Secret Keeper Girl

I have followed Dannah Gresh and her Secret Keeper Girl ministry now for a few years and have been blessed greatly by her efforts to preserve little girls purity and promote modesty.

Her book, Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl was wonderful. I have wanted to take Delena to a Secret Keeper Girl Live event now for a while. Last night, I finally got the chance! We went to the Secret Keeper Girl Pajama Party tour in Lakeland, FL at the First Baptist Church @ The Mall.

We had a wonderful time! We laughed, cried a little, shopped and learned so much about what God's word says about beauty and modesty. This is a perfect event for girls 8-12.

It is funny, though, how much I learned. Huge lesson for me.....see back in January, Delena turned 11. So I allowed her to have a sleepover of about 10 girls. My idea: bring home the RV, park it on the street, and let the girls camp in the front yard. The RV is so cozy with a/c (or heat), beds, a TV, etc. We could light the fire pit, roast marshmallows, etc.... Even watch a movie.

Her idea....a sleepover with 10 girls in tents in the backyard! Really??? I'm offering an RV and she wants to sleep in tents?? Surely ---- alllllll those girls coming will want to sleep in the RV. A part of me may have been, ahhh, embarrassed to invite kids over to tent camp.

In any case, after much discussion, I gave in. And you know what? The girls all loved it! Which brings me back to the SKG event....Suzie, who was leading the 2 hours, shared her most memorable pajama party. You know what it was?? Yep, sleeping in tents in the backyard of a friend's house. I thought Delena was going to run up on stage and tell the world---she was right. I was wrong. At that moment, I was so glad I caved in and let them sleep in the tents. The funny thing, now all her friends are having sleep overs in the tents!! So the RV is great for family get aways but tents still rule when it comes to pajama parties!

Anyway, I can't say enough about how wonderful the evening was. What a blessing to have been a part of something so special. Now to plan some "dates" I think I just might take both girls to get pedicures. How fun is that???!!

Our little group that went.

Pictures on stage after the event. We ran into another little girl from our co-op :)

All the girls with Suzie.

Me and Delena waiting for it to start!

Daniel 2 and the US

As some of you may know, I am leading a ladies Bible study at my church on Wednesday nights. We are working through Daniel Part 1, Precept Upon Precept. This coming Wednesday, we will be going over Daniel Chapter 2 - the statue.

To prepare for the discussion, I pulled out of the Grace to You archives John MacArthur's sermon on a portion of the passage. While this sermon was recorded in 1979, it sounded like he had just recorded it. Especially, considering in the United States, we are in the throngs of a political drag out party as the Republican party is going through the process of selecting its candidate to face off against Barack Obama in the general election.

I wanted to share a few passages from his sermon.

First, MacArthur says we are watching the downfall of the United States:

We're all watching rather sadly - we who know Christ - the fall of the United States of America. As sad as it is, it shouldn't really shock us. The reason is because it has always been and always will be the lot of nations, nations of the world, that the kingdoms of men will go the way of all flesh and ultimately end in collapse and ruin.

Anything based on the might of man, anything established on the wisdom of man will suffer the same kind of deterioration that man himself suffers since the fall. Dissipation is man's history. It is a devolutionary process not an evolutionary process. Man is not ascending, man is descending. In 1 Timothy 3:13, God says, "Evil men shall grow worse and worse." Things don't get better, they get worse.

We see decay working in our society everywhere - nationally, socially, domestically, individually, organically. All things in this world are caught in a process of deterioration that began when man fell into sin in the garden. And each new combination of forces or nations that has tried to achieve a lasting kingdom invariably meets the same inevitable overthrow. No matter what the intentions are, no matter what the safeguards are, the dissolution of manmade effort in inevitable.

So that history as studied becomes a succession of defeat. An empire begins, reaches a peak and fades and dies and another one is built out of its ashes. We are looking at America. America in the past reached its apex. We're on the down side, the back slope. We are watching a defeat taking place.

Next, Pastor MacArthur outlines some of those reasons why. Keep in mind, this was in 1979! How much more so NOW do these things apply??

We see the dissolution of our country on every hand. Political humanism ruin the government. A government once established on the principles on the word of God. Godless atheism dominates our education. International blackmail threatens us all over the world. A lack of conviction and a lack of courage changes the way we approach problems.

The destruction of the family is causing a loss of all orientation among people and a rise of psychological and psychiatric problems. The deterioration of the family contributed by immorality, living together without marriage, working women, women's lib, passive fathers, homosexuality, etc. We've seen a steady decline in authority to the point where in many cases there is absence of authority.

In parts of our society we have lost the ability to control behavior. There's an ever-increasing rise of crime, lax criminal justice. We are constantly being corrupted at a faster rate through materialism, alcohol, drugs, sex, total selfishness. And we can go on and on.

We are deteriorating just like every other nation ever deteriorated. Because built into America is the same basic problem. We have feet of clay like the image in Daniel. And clay says Daniel represents the seed of men. And wherever anything is built on men, it is built for dissolution.

Does that not speak of the US now? Our love affair with materialism is what has caused this economic crash to begin with --- borrowing money for things we cannot afford to keep up with people we don't even like, right?

Further, Pastor MacArthur shares an article he read by a professor about the rise and fall of empires. Take a read here for yourself:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until he voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship.

