Monday Night Chats Temporarily Discontinued

Due to the busy schedule for the months of June and July.... We will not plan on having Monday night chat night.

We are still going to try to keep some posts going. But that in itself has been a struggle (as you can tell) for the last couple of weeks.

We want to be a service for families. We want to survive and thrive in this world... and we want you and your family to not only survive but to also THRIVE.

Marriage/Parenting/Christian Living is work.. it is commitment... it can sometimes be HARD. But is it definitely worth all the effort. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the author and finisher of our faith! Keep Him at the center of your home... your marriage... your family... your time.

So your assignment for the summer months... keep up the Friday Family Fun...
Read a good book on the home.
Maybe even read a good book together.
Share with us what you are reading to encourage each other.
Remember that Love is "meeting needs".... so Love on the precious family that God has given you!

Surviving and (today we are ) Thriving!
Hal and DeeDee

Wives - Striving for Excellence (part 2)

The Monday night chat is on for tonight, June 2, 2008. It has been a while...

We will once again be looking at the wife (from Proverbs 31). We will start with verse 20. So... get your bibles out... and come and let's discuss this passage.

Husbands are welcome too... we would appreciate your input.

Proverbs 31:20-31

(20) She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
(21) She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
)22) She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
(23) Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
(24) She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
(25) Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
(26) She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
(27) She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
(28) Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
(29) "Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all."
(30) Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
(31) Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.

Should be some good discussion time...

Look forward to meeting with you. (8:00 p.m. CST)

Love and Blessings,

DeeDee

Happy Memorial Day! No Chat Tonight

My... what a WONDERFUL weekend we have had with our family all together! It has been a whirlwind... but OH so good. I will blog more about it later :)

So....for today.. enjoy the time off... enjoy your family. NO CHAT TONIGHT!

We will try to be back on schedule next week.

Love to you all!
Not only surviving... but THRIVING today!
Blessings!

The Chat is ON for Tonight

So............
The topic will be Hal's topic from his post last week. Ladies, you will benefit (or enjoy) the chat with us... but also would be a good time to see if you can get your husbands to join.

See you at 8:00 (CST) tonight!

Chat Tonight - CANCELLED

Sorry we have to cancel the chat tonight...

Too much to do before Jonathan comes home :)

We will try to be back on track for next week.

Blessings,

Hal and DeeDee

Chat tonight

So... we have just finished chatting again.

Here is the roll call:

• DeeDee
• exhausted
• punkin
• late
• bubba
• anonymous

We spent time looking at the traits of the Excellent Wife - we only had time to go over verses 10-19. We will get to the other verses next time.

Had some "ouch" moments... but don't we always when we begin to study the Word? When our desire is to be the wife/husband/person that God wants us to be... When we allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn in our life... the dross will come to the top! OUCH!

So let's be diligent to act on what the Spirit of the Living God spoke to us individually about.

I will go ahead and confess.... I have been convicted of "rising early". But since my children have all grown - and gone, and since my wonderful husband fixes breakfast for me :)...I really feel as if God is prompting me to just get up and let HIM feed me some spiritual food. He wants to meet with me. Those thoughts take me back to this post. This prayer. That is my prayer tonight.

Ok... 'fess up......

What are you going to work on?

Wives - Let's Strive for Excellence

Tonight as we meet together for our Monday Meeting Chat time... The topic will be for wives.

Our Scripture will come from Proverbs 31 (wouldn't you know?)

I will print it here - and if you have time today - try to read over it - and be ready for some good discussion. Of course - we will not be covering it all tonight. I will be breaking it down for discussion time and also for my blog later this week. For tonight - We will be starting with the Christian wife's Top Two priorities. . .

(10) An excellent wife who can find?

She is far more precious than jewels.

(11) The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

(12) She does him good, and not harm,

all the days of her life.

(13) She seeks wool and flax,

and works with willing hands.

(14) She is like the ships of the merchant;

she brings her food from afar.

(15) She rises while it is yet night

and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.

(16) She considers a field and buys it;

with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

(17) She dresses herself with strength

and makes her arms strong.

(18) She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.

Her lamp does not go out at night.

(19) She puts her hands to the distaff,

and her hands hold the spindle.

(20) She opens her hand to the poor

and reaches out her hands to the needy.

(21) She is not afraid of snow for her household,

for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

)22) She makes bed coverings for herself;

her clothing is fine linen and purple.

(23) Her husband is known in the gates

when he sits among the elders of the land.

(24) She makes linen garments and sells them;

she delivers sashes to the merchant.

(25) Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come.

(26) She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

(27) She looks well to the ways of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

(28) Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

(29) "Many women have done excellently,

but you surpass them all."

(30) Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

(31) Give her of the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the gates.

Join with us tonight at 8:00 p.m. (CST)

Invite others to join you. The more- the merrier :)

Love, DeeDee (and Hal)

Hoping to Help - in Surviving and Thriving!

(Notice the blog below - to see the plan/schedule for chats and blogs)

Proposed Schedule

Ok... I really have been working on the plan for this blog and for the chat nights.

Maybe a little structure and schedule will help us all.

For the Chat Nights - I have posted the schedule on the side bar for the Month of May. I will update each month.


