I’ve had my fair share of shopping trips where my daughter and I disagree about what is appropriate.  So, I was thrilled to hear how a friend and her brother learned about modesty from her mom and dad. 

My daddy made me feel like a princess.  He loved me no matter what, and he told me I was beautiful.  He and my mom built on that basic security by teaching me modesty in a unique way. 

It was time for school shopping!  I couldn’t wait to get new clothes!  Even better, I could show them off for Daddy in tonight’s family fashion show!

My dad was a great sport.  He sat through countless fashion shows, some long and some short, over the years.  He ooo-ed  and ahhh-ed and told me I looked cute, fun, and beautiful.  What a great daddy! 

As I got older, my mother explained to me how important modesty is, and when we were shopping, we kept that in mind (and conversation).  If we had any doubts about something in the store, we talked about letting Daddy decide.   A really cool addition to this tradition was that my older brother participated, too.  As we started high school, he gave his opinions as well.  There was mostly brotherly teasing sprinkled with some genuine compliments , but what I remember most is the one or two times that he said, “No.”  I listened to what he had to say as a teenaged boy, and I avoided clothes that might have sent the wrong message.

The beauty of this system was in its positive tone and family unity.  What did my parents accomplish?  

• I felt loved and beautiful;
• I became thoughtful about modesty;
• I developed a habit of seeking advice from the godly men who loved me;
• I was closer to my daddy and my brother. 
• My brother was trained to look at clothes critically and seek modest girls to date. 

All this from a fashion show!  I’m so glad my parents were willing to spend the time to teach me and lavish their love upon me!  God blessed me through them.

– Jennifer Santee

Jennifer is a dear friend and neighbor (and mom of 4 boys under 10!) and I’m thankful to her wise parents for the generational impact they are having from making use of those teachable moments!  We have already been blessed by this idea for a couple of shopping trips.  It has made my daughter mindful when making choices that dad and brother will have to “approve” and it takes the heat off of me, co-shopper mom, from being the “nagger!”   Whew!  On the way home from one shopping excursion, I commented that I was glad she made the choice to get the pants a size bigger.  Nine year old brother from the back (who we never think is paying attention, but always is!) quickly added, “Yeah, those other ones were too tight!”   Woohoo!  Little bro is already learning what’s appropriate from his side of the picture.  And, at a more recent visit to the store for swimsuits (heaven help us…literally!), it made all the difference for my daughter in her choices knowing she was going to have to get thumbs up from her daddy and brother.

Hmmm…I just realized I don’t have “Modesty” as a topic in my book, Parenting with Scripture.  However, I think many of the verses and principles from Integrity, Character, Example, Beauty, and others cover the topic in one way or another.

In case you missed it and/or would like to pass it along, here’s the link to my radio interview on the Daily Show with Focus on the Family.   You can “Listen Now” through your phone or computer or you can download the podcast. 

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/radio.aspx?ID=%7b5A45229F-FF7C-429F-9971-6E3B8C440EC5%7d

If you’d like to read about my time visiting Focus on the Family’s Colorado Springs headquarters, click here. 

Happy weekend, everyone!

Happy President’s Day! 
For themed ideas, see http://www.parentingwithscripture.com/parenting-with-scripture-through-presidents-day/

BIG NEWS!  Focus on the Family invited me to come to their headquarters in Colorado Springs and record an interview for their daily broadcast!  Click here to go to the Focus on the Family website to “listen now” or download the podcast of Kara’s February 19th, 2014 daily broadcast interview with President Jim Daly.

For those of you who love Focus on the Family (who doesn’t?!), I thought you’d enjoy hearing highlights from my trip.  My husband and I were welcomed from the moment we walked through the front door!

John Fuller (radio host – left) and Jim Daly (President and radio host – right), as well as producer Scott Welch (not pictured), made me feel at ease through the interview process.   I must admit, that I am nervous to hear the final thing!  I don’t get a preview, so I’ll be listening along with everyone else as it debuts.  I am constantly battling the temptation to kick myself for not saying this or that or wishing I had worded things differently.  However, I prepared as well as I could have (twice! because of the ice storm causing it to be rescheduled) and it was well prayed over.  So, I am reminding myself to trust that God had me say what He wanted me to, regardless of how I think I could have done it better.  Oh, the thorns of anxiety and perfectionism!  As always, I’m grateful that His strength is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). 

