Of all the mentoring relationships among women, none is more significant than the one between a mother and her daughter. Those of us who have been blessed with daughters have the opportunity, and indeed, the obligation to emphasize the feminine qualities of Titus 2 in our teaching repertoire.

We live in a society that emphasizes preparation and education for everything but marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. Therefore we must give this profession our highest attention when it comes to preparing our daughters for their futures.

~Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal

Enjoy a free iced coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts, Thursday May 15, from 10a.m. to 10p.m!

Don’t forget that today is the last day to GET $25 for FREE from Revolution Money Exchange!! Sign up here today (and I’ll get $10 as a referral reward–to go to our “new fence” fund! )

Welcome to Florida!

Hana Kate enjoying a poolside discussion with her cousin.

Forget the chat, I’ll enjoy the pool instead!

Have you, are you currently, or do you plan to a) homeschool your children or b) send your them to a Christian school? Or do you know kids in your church who are educated through a mixture of these two ways? Hmm…

Josh Harris wrote an excellent post on Gospel Unity Amongst Educational “Camps” accompanying this video clip. So if you fit into any of the aforementioned categories, I highly recommend watching this brief video.

*We definitely have a preference for how we desire to educate our children and you can probably guess what it is; yet because this is an issue dealing with our children, it is so easy to passionately embrace one method and think our way is the best and only way. (As it is with many issues that are not as eternally important as we believe.)*

(HT: Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking)

Use the code ENLARGE now through May 17 to get a free 5×7 or free enlargement to 8×10 at CVS. You must upload the photos online (pick up at store); limit 1 per account. Go here to begin uploading.

Go here to print out your $5 off $25 coupon for Toy R Us coupon, good May 9-10, only. Can also be used at Babies R Us. You can only print it once, so make sure your printer is ready or print it as a PDF.

Here are 2 more promotions from which to make/earn some money. Here they are:

1. Make $100:

Open a Checking Account with Chase Free Checking with Direct Deposit, and earn $100 within 4 to 6 weeks after the initial direct deposit.

How? Go here for more details and to apply online. Offer good through May 31, 2008.

The catch? You must open a checking account and the initial direct deposit must take place within 60 days of opening the account. The account must remain open for at least 6 months or the $100 credit will be debited to the account.

2. Make $45:

Open an account with sharebuilder.com, which is an online investment tool. They are offering a $50 signup bonus (minus the $4 trade fee, and the price of a share (just do $1 if you are doing this solely for the sign up bonus). Hat tip to iMommies.com!

How? Go here to sign up, and then here to read step by step instructions, beginning with step #4.

In case you missed how to make another $175, go here to read my previous post.

~

And if you haven’t signed up for your free $25 from Revolution Money Exchange, make sure you do so by May 15! Go here to sign up.

I had forgotten how busy April and May are…and that the calendar pauses for no one. But how quickly I was reminded! Our recent weeks have been filled with many exciting celebrations: Daniel’s birthday, Hana Kate’s dedication, and the graduation of 3 brothers, 1 brother-in-law, and 1 sister!  It was enjoy to have my family in, as well. Somewhere in the midst of it all, we’ve also enjoyed a fellowship for our neighborhood class, bridal showers, and Bible Club closing, and other extra church activities, just to mention a few things.

We were glad to celebrate Joshua’s homeschool graduation on Tuesday night. Congrats to Joshua and the other MCBC grads!

Amongst other things, Hana Kate is definitely growing and developing! She loves to see herself in the mirror, likes to roll off of our bed into Daddy’s arms, and she even has a little spot where we can feel her tooth coming in. (It is her top front tooth, so it might be playing tricks on us.) Roaming around her crib is another hobby she’s picked up–it’s funny to find her in the opposite end of the crib from where she started!  When she turned 12 weeks, we put moved up her bedtime, giving her 10-12  hours at night and during the same week it warmed up enough for her to move into her own room at nights.  We really missed seeing her as much at night–it kind of felt like we were sending her off to college!

We have enjoyed a few strawberries from one of the plants, and our lettuce seems to be thriving–we enjoyed our first salad last night! Lordwilling, we’ll be able to build a fence when we return and can start our garden over again (without the dog practicing digging in it)!  (Okay, so probably only my mom wanted to know about our garden.)

