This Week's "Mammory Verse"

This past week, we learned the verse "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." We talked about different ways we could praise Him!

When Jax said it, to my husband, (who is by the way, still a junior high kid on the inside. Yes! Many of you think he's a grown-up doctor, but really, I like to call him "Beavis" much of the time.) it sounded like...

"Let everything that has breasts praise the Lord."

He got a big kick out of that.
No, we're not very mature.

The Story When Jesus was Born by Emma Bacak

When Jesus first, there was someone named Mary. She had an angel told her she's gonna have a little baby named Jesus. So the angel told that back to her husband. Then her husband put Mary on a donkey! And then, the husband...he just walked. And then, they went and went to the place called BETHLEHEM! And when they went to Bethlehem, there's a lot, a lot of people. Mary been gotting tired. So they went to the hotel, best there's NO ROOM. Best then, a man told them there's a stable where they can be there. And then when Mary was at the stable resting on the hay, she had Jesus in her tummy! And then Jesus came out! And when Jesus came out, all the animals looked at it. There was lots and lots of people coming. But then an angel told some shepherdsmen to come there and see Jesus! And when they did, he's been so born and tiny. Best then he growed up into a kid, a couple of few days...best then he grew up bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger... then he stopped. Then he was God's Son.
The End

(Well, this story been true. It's been true, true, true. Please tell everyone this story. Bye-Bye.)

OUR FAVORITE THINGS...in no particular rank, because that's too much pressure

Jenn's favorite things:
I like...
-My new favorite creamer; Chocolate Caramel by International Delights! Truly DE-lightful! Worth waking up for!
-brand new lip balm. Can't live without it. (When Justus eats it and rubs it all over his face it makes me really sad. He thinks it's sunblock AND a yummy snack.)
-Little House on the Prairie; hands-down, my favorite show ever made- despite Rusty's relentless mocking that everyone on the show goes blind.
-a good fictional book, that does not necessarily make me better as a person, but is so real to me I start to pray for the characters, and I try to never finish because I don't want it to end.
-napping with my little snugglebugs, which is right now just Jax. Emma has outgrown it, and Justus hasn't grown into it yet. One of my favorite Mommy things, for sure!

Heather, are you impressed that only one of these is food related?

Emma's favorite things:
I like...
-going to the Hendrick's
-playing with my little brother Justus
-playing "Happy Thoughts" with Mommy and snuggling
-chocolate milk
-lizards, animals, horses, and cowgirls, YEE-HAW!


Jax's favorite things:
I like...
-when Justus chases me a lot and tackles me
-to eat some food cause I so hungry
-to do this (standing on one foot with all
his other limbs in a funny position)
-to play hide-and-seek and play games
-rocketships with Indian's on them
(these are paper airplanes with Indians drawn on them, holding various
weapons... I'd love to explain why, but I don't really know.)

Justus' favorite things:
Wouldn't we love to know? But the boy doesn't talk.

Rusty's favorite things:
Since he's not here, I'm going to take a guess...this is a true test of our marriage.

-Aggie football, in the Glory Days, he likes to call them, back when he was in college. (And yes, to the shock of our friends now in college, was before the internet was invented.)
-Playing soccer, though he is still hoping for someone to start an over 30 league. He's tired of these young whipper-snappers!
-Pina Colada smoothies, anywhere, but mostly in Mexico!
-Christmas, and putting up his Christmas lights that can be seen from Hwy. 6, during the holiday season.
-80's music. He's an 80's music trivia machine. Put him to the test!

This week's memory verse

The kids started learning their verse last week: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind..." "and love your neighbor as yourself."
After a few days of learning this, I asked them to recite it back to me, and this is what they said:

Jax: "Love God
with all your self
and all of your heart,
and your mind...
and what else?
and all your neighbors."

Emma: "Love your God
with all your trust
and your mind
and Love your neighbor
OF yourself."

I asked Justus if he could tell me his verse,
and he shook his head no.

