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Hope Farm Housewife

my patchwork life

saintlewis

THE BIKE…

by saintlewis Leave a Comment

“Out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established strength…” – Psalm 8:2a

 

It was a normal Tuesday afternoon last January.  My two year old was sleeping and the 4 year old was doing an art project. I was on the phone sitting in our family room generally facing the direction of our back yard. Sunlight was streaming in through the bay window filtered by the glistening leaves on the towering oak in our back yard. Sometime during the conversation – for no specific reason – I turned around to look out the window.


What I saw still baffles my mind.


A boy from – I assume – a neighboring neighborhood – somewhere between the ages of 8 and 10 – appeared to be tiptoeing in my backyard. He was walking towards our back patio, locked eyes with my own, and suddenly looked as though he had seen a ghost. The boy let out a shriek,, did an immediate 360 and sprinted off –  leaping entirely over our fairly high stone wall. I let out a laugh thinking to myself  “that was odd” then an uneasy feeling set in. I asked Kenimer if he had known the boy he said “no”. I walked outside onto the patio and saw what the boy found enticing which had been just out of his reach when our eyes had met: Kenimer’s shiny new red bicycle that he had received for Christmas.


Then it hit me: that boy was trespassing in my back yard attempting to steal my son’s bike!


Anger overcame this mama hen, especially in light of the major burglary of our home just one year earlier. I became livid – this was a boy a kid!  “Who is teaching these kids to walk in yards and steal anyway?”, I thought.


I brought the bike inside and called my husband to process is all.  Kenimer heard the whole conversation. I expected that he would share my anger. After all, it was his beloved bike that was almost stolen.


However, Kenimer’s behavior was a bit strange. He was very quietly sitting at the bay window. While I was complaining about the decline of the American family and the fate of children who steal my four year old came over to me put his hand over my mouth and said “SHHHH. Mama – don’t be mad.  It’s OK. I want to give that boy my bike.” “What?!” I thought. He looked at me with deep conviction and said “I want to ride real fast find that boy and give him my bike. That will make God happy and I think that is a nice thing to do. That boy does not have a bike. I think I don’t want my bike any more.”


Please know that I did not prompt any of this. I was in particular disagreement over his undeserved generosity towards this boy, finding myself more than a little embarrassed that my son was displaying such amazing compassion and I his mother was so angry.


Over the next hour he asked non-stop to be taken to find the boy and give him his bike.

 

Another familiar voice was ringing through my mind “Do you not think that I can speak to a four year old?” This was a spiritual conviction – the burden of God on Kenimer’s heart – something he believed that God wanted him to be willing to do.

So I decided to die to my anger – my desire to get even had to wilt away.  We prayed for that young boy: that he would stop stealing and that he would get a new bike just like Kenimer’s then took off to the nearby park to look for him.  We never saw the boy, but we were totally prepared to give this young boy a bike.


Returning home, I attempted to lock Kenimer’s bike in the shed but he protested “I want to leave my bike out for the boy!”  So we had a little devotional time about generosity and compassion but also stealing and how it’s best not to tempt someone to sin – wanting to give the boy the bike was great but we didn’t want to enable the boy to steal, which Kenimer seemed to understand.

I want that kind of compassion: to see a person and their situation or pain – to see their need, not just what they have done or how they are acting.

 

“And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic let him have your cloak as well.” – Matthew 5:40

 

A lesson learned from my four year old son.

 

 

This blog is my participation in a “She Speaks” scholarship give-away by Ann Boskamp.  The She Speaks conference is all about women connecting the hearts of other women to the heart of God.  Please click the link above to find out more.

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New Virtue Song!

by saintlewis Leave a Comment

We have recently finished the fourth song in the Hope Farm Kids Virtue Collection. Thanks to Mckendree Augustas ( my genius brother) for excellent collaboration and Wade Josey for musical collaboration. We hit a wall with this songs and needed a co-writer.

These songs are all demos and will change before the final release. Set for late spring or early summer. If you have not heard any of the other virtue songs feel free to click and listen. Also- we welcome suggestions, feedback or production ideas for final versions.

We plan to use small groups of kids for gang vocals on some of the choruses. We did this for RESPECT and it turned out great. however it is time-consuming and we want to do it at one time once all songs are completed. If you know of a kid between the age of 8 and 12 that likes to sing, can stay on key and is not afraid to project please message me in an e-mail or on facebook. Email can be found on facebook info. Thanks and have a great day!

Now -I am off to study for the next vitue song: DETERMINATON.

God of Promises by SaintLewis

GO! by Hope Farm Kids by SaintLewis

Unique – Hope Farm Kids by SaintLewis

RESPECT 2010 by Hope Farm Kids by SaintLewis


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Go!

by saintlewis Leave a Comment

GO! by Hope Farm Kids by SaintLewis

Here is the October Virtue song Initiative.

If you didn’t listen to the September Virtue Respect you can hear it here.

I hope this song is motivating to you on this Monday morning! If you take a listen – stay with it until the bridge- it is a sort of rap it really gets you moving!

“See it do it don’t wait for it – get to it do it don’t wait for it – gotta take the initiative!”

GO AND DO THE THINGS THAT HE’S CALLED YOU TO.

DON’T WAIT TO BE TOLD. GO AND SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO!

This is a great song to sing and teach the kiddos about taking initiative in our daily life. On a practical note  my boys sing the ‘see it do it’ part and look around for items that are out of place in the house. We are having a blast learning about taking initiative. Shannon and I  are also looking for ways to incorporate an enterprising spirit into our family.

The biggest thing I have learned is that sometimes God has put things in your heart and YOU and I have to take initiative to get those things rolling.