"The average age," says Tyler, "of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." For us, that was 1976. "These nations have progressed through the following sequence:" - now listen to this - "from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency and from dependency back into bondage."

Every nation follows the same cycle. And democracy seems to follow it just as fast or in some cases faster than any other form of government. By the way, it might shock you to know that democracy is not God's form of government. God's form is theocracy where one person rules, and that person is God.

The interesting thing is this, this article was written over 200 years ago by Professor Alexander Tyler. It was written while the 13 original colonies were still a part of Great Britain. He was actually writing about the Atheanian Republic that existed over 2,000 years ago.

Have we not as a nation realized we can vote ourselves money from the Treasury? Or worse yet, vote money we don't have or have to borrow from other countries?

It really is sad, but every empire follows the same cycle - throughout history. Reading the cycle above, where would you place the United States? I see us somewhere between apathy and dependency. Our reliance on the government to do everything for us is evident.

Just like the clay in Daniel...brittle.

I hear people ask a lot about the end times and the United States. The US isn't specifically mentioned in the Bible. Some people try to say certain images may apply to it, but that is for the most part, speculation. The simple answer is we may not be mentioned because we may not be around.

I love to study Daniel. It is an incredible book - my personal favorite - in the Bible. It is full of historical prophecy and future prophecy. And reading it in such a time as we are in now is encouraging. It helps me prepare for what may be ahead. We discuss as a family and in home school what could happen. I want the kids to be prepared when they see things begin to take place.

There is so much more too, I'll save that for another post. I would love feedback on the what John MacArthur said.

Mother Son Date Knight

Last night, I had the fun opportunity to take my little guy, Caleb, on a date - thanks in part of Chick Fil A. Our local Chick Fil A sponsored the Mother Son Date Knight - complete with sword fighting and chivalry training.

The event was free, minus the cost of food. Our Chick Fil A was decorated to resemble a medieval castle. The employees were dressed in medieval attire. The dining hall was set up like a typical medieval feats with King Cow heading the banquet table.

Everything was nicely done. We were waited on, our food brought to us on plates, the staff did everything. It was a very nice evening.

It is wonderful to see Chick Fil A do something to encourage family bonding time. I've done dates with Caleb before but he loved this date night just as much as all the others. And we try to do this with all the kids. Mark is taking Caleb to a sportsman feast at our church in a few weeks. I took the girls to the mother-daughter banquet. Mark took the girls out to eat last night. And as a family, we are all going to see Toby Mac real soon.

Date nights with the kids are so fun and creates memories they will not ever forget. We really try to do this with them several times a year.

Thank you Caleb for the wonderful date night and for being my Knight for the date!

Caleb posing with a Knight. He made the cool sword balloon, taught him some sword fighting and manners on escorting a lady.

Caleb enjoying his Chick Fil A sandwich, fries and chocolate milk. They even provided dessert for free!

In Love With Thirty-One

Ok, I caved. I gave in.

My love affair with purses goes back to high school when I discovered Liz Claiborne. Remember those cute little triangle purses? I was a Liz freak! I would give up clothes to have one of those cute little purses.

These days, I am more of a Coach girl (the coach from the Factory stores that are always last year's design). I don't care though, say what you will, I'll carry a year or two old design purse. My daughter loves Vera Bradley purses....again the ones on sale.

So, when those spiffy little Thirty-One bags started popping up everyone, I resisted. I don't need "another" bag. I have plenty: free ones from Disney (when we spent way too much money buying silly souvenirs that the kids don't even have anymore), free ones the hubby has brought home displaying the logo of every community his company can build. I even have one from Lazy Days (where we purchased our RV). Really, I don't need a Thirty One bag - even though they are much cuter than a brown old Lazy Days bag.

But they kept showing up ---- everywhere!!! The more I see them, I more I like them. I could imagine needing one to carry all my Bible study stuff in as I head to church for class. Or one to carry all my co-op stuff in as I head to homeschoool co-op. Or one to carry all our beach supplies in as we go to the beach. The possibilities are endless.

So, I caved. I wanted one - starting with the organizing tote with side pockets. I was ready to order one from a friend who is a consultant when we found out my husband would be loosing his job in a few months. So, Thirty-One had to go on hold.

Last Friday night, my daughter had a sleepover with some friends to celebrate her 11th birthday. One of those girls was a neighbor girl. Her mom is on my Facebook friend's list and I had noticed her status update saying she was going to a party Friday night. So, when she dropped her daughter off at our house for the sleepover, I asked her what party she was going to. As cruel fate would have it, it was a.....you guessed it, Thirty-One!

I proceeded to tell her my new found love and how I so wanted one of those organizing totes. She, of course, offered to get one for me. When I explained our new financial predicament and how I needed to resist the urge to buy, she understood.

The next morning, well before she was supposed to retrieve her child from the sleepover, my neighbor showed up our front door carrying an organizing tote. When she handed me the tote, she explained that it was a give away at the party because the pattern was being discontinued and she won it! And immediately she thought to give it to me because it was the exact one I wanted!

So, yes, now I am the proud owner of a Thirty-One bag. I loved taking it to Bible study Wednesday night. My Precept binders, Precept Bible and colored pencils fit so nicely in it.

And that is my new found love story with Thirty-One. Now, if I could only figure out Pinterest. I am the only one who doesn't "get it?"