Bringing Up My Boy....& Open Mic. Nite Debute...

Raising a boy, a young man I should say, has been very rewarding to us. Many ( not all, but enough) people complain of their "Teenage" children. I truly cannot find a complaint of raising a teenager. I am also not saying he is perfect either nor are we as parents. No one is. I can say this, our son has great respect for us and that is a great testimony of good character. How did we raise such a person you ask? Since we became new parents and new Christians almost 17 years ago we learned Biblical parenthood. God gave us our son and daughter to raise for His glory... This we believe full heartily.We are commanded to do this job. As he grew up he learned we are to be respected and that was expected of him, not because WE wanted the respect for our own agenda, but because God calls him to respect his parents. In writing this may sound harsh...but truly it is not as it sounds. Each of us have roles. We are the parents, you are the child, we are not your peers, yet you can trust us and know that you are loved and safe under our wing. We have always been open, therefore he has always trusted to come to us and has opened up to us on many delightful occasions which have become the perfect learning opportunities for us as a family and which has brought us all closer together Another thing that has made him who he is, is our consistency in our roles as well as our consistency of going to church every Sunday... This has become a positive in our home. As well as family time where we are reading scripture together, praying together and having fun together with game nights or movie nights or just plain ole chit chat amongst each other.. I believe this is not just a  lifestyle but a way of life and has made him want to be home, loving his family and wanting to be with his family... Without that needy feeling of peers/peer pressure and wanting to leave home or isolate himself from us. I can't even begin to tell you how very thankful we are to God .



I think our roles have also made him a lot more mature than most "TEENS" you hear of. This may be the fact that we have always been there for him, lifting him up and encouraging him...leading him through what God says scripturally and pertaining to our lives or his situation. We talk through these things...many hours of it have been talked out...And with that we are seeing him grow spiritually, heart changing, intellectually, independently and faithfully. I have no doubt that the road he is currently taking will be a bright future for him as long as he keeps his faith in God and takes with him his child rearing. I don't have all the answers to child rearing or confess we are not the perfect family by any means. This is just how I see it... This is how we strive to raise our children...biblical...and it works for us. Many have told me that it will be terrible, teens are all lazy, have no care and are full of attitude and depression. Not so. Clearly I don't see it in my home and have met many other brilliant teens who don't show these signs. I think that is a worldly stereotype that doesn't have to be bought into. I do believe it it how they are raised and how they are perceived. If one only thinks of teens as someone who can't do hard things or amount to anything, they show they don't have high expectations of them and the child learns if you don't expect more then neither will they. Then they give into the worldly stereotype because we are naturally sinful and lazy right? But if you raise them to have higher expectations of themselves...biblically and lovingly...they will surely amaze you and your home will be peaceful. Note again... I am not trying to come off as a know it all and that we have it all figured out. I feel I need to say this for there are people who like to attack. I don't think my regular loyal readers are like that. But, I just wanted to clarify.. This is only how we do things and it works for us. Maybe not for everybody, but hope this will at least give out encouragement & inspiration as well as uplift you so that it may give you a different perspective on your parenting...



For many years now our son has been blessed with a musical gift which started with the piano. He was already composing his own piano pieces at age 8~9. As the years went on his love of piano also grew to guitar as well... He has written his own music and lyrics to several unique songs may I add they are pretty catchy tunes too...So you may just find yourself dancing to it.. If you read his words you would also see much his faith shining through, which gives his songs meaning . Yes, of course I am a proud Mama...! My prayer for him would be to use his music to glorify God ultimately. I pray he would bless many with it and hope that he will use his gifts as a possible career. Not to be rich and famous...which wouldn't hurt...*GRIN* But to be an instrument...May it be in God's will. Whatever comes of it or not... I pray he will always be a faithful servant. So now to share.... I know this post s longer than expected. My son was able to attend an open mic. nite at a bookstore near us, so we took him in to share his music. he did an awesome job... it just made me so proud that he went up there in front of complete strangers and sang his little heart out.

It was fun to see him up there strumming away on his guitar.
It even boosted his self confidence.
 So here ya go family and friends...
check him out here:

Thank you all for your support, kind words and frequent visits.
We appreciate it!
I also want to share a book title for you and your teens!!!
 It's called Do Hard Things by Brett & Alex Harris. I recommend it for not only your teen, but you too! My son thought it was really good and has changed his perspective on a lot of things, for the better of course!
Enjoy!!!