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Have you ever thought about Noah?

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I am taking an Old Testament class this semester, and our reading for this week was discussing Noah and the ark. My professor shared these powerful images with us, and I realized that I had not fully weighed the magnitude of the event even though I have heard the story most of my life. It was not 2 animals of each kind wandering aimlessly onto a boat like we sang about at girls camp, but an utter destruction of the World except for Noah and his family who were spared because Noah was the ONLY man not wicked who would harken unto the Lord. I cannot even imagine the lonliness and despair Noah must have felt as he watched everything in his life be destroeyd and wiped out. I feel that way sometimes now as I watch those I love choose to turn away from the Lord. But I also love the promise that if we choose to be like Noah and listen to the Lord, he can protect us from the figurative floods in our own lives. Things that may threaten to destro us or take us away from the Lord, we can...
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We have finally reached the point of no return in our house by giving Raquel, our 16 year old a smart phone. For about two years now, she has used Gabb Wireless, (www.gabbwireless.com) We were pretty comfortable here. She could talk on the phone and text. Only words, no pictures, the picture quality was horrible, and it did not acces the internet so social media was not even an issue. We patted ourselves on the back for finding this solution, and then we got comfortable. Knowing all the while that eventually, we would have to give in and let her have a smart phone, if for nothing else than to practice safe usage while still under our roof, but also for maps as she is a newer driver and could not find her way out of a paper sack! It is one of the things I am proud to say she gets from me! (More on that later.) So there we were, Christmas morning. She had opened all of her gifts and there was still one small box under the tree. After all of her siblings opened their gifts, we bro...
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Bribes,Bribes and more Bribes! See this cheesy smile? Man, she is one tough cookie! She cried all day from the day she was born until she turned about 18 months old. We lovingly referred to her as a terrorist! She really just struggled, and so did we. She is number 6 and we are experienced parents, but is there such a thing? I swear that she taught us so much. I still can't believe we agreed to have one more after her. Seriously! It was THAT H.A.R.D. I'm fairly certain that this is when my over bribing began. I would beg her and promise the world if she would just not scream while we grocery shopped, or picked the other kids up at school. I totally know she did not understand me, but for some reason, it made me feel like I was trying to make things better for her. "If you stop crying, I will give you a cookie." "If you stay in bed and don't get out, tomorrow you can have pancakes for breakfast....

The Relationship comes before you can teach- The Parenting Pyramid by Arbinger Company

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It's no secret that our kids will push our boundaries, and it is also no secret that husband and wife will often not agree on how things should be handled when it comes to discipline. How do you find a balance? Is there such a thing? What happens if both parents are on two different playing fields but trying to play the same game? Well, In my experience, it means more communication. And that is not an easy thing. I am a BYU Idaho student right now and in the midst of that, we are raising toddlers and teenagers. It has by far been the hardest part of our parenting journey. We are still getting up in the middle of the night to find binky's and make bottles, but we are also managing cell phone usage and appropriate dating and attire conversations. The easiest way to explain it is that we are up from sun up to sun down making parenting choices. And, we rarely agree. In my parenting class this semester, we learned a new way to look at our relationships through "The Parenting...