For the Blog - This is what I hope to be able to keep going:

• Monday Meetings - somewhat of an introduction for the chat topic for that night.

• Tuesday Tips for Husbands - Hopefully Hal will be able to give us a blog on most weeks. But this will also be a time for the wives to comment and respond from their perspective.

• Wednesday Words for the Wives - I plan to have a blog with some encouragement/instruction for us ladies. But we will welcome some comments and response from the husbands' perspectives. (Also - sometimes I will throw in a Wordless Wednesday and/or a Word-filled Wednesday)

• Thankful Thursdays - We will join other bloggers with our list of things that we are thankful for. But on this particular blog we will be focusing on the home - the family - the children - etc.

• Friday Family Fun - Plan some fun for your family. Enjoy the time with them. Share the plans so that we all can be encouragement for each other. Sometimes we just a need a fresh idea.

Next Week - I will add this to the side bar - for future reference.

Tell me what you think - will this work?

We want to be encouragement for you. The world is fighting for your home. We want to offer some help. We want your home/your family - not only to survive - but also to THRIVE.

Love to you all!

Q and A - Chat Tonight

We may be CRAZY.... but last week, we decided that we would have a "Q and A" this week on the chat.

So.... if you need to sign in anonymously.... in order to ask your questions... then go ahead.

Hope to meet with you tonight at 8:00.

Blessings

The Company that We Keep

Tonight the chat topic is on "The Company that we Keep". So... join us as we discuss people that God has brought into our lives and how they have encouraged us in our walk with the Lord. But also, we can discuss how maybe a bad choice of company... hurt us (NO names of course). The idea goes back to the post from my personal blog... Where will you be in five years? A good indication comes from the books that you read AND THE COMPANY THAT YOU KEEP.

But let me add also... be thinking about the company that you are to those in your life. Jonathan talked about this in his blog. It made me think. Am I "IRON THAT SHARPENS IRON"?

Let's talk about it...

See you tonight at 8:00.

Chatting # 2

Well... tonight there were 8 of us together (if you can count Lee and Matt :) We had a good time talking about books that we have read and that have affected our lives. An hour sure goes by fast. :) I have added a list of recommeded books on the side-bar. I will add more later. And there are so many... please let me know if you read one that you think I need to add to the list.

Blessings to you all.

On another note...

For those who are prayer warriors... there are some families who have BIG issues going on right now. Please intercede for them. God knows the needs.

Monday Night Chat (04/14/2008)

We will be chatting again tonight. - 8:00 p.m. (CST) Click on the link at the top of the right column. You can sign in with your name... or if you would rather be annonymous - that is fine too. Last week someone signed as "contented" and chatted with us. That is certainly ok. Just come and let's share together.

This week Hal picked the topic. He is referring back to a post that I wrote on March 2nd on my personal blog. You can read it here. We will begin by talking about different books that we have read that have influenced our lives. Maybe even specific ones on the home. We will try and have somewhat of an agenda. :-)

Look forward to chatting with you.

Blessings,
DeeDee

First Chat Night

So..... we just finished the first chat night. I am so excited! There were five of us there, and we were learning about chatting together. I am looking forward to next week already!

We both have ideas going through our minds about opposites, so we hope to post them later this week.

But for tonight, I just want you to Thank the Lord for your spouse and the differences that you have. Hal has always said that if you were just alike - one of you would be unnecessary! Think about it.

More to come!
~dd

Opposites Attract

Have you ever noticed how many times couples will talk about how opposite they are? It is true, opposites attact. Just like the opposites ends of a magnet. But often the very thing that attacts you to your spouse in the beginning of the relationship - will be the first REAL irritation that you have to deal with. It will be the very thing that causes (or starts) the biggest fusses. Now.... how do we deal with it? That is the discussion this week.

How are you different? I will give some examples. Usually one is hot nature and the other will be cold natured. There will be the night owl and the morning person. One will be an introvert and the other will be an extravert. One will be a neat freak and the other will be messy. One will have the gift of hospitality and love having a crowd over - while the other just endures it. Etc., etc., etc. You get the idea. Share some with us - and how you have worked it out in your marriage.

We really are going to try and get on the chat tonight at 8:00 (CST). Not sure if Hal's computer will let him yet. But going to see.... would love for you to join us (even for part of the time). Let's talk.

Hope to see you tonight... and there will be more post this week on opposites.
Blessings,
DeeDee

More Ideas...

Ok... since I set this up last week... it has been extremely busy. I am already thinking that maybe we will just try to have a topic for the week. And then we will both post during the week concerning the topic from our (very) different perspectives.

I also need to know if anyone that is reading is interested in having a chat. I had originally thought maybe on Tuesday nights... but have already found that I need to to change that to Monday. Will you be able to - or even want to- chat with Hal and me on Monday nights at 8:00? (CST) Let us know. Also, you may want to just try and get on the chat. For some reason...Hal's computer will not let him. That may be a problem, huh?

Like I said in the first blog... we are still in the developing stages. Still praying. Still wanting some imput from you. You can either comment or can email me with your ideas/suggestions.

Home - where the heart is.
But sometimes the heart hurts.
Sometimes the heart is tired.
Sometimes.... you fill in the blank...


We want to help.