awful and I didn't even like to think about it. Allan asked me why I didn't like to think about and I told him in made me sad because it was so terrible. He replied that I shouldn't feel that way because when Jesus suffered "he conquered death" and that wasn't sad. As he lay sleeping I though it really is true, instead of focusing on the awfulness of the crucifixion I should focus on what was accomplished by it. Death was conquered and I'm so very thankful.


2. He came into our room the other morning with little wisps of hair sticking out on the sides of his head and declared they were his "foul fiend horns." He's been re-watching Pilgrim's Progress and we hear many of the phrases coming out in everyday speech.


3. The other evening he came into the bedroom where I spend my evening lying very still and quiet to tell me, "Bless your little hearty, you're feeling puny!" I had to smile as I agreed with him.

Daniel

Daniel continues to be a challenge to keep up with. Someone has said, "if you don't keep a child busy you deserve what they're going to do to you." That is indeed the case with this child. If I don't get ahead of him at the beginning of the day I'll be picking up the pieces after him all day long.

His latest training exercise has been learning to stay out of the refrigerator. After one container of French dressing was drizzled over the living room carpet, back the hallway, and dumped in the office; 9 eggs broken on the kitchen and living room floors; and half a stick of margarine eaten; and half a gallon of Kool- aid dumped on the kitchen floor mommy has taken a stand. The closest verbal picture I can give you is a tornado on legs. Little boys like this were meant to be outside where their energy can be put to good use digging, climbing, and running. We're thankful that he seems to have a tender spirit and pray that God will keep him pliable. In the picture of him (that I couldn't catch him looking at me) in the kitchen he was eating his first yellow marshmallow peep that Grandma and Grandpa Slagenweit sent him. I don't know how kids stand them but they seemed to be a hit.

New Year!

Well, school has started once again, the Christmas decorations are put away (except for the few odds and ends {nativity scene pieces} I'm finding under chairs, couches and beds), and life has returned to some resemblance of "normal."

Philip is teaching: Life of Christ, Hebrew, Greek, and two sections of Principles of the Christian Life. I'm teaching Philosophy of Education for the fifth time and have one of the smallest classes I've ever had. It's also unusual in that I have the same number of guys as girls.

The past week was for a very busy one. Monday I taught and prepared lunch for Philip and the student he mentors. Tuesday I made a quick trip to Oblong, IL for the memorial service of the mother of a college friend. I hadn't made a trip like that by myself since I got married. I spent Wednesday recovering and attended the school revival Wednesday evening. Thursday I busied myself with all of the things that got pushed aside for the trip Tuesday (laundry, grocery shopping, etc.) Friday is cleaning day and Saturday I spent getting ready for Sunday and playing with the boys.

Allan decided this week that it was time that I have a checkup with a Dr and so he told me to sit on the kitchen floor while he gathered all of his instruments. He told me that "he's a good Dr. because he knows how to give shots." First came the temperature, mine was "3 1/2", then the blood pressure which at that time was "6, 7, 8 years". But what really scared me was when he looked into my ear and said, "Your tonsils are really bad!"

The following conversation took place this morning while he was laying in bed with me right before we got up. He rolled over, gave me a kiss, and said, "I love you mommy!" I said, "You do? Why do you love me?" He sighed and said, "Well, actually I don't love you but I love Daniel." Curious I asked him why he loved Daniel to which he responded, "First of all, I love him because I saved him from drowning (which is true), and the second reason is because it makes Jesus happy if I love him and the last reason is because I hate spidermen!" It was almost as though he's already learned every good argument or outline has three points and so he had to come up with another one somehow.

Daniel is learning new things every day. We've taught him to say, "Yes ma'am" by shaking his head up and down, and "please" by doing the sign language form. Usually he just pats his chest so we know what he means. He's also started opening and closing his fist if he wants you to follow him which makes him feel pretty important. Usually he's leading you to something he has gotten into that he wasn't supposed to have gotten into!

We've been praying recently as a family that God would help us to save money for a new vehicle and give us wisdom as to what kind, when, and how to go about replacing our car. Allan has been included in those prayer times and the other day he came to the conclusion that we need a minivan so that we "can have ten kids!"

That's a few tidbits of what has been happening in the Brown household. Have a wonderful week!

A Strange Kind of Busy

The past two weeks have been a very different kind of busy. Instead of trying to stay on top of cleaning, laundry, dishes, and Christmas preparations I've been preoccupied with a sick child. Allan began running a fever on November 19th which instead of improving became worse staying 102 - 103 even with Tylenol. A day later a cough was added to the list of ailments and then a sore throat. The Friday after Thanksgiving he was diagnosed with a "throat infection" and given an antibiotic. Through the weekend he did not improve and so back to the Dr. on Monday the 26th. His fever then was 103.4 (It's always nice when the child's symptoms stay the same when they're at the Dr's office so the staff knows you're not being an over-reactive mother!) She said everything looked and sounded fine but that we needed to do bloodwork (YEAHHH!!) and a chest x-ray to find out where the fever was coming from. I told Allan that when they "pinched" him we'd start counting to 10 and by the time we got to 10 they'd be done. Unfortunately they also had to do a blood culture and so we counted to 20 and then went back and counted to 10 again but while he was preoccupied counting he wasn't crying.

To make a long story short (since we left home at 10:30 in the morning and didn't arrive back home until 7:30) the chest x-ray showed a collapsed left lung so we were sent to the ER. There it was determined that he didn't have a collapsed lung but rather pneumonia. In my mind I thought, "Pneumonia is a serious sickness, give the child some medicine, they'll sleep for 2 or 3 days and then everything will be okay." Reality is: Pneumonia is a serious sick, they'll sleep for a week and be very lethargic even when awake, the fever will take 6 days to abate, they cough until you think they're going to cough their lungs out (particularly at night), you have to force them to eat and drink, the strong antibiotics cause some very nasty side effects, and you realize the most important thing you can do is spend extra time praying, trusting God, making soup, reading stories, giving backrubs, doing breathing treatments, and giving proper doses of medications. In general your life goes on hold.

Thankfully, Thursday evening his fever began to come down and today there was not fever. Philip slept with him last night and said there were no coughing spells either. He ate his first solid food on Friday and today he actually said he was hungry. I'm so very thankful for the Lord's help and strength these days. I'm also thankful for a husband who trades the night shift with me every other night so that I can get rest. Hopefully by tomorrow he'll be able to sleep alone again. We're now starting to resume some of the normal household routines (at least where Allan is concerned) and hopefully by the end of the week he'll be ready to enter back into the general population. This week I have a wedding cake so I won't be blogging until after that point. Life is good...although Philip said this evening he's not feeling very well.... :o)