Hello everyone! I thought I'd give a little update on Moms Encouraging Moms. Last night a group of mothers of sons met to begin a six week Bible/book study on "5 Conversations You Must Have With your Sons." I was excited to be able to attend it and I'm looking forward to all that I'm going to learn. One of the reasons that I was so excited about it was because of all who were there. When we met for our first Mom's meeting a while back to evaluate the needs of the mothers in our church, one of the biggest needs mentioned was how to parent boys and raise them to be godly men. One of the blessings to me about the Bible/book study was that the women who asked for encouragement in this area actually came and an added blessing was that many other women came, too!
Sadly, our society is failing our boys... We, (their mothers), must take an active role in teaching them and guiding them to go against the way of the world and become the men of God that He created them to be. God has blessed us with the privilege of raising them and with that privilege comes a huge responsibility. It can be daunting at times, but so worth it in the long run. Praise the Lord for all of the moms who are striving to raise up godly men!!!!
Speaking of raising our children to adulthood...
I am beginning to plan another evening for Moms Encouraging Moms. I don't have the date or time yet, but I'll tell you the topic now....I would like for any moms of seniors to have a time to meet together and talk about our changing roles as our students graduate. It's an emotional time for me as a mother to Bethany, my graduating senior, who is supposed to still be 10 years old. I think we would all benefit from talking together about how fast the time has gone and how to be handle and encourage each other along the way in the coming months. I'm looking for a home and a date to meet. If you think this would benefit you or if you would like to host the evening, let me know. I think maybe a Tuesday evening for about an hour or so might be good, or maybe a Saturday morning brunch. I'd like for it to be soon because life is just going to get busier in the next few weeks. Let's try to make it happen:)
The Pecoraro's
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
5 conversations You Must Have With Your Sons
I wanted to take a quick opportunity to encourage any mother's of sons to consider attending this Bible study. When many of us met to share our needs as mom's with each other, one of the needs was for moms of sons to share their concerns with each other....We met once with raising sons as a topic and now I'm so happy to let you know that this Bible Study is being done with YOU in mind. I hope many of you will try to attend...I'm sure there will be many things to learn, both from the study itself and from each other. Details are below.... 5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Son - is a women's Bible study for moms who desire to help their sons build foundations of faith that will equip them throughout their lives. Author, Vicki Courtney, helps you prepare to talk to your son about the tough topics — because even though knowing what to say or how to say it can be hard, there's no one better to teach him about life, love, and faith than you. Mondays @ 7 pm - Starting April 23 The member book also offers variety of between-session activities that build parenting skills and biblical understandings. Book cost is $11 and will be provided on first day of class. Meet at FBC. Facilitated by Monica Richardson. |
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
My Encouragement for Today
I feel like I have been a bit neglectful of this blog (and even more neglectful of my other one at skits and scripts 4 Him), but I have an excuse. For the last several weeks, I have been busy with one huge endeavor after another. They have all taken many hours for my family to complete and, I must say, by God's grace, they all turned out rather well. D-NOW was the biggest and most time consuming event. It is now over and I can take a breath for at least a moment. Writing on this blog had to take a back seat, so that I didn't go completely crazy.
With all of that said, I hope you'll forgive me for not keeping up with my posts. I have a lot of topics that I'm hoping to write about and I still hope that this will be a place where we can all find encouragement to be the women God wants us to be.
Today, my encouragement is this: Remember that most of the things our children learn are "caught" not "taught," so in order for them to catch the right things, we have to be heading in the right direction ourselves in order to "expose" them to it. It reminds me of catching a cold...most of us would rather NOT catch one, but if we are exposed to someone with a cold, there would be a chance of us catching it. If we are never around a person with nasty cold germs to share with us, it would be unlikely for us to catch a cold. We might still end up sick with a cold, though, because it is possible to get one without being exposed to one from someone else, but our chances are higher if we are "exposed."
We need to expose our children to the things we hope that they will learn...WE, as in ourselves, need to be the ones that are modeling the behaviors that we hope they will catch. The worst thing that we can do is tell our children to "do as I say, not as I do"...They will resent it and I can almost guarantee that they will grow up learning to "do as you do" instead of the other way around.
If we want our children to serve, then we better be serving. If we want our children to be respectful, then we need to be respectful. If we want our children to have positive attitudes then we better have positive attitudes. The list can go on and on, but those are some of the big ones on my list.
