"As for Me and My House; We Will Serve The Lord!"

I'm trying to decide the best way to start this blog, and how to phrase what's bubbling up inside of me.
To begin simply; My sweet husband and I were blessed by a nice man, who comes into my work during my morning shifts. He knows my family and met my husband recently and asked if we had seen Courageous. I told him not yet but that we planned to and he handed me some money. (Thinking this was his payment for his coffee I took it.) He stopped me from putting it in the register and said that it was for Ryan and I to go see the movie. I thanked him but tried to give him the money back and he wouldn't take it. Movie dates aren't exactly in the budget very often so I certainly felt blessed and we did what we were told to do with the money and went to see Courageous this evening. (The most powerful movie I have ever seen.)

We have seen pretty much every Christian/inspirational movie there is but this does not compare. I'm not going to say anything about the movie that you can't already see in previews, it's about men. Strong courageous godly men. Good husbands and good fathers. It's about the importance of their roles in the life of the generations that follow after them. It's a powerful movie because of the state of MY generation. And by MY generation, I mean all the early 20somethings out there.
The statistics of what becomes of children who either had an absent father or... well, not a very good one, are sad to say the least.
What this movie provoked in me was a heart for the young and stupid people out there who have become a statistic because of their dads. A heart for the next generation, young children, who are growing up without dads right now; and it gave me an overwhelming sense of gratefulness for the father and the home that I grew up with.

A father teaches boys what being a man looks like (good or bad) and a father teaches girls their self worth and confidence (good or bad) without a good influence these important teachings fall to the way side and we are left with broken generations.

Ryan and I are inspired to try to exemplify what the Bible teaches about being parents, and are grateful that we have some good examples to pull from.

Today at work I served a woman who I noticed had a Konos Curriculum book as well as a familiar looking book on Castles. Excitedly I told her "I love Konos! My mom did that with us when we were homeschooling and it was my favorite thing. We even used that book and made an awesome castle out of boxes and had a medieval feast and everything. It was awesome."
She smiled at me and we discussed the curriculum for a while before she asked me: "so were you homeschooled all 12 years?"
"3rd grade through graduation." I told her. Her response cracked me up!
"And you're not weird at all!!! See, people think if I do it all the way my kids will be weird."
I laughed and told her some homeschoolers are but there are ways around it. We chatted for a while and I told her I plan on Homeschooling my kids.
I became very grateful for my wise and organized Mama! (Whom I will probably have several phone conversations and meetings with when I get to homeschooling my kids!)

Another thing that happened at work today was a conversation with a co-worker who has turned away from Christ. We were talking about mental issues in the area of addictions and mental disorders like bipolar, depression, extreme anxiety etc. Genetics and family tree came up and he said: "My kids are already pretty much screwed based on that." (He doesn't have kids yet.)
Very excitedly I went on to tell him how that wasn't true! And how even though people may have more of a genetic draw or leaning to mental problems doesn't mean they end up the same way as passed relatives or generations. I gave him the awesome example of both of my parents genetic make-up of depressive mental illness, alcoholism, broken homes etc. and how the genes were certainly stacked against them and their kids two-fold but that God is bigger than all that and with their trust and focus on Him they just decided 'The Buck Stops Here!' And it pretty much did!
Now that is not to say that there are no struggles (I think about invisible rope that may pull on one of us a bit here and there.) But because we have a strong and loving family and an even stronger and more loving God, we get through those struggles (And are stronger than the invisible ropes that tug every once in a while)

I am so blessed by my parents and siblings both by their examples, their love, support, encouragement and wisdom. I am lucky and blessed!

And as Ryan and I move forward in our own journey to raising a family (No matter what that may look like) We have decided that "As for me and my house WE will serve the Lord"