Category: Raising daughters

More Family Fun with Drama!

Don’t forget! The deadline for our Bible Drama Video Contest is less than two weeks away (March 5)! If you decide to do some story-acting with your children, even if you’re not going to enter the contest, (but hey, there’s great prizes!), take advantage of the different ways you can enjoy this family activity! Besides reading the story from the Bible and then acting it out, try out some of these ideas: Let […]

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One of the BEST Ways to Teach Your Children Bible Stories!

So . . . are you all gearing up for our Bible Drama Video Contest? 🙂 You’re going to have so much fun acting out stories together as a family (this was one of our favorite Sunday afternoon activities when the kids were little), and after all the entries are sent in, we will all have the fun of watching each other’s videos! It doesn’t have to be complicated. (And you don’t have to […]

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Courtship in Our Real World, Part 2

Did you enjoy the first part of Susannah and Peter’s courtship story? I am so glad she’s taking the time to get it written down! It is such a testimony of God’s love and grace! One of the things I think we’ve learned — after spending a total of at least five years of our lives overseeing courtships and engagements — is this: We don’t write our children’s love stories. God […]

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Courtship in Our Real World, Part 1

Courtship is an emotional topic. The very word — courtship — can stir up some pretty heated discussions. I think this is partly due to the fact that everyone seems to have a different definition for the word courtship. It’s probably also due to the fact that courtships do, after all, involve emotions. And I’m pretty sure a lot of strong opinions exist about courtship because we, as parents, inevitably make mistakes while trying to do […]

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Book Review — and Giveaway — of “All Things Are Ready: A Bride’s Complete Christian Wedding Planner”

I’ve been wanting to write a review of All Things Are Ready, by Amy Hayes, for a long time. But first we had a wedding. Now I can really tell you how much I love this book! Those of you with young children may not need a wedding planner today. But you will tomorrow. 🙂  (You’ll need it a lot sooner than you think!) And you probably have some friends who could use this […]

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Small Seeds of Faithfulness Grow into Large Trees

Last month, I had the honor of spending two weeks with Pastor Sujoy and his family in India. I and the others on my mission team worked beside him teaching computer and English classes, caring for kids, teaching them about the Bible, and sharing the gospel with villagers in the beautiful Sundarban Islands. Pastor Sujoy, a stocky, serious, yet cheerful man, is the driving force behind multiple Christian ministries in […]

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Raising Children Who Help

A large family can be a powerful army. I know because I was part of such an army not too long ago. Before the Forster kids started going off to college, jobs, and marriage, we worked together a lot. We organized parties and church events. We showed up to help families move. We staffed the family business. We tackled huge cleaning projects. We could knock out painting and building projects […]

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More on Whining and Complaining

“Do all things without murmurings and disputings.” (Philippians 2:14) We’ve talked about us complaining. We’ve talked about our children complaining. Let’s talk about what we and our children are going to put on if we’re going to put off complaining. Here’s a short lesson to do with your children. Read Philippians 2:14 together. Discuss what murmurings and disputings are. Give some examples from your own life. In what ways are you tempted to murmur and dispute? Write a word to describe each […]

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Courtship, Part 5: What If They Don’t Want Courtship?

What do you do if you see the wisdom of courtship, but your children don’t? In earlier posts, we’ve talked about some reasons for considering courtship and some of the potential pitfalls of courtship. We’ve also talked about how we can start to prepare our children while they are young for trusting us in this area when they reach their teen years. Today let’s talk about what to do when they think courtship is […]

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God Is Faithful

My oldest child turned thirty on Sunday. Wow. I found this letter in his baby book. I wrote it over thirty years ago, while we were waiting for him to arrive, before we knew if he was Daniel or Katie Beth. Reading through the letter, I was once again amazed at God’s faithfulness and grace. He has answered these prayers. His hand has been on my son, sustaining his life, […]

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