We’re gearing up for our long-anticipated Threlfall/Collier family vacation, so I’m sorry if my posts have been sporadic this week and next. But hopefully we’ll be back soon! :)  Thanks for checking in, and stay tuned!

Many graduations meant both of our parents could be in town at the same time. In spite of the busyness with graduation, we are really thankful to our siblings and parents for coming to share in a time of prayer and dedication. (It was also a blessing to have Hana Kate’s Great-Grandpa Threlfall present.) We sang a hymn together, read the letter we wrote to our daughter for this special day, and Daniel, our dads, and Grandpa Threlfall prayed for our family as we seek to raise Hana Kate to walk with God.

My sister gave me the figurine pictured above. It fits exactly with Hana Kate’s name, our prayers, and our dedication of her. (Thanks, Kelly–its perfect!)

~

And here’s how I found my mom and sister later in the day.

]]> http://danandkeren.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/family-baby-dedication/feed/ Keren http://danandkeren.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/graduation/ http://danandkeren.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/graduation/#comments Sun, 04 May 2008 02:25:59 +0000 Keren http://danandkeren.wordpress.com/?p=393

First we stopped to congratulate my sister, Mary Beth, on a job well done!

Sisters

Hana Kate, of course, needed to do some socializing. Of course! Aunt Emby introduced her to Beth Beth’s little brother, Mark.

On our way over to meet the rest of our graduating family (Aaron, Jonathan, Christa, and Andrew), we ran in to Pastor Lobi from Cameroon! Daniel met him at the church across the street. He was insistent that we all get a picture together.

But by the time we made it to see Daniel’s side of the family they’d already begun the process of turning in their regalia. But I was SUPER happy to see my old roomie, Kobi!

Such excitement wears a little girl out!

]]> http://danandkeren.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/graduation/feed/ Keren http://danandkeren.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/letter-to-our-daughterlive-to-die-with-no-regrets/ http://danandkeren.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/letter-to-our-daughterlive-to-die-with-no-regrets/#comments Sun, 04 May 2008 01:17:00 +0000 Keren http://danandkeren.wordpress.com/?p=391

Behold, children are a gift of Yahweh.

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Psalm 127:3

May 3, 2008

Dear Hana Kate,

Today is not the day we dedicated you to God. We did that a long before you were born. And yet dedicating you to God is also something we must do on a daily basis. Today represents a day that we can declare before our family that you belong to God—not to us. It is a day we ask for accountability from our family as we raise you to walk with God.

For the few short years that you are with us, we desire to point you toward the things of God. You were born as a sinner into a world full of sin. This world will try to tell you all is well and that you have no need for God. It will tell you that it has all you need to be happy. But God’s Word tells us otherwise. True joy can only be found in knowing Christ; this alone will bring eternal satisfaction.

In many ways, the significance of your name conveys our prayer and desire for you. As Hana, we pray that you will learn to give your deepest desires over to God, and yet not give up asking Him to answer. We also pray that wherever God leads us, Madagascar or elsewhere, He will use your life to attract others to the Gospel. As Katherine, we pray that you will one day be a godly wife and mother, as your great-grandmother was. If God chooses, we desire you to be faithful helpmeet to the man we even now pray for. As Hesed, we pray that you will daily see God’s rich mercies in your life and share them with those around you.

You also bear the name Threlfall. Through His mercy, God has given you a godly heritage. Someday, you might exchange this surname for another; but regardless, you will always represent our family. We pray that God will give you grace to show forth His glory through our family.

We are not worthy of the task of raising you. We see daily how increasingly incapable we are of being the parents we ought to be. We pray daily that God will save you at an early age, and that you will not depart from His commandments.

When our journey here is done, we trust that we will meet in Heaven with Jesus. You may enter glory first, or we may. Although the time of our home-going is uncertain, one thing is certain—life on earth is short. In the meantime, life on earth won’t be easy. Beware of those who will tell you otherwise. Live each day on purpose for His glory, and live to die with no regrets. We daily dedicate you to Jesus, so that in this life you may bring more glory to His wonderful name.

Love,

Daddy and Mommy