Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanking God for our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ and the many many blessings in our life especially family and friends!

We went on our own pre-Thanksgiving turkey trot to prepare for the feast with Kennon's family.

Kennon's Family:

Mamadoll, Harrison, Ben and Lauren, Mary Paige and Elizabeth, Emily and Daniel, Luke, Me, Caleb, and Kennon

This little guy was napping and missed the big family photo

Mamadoll and the grandkids

Caleb, Luke, Mary Paige, and Elizabeth loved Mamdoll's new chalk wall 

 The boys' Thanksgiving art work

Making Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Honey Butter

 

Our Thanksgiving Tree Tradition: Count Your Blessings

Resource for Advent Traditions

I recently taught a seminar on discipling your small children and shared how we do our family devotions each night and also talked a lot about making special traditions in your home. I recently ordered a little booklet called Advent and Christmas in Family Worship. I'm excited to use the readings and hymns during our family devotions and the other activities to make Advent a special and fun time. Every day of Advent we want to be reminding the kids why we celebrate Christmas and build their excitement each day for Jesus' birthday!
The booklet includes:

• Devotional readings and discussions for each day during the 4 weeks of Advent
• Hymns and carols that coordinate with each reading
• An explanation of the Advent season and Advent Wreaths
• Fun Advent Projects and crafts to to with the kids

I purchased it from  www.doorposts.com, a great web site for Bible-based parenting and character training material. (This is also where I also got our "If-Then" and "Blessing" charts which I showed in the seminar.) If you're interested, you could probably still get the Advent booklet here before December 1, and it's on sale right now!
Happy Holidays!

Vaughan Birthdays!

Jonathan turned ONE on Halloween!

Birthday boy

The whole neighborhood was celebrating on Jonathan's birthday with candy for everyone :-) Caleb wanted to be a pirate this year. Luke was a race car driver (with a pirate sword), and Jonathan was Superman.

Pirate Caleb in the neighbor's tree.

Luke ready for the Indy 500

Lil Superman Vaughan

Flying high with daddy.

The birthday boy ready for bed.

Clip from Jonathan's Birthday

Caleb turned FOUR on November 7!

He has really been into pirates this year, so we went with a pirate themed birthday party. We had a backyard full of his fellow "crew mates" to help him go on a birthday treasure hunt.

Caleb had so much fun filling Loot Bags for all his friends.

We then put all the Loot Bags in a Treasure Chest for daddy to bury for the treasure hunt.

The pirates found the treasure chest!

Caleb with half his crew filling their Loot Bags with gold coins from the rock pit.

Next they had to bomb the sea montser with water balloons from the ship to get away with their Loot.

I blew up a nearly life size poster photo of Caleb in his pirate costume, and they played pin the patch on the pirate. Trey nailed it!

Caleb said his favorite part of the party was the pirate ship birthday cake with the Veggie Tale Pirates Who Don't Do Anything aboard! And no, I did not make this amazing cake! You can't see it but on the front of the sail it says "Happy Birthday Caleb" and the top sail has a "4" on it.

Caleb decided to take his favorite Gibson's Donuts (sprinkles) to school for his birthday treat to share.

Clip from Caleb's Birthday

DownLine Summit: Women of Legacy

I am so excited about the DownLine Women's Summit this weekend in Memphis at Faith Baptist Church! I have had the privilege of hearing all the main stage speakers, and they each have a unique and gifted ability to teach in a way that moves your heart AND your mind toward the things of God. To learn more about Vicki Courtney, Carol Kent, Donna Gaines, Ariyana Rimson, and Cheri Holcomb; the schedule for the weekend; and how to register click here.

My husband founded DownLine Ministries, and it has been a great privilege and blessing to watch the Lord grow the ministry and see people's lives changed as they catch the vision for discipleship and experience the radical growth and maturity in Christ it produces. I'm looking forward to emceeing the conference with my friend Ariyana Rimson who co-directs the DownLine Emerging Leaders program. We're going to have a great time as we're refreshed, revived, and hear from the Lord through these women on how to leave a lasting legacy in other women and our own children.

Donna, Vicki, and I will be teaching in workshops on discipling your children in different seasons. I'm looking forward to sharing some things Kennon and I have done even in this young season to be intentional discipling our toddler/ preschool age boys. It's been a learning experience but lots of fun. I'll share the Biblical principles that inspire and guide our day to day routines and many of our daily, weekly, and yearly traditions that keep pointing our kiddos to Christ. We'll talk about discipline and honor and cultivating a home of worship. I've found in this season of parenting small children, we have to keep a vision before us so that we're parenting proactively. Reactive parenting wears you down real fast... I've been there and still fight not to go there! Psychologists say 1-4 are the most formative years in a child's life, and we'll talk about how to lay a firm foundation in our young children. Vicki is doing a seminar on discipling your tweens and Donna on discipling your teens. So there is something for all you moms!

If you can make it happen, this Summit will be a blessing not just for a weekend refreshing but for years to come! Hope to see you ladies there!

So how are ya'll...

With summer coming to a close and everyone getting into a fall routine, we're running into friends we've missed seeing and the question "so how are ya'll" seems to be at the start of every conversation. So here is my photo answer/ update from the Vaughan household :-)