Where do you need to take initiative today? What is he calling you to do?

DON’T WAIT FOR IT!


Oct 4, 2010 8:00 AM

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What are you growing in?

by saintlewis Leave a Comment

I love to grow things. This past summer I decided to grow the things i love the most about summer produce tomatoes and basil. I did just that! The tomatoes grew well and gave us a good supply!

The basil however is a different story. It gave me more leaves than I could shake a stick at. It was incredible for a month solid. I picked a full plate  daily. The boys learned to love a fresh basil leaf. It was normal for them to pick a leaf as we were loading into the van- actually their mommy did it too!

I made pesto put it in almost everything made fun snacks with triscuits cream cheese and all kinds of other dishes. But one day….

I went to harvest some more basil as the leaves were abounding. I pinched a leaf off and popped it in my mouth. I spit it right back out. It was THE MOST BITTER taste I  ever remember. What happened to my summer sweet basil? I followed all the rules. I did’nt let it flower. I quickly scoured the internet hoping to uncover my fault… no such luck. In an effort to not waste a load of basil I put it in mason jars filled with water and lemon rings. At least it frangranced my home nicely!

I continued to ponder the bitter basil. I recall that I poured some compost from the kitchen and maybe I threw something acidic on it. Yesterday I was clearing out the summer garden. The tomato plants produced their last tomato. But the basil It continued to grow just as nice as ever. I chuckled as I realized how deceiving it was. Looked great but on the inside it was really useless complete bitterness. It was all because of the soil it was growing in.

My thoghts turned to our hearts. At times everything can look great on the outside but we are filled with bitterness on the inside. We hear a lot of talk about growth in our Christian life.

I realized that we can actually be growing in things that hinder us….

I stopped completely drenched in sweat and dropped the basil pot. I was having a moment with my God. He began to speak to me. He took my hand and showed me some places in my heart that were growing in bitterness blame accusation and self- righteousness.

He whispered to me that he wanted to restore those areas of my heart with sweet aromas and grow in me kindness humility long- suffering compassion courage and forgiveness.

The soil that the basil grew in was toxic to the plant I thought about my heart and what I am exposing it to daily. I made an inventory of things that might taint the aroma of the fruits of the spirit.

Let us embrace this Autumn season and smell the beautiful smells.

What aroma is coming from your heart at this moment?

-Is it bitterness rage unbelief negativity? -If so invite the Holy Spirit to come in and wash you.

What are you growing in?

{ Love Cyle Augusta}

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R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

by saintlewis Leave a Comment

RESPECT – I want my life to show that you’re important to me!

There’s a new project a brewing that involves writing a song each month that corresponds to the core virtue as outlined in the curriculum we’re using for KidJam at SSCC – our church. Kidjam is the program for 1st through 5th graders.

I have loved this songwriting project – it is extremely stretching. Not only are we having to write on an elementary school level but in order to be able to write a simple lyric I have to understand all that I can about the virtue.  Some other criteria for the songs are :

1) Easily singable for a 1st through 5th grader

2) Understandable for a 1st through 5th grader

3) Upbeat and able to be acted out

4) Keyed in a range that kids can easily sing

5) CATCHY CATCHY CATCHY… melodies that grow on your like mold… can’t shake’em whether you like it or not.

These are standards I have put in place as guidelines for writing the virtue song each month. I also pulled some knowledge from my good ‘ole teaching degree and five years of teaching kindergarten.

I am also learning to write and rewrite according to critiques. For example our first draft of RESPECT 2010 was sent to the reviewers and the verses were vetoed – they thought the Bible story we were illustrating was over an elementary level of understanding. So we rewrote it and made it even better!

One of our main missions with all our ministry endeavors is to empower and equip others in their worship… with that in mind it was a true gift to be able to bring in several 6th graders for a “gang vocal” session. I was overjoyed to see how exciting the experience was for them.

The Kid Jam folks did choose to use our song this month to illustrate respect. The first week Shannon and I taught it with live instruments – it went pretty well. However I realized it would probably catch on better with some simple choreography. The KidJam songs are usually done with a team of people dancing and singing and encouraging the children to join in. Since the normal choreographer was out of town and unable to work out the song I was asked to present the song and come up with the choreography – frightening but incredibly fulfilling at the same time constructing motions for a song I WROTE! I ended up getting together with another girl and coming up with simple moves for the song. I led it Sunday over the track with the headset mic… we had a team of four girls and I have to say it was incredible watching those kids get into the song. They were singing and emulating our motions. I quickly learned to tone down my aerobic movement so I could still sing!

This month’s song about passed the test with my two and four year old. Granted they heard some serious repetition while this song was being mixed but they genuinely seem to understand the character trait. We seem to talk about showing respect almost daily. They will quickly sing “R.E.S.P.E.C.T. I want my life to show that your important to me!” when we are dealing with disrespect. Kenimer has explained to me that if he interrupts when Tucker is talking then Tucker thinks he is not important to Kenimer – it is absolutely precious to hear him verbalize this stuff. Needless to say I have spent hours learning and reading about all avenues of respect. I am amazed at how greatly I have been enriched. There have also been times when I have responded to Shannon rudely and the lyric runs through my head  “I want my life to show that your important to me“.

At the moment I am deep in study about next month’s virtue – Initiative. I am learning all about how to instill an enterprising spirit in our little ones… and then I spend a few moments examining my own heart and asking the Lord to give me courage to take initiative.

Stay tuned for more virtue songs- take a listen to Respect

RESPECT 2010 by Hope Farm Kids by SaintLewis Sep 20, 2010 11:00 PM

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