During January, we look towards the future and new beginnings. A key component to a prosperous future is our youth, particularly our children and grandchildren. On January 22nd, the world commemorates and celebrates National Celebration of Life Day. This day serves as a reminder to make sure our children feel loved, valued, and extra special.
Children, just like adults, need assurance in knowing they are appreciated. In the chaos of all of life’s tasks and obstacles, it can be hard to scrap up extra time and energy for one-on-one time with our children. Here are a couple of tips on how to get started:
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The New Year is now in full swing, and your motivation to have the best year yet may be starting to dwindle. Each year, we try to encourage our family to work hard, remain driven and centered, and most importantly, to keep our faith God. After years of practice, we know that the best way to achieve this is to nurture that faith and spiritual health. Here are some encouraging Bible verses we like to live by to help us to do that, and you can follow too!
“Now faith is in confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” – Hebrews 11:1 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-0 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” – John 14:27 “For we live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” – Mark 12:30 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” – Ephesians 4:2 “Love is patient, is kind. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always and perseveres. Love never fails.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4. 7-8 What are some of your favorite verses or quotes you think will inspire you in the New Year? It's always fun to make a list of all the changes you want to make in the new year. The phrase "new year, new me" will be everywhere today, but when you think about it, creating a whole new person when the clock strikes midnight isn't a realistic goal, or a healthy one. Instead, we should all strive to simply be better versions of ourselves every day. Here are some achievable resolution ideas that will help us all do just that.
Best wishes for a love-filled, prosperous, and happy New Year! It seems that every year, department stores begin putting up Christmas decorations earlier. As soon as October in some places, battery-operated dancing Santas pop up at every corner and for children, the focus of Christmas doesn’t always remain on the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s wonderful to let kids enjoy all the magic of the season, but as their role models, it’s our responsibility to make sure they learn why we truly celebrate every December. If you’re struggling to find fun ways to keep Christ in Christmas for your kiddos, read on for some of our favorite traditions.
It's after Thanksgiving now, and we can bet your bellies are feeling stuffed! If you're
feeling guilty about giving into your cravings for delicious food, don't worry - not every setback has to set you back forever if you don't let it. Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a month-long holiday season with yummy cookies, pies, cheesy appetizers, and more at every party. Don't deprive yourself of the goodies, but be careful not to over do it. Below are some tips to help you stay on track with your fitness and health this season! 1. Keep a food journal. It's easy to lose track of how many snacks you've been munching on, especially when there are platters full of sweets. Write down everything you eat so that you are aware of what you're consuming. It will help keep you mindful of just how many times you're giving in to your sweet tooth. 2. Watch your portions. It's not about not eating certain snacks so much as it is about not overeating those snacks. Treat yourself to a slice of pie here and there, but make sure it's not oversized. The same goes for everything else on your plate! 3. Don't snack on unhealthy food after the party or in between meals. It's perfectly fine to keep hunger at bay with fruits and veggies, but make sure not to make a habit of grabbing anything in sight when you starting getting hungry. Make an effort to continue making healthy choices for your body throughout the season even if you indulge your cravings every now and then. If you keep these in mind, staying fit will be a breeze! Thanksgiving is right around the corner and holiday cheer is beginning to spread. It’s a great time of year. Planning a Thanksgiving feast for a large family, though, can definitely be distracting. Between deciding who will host the festivities this year, grocery shopping, and meal preparation, it’s easy for the real reason for Thanksgiving to get lost, or at least momentarily forgotten. Here are some great ways for you and your family to stay connected this Thanksgiving and remember to be thankful for all of your blessings.
When you’re worried about work, making dinner, getting the kids to school and more, planning Halloween festivities for your family may be the last thing on your mind. If you’re still in need of some scare-free activities for this weekend, take a look at this list of events happening around San Antonio in the next couple of days.
Have a safe Halloween! Many Christian families struggle with knowing where to draw the line between having a little bit of Halloween fun and staying true to their Christian beliefs and values. The truth is Halloween was originally a Christian holiday. It literally translates to “All Hallows Eve”, hallows being an old word for holy. However, it’s no secret that over the years the day’s original purpose has been lost in the shuffle, and for many, it now represents evil. So as Christian families, how can we teach our children that it’s ok to have fun without getting caught up in all those evil influences?