We, as grown ups, need to stop having a double standard about these things. We may want to teach our children to be respectful, but if we really examine ourselves, we fail at being respectful a lot. How many times are you tempted to think that what you have to say is so much more important than what someone else has to say. Isn't that disrespectful to them? I know I am guilty. How many times do you complain about things and then reprimand your children when they whine or complain? I'm guilty again. What about serving? Do you serve others with a happy heart or do you expect others to serve you and meet your needs?
These are just some things that have been on my mind...things that God has been convicting me of and things that I have noticed in others. I hope that these questions don't bring discouragement, but encouragement. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves questions and evaluate where we are in our quest to raise our children into adulthood. If being respectful, servant minded and staying positive were diseases, would our children be in danger of catching them from us? Would they even be "exposed" enough to catch it? Maybe we need to make sure we are "infected" first, before we expect it out of them.
With all of that said, I hope you'll forgive me for not keeping up with my posts. I have a lot of topics that I'm hoping to write about and I still hope that this will be a place where we can all find encouragement to be the women God wants us to be.
Today, my encouragement is this: Remember that most of the things our children learn are "caught" not "taught," so in order for them to catch the right things, we have to be heading in the right direction ourselves in order to "expose" them to it. It reminds me of catching a cold...most of us would rather NOT catch one, but if we are exposed to someone with a cold, there would be a chance of us catching it. If we are never around a person with nasty cold germs to share with us, it would be unlikely for us to catch a cold. We might still end up sick with a cold, though, because it is possible to get one without being exposed to one from someone else, but our chances are higher if we are "exposed."
We need to expose our children to the things we hope that they will learn...WE, as in ourselves, need to be the ones that are modeling the behaviors that we hope they will catch. The worst thing that we can do is tell our children to "do as I say, not as I do"...They will resent it and I can almost guarantee that they will grow up learning to "do as you do" instead of the other way around.
If we want our children to serve, then we better be serving. If we want our children to be respectful, then we need to be respectful. If we want our children to have positive attitudes then we better have positive attitudes. The list can go on and on, but those are some of the big ones on my list.
We, as grown ups, need to stop having a double standard about these things. We may want to teach our children to be respectful, but if we really examine ourselves, we fail at being respectful a lot. How many times are you tempted to think that what you have to say is so much more important than what someone else has to say. Isn't that disrespectful to them? I know I am guilty. How many times do you complain about things and then reprimand your children when they whine or complain? I'm guilty again. What about serving? Do you serve others with a happy heart or do you expect others to serve you and meet your needs?
These are just some things that have been on my mind...things that God has been convicting me of and things that I have noticed in others. I hope that these questions don't bring discouragement, but encouragement. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves questions and evaluate where we are in our quest to raise our children into adulthood. If being respectful, servant minded and staying positive were diseases, would our children be in danger of catching them from us? Would they even be "exposed" enough to catch it? Maybe we need to make sure we are "infected" first, before we expect it out of them.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
My To-Do List:
Finish All of the decorations for DNOW (large undertaking-in need of more help)
Finish writing this year's play (large undertaking-it is somewhere in my mind, but I'm having trouble finding it)
Finish school work with my kids (large undertaking-hard to completely complete)
Encourage other women as they parent their children (large undertaking-desiring for God to use me as a motivator)
Play with my grandchild (large undertaking-not quite so difficult to accomplish)
Clean my house (large undertaking-probably won't get done)
Pray that the Lord will take all of my "large undertakings" and turn them into "small undertakings" so that I can somehow accomplish them all.
I don't know about you, but my list sometimes seems overwhelming. I ALWAYS fall very short of getting it all accomplished. I don't know if you read all of my "to-do list", but there is huge flaw in it. The last thing on my list should have been my first thing on my list!!! Why do I so often forget that? And why am I surprised or overwhelmed that my list is too difficult when I try to do any of it without His guidance? Don't answer that, I really do already know the answers to my questions. I'm just a slow learner, so I keep having to learn the same lessons over and over again.
Note to self: Re-write my list...
I hope you all have a blessed day and I also hope that we all put the most important thing at the top of our list
Finish writing this year's play (large undertaking-it is somewhere in my mind, but I'm having trouble finding it)
Finish school work with my kids (large undertaking-hard to completely complete)
Encourage other women as they parent their children (large undertaking-desiring for God to use me as a motivator)
Play with my grandchild (large undertaking-not quite so difficult to accomplish)
Clean my house (large undertaking-probably won't get done)
Pray that the Lord will take all of my "large undertakings" and turn them into "small undertakings" so that I can somehow accomplish them all.