As if the opportunity for the interview wasn’t gift enough, we were blessed that the day we were there was Focus on the Family’s monthly chapel.  After the recording session, what a joy it was to worship (in their space dubbed the Chapelteria = Cafeteria turned Chapel for the day) with the hundreds of servant hearted staff!  I was so overwhelmed with gratitude that the Lord allowed me (who, me?! talk about a mixture of thrilling and humbling!) to have even a teeny part in their incredible, world-wide ministry, that it was sweet timing for me to be able to pour out my heart in praise to Him! 

After a yummy lunch with the producer, possibly the most vibrantly spirited lady I’ve ever met took us on a tour of the Focus on the Family headquarters.  It was incredible to get a behind the scenes look at the global impact of Focus on the Family! 

We also got the inside scoop behind the sound effects on Adventures in Odyssey!  Our family is a huge fan and our kids were jealous of this experience!   For more about Odyssey, see this post – http://www.parentingwithscripture.com/category/book-reviews/adventures-in-odyssey/

Where the sound effect magic happens!

 These are the shoes when you hear Whit walking –

 Your ears know you are at Whit’s End when you hear silverware placed on this counter –

And, it never gets old seeing my book actually on a bookstore shelf!  A friend on Facebook commented, “Dobson, Dobson, Dobson, Dobson, Dobson, Dobson, DURBIN! Eggeriches, etc…”  To which I replied, “Yes, I’ve told Tim that among the things I am grateful for about him is how well placed my married name positions me on the Christian book aisle!  Ha!”

Enjoy listening Thursday live or by podcast! 

Happy Valentine’s Week! 
Here’s a sweet idea for your heart day family devotional time –

Scripture Heart Puzzle (see pictures below)- 
(Customize the ease or difficulty to your child’s age and ability using the options below and how the puzzle pieces at cut.)
Cut a big heart out of a piece of construction paper.
Option 1 – Write one verse inside the heart and cut puzzle pieces
Option 2 – Draw and puzzle pieces (making it as easy or challenging as fits your child’s ability) and write a love verse word or entire verse inside each piece.
Option 3 – Draw puzzle pieces (making it as easy or challenging as fits your child’s ability) and write a Bible reference on each section to look up.

“Love” verse lists:
See “Love” section of your copy of Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments (order by clicking here.)
Or, use this online list – http://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/love-bible-verses/

Hide the puzzle  pieces and let your child find and put them together.  Discuss the meaning. 

Add music to the hunt!  During the hunting and putting together of the puzzle, you might consider playing the following songs related to the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. 
*Preschool-  http://www.worshiphousekids.com/mini-movies/31369/Freddies-Friendly-Farm-1-Corinthians-13-48,
*Early elementary – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LuJuwILL0g
*Older kids, tweens, teens – “Let My Life be the Proof” by For King and Country (a current personal fave of mine!)

Puzzle Hearts by 1st – 5th Graders:

For more Valentine’s ideas, see –
http://www.parentingwithscripture.com/category/holidays/valentines/

We Durbins are not a normal sports family.  Instead of the typical team sports, my daughter takes mounted archery (archery on horseback) and my son is obsessed with Karate.  He considered a two hour flag football clinic as having “played football.”  Why would he need to join a team?  He explained he had already “done” that sport!  We usually only watch championship games on TV, if that, and I don’t even know what station number ESPN is!   Gasp!  I know this would be sacrilege to many families. 

However, we are NUTS when it comes to the Olympics!  Our calendars have been blocked off for those two weeks (Feb. 7 – Feb. 23) for months to make sure we don’t schedule anything extra so we can enjoy as much viewing time as possible!  As the media hype mounts, Tim has been frequently reading us articles and tidbits of info to prep us for who’s who of the different events. 

Since we will be spending our evenings with the Olympics as a constant, we plan on incorporating it into our evening family devotional times.  Each day, we will pick an event to focus on and watch to see which country wins.  We won’t repeat a country.  So, as the days pass, we’ll go down the ranking until we reach a new one.  Then, we’ll find the country on the globe or map, look up facts about the country, and pray for the people there.  We will be using this awesome resource, but Google works as well. 

For more Parenting with Scripture Olympic themed ideas, click on the following link for past blogs on the subject:
http://www.parentingwithscripture.com/category/olympics/

Instead of sharing one related verse, I thought I’d pass along this list of verses about “all nations”:
http://www.ywamfm.com/Portals/3/All.pdf