So cute!
Also, the sweetest thing Jax has said to me this week is "Mom, you know what is awesome? I love you."
Does it get any sweeter than that?

"All scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for correcting, teaching, rebuking, and training in righteousness..." 2 Tim. 3:16

Okay, this is NOT how the Bacak children learn scripture. However, they DO learn scripture, as we apply it to our everyday life. 2 Timothy 3 says it is useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness, and this is especially true for how we discipline our children.
The Lord impressed upon my heart some time ago that giving our kids rules for the sake of rules is training them for goodness, not Godliness. Because we have been talking about this at church, I wanted to share our own experiences with this. We want our kids to become obedient because of a heart change, not simply behavior modification. When we train in them in the way they should go (Godliness), they will not depart from it! Just telling them "because I said so" is not good enough. That ticked us off when we were kids, and it does the same for ours. Really, if we can't think of a good enough reason, that's pretty lame. If we have a rule in our home, it needs to be backed by a scriptural principle.
I though I'd share some of the most frequently quoted and used scriptures in our home. Almost all of the infractions committed by my children come back to these verses. Some of them are in the Bacak family translation, not to contort scripture to suit our own purposes, but to put it in language they understand WITHIN the spirit of the true meaning of the text. (That's what you call a disclaimer, folks.)

"Do everything without complaining or arguing." Phil. 2:14

"Do not let any unkind words come out of your mouth." (paraphrase) Eph. 4:29

"Be kind and compassionate to one another" Eph. 4:32

"Children, obey your parents..." Eph. 6:1

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind...
and love your neighbor as yourself." Matt. 22:37 & 39

These are just a few examples of the verses that my kids know well, and that we use in the everyday. No, we don't sit with our Bibles open at the table and study them everyday...yet. My kids are 5, 4, and 1. But we infuse the use of scripture in our everyday lives, because God's Word is so applicable! There is a Biblical solution to our every sin problem.
I also try to make prayer an everyday normal part of our day as well. Our best prayer times are in the car. Deuteronomy 6:7-9 says "Repeat them" (God's commands)"again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and your gates." The Bacak translation says "...when you are eating breakfast, and when you are driving in your mini-van. When you are snuggling together at bedtime, and when you are teaching them at home." Prayer and scripture memory cannot be compartmentalized into the church box of our life. There should be no church box! It should be a natural part of our everyday, 24 hours a day, life.
That's my goal as a Mom. If I have not trained them in righteousness, they will not be "thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:17) I cannot send them out into the world...heck, I can't send them to Kindergarten unless I know they are hiding His Word in their hearts and have a clue as to how it applies to them.
We haven't got it all figured out as parents, OBVIOUSLY, but the Lord continues to show me new things as a Mom, and if we all shared those new things with one another, we might benefit.
Let me know effective ways you are teaching your kids as well!

GRAND INSIGHT BY UNKNOWN AUTHOR...

I don't know the author of this poem, but I think he's right on the money!
I got this from my brother Chris.


In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the end of your sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences- so-called
because they used to, like DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not-
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happenned to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally...
I mean absolutely...You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just like...
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation...ness
is just a clever sort of...thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since...
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

If a Tree Falls, and there's no one around, does it make any noise?

