"Eighteen Short Years" - Family Raising

"Eighteen Short Years" - Family Raising: "Eighteen Short Years
By: Anne Tess
My daughter, who will be eighteen in less than two months, has had to grow up in a blended family. Her dad and I were young when we married. More importantly, neither of us knew the Lord. We were unregenerate sinners living life the way we wanted to live it. Our marriage...." (Click on the title to continue reading)

36 hours straight?!?

I found a great family guide to recruit training which explains in detail nearly everything my son is experiencing.

As a mom, I am here worrying about how he is holding up, whether he is getting enough to eat, getting enough sleep, etc....

I learned in this guide that the new recruits DO NOT SLEEP for the first 36 hours!!! Add that to the sleepless night before shipping out and Brandon has probably not slept in 3 days!

According to the Training Matrix Interactive Schedule, he is still in receiving and Orientation today. On Thursday/Friday he will begin the IST (intial strength training, for you civilians).

Brandon has prepared well for this. He was running and doing his pull-ups, swimming and other exercises for his training. The last time he was clocked, he ran the 1.5 miles in 12:20 minutes, a whole minute under the minimum! Except this time, he will be completely fatigued. Please pray for him to pass this test!!

Here's what he must do for the IST:

Initial Strength Test - Male Recruit

The Initial Strength Test (IST) is a physical test recruits are required to take upon arrival to Parris Island and consists of: pull-ups, crunches, and a 1.5 mile timed run. IST results assist in determining weather or not a recruit is at the level of fitness adequate to begin training, and also sets a fitness baseline for measuring progress. The more you can prepare in advance of your arrival to MCRD Parris Island, the better off you will be. It's important that you get into physical shape. Concentrate on running, walking, stair climbing, crunches, core training, upper body strength, and pull-ups. This will help prepare you for the Combat Conditioning program and long marches (up to 10 miles). Also, if you don't know how to swim, try to learn before you leave for recruit training. Before you graduate, you'll have to demonstrate basic water survival skills. Recruits who do not meet adequate fitness standards are reassigned to the Physical Conditioning Platoon (PCP), where they are given individual attention and exercises to develop their physical abilities.

Minimum requirements for male recruits:

2 Pull ups
44 Crunches
1.5 mile run in 13:30 min (Timed)

WHEW!

This is it...

I knew this day would come, they day when one of our children leaves the nest. We are sending our middle son to bootcamp at Parris Island. They promise to make and my son aspires to become one of "the highest quality basically trained U.S. Marine." Their stated mission is: "We make Marines who are committed to our core values in service to the country." This is a noble and worthy cause. I also pray that my son will feel the presence of the Lord with him and commit himself to following his King of kings.

The Lord was so gracious and we've had a wonderful, week-long family good-bye at the beach. It has been emotional to say they least. Sometimes all I can do is sit, think and remember. How can you talk when your heart is in your throat?

I started a notebook and asked our family and friends to write a note of encouragement or of a memory they share with Brandon. I'll start mailing those today. Hopefully, he will receive a letter each day of the 12 week training.

Here's what my son will experience according to the Marine Corp Recruit Depot website.

Week 1
Marine Corps Recruit Receiving & Orientation

Marine recruits start the receiving process when they arrive at Parris Island via bus or van between the hours of 8 pm Monday night and 2 am early Tuesday morning. Recruits will continue to arrive at those times until early morning on Thursday. Upon arrival, male and female recruits are separated, all recruits are given one last opportunity to turn-in any unauthorized material or items, and male recruits are ushered to the barber for their first Marine Corps haircut.All new Marine recruits make a phone call home and repeat the following words:

• I have arrived safely at Parris Island.


• Please do not send any food or bulky items.


• I will contact you in 3 to 5 days via postcard with my new mailing address.


• Thank you for your support.


• Goodbye for now. (that's all I get??)

The recruits are then issued uniforms and basic gear, and turn in all personal effects. Don't bring anything except your important papers (such as driver's license, social security card, and banking information). Everything you need will be issued to you. Recruits receive both medical and dental exams throughout the week. Over-the-counter medication is not allowed in recruit training. All prescription medication will be re-evaluated by a military doctor upon arrival. If the doctor determines that the prescription is necessary, the civilian medication will be taken away, and the recruit will be re-issued the medication by the military pharmacy.

Please pray for my son as you feel led. Your prayers are deeply appreciated!

Early Marriage is a Blessing

Maybe because we will be celebrating 20 years of marriage later this year, or maybe because we have three teen-aged children or maybe a little bit of both, I have been rethinking what we've communicated to our kids about marriage. Getting married young ourselves, we struggled greatly in all areas of our relationship. Not wanting our children to have to deal with that, we encouraged them to wait for "Mr/Mrs. Right" to come along so they can finish their education, get established, yadda, yadda, yadda. After conversations with them, I'm afraid we've turned them off marriage all together.

