memory verses

First off, I do NOT intend for this to become a "KJV only" debate. If you like that kind of thing, feel free to start one on your own blog. Thanks.

My fellow Christian parents who are striving to raise their kids for the Lord:

I keep thinking about this but haven't decided what route to take. I grew up on the KJV, that is what we memorized and read and heard preached. I do have a personal preference for it, simply because of it be familiar to me. I also very often read other versions/translations/paraphrases as part of Bible study. I'd like to get one of those Bibles that has several laid out beside each other on the same page. Just saying I have no problem with using other versions.

Now, the question is... I use selected memory verses frequently in the kids' training. They learn verses specific to their behaviors and attitudes. I have blogged about that before so I wont' go into it now, but I do need them to understand what they are learning, not just remember a string of words. I do of course break it down and explain it, but I also want the verse to be meaningful.
I have found that I really don't have a rhyme or reason to what version they learn, I will find a good verse and look it up on crosswalk and read many versions and pick the one that seems most clear and have them learn that one. I'm not sure if this random approach is the best though.

So... the question is, do I have them memorize the KJV and just explain it to them?

Sometimes it seems ok to use the other versions, but then sometimes, I just really want them to know the verses just as I know them. Case in point, Joey is learning Psalm 23 right now for Rangers Club. They have it in a different version...it is probably more understandable, but I just miss the lovely "classic" KJV language. It is ok for me to teach it to him our way, he will still get credit for it.

Am I stressing too much over this and I should just keep on teaching them the Word or is there a certain benefit to sticking with one translation? I am torn between the tradition of the KJV and the knowledge that it is important for them to UNDERSTAND the Word, not just memorize it.

thoughts please.

peer pressure

Everyone else is doing it, so I will too.

without further ado... my list of needs according to google.

Jody needs:
Jody Needs a Kidney
Jody needs a custom mouthpiece.
Jody needs your help!
Jody needs more comments.
Jody needs a mailing address and federal ID number.

Jody needs a home. Jody needs a man to handle her ... Jody needs a bathroom break. (I did NOT make that up.)

Pretty spot on, don'tcha think?

i'm so cool

ok, so it's not flames, but still, I'm thinkin' that my new tats are seriously stylin' on my mini-van.

check it out... my decals from the trade I did way back before Christmas with Shandi from Distinctive Decals . I finally got a nice day to put them on!

excuse the dirty van... it wasn't bad until I cleaned the areas I was about to decal...that made the rest of it look bad!

Here is the whole effect:

Our little stick figure family. I love these... I've wanted one for a long time.

My bus sticker.

my cloth diaper sticker. I left this one big so you could see our license plate too.
Thanks honey... both for the van and for letting me make it look like a total soccer-mom-mobile.

a great day to ride a bike

We've had some super cold days here recently, so when we had a lovely warm weekend, we took advantage of it. We went to toe nearby elementary school and used their empty parking lot to ride bikes. Jessi just got this big girl bike from Grandpa, it is probably a little too big, but she'll grow. Joey got his first bad bike wreck owie. I tried to convince him that this was a badge of honor, but he was not buying it.

Jessi did really well for the first time on a big bike. I think she would be ready to take the training wheels off soon, but the bike is so tall that she needs them in order to climb on.

Joy had a great time playing with her shadow. It was so cute!

a Grandma post

Yep, that is fair warning that this will be endless pictures and gratuitious bragging about my kids. If you are my facebook friend you have probably seen these, but my mom told me that she NEEDS to see new pictures. Here you go Mom-mom!

Also... Blogger likes to put the pictures in the opposite order of how you uploaded them, and it takes a while to drag them all around, so in most cases, I have just left them in no order at all.

Jessi/Mopsie

Joey and Jonny, you have to look and try to see the faces Jonny is making...he's highly enjoying himself. It goes without saying that Joey loves it.


You'll see this picture a couple of times, I was just playing with lighting etc. I adore this... I couldn't have posed them like this if I had tried, just let them play and snapped away.

same picture without being fancied up

Jonny seems to be saying, "Hey, look at ME!"

Look at him sit up!

there are pillows behind him but he's not leaning on them, he's looking up and holding himself up sitting.

Joey with his appliance. It is clear plastic... looks like he's sucking a giant icecube. He has his front teeth over it properly in this shot and you can see that even with it in the right place he can't close his mouth yet. Hopefully when we go back in 3 weeks they can trim some off.

Joy's first french braid!

Jessi and Jonny- the results of Jessi's mopsie

Hamming it up!

after I calmed it down a bit.

fresh off the rags

ready to go

still unrolling it.

Joey thinking his dreams are coming true.... however, no, Jonny did not sleep with him all night, I just tucked him in in the morning and let Joey wake up to Jonny's gentle eye pokes...

HI Mom-Mom!

Joey with Kiwi, Lizard, and Wooly Mammoth

Joey with his precious beanie babies (obviously not all of them....)

Joy reading her Veggie Tale book

Mmmmm, toes! Toes is sooooo ymmmy!

Bye!!!

I chickened out

I gathered the kids and we watched the ceremony this morning. No matter your political leanings, you have to admit that today was pretty historic.
The kids know about us choosing a new leader, we brought them when we voted.

Jessi actually opened the discussion when she asked if a girl could be president. I told her yes, a lady could be president, but that we hadn't had one yet. She asked "why not?" but was quickly distracted by the sight of the little girls and I told her that their daddy was the new leader.

She opened another window for discussion when she asked who the "pink" girl walking with the brown girls was and asked if they adopted her. "Pink" girl would be the Caucasian lady who led the Obama girls out and down the steps. We aren't white, we are "pink". But again... I didn't explain that having a "brown guy" as our leader was very significant.

I intended to, I did.

I sat here with tears in my eyes as I watched the camera pan over the crowds and saw a few old black men with their Tuskegee Airman hats on.
I choked up when Aretha Franklin sang about freedom and justice.
I wanted to explain to the kids that this was a special, monumental, historical day.

But I couldn't.

Because to them, there is nothing out of the ordinary about a person of color, an African American, a black man, or in their own childish vernacular, a "brown guy", becoming the leader of our nation.

To them, he's just a man.

They don't have any clue that some people could hate someone else because he is brown instead of pink.
They don't know that relatively recently in our nation's history, brown people couldn't go to the same schools, ride the bus, or drink from our water fountains...let alone be elected as our president.

Someday they will be exposed to racial prejudice and I will have to explain it all, and then they will begin to understand the significance of today and I will remind them of what we watched.

But not today.
Today I'll let them think that it's so cool that little kids just like them have a daddy just like they do and they got to wear a pretty dress and go to the big party.

Today, their only interest was all the flags and music, the parade, the soldiers.

Today, I'm happy with the knowledge that if we were ever to be at the same park or playground or library as Malia or Sasha, my kids would, unsocialized homeschoolers that they are, approach them with the same confidence and openness as they do everyone else and pepper them with questions, "how old are you?", "when is your birthday?", "do you want to play?"

This is their normal, this is their reality, and for today, I'm just going to leave them there.

just checking in

-the kids are mostly better, just still a little tired.

-Jeff is making huge headway on the house. someday there will be pictures.

- Jonny is laughing out loud, talking, and making this motor noise with his mouth. he's awesome. he's approx 26" long and 15 lbs, 6 oz. at four months old.

- that's all