Okay, you know that saying, if a tree falls, and there's no one around... Well, my predicament is, if you catch a fish, and there's no one around, does it count that you caught the fish? Do you get fish credit?
Here's what happenned.
The theme for tonight did not have much to offer my kids, so we decided to go fishin' instead. Now fishing it supposed to be peaceful, quiet, relaxing. But not if you're taking three little ones with you. The event is filled with knots in your fishing line, several near-death experiences with Emma's hook while casting her line, and Justus using a fishing cane pole to stab everything and everyone. However, the kids are useful for helping catch bait. That's their favorite pass-time anyway, so we finally got some poles baited and ready to go. (I like the fishing, but no way I'm baiting my own hook.) So Rusty had some near bites on what he's sure is an enormous Bass, toying with him. Me nothing. He's using the fancy pole, with a reel and everything, and I'm using the plain old cane pole. Just throw it in. But as the games of the evening are released, kids stampede toward the clinic for their injuries and illnesses to be attended to. For the first time all week, Rusty is called away to the clinic. He has to see an 11 yr. old girl who has had some bee stings, and is hyper-ventilating. (He said rich kid medicine is a little different from his real life.) So he leaves me standing there, with my three little "helpers", cane pole in the water. I ask him as he's running away, "What if I catch one?" with a hint of sarcasm in my voice, because what are the odds? (We didn't catch anything last year.) But off he goes.
Low and behold, I'm trying to keep an eye on my kids, and when I look back at my bauble, it's under water completely. I get so excited, I start to scream. I pulled my line out of the water, and there was a fish. A big fish. I'm screaming bloody murder, totally freaking out. I've only caught a few fish in my life, and never while I'm standing there without fishing assistance. I'm screaming, and this fish is wriggling all over the place. It hops off my hook, and the children all run over to it. Emma is hollering at me to let it go. She said that's what Daddy says to do, and he makes the rules. However, I want to try to catch it in the net because if it goes back in, who will see it? I don't mean to discount my children as people present, but one of these little people doesn't talk at all, except for the phrase "MMM, BOP" lately (maybe because he's a big Hansen fan, but we're not sure), and the other two live in an imaginary realm almost all of the time. They could tell Daddy that we caught a fish...and an octopus too. And it's in their pocket, see? So you see my predicament? The fish is lying on the bank, wriggling around, looking up at me with one eye, like "Lady, make up your mind." I don't know for sure, but I really think it was mocking me.
Well, sadly, the fish did wriggle it's way back into the water, and disappeared out of my sight. In a moment, the whole entire victorious fishing moment was gone. No evidence. Nothing. And that was the last of the bait, so I didn't even have a second chance.
I knew right then that I was going to be one of those pathetic fisherman, telling the story, and holding out my hands to say, "It was this big", and people would yawn and roll their eyes. And I would say, "But...the kids saw it...right Justus?" "MMM, BOP" will be his only reply. I felt sad.
By the time Rusty made it back, Jax had taken his cool new Superman fishing pole, (thanks to Lisa and her friend Chris) and woven an invisible obstacle course through the trees with fishing line. It took me 10 minutes to unwind it all. I was so frustrated, and MAD that he wasn't there to see my fish, and be impressed with me!
Rusty didn't quite understand. "You're MAD that you caught a fish?" He could care less if anyone is there to see it if he catches a fish. But I am looking for fishing credit. Girls, do you feel me?

Okay, highlights for the day:
Emma: archery, hitting the bullseye! That's right!

Jax: Lifeline, the evening "service" you could call it, where they sing songs and hear a message. (The theme was Christmas, and he is half-expecting Santa tonight. He may be disappointed in the morning.)

Justus: I'd like to think swimming in "Wacky World" with me, jumping on the water trampolines. But when I asked him he said... you guessed it..."MMM, BOP."

Jenn: Catching a fish, even if nobody saw it.

Rusty: Taking Justus down the big waterslide, the "Zamboni."

Peace out, my friends! I'm so thrilled that y'all are reading this, and I LOVE your comments!

jenn

The Adventures of FEARLESS EMMA...