Thinking back over our early years of matrimony I admit we were so immature and silly. We were selfish and self-centered. We failed miserably in many ways, but God is faithful. Thankfully, HE honored our covenant although at the time we made it, we barely understood the weight of those vows we uttered nearly 20 years ago. Through all the mistakes we made, He was wooing us to himself. Each failure was really an opportunity to turn to Him. He redeemed us to Himself and restored our marriage. I thank him for directing our paths when our only plan was just flying by the seat of our pants. Now our God-given plan is to glorify God through our marriage. He has blessed immeasurably. I see his hand at work in our lives, growing us in the grace and knowledge of our Savior, conforming us into the image of His Son each passing year. We have matured together: learning to die to self; preferring one above the other, demonstrating sacrificial love, seeking to communicate with respect for one another, learning to budget our finances; run a household and realizing that we are not just partners for life but partners IN life. Our relationship has deepened through ALL the struggles, trials and joys and over the years has grown sweeter and sweeter. We still have (many) lessons to learn, but I thank God for never giving up on us. I praise Him for using our marriage as a testimony of His faithfulness to His people.

Even those very thorns that poked us, made us bleed, I count as blessings. I am starting to see for the first time, that our early marriage with all its imperfections has been the primary means of God to bring us into His Kingdom. Our early marriage is a gift from God that I treasure.

Later this year we will celebrate two decades of sharing life together. I am so grateful for each day. God granted me the desires of my young heart and let me marry the love of my life; he knit us together even as we unraveled and He patched us up along the way. He redirected both of our hearts to Himself. Even now, He patiently transforms us to be the godly spouses He designed. It was God's plan to unite us in marriage in the days of our youth and I praise Him for His wisdom!!! All for His glory!!!! These and more are the things I want my children to know about marriage.


This is the article that stirred my brain juices this morning......

"The Case for Early Marriage"
by Mark Regnerus

Virginity pledges. Chastity balls. Courtship. Side hugs. Guarding your heart. Evangelical discourse on sex is more conservative than I've ever seen it. Parents and pastors and youth group leaders told us not to do it before we got married. Why? Because the Bible says so. Yet that simple message didn't go very far in shaping our sexual decision-making.
So they kicked it up a notch and staked a battle over virginity, with pledges of abstinence and accountability structures to maintain the power of the imperative to not do what many of us felt like doing. Some of us failed, but we could become 'born again virgins.' Virginity mattered. But sex can be had in other ways, and many of us got creative."

Read this rest of this thought-provoking, conscience pricking article here.

Parents as Inspirers

My notes and impressions of Chapter 3 of Parents & Children by Charlotte Mason. This chapter discusses how parents can affect their child's character from an interesting scientific, psychological viewpoint.

1. Mr. Adolf Monod contends that every child has a right to a higher life at the hands of his parents. Parents are charged with the great task of leading their children into the spiritual life of the intelligence and moral sense. However, many parents fail to launch the child into higher life, a more blessed life.
2. Countless evidence suggests that a careless parent may bring upon her child unnecessary and unforeseen trouble; likewise, a conscientious parent may introduce the well of blessings for her children. Parents must come to apprehend that God uses them as the chief means to share His gifts and that He is honored when we keep His commands. We must strive to understand His law ourselves and that it is also written upon the hearts of our children. With thanksgiving and heartfelt gratitude, parents will see in the simple, ordinary ways just how merciful and gracious God is toward those who love Him and keep His commands.
3. Solomon's wise words "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" is more than a promise. It is a statement of fact based upon the author's countless examples and experience. Heeding this wisdom or not, fruit will bear. Training in righteousness will bear sweet fruit. Conversely, no training in righteousness will bear bitter fruit. The results are inevitable.
4. Children will inherit many traits and natural inclinations from parents, grandparents, etc...This inherited nature is the foundation upon which the character will be formed.
5. Disposition is the sum of certain natural tendencies and inclinations. Character is learned or rather built upon as life and experiences proceed. "Original disposition is modified, directed, expanded by education; by circumstances; later, by self-control and self-culture; above all by the supreme agency of the Holy Ghost, even where that agency is little suspected and as little solicited." (Parents & Children, p. 23)
6. Every impression upon the mind leaves a mark in the brain tissue. "This physiological process , whatever be its nature, is the physical basis of all our mental functions." That mark may be called a residue or trace or a dormant idea. All feelings leave behind this structural imprint and "lay the foundation of modes of thought, feeling, and action." Once active, these feelings leave a large residua affecting the future formation of character, that apart from the original disposition, lead to traits of "contentment, melancholy, cowardice, bravery, and even moral feeling." These are generated from individual life experiences.
7. As parents and primary teachers of our children, we are responsible to "lay the foundation for the development of all mental functions" by seeing to it that the earliest impressions formed upon the brains of our children be noble, worthy, good, true, joyful, beautiful, neat, orderly, sweet, soft and pure. "These memories remain throughout life, engraved upon the unthinking brain." This is weighty thought that everything my child sees or hears is leaving an indelible mark in his memory.

Some practical things parents can affect for the development of their future adults even in the early years:

• His definite ideas about certain subjects, such as how he relates to other people.
• His habits in things like neatness or disorder, promptness and moderation.
• Whether the general way he thinks is affected by generosity or selfishness.
• The way he feels and what he does as a result of the way he thinks.
• What he thinks about--the trivial affairs of daily life, nature, the way the mind works, how God relates to people.
• His distinguishing talent--music, speaking, creativeness.
• The way the disposition of his character shows and affects his family and others he interacts with regularly--reserved or open, sullen or friendly, depressed or cheerful, timid or confident. (P&C, Modern Paraphrase, p. 27-28)