"We're on a Mission from God!" (in a Blues Brothers' voice)

HI!  I'm Katharine, lover of all good books, proper grammar, old Cary Grant movies, and my wonderful, awesome family.

My husband Shawn and I have two kids, a two year old and a 4 month old.  Let's call them Thing One and Thing Two. 

And I stay at home with them and teach college English on the side.  Saying I have my hands full doesn't even begin to describe my life!  But I love it...even moments like this....

What We're Doing

Shawn and I had been married for two years when I got pregnant with Will, and we felt called to live our lives and raise our family differently, to be set apart from the world.  We cut out cable, which all my students thought was practically a felony, and started focusing our minds on things worth viewing.

Luke 2:52 has been our guideline, our distant light on this long journey:

"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and in favor with man."

It started out as a Christmas gift routine to help us focus on the meaning of Christmas--we give a gift in each category (e.g., a book for wisdom, clothes for stature, etc.)--but it has turned into a lifestyle.

Every week, we have a FLEXIBLE schedule that we follow, compliments of Growing Kids God's Way:  http://www.growingkids.org/leaders/docs/toddlerhood/Daily-Activity-Planner.doc.

We work on each of the four categories that has become so important in our lives.  For example, I added this to the bottom of this week's schedule:

This week, we will grow in:

Wisdom:  Counting   (We have counted Playdough balls until it is literally coming out of my fingernails.)

Stature:  Combing hair  (It's still a game for Thing One, but, well, he's a two-year old boy.)

Favor w/ God:  Being kind to others  (This one Shawn and I are trying to model, which means we narrate a lot.  "Wasn't that kind of NaNa to share her chips with you?")

Favor w/ man:  No whining  (Yeah....he's two...we're working on it!)

We are a young family and still learning, but I hope you will help us grow along the way!   We are very open to godly advice on parenting.  This blog is to document for our family, friends, and ourselves what we are doing, how we are raising our kids, and, most importantly, to keep us on track!