I don't know about you, but my list sometimes seems overwhelming. I ALWAYS fall very short of getting it all accomplished. I don't know if you read all of my "to-do list", but there is huge flaw in it. The last thing on my list should have been my first thing on my list!!! Why do I so often forget that? And why am I surprised or overwhelmed that my list is too difficult when I try to do any of it without His guidance? Don't answer that, I really do already know the answers to my questions. I'm just a slow learner, so I keep having to learn the same lessons over and over again.
Note to self: Re-write my list...
I hope you all have a blessed day and I also hope that we all put the most important thing at the top of our list
Friday, March 2, 2012
Mackenna Hope
Tomorrow is my second to the youngest child's 14th birthday! Mackenna Hope is the most precious almost 14 year old you could ever meet. She is fun, caring, beautiful, loving and adorable! I just can't believe she is growing up. I stay in denial about her getting older because I'm just not sure I can cope with it very well.
When Mackenna was little, she was extremely shy. I remember when we first came to the church we now serve in, she was 3 years old. An older man came up and was introducing himself to all of us and he tweaked her nose like he was pretending that he grabbed her nose off of the front of her face. She was scared to death. She spent the rest of the trip holding her nose so that no one else tried to take it. Actually, she covered her nose around older men for the next year or so. I loved how literal she was about it. It's one of those memories that I'll never forget. She still takes things pretty literally, but she doesn't' hold onto her nose anymore to protect it...
If you don't know my precious Mackenna, you are definitely missing out, but that's ok because I kind of like keeping her to myself. Its kind of like I get to personally know the world's best kept secret, Mackenna Hope. I guess I really shouldn't be too selfish with her because she isn't really mine. She belongs to the Lord. I'm so thankful, though, that He chose to allow me the privilege of raising her. Mackenna is growing into a wonderful, Godly young woman and I see Christ working in her. As she is growing and maturing, I often see her encouraging and praying with others.She is awesome like that.
Other random Mackenna facts:
She is a constant help with Violet, her niece, (my grandchild). She gives her constant, faithful, love and attention. If ever there was the perfect caregiver, it would be her....
She is an awesome photographer.
She HAS to be the last one to tell me goodnight. Everyone in the family knows and accepts this fact.
She loves to play games, just like me.
She hates to shop, just like me.
She does almost ALL of the laundry at our house (which is quite a lot)!
She is still my quietest child...but begin a conversation with her late at night and you would never notice that she is the quiet one.
I adore my daughter, Mackenna Hope Pecoraro! Can you tell?
When Mackenna was little, she was extremely shy. I remember when we first came to the church we now serve in, she was 3 years old. An older man came up and was introducing himself to all of us and he tweaked her nose like he was pretending that he grabbed her nose off of the front of her face. She was scared to death. She spent the rest of the trip holding her nose so that no one else tried to take it. Actually, she covered her nose around older men for the next year or so. I loved how literal she was about it. It's one of those memories that I'll never forget. She still takes things pretty literally, but she doesn't' hold onto her nose anymore to protect it...
If you don't know my precious Mackenna, you are definitely missing out, but that's ok because I kind of like keeping her to myself. Its kind of like I get to personally know the world's best kept secret, Mackenna Hope. I guess I really shouldn't be too selfish with her because she isn't really mine. She belongs to the Lord. I'm so thankful, though, that He chose to allow me the privilege of raising her. Mackenna is growing into a wonderful, Godly young woman and I see Christ working in her. As she is growing and maturing, I often see her encouraging and praying with others.She is awesome like that.
Other random Mackenna facts:
She is a constant help with Violet, her niece, (my grandchild). She gives her constant, faithful, love and attention. If ever there was the perfect caregiver, it would be her....
She is an awesome photographer.
She HAS to be the last one to tell me goodnight. Everyone in the family knows and accepts this fact.
She loves to play games, just like me.
She hates to shop, just like me.
She does almost ALL of the laundry at our house (which is quite a lot)!
She is still my quietest child...but begin a conversation with her late at night and you would never notice that she is the quiet one.
I adore my daughter, Mackenna Hope Pecoraro! Can you tell?
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