Parenting Tips from Church - Mother's Day

Sunday Sermon Review - May 12, 2013

( from my home church I attend regularly )

This Sunday was Mother's Day. As part of our Mother's Day celebration, our church had two couples share some of their parenting experiences - what works in their home. So I cannot do a "sermon review" this week but I will share a little bit of what was said.

Couple A

- were parents of adult children, have two grandchildren

- family is important

- keep God at the center of your marriage, showing love and respect to each other

- God works in the lives of our children in the midst of our failures as parents

- keep the relationship with your children growing through the years

- suggested to do Sunday lunches together

- be open about sharing your faith with your children

- be diligent to tell your children they are significant to you and to God

- be discerning as to the time and place that you share your thoughts ( teachings ) with your children

- encourage them, being careful to not say too much at the wrong time

- make time for your children

- as a Mom, try hard to be there for your children, and pray for them

- Dads can teach values while doing work projects with the kids

- do fun things together

- parents need time away alone

- babysit your grandkids so your married kids can get away alone for a time

- be interested in your children's lives, their work and their home life

- PRAY - satan wants to destroy our families

- God is the One who brings healing and restoration where hurts have occured

1 Corinthians 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Couple B
( parents of married kids with grandchildren )

*prayer 

- important to not be a "control freak" , let go

- prayer intensifies in hard times and long periods of illness

* respect and trust

- when you catch yourself thinking " I wish my children would listen to me" then remember that God is thinking those very same thoughts about you

*gratitude 

- show gratitude even for small things

* be flexible

- your kids need you so change your schedule to meet their needs

* character

- develop good character in your children by including them in family responsibilities

* dates with spouse

- never stop dating your spouse and when you are on your dates make a point to not talk about the children or finances

* Allow your children to make decisions, make mistakes and face the consequences.

- this helps them to learn to think things through before making a decision in the future

* forgiveness

- ask your kids for forgiveness when you have messed up

James 1:4 

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Grandma Anna - precious memories!!

As I write this post about my Grandma Anna, I feel there is so much that I do not know about her. I don't have a lot of memories of her from my childhood but I will try to share a few. Grandma Anna is the mother of my Dad. She was born in May of 1899 and married my Grandpa Herman in December of 1921 at the age of 21.

I remember coming to their house and the smell of potatoes boiling on the stove as I entered the kitchen. Even now, sometimes when I am boiling potatoes on my stove I am reminded of Grandma Anna by that smell. Grandma Anna made the best homemade brown wholewheat bread! It tasted super delicious though I am not quite sure how she made it.
I remember family gatherings at Grandma and Grandpa's place. They lived in the country near a town called Winkler. My cousins and I would play "red rover" out in the yard. It was a lot of fun and Grandma would come check up on us occasionally. Grandma and Grandpa had a large family with my Dad being one of the older children in the family. Their youngest daughter (then a young gal) was still home with them back in those days of family gatherings. She was dating an older guy back then and I remember it being so much fun to watch her excitement as she would get ready for her date. My cousins secretly snooped in her room and found her "hopechest" - I would never have had the courage to be part of that. She did eventually marry this man though it wasn't till they ( my aunt and her boyfriend) were both well advanced in years sometime after Grandpa Herman had already passed away.
As Grandpa Herman and Grandma Anna got older they decided to move right into the town of Winkler. They bought a small house in which they lived until after Grandpa's passing. Family gatherings were a lot of fun there too because now my cousins and I had the fun of doing in-town stuff. There was an old, old house at the end of the street, right on the corner. As I remember it was grey and dark and scarey looking. We called it the " haunted house". Every family gathering, my cousins and I would walk down to the corner and see the haunted house. I was only around nine or ten years old at the time so for this little girl it was really quite scarey! There were no ghosts or anything - we only imagined it to be scarey!
Unlike my Grandma G, Grandma Anna knew my name. She had difficulty pronouncing it though as it was not a name she was used to but I give credit for trying her best.
Grandma Anna had type 2 diabetes. By practicing giving injections on an orange, she was able to learn to manage her diabetes and give the required injections to herself. I always thought that was a notable accomplishment for an elderly lady such as she was at the time.
Grandpa Herman passed away in the summer of 1974 so after his death, Grandma Anna decided that she would like to move into the seniors home in Winkler.  She was tired of cooking and cleaning anyway, and she would be happier in the company of others.  At this time Grandma Anna still had a little brown dog named Josie and oh how she loved her little Josie. She would prepare his dinners in a certain special way - she gave it her own loving touch. But when she decided to move to the seniors home, Josie also needed a new home so Grandma Anna gave Josie to my cousin Cornie. Josie didn't get quite the favored treatment at his new home but he was happy living on the farm with Cornie. It was nice that Grandma could still visit the farm and see Josie from time to time.
Grandma Anna was happy living in the seniors home although the noise did bother her some. In her later years the light bothered her eyes also so she would try to keep the light out of her room and also wear sunglasses all the time. She was very supportive of my Dad's call to the ministry and would always wait on Sundays for my parents to stop in at the care home so she could visit with them, showing her support to him. The Lord allowed Grandma Anna to have a somewhat enlightening spiritual experience while living in the care home. Though she had loved and followed the Lord since early in her life, this was a turning point in her spiritual life and she gained a new and fresh understanding from the Lord. I do not know what year this happened or the details of the experience.

One Sunday in March of 1989 at the care home, while eating supper at the table with her friends there, Grandma pointed upwards with her finger as if to say " I'm going up now"  and so she went to be with the Lord. This was a very unusual way of passing away but the Lord took her in an instant and she was gone. Now up in heaven she was reunited with Grandpa as well as her son Herman who passed away at age 17. You can read about this and other things relating to Grandpa in my post about Grandpa Herman in the archives of my blog.

2 Corinthians 5:7-9 says
⁷ For we walk by faith, not by sight:
⁸ We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
⁹ Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.