Okay, if you know my Emma, you know she is crazy. She will do just about anything. And yet, it still amazes me. Today, she did the zip line. Not like the zip line in the Hendrick's backyard. (No offense to the Hendrick's zip line, because the fact that they have a zip line in their backyard is the coolest, and we won't minimize that!) But this is about a 50 ft. tall zip line that zips over the lake. It's huge. I did it last year, but I have to confess there was trepidation in my heart. Rusty took her during nap time to do this, so I didn't get to witness it first hand, nor do I have a picture yet. But he said the easiest part for her was jumping off the edge to zip across. She didn't even hesitate. (insane!) But getting across the elements, as their called, was most difficult because she was just too little. Basically you tightrope across some sections, but there are cables to hang on to with your hands. She couldn't reach them, so she was tightroping 50 feet in the air like a stinkin' circus performer. (I've often wondered if she had a future in the circus. If you've ever seen her shimmy up a pole in 10 seconds flat, you would know what I'm talking about.) This was frustrating to her that she couldn't reach some of the things, so someone finally had to carry her across that part. But Rusty said when she got to the platform to jump off, Fearless Emma jumped right off. Thank God for secure harnesses.
Tomorrow, we'll do it again. The thing we love about Fearless Emma is that if you ask her if she wants to try something, no matter if she is by far the tiniest kid around, she will always reply "Sure." What great promise this could bring for her life! She will experience things that all of us wish we had. I'm pretty sure that if we flew her up in an airplane and told her to jump and parachute off, she would. (I have no doubt she will do this someday. I think we'll wait a few years.) It makes me nervous and proud at the same time. It just makes Rusty proud.
Fun, Fun, Fun! More tomorrow!
jenn

THE ADVENTURES OF CAMP OZARK

Jean Lafitte's Cajun Food
If you are going to take a roadtrip, it's my opinion that you should never stop at a chain-anything to eat. According to the rules of the Bacak vacation, you look for someplace with character. Someplace hillbilly, home-owned, or even weird, in order to make a memory.
Well, we did just that as we ventured into East Texas. This is my first restaurant review, but it must be shared. If you find yourself in Palestine Texas, it would be a cryin' shame if you didn't stop at Jean Lafitte's Cajun Food. We stopped there not only because of the giant boar's head sticking out of one end of the place, and half a boat sticking out the other; but also because Jax really had to use it. Good thing, because otherwise we might have missed out on this "only in East Texas" experience. (We found ourselves saying that frequently during dinner.)
The decor of this place is a 50/50 split between pirates and hunting. The front of the menu has a skull and crossbones on it. The walls are totally covered in weapons of every kind, and dead animals. Not only taxidermied animals, but animal skulls, with the most cool being a few crocodiles. The kids were totally beyond excited by this!
98% of the menu was fried, of course, and you could order most anything in a basket. But best of all, everybody could help themselves to cornbread and beans. Awesome! The thing the kids loved the most were the walls you could "color on", so we signed our names right near the bathroom. Look for it when you stop in.
Rusty most loved an old sign on the wall that was an ad for "rectal dilators", which we are dying to get for our office. (The sign, not the rectal dilators.)
This place had character out the whazoo! You must see it for yourself! So make a note to self: stopping at McDonalds or Dairy Queen is for boring people. Don't do it! Make a memory, and then share it on your blog. I will totally go there!

The Chicken Egg Layer by Emma Bacak

Well, the chicken had some baby eggs from inside of her. One cracked out and said "cheep,cheep,cheep,cheep." It was kind of funny. Her Mom said "Stop that", and she did. Then all the eggs cracked out with worms in their mouths. Then all of them went on a hunt. Then the chickens got lost. Then they found their way back home, and when they did, Jesus came down, from the sky, and he told them to go back. Then they went back, and comed back again, and that was okay. Then there were some babies said "cheep,cheep,cheep,cheep" and more of them said "cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep." It was kind of funny like that. Then they went home, laying on their nests, and at night one of the chickens had a dream about a bunny rabbit trying to get their egg hopping around. Then that chick lay there, and went to sleep again. But then it was morning again, and the chicks were tyring to sleep, even their mother. So she went "CHEEP!" and woke them up. And they got breakfast, eating grass with the horses, and hay with the horses. Best then, they did lunch, and when they did lunch, they found a hat. The farmer best gave them some food. The chicks went to eat everything, and the mom tried to stop them. They went home. Een End