All About Life, Marriage, Parenting, Homeschooling as we walk our lives with Jesus

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

On 3:51 AM by A Bucket of Grace   No comments
A week ago my second Kyle, turned 10. A decade of God's love and faithfulness.

I remembered when I was pregnant with him.It was my most difficult pregnancy, my weight went up and I had depression which caused me sleepless nights.

When I gave birth to him it was also my most painful experience. I remembered telling him the first time I saw him in our room " Baby you gave Mommy a hard time"

All of these became a realization when I was reading God's Word.

" A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born to the world." - John 16:21

Indeed Kyle brings joy to our family since the day he was born and I Praise God for his life.

I shared this story to him whenever we are in bed and talking. He loves listening to this on how he was born and how I saw his face the first time, that mesmerizing moment when you see your baby. I felt the story made him appreciate me more.

When he learned about this I even get a free foot massage from him every now and then without asking him. He would write me love letters and would tell me how great I am as his mom. Praise God!

We stared homeschooling him when he was 7 years old and we have seen the changes in his character and his relationship with Jesus. He loves making origami, he would even take a demo video of his own. He would also play basketball and we have his own indoor basket at home.

Kyle is a thoughtful kid. When he sees a beautiful flower he would give it to me. He also makes origami letters for us during our birthdays and other occasions.

His desire is to become a Pastor soon. I am amaze on how God transformed him.

He admits that he was a bad child before and would be disobedient most of the time and would prefer playing wrestling too.

We shared the gospel to him last March 2013, our first year of homeschooling and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior with all his heart.

This started all the positive changes in him. He started to become my accountability partner and would remind me with Bible verses whenever he sees me struggling.

I remembered when I was about to lose my temper one time and he told me. Mommy, "In your anger do not sin" - Ephesians 4:26

He is very observant and would watch each move we make. This reminded me that " Values are caught and not taught"

How we speak and communicate with him is the same as how he would use words in expressing himself. I am always teaching him not to use harsh words especially with his younger brothers but instead be kind at all times.

Our role id to model it with our children first and they would imitate what we do.

Children are great imitators what they see from us may be their concept of what is right and wrong.
When we have modeled an unpleasing behavior we explain it to them and would ask for forgiveness.

" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he old he will not depart from it" - Proverbs 22:6

Recently,he even told me that he want to be called by his second name instead " Nathan". It made me think that he is growing and time flies so fast. My eldest son Ivan,when he aged he also had a different preference with his name he is now using his second name "Elijah".

I praise God because he gave me the opportunity to homeschool Kyle. We spend a lot of quality time together reading God's Word as we continue to seek Him.

Teaching your kids and connecting with them daily is priceless. I would always want to know what is in his heart.

I would tell Kyle that God loves him and his ultimate purpose is to glorify Him in everything that he say and do and to continue to seek Him, love Him, listen to His voice and follow Him.

He is far away from being perfect and still struggles at times, he knows that obeying the first time is  giving complete obedience to us next to the Lord. However, when he is upset and would not want to do what he was asked to, he stumbles.

We correct this behavior because it is an attitude of the heart, he listens and would obey and will try his best not to have the same behavior.

We surrendered him to the Lord and we know that we don't own him. They are our first disciples and we are God's stewards of the lives of our children. Our purpose is to teach them to " Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind" - Luke 10:27

I was convicted when I read the book " How many times do I have to tell you" The author Rachael Carman talked about Speaking of Speaking - What God wants us to hear when we Speak to our-children. It hit me,what I say to my children are the same words God is telling me.

Obey.
Listen.
No.
It's time to get up
Slow Down
Are you ready yet?
Now is not the time
What are you supposed to be doing?
Have yo prayed about it?
Pay attention.
Hold my hand.
I love you.

" He is the Good Shepherd, and He proclaim that His sheep know His voice" John 10:3-5 Are you listening?

My children are God's instrument to sanctify me, to mold me and to teach me ways that He wants me to do. Before I ask my children to listen to me I would ponder, God may be telling me the same words.

The Bible is still God's ultimate way in speaking to us. Reading His words will still stay intimate.

What I see and say to my children is also God's way of speaking to me. I am still a work in progress and my prayer is for the Lord to equip me in fulfilling my purpose to my children's lives.

" I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do" - John 17:4

All Praise and Glory to God!


We celebrated his birthday at Dream Play as a family. He requested for the place so all of his brothers will have fun with him.



We asked for a small cake to be decorated for him to blow





Kyle's newborn picture ;)


At 9 months old :)



I love this picture, while we were at the beach, he approached me and said " Mommy, can we have a picture together?" I pray that when he is older he will still have the desire for a photo op with me.











Friday, May 6, 2016

On 12:59 AM by A Bucket of Grace   No comments
" Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10
I was convicted about this when our discipler shared this to us...
Anne Graham Lotz says that if Satan can’t make you sin, he’ll settle for keeping you busy. The enemy knows the danger to us when we become so distracted by busy work that we take for granted the colors of autumn, disconnect from our children, or miss an opportunity to worship the One who created them both.
There’s so much that God wants to show us, but we rush right past it. We miss His whispers of love as He speaks through His Word and His creation. “Be still,” He says.
Do you feel sometimes like your life is spinning out of control, or that your relationships with your kids have grown shallow? " Be still," He says
Rachael Carman from the book How many times do I have to tell you
A lot of instances happened that I tend to miss on my daily devotion and our family devotion because of being busy with a lot of stuff.

I want my time to be consumed with things that are for eternal investment. I don't want to be too busy for God, my spouse and my children.
Distractions, they come in so many forms. But I have realized that it is always a choice. We can have so many things coming our way but it is always our choice who we will prioritize. 
Whenever I see myself being busy I hear God whispering " Don't you have time for me?" and I will immediately stop what I am doing, pray and read His Words. God does not ask us too much of our time but being with Him all day long will give us the wisdom that we need each day. Sometimes I find myself talking to myself about things that I have been thinking through, I learned to talk to God instead. I go to Him if I need help and if I need a heart check. He alone can sustain and fill my heart with what I need.

Before I let my self be fueled with other things. Allowing God to fill my tank each day is my daily dose of living a life that is pleasing to the Lord. The only question is, do I open my door for him all the time?
God's love and power has no limits and our response for Him is to allow Him take over our lives moment by moment. 
We can't block the Lord each time He knocks. In the world that we are in, Satan will always keep you busy to keep us away from the Lord. He does this all the time in my life and whenever I don't have enough of Jesus, my daily struggles crumbles. Even when everything is going on smoothly my attitude will not respond correctly because I missed on talking to God. I can't make a good day without Him. 
I am guilty of missing my time for Him and whenever I allow this to happen, it makes my world crazy.

Recently, my family made a decision that will make a big change in our household. The desire took place after we had our Christian Wedding and it grew deeper and deeper. We know that it is God's desire for us and we want to live according to His will and purpose.

Following God's design for our family was not a hard decision. His message was very clear to us with a promise when I heard Him whispered " Christ is enough for me"
In times that I need to be refueled, God would always remind me with this verse -  " Be still and Know that I am God" Proverbs 46:10