Children don’t have to dress up as demons and your television sets don’t have to have scary movies running. There are many fun ways that your family can participate in Halloween festivities without taking part in activities that contradict your religious beliefs. Symbols have as much power as you give them. It’s true that people have abused this day to praise the presence of evil, but as Christian families we need to recognize that those influences do exist. We can’t hide from them. We need to learn to look evil in the face and tell it that we have God on our side. That being said, the holiday means to you what you make it mean to you. You can use it as a tool to teach your little ones about the difference between harmless fun and stuff they shouldn’t be messing with. It’s okay as Christians to take a stand and show that Halloween is not about the devil and witches for you. For you, it’s about doing something with family and community, and celebrating that God is more powerful than any evil influence. Movies starring exorcisms and demons should be left out, but there’s nothing wrong with dressing up as a family and going to the neighbors’ houses for trick-or-treating. Protecting your kids from dark influences doesn’t mean they can’t take part in Halloween. In fact, many parishes host Halloween festivals allowing families a safe place to dress up, eat candy, take photos in a pumpkin patch, and more. Remember, the harm is not in the symbols themselves, but what we allow those symbols to represent to us. Have a safe and blessed All Hallows Eve! Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Whether we’re aware of it or not, our children look up to us and seek our praise. It’s only natural that in that yearning, they’ll begin to mimic us in the hopes that if they are like us, we will give them our approval. As parents, we have a very special responsibility to make sure that we are modeling the goodness that we wish to see in them. It’s become almost second nature for some of us to let a bad word slip when someone cuts us off on the highway. Criticism easily flows out of our mouths when we’re on the phone or talking to our spouse while preparing dinner. We’re often not being mindful of the little ears just around the corner – if we are, we assume they don’t understand. They do. They soak up our actions and words like little sponges. Let’s all make a promise to try to be better role models for our children starting with small changes every day. One way we can try to be better role models, is by saving unhealthy habits until after their bed time or giving it up completely. One day, our kids will grow up and be asked to attend parties where alcohol may be present. We may not be there to hold their hands and guide them in the right decoration, but if we show them that you don’t need alcohol to have fun when you’re an adult, the lesson may stick. The same goes for anything that may harm them – cigarettes, junk food, etc. It’s up to us to show them that life is more enjoyable without the intake of substances that are just not good for us. It’s unrealistic to believe that some of us will never make a slip of the tongue in front of our children and say something mean, but we can try to be more careful. The only way to accomplish this is to try making the change in our lives even when the little ones are not around. If we don’t, we’ll never break the habit. If we do say something nasty, it’s our duty to apologize and make sure our kiddos know we were wrong. Showing them how to own up to mistakes and genuinely apologize is just as important as teaching them to be kind every day. These are just two examples of many ways that we can improve our lives for our children. Take the challenge to better yourself so that your kids may mimic your humility, dedication, and most importantly, kindness, instead of bad habits. Not only will you grow to be more and more proud of them – one day, they’ll look at you through grown up eyes and be proud of you too. We’re now in the second half of September, and the little ones have been back in school for about a month. During the summer months, it’s easy to feel close as a family. At any point in the day, you can go into their rooms and find them watching a movie or step outside to see them running around in the backyard. Come autumn, those moments are few and far between. The time you used to spend making crafts with your children is now spent just trying to fit all the errands you need to do in the day once they’re home from school. Evenings now look a little more like this: homework, dinner, bath, bed. With Texas requiring 180 days of instructional time for our children, though, it’s important that we find a way to remain close even once they’ve gone back to school. Here are some easy ways you can do just that.
Make Saturday mornings family breakfast day. Some of the best memories are made in a kitchen. Let mom handle omelets, dad handle pancakes, and the kiddos be your little helpers. The family will begin looking forward to the hearty meal and quality time, and as time goes on, memories of flour on their little noses and dad pouring too much syrup when mom’s not looking will be some of everyone’s most cherished. Schedule two or three times a week for family fitness. When children are kept in a classroom all day, they have lots of stored energy that they need to get out. Use that to your advantage. Instead of giving them thirty minutes to run around outside alone, go for a bike ride as a family. You’ll get to squeeze family time in your busy schedule with a side of great exercise for everyone. Don’t skip out on church. When everyone is back to being busy bees, it’s oh so easy to miss one Sunday morning of church to sleep in – then another and another. Before you know it, you’re in the habit of not going at all. Be a good example for your children by showing that time with family, and more importantly God, always comes first. After church, enjoy a nice family lunch together before getting ready for Monday morning. Trying to handle everyone’s conflicting schedules can be a challenge, especially as kids get older and are more involved in extracurricular activities and clubs. Don’t give up. Home should always be where family is, and family should be where the heart is. Go to as many of their games and recitals as you can. If possible, be the one who drops them off at school in the morning. The little moments add up. These days are gone too soon, but if you invest time now in making sure your children know where home truly is, you’ll have many more beautiful days together to come. |
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AuthorsAntonio Daniels Archives
August 2018
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