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Consequences

Since we have puppies on our farm now, I signed up for a dog training e-newsletter.  Every week I receive tips on how to train my dogs.  The instructor often tells stories of conversations he has had with other dog owners and tells how he helps them solve their puppy problems.
What is funny, is the similarities between training dogs and training children. In his newsletter today he said,

"If you want your dog to continue doing a behavior, apply a positive consequence.  If you want your dog to stop doing a behavior, apply a negative consequence."

A simple concept that applies to all types of training, yet it is so hard for me to remember!  Often I find myself verbally reminding a child not to act a certain way (over and over again), instead of giving a consequence.

Years ago, my Mom gave me a great book called, Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel. 

It's an excellent resource!  One thing she recommends, and we did this years ago, was to have a "Correction Jar".  In it you put slips of paper with various consequences written on them.  When a child misbehaves, they get to draw from the jar.  A few ideas for the jar might include a to bed early, no dessert, 20 push ups, extra chore, writing out a verse twenty times, or a monetary fine.  Another good idea is to include a slip that says "Mercy" because God gives us mercy even when we deserve punishment.  I think it also helps the children understand that moms do not like having to give consequences, if mom tells them that she is hoping they pick a "Mercy".  :)

What is funny is that my children have actually enjoyed the mystery of picking their consequence.  It lightens the atmosphere, yet helps to apply needed corrections....try it! :)

No...it won't work well with puppies! :) 

Lunch and a Testimony!

A few weeks ago, we had a contractor out here doing some work for us.  When lunchtime came around, his first day here, we invited him in to have lunch with us.  I knew nothing about this man, but he had been referred to Mike by a friend.  As we ate lunch together, I found out that he was a Christian.  Mike asked him to share his testimony, which he did.  It was great for my boys to hear him share, since they were already enamored with him, following him all around the property watching him and asking him all kinds of questions about his work.

He went on to tell us that about five years ago, he and his wife were having a lot of marriage problems.  Somehow he had found out about a video series designed to help with marriage problems.  He found the DVDs on Amazon and ordered them.  When they arrived in the mail, his wife saw them and was very skeptical.  She did some research on the Internet and came back telling him the videos were anti-woman!  Angered, she suggested that they watch the first video together.  So they stayed up late and watched the first one. 

Then he shared that in the middle of the night his wife woke him up.  His first thought was, "Oh no!  Here comes a big fight!"  But to his surprise his wife told him that she agreed with everything the man said in the video. They now have a great marriage and tell everyone they can about the videos.

Mike and I smiled with delight as he shared this story with our family because we too have watch the same Love and Respect DVDs and have been blessed by them.  We also have the book, but the movies are more entertaining! :)

If you have not seen the Love and Respect DVDs, and you or someone you know is struggling in their marriage, get them and watch them!  Your marriage will be changed!

I do have a couple friends who own the video series and are willing to lend them out.  Email me if you are interested in borrowing them.  mindy@housmanfarms.com

The writers of Love and Respect have a blog, and you will find lots of helpful info there.
 Love and Respect Blog

I'm Back!

About a month ago, I was in bed thinking about how busy life was.  I knew I needed to let something go.  Since the computer seems to take up a lot of time, it was first on my list.  I was going to take the month of October off, but then was on the computer a bit, so I took most of the month of November off too! :)  So now that fall and all that goes with it are behind me, and our family has had a much needed vacation, I am excited to start blogging again.  There are just some seasons when we need to take a break from certain activities.

I heard about a woman (I don't even know) who was a very active Facebook writer.  The people who knew her were very concerned about her family.  I guess some men even confronted her husband about it.  Her neglect seemed obvious.  Then one day, she had a talk with her children, and she decided that she needed to give up her writing.  I have a lot of respect for a woman like that!  It isn't always easy to keep our priorities straight in a culture that keep us going and going and going.  But praise be to God who gives us the wisdom to know when enough is enough! :)

Great Video

It is so easy to just follow the crowd and believe what the majority of people believe.  But when people are challenged to really think about what they believe, they often realize how wrong their thinking is.  In this video, Ray Comfort does a great job challenging people!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y2KsU_dhwI

JM Cremp

All three of my boys were born in October, so Emily has been searching for birthday gifts for her brothers.  She really gets into giving!  We have been excited to find a great resource for "boy" gifts!  What is even more exciting is that the family that owns this business lives right here in Dassel!  If you want to see the products before you buy them, they have a warehouse in Dassel where you can browse around and look, or you can even pick up your order (if you want to order online).  Be sure to check this website out, they have great products!

http://www.jmcremps.com/

Perfection

Last week Emily and I went to a bridal shower.  The bride-to-be is a special friend of Emily's.  She leads a  girls Bible study that Emily attends.  At the shower, she shared how she came to know the Lord and how her and her finace met.  It was a great story!

There was something that she said that I have been mulling around in my mind ever since.  She talked about how she had wanted her fiance to be perfect.  And in her mind, she had an idea of what that looked like.  But then she realized that if he was perfect, she would be tempted to worship him.  He would become her God, and she would not need Jesus anymore.  Wow!  What an amazing thought from a young lady, not even married yet!

I have been thinking about how tempting it is to long for perfection, not only in a spouse, but also in our children or even in friends.  But I would never verbalize it like that....that I am longing for perfection (even though that is really what I am doing).  I just have an idea of how I think someone should act or behave.  But what if my husband, children and friends did everything I wanted?  What if they behaved exactly as I expected? I would worship them!  I would put them on a pedestal and think more highly of them than I should.

Until now, I have never really thought seriously about how detrimental it would be to my spiritual life to have a perfect, or even near perfect person in my life!  So why do I desire it?   As much as we long for perfect relationships, we must realize that they would draw us away from our Lord.  And that thought should help us celebrate our differences and be thankful for the unmet expectations that we have.  Those longings that we have can never be filled by someone else!!  Praise God!!

We do have a perfect husband and friend!  His name is Jesus!  He will meet every need that we have!  He is our one and only....He is perfect!!! :)