Mamás, Dios nos ha llamado a instruir a nuestros hijos en su Palabra, a hablarles de El en todo tiempo y en todo lugar. Hemos sido llamadas a plantar la semilla del evangelio en ellos. No subestimemos este mandato. El enseñarles sobre la Palabra de Dios a nuestros hijos producirá una transformación, tanto en ellos, como en nosotros. Así también el meternos en la Palabra de Dios diariamente nos hará sensibles a la voz del Espíritu Santo en cuanto a la forma en que debemos disciplinar a nuestros hijos. De la misma manera, es importante que nuestra forma de vivir sea congruente con nuestras enseñanzas. Nuestros pequeños son impactados por la forma en que ponemos en práctica la Palabra de Dios.

Tuve la bendición de tener una mamá que puso la semilla del evangelio en mi ser y que me enseñó a ser congruente entre mis acciones y creencias. Mi mamá adorada me enseñó a amar a Jesú,s no importando las circunstancias que me rodeaban. Mi Charitín, como solía decirle de cariño, me mostró a través de su vida que Dios es siempre bueno y siempre fiel, y que mi meta en esta vida es ver a Jesús cara a cara.

A todas las mamás les deseo que Dios continúe derramando sobre ustedes su Santo Espíritu y dándoles la sabiduría, el amor, el gozo, la fortaleza, la fe y el contentamiento, para seguir en esta aventura tan maravillosa como lo es la maternidad. No perdamos de vista que nuestro propósito en esta vida es eterno.

When I was in college I used to read a lot, but as I got married and had my two little ones, reading became a fifth or sixth priority in my life.

A couple of months ago, I decided to set a new goal for myself: to read one book per week. At first it seemed impossible and a little bit overwhelming, but as I started getting more involved into this wonderful hobby, I can say that I’ve enjoyed it so much!

The books that have challenged me the most, and which I highly recommend are:

• Shepherding a child’s heart by Tedd Trip
• Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney
• Crazy Love:Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan
• The Well-trained mind: a guide to Classical Education at home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.

In the future I would live to write a detailed review of each book, but so far I can tell you that Shepherding a child’s heart has become my favorite parenting book. The main argument of the author is that in order to discipline our children we need to look into their hearts. Everything exposed in this book is based on Biblical principles.

Feminine appeal has convicted me and made me realize about the importance of interacting with women of different generations. We have so much to learn from each other. This book also presents the challenges that women face nowadays and how to meet them according to the Holy Scriptures. It is a very practical book.

Crazy love is a challenging book for every Christian who reads it. It makes you meditate about where do you stand spiritually and makes you question yourself if you are truly a Christian, if you truly love God.

Finally, The Well- trained mind has become one of the main sources and references to my homeschooling. It does not only explain what Classical education means but it also includes a suggested curriculum and how you can apply it by age.

I hope to be able to persevere in this reading adventure. Something I need to say  is that this has been possible thanks to my iPhone where I’ve been downloading all the books. Having my phone on hand has let me read a few pages here and there while I am doing chores, when I am at the playground, when I am waiting to pay my groceries, etc.

]]> http://www.giselhoglund.com/2012/05/books/feed/ 0 http://www.giselhoglund.com/2012/05/guarding-our-doorposts/ http://www.giselhoglund.com/2012/05/guarding-our-doorposts/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 21:01:12 +0000 Gisel http://www.giselhoglund.com/?p=611 Today I was reading on Exodus 12 about the celebration of the Passover. It amazed me the Lord’s great love and faithfulness toward his people. After the struggles that Moses had to face with pharaoh who did not want to let the Israelites leave Egypt to worship the Lord, the promise was close to be fulfilled. The Lord would “pass over the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn sons and firstborn male animals” (Exodus 12:12). But the Lord would protect the Israelites during such tragic situation. They would have to smear the blood of a lamb without defects on their doorposts. The blood would prevent the plague of death touch his people.  The Lord would pass over them, and finally pharaoh would decline from his idea to keep the Israelites captive.

This story touches my heart in many ways. On one hand, it reminds me that we are covered by the blood of the lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and therefore, any plague of death, any weapon formed against us will prosper. On the other hand, it reminds me that as parents we are responsible to guard the doorposts of our homes. We are in charge of what comes into our homes, e.g. music, books, DVDs, literature, people, food, etc. We are filters to our homes, to what our children, hear, listen, watch, see, taste and smell. At the same time we are responsible of what comes out of our homes. Are we setting an example of a family who loves God, of a wife and husband who honor each other, of children who honor their parents? What principles are we putting into practice that will impact our world for God’s glory? For all that we are accountable before God.

Let’s pray for wisdom and discernment to exercise this responsibility that He has given us. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to do it. Jesus we rely on you!

For my husband and I, the most important thing about homeschooling our children is to raise them in a way they can learn who Jesus is and who they are in Him. Our mission is to fulfill what Psalm 1: 3 says:

“They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.”

Today, I can only say: I love homeschooling!

Two days ago, my friend called me to let me know that she found my son’s cars. We were so excited. We could hardly believe it. Later in the day, we meditate about the situation and we came to the conclusion that God was teaching us two things: 1) when He calls us to give to others something we cherish, the best is to obey him; and 2) he rewards those who give with a cheerful heart.

I’m thankful with the Lord for not only teaching me but also my children about the importance of walking  in obedience to him and to be cheerful givers.

“The LORD our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey.” (Joshua 24:24)

“As every man purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or out of compulsion; for God loveth the cheerful giver”  (2 Corinthians 9:7)

My prayer is that during these days we all can take a moment to thank God for the opportunity he has given us to spend time with our loved ones. I encourage you to take time to thank God for the silent moments cherished, the victories experienced,the losses endured, the kind words presented, the songs sung, the games played, the stories told, the little kisses offered. Every moment with your loved ones matters not only for the present but for eternity.

“Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin or sin will choke prayer.” ~ J.C. Ryle

1. Children are born persons – they are not blank
slates or embryonic oysters who have the potential of
becoming persons. They already are persons.

2. Although children are born with a sin nature,
they are neither all bad, nor all good. Children from
all walks of life and backgrounds may make choices for
good or evil.

3. The concepts of authority and obedience are true
for all people whether they accept it or not.
Submission to authority is necessary for any society
or group or family to run smoothly.

4. Authority is not a license to abuse children, or
to play upon their emotions or other desires, and adults
are not free to limit a child’s education or use fear,
love, power of suggestion, or their own influence over
a child to make a child learn.

5. The only means a teacher may use to educate children
are the child’s natural environment, the training of good
habits and exposure to living ideas and concepts. This is
what CM’s motto “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline,
a life” means.

6. “Education is an atmosphere” doesn’t mean that
we should create an artificial environment for children,
but that we use the opportunities in the environment
he already lives in to educate him. Children learn from
real things in the real world

7. “Education is a discipline” means that we train a
child to have good habits and self-control.

8. “Education is a life” means that education should apply
to body, soul and spirit. The mind needs ideas of all kinds,
so the child’s curriculum should be varied and generous
with many subjects included.

9. The child’s mind is not a blank slate, or a bucket
to be filled. It is a living thing and needs knowledge
to grow. As the stomach was designed to digest food,
the mind is designed to digest knowledge and needs no
special training or exercises to make it ready to learn.

10. Herbart’s philosophy that the mind is like an empty
stage waiting for bits of information to be inserted puts
too much responsibility on the teacher to prepare detailed
lessons that the children, for all the teacher’s effort,
don’t learn from anyway.

11. Instead, we believe that children’s minds are capable
of digesting real knowledge, so we provide a rich, generous
curriculum that exposes children to many interesting, living
ideas and concepts.

12. “Education is the science of relations” means that
children have minds capable of making their own connections
with knowledge and experiences, so we make sure the child
learns about nature, science and art, knows how to make
things, reads many living books and that they are physically fit.

13. In devising a curriculum, we provide a vast amount
of ideas to ensure that the mind has enough brain food,
knowledge about a variety of things to prevent boredom, and
subjects are taught with high-quality literary language
since that is what a child’s attention responds to best.

14. Since one doesn’t really “own” knowledge until he
can express it, children are required to narrate, or tell
back (or write down), what they have read or heard.

15. Children must narrate after one reading or hearing.
Children naturally have good focus of attention, but
allowing a second reading makes them lazy and weakens
their ability to pay attention the first time. Teachers
summarizing and asking comprehension questions are other
ways of giving children a second chance and making the
need to focus the first time less urgent. By getting
it the first time, less time is wasted on repeated readings,
and more time is available during school hours for more
knowledge. A child educated this way learns more than
children using other methods, and this is true for all
children regardless of their IQ or background.

16. Children have two guides to help them in their
moral and intellectual growth – “the way of the will,
” and “the way of reason.”

17. Children must learn the difference between “I want”
and “I will.” They must learn to distract their thoughts
when tempted to do what they may want but know is not right,
and think of something else, or do something else,
interesting enough to occupy their mind. After a short
diversion, their mind will be refreshed and able to will
with renewed strength.

18. Children must learn not to lean too heavily on
their own reasoning. Reasoning is good for logically
demonstrating mathematical truth, but unreliable when
judging ideas because our reasoning will justify all
kinds of erroneous ideas if we really want to believe them.

19. Knowing that reason is not to be trusted as the final
authority in forming opinions, children must learn that
their greatest responsibility is choosing which ideas to
accept or reject. Good habits of behavior and lots of
knowledge will provide the discipline and experience to
help them do this.

20. We teach children that all truths are God’s truths,
and that secular subjects are just as divine as religious
ones. Children don’t go back and forth between two worlds
when they focus on God and then their school subjects;
there is unity among both because both are of God and,
whatever children study or do, God is always with them.

(See a parallel with the original text here:  http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/20Principles.html)

Since I decided to be a stay at home mom, I’ve enjoyed every moment.  However I cannot say that everything has been easy. Some days I’ve  felt: exhausted, alone or isolated from the outside world, dealing with anger and frustration, and concerned about how to raise my kids God’s way. During these difficult moments, the Lord has whispered to my ear: “You are not alone. I’m with you. You are where I’ve called you to be. Don’t be discouraged. When you are weak I am strong. Cry out to me and I will respond. I’ll give you the wisdom, the patience, the love, the mercy, the grace, the compassion, the strength you need at all times. When I came to earth I didn’t come to be served but to served. So do the same with a glad heart. Do it unto me.”

What can I respond to my Lord’s words?  I can only run to him, ask forgiveness for trying to do things with my own resources instead of depending on him, lay down all my burdens before him, and trust that He will give me everything I need, as He states in his Word.

Until today, He’s been faithful. I’ve been asking him to give me a servant’s heart and He’s done it. I can see and feel it.

With God, motherhood is a wonderful journey. We don’t only get to understand better the heart of God as a father, but He also gets to work in us in a very deep and special way. All this to accomplish one goal: to become more like him.

Today, as I was reading several blogs, I found an interesting chart. It presents a comparison between a Super mom and an Abiding mom. As I read through it, I asked myself what type of mom I was. Certainly, I found myself  a little bit in both. To be honest, it is easy to fall into becoming or trying to become a Super mom. However, being a Super mom always ends up in exhaustion and frustration. I pray that the Lord helps you and I to parent not in our own strength and wisdom but in his. I pray that He gives us his grace, mercy, love and compassion for our family. You and I have a great mission: it is time for you and I to be determined to build our home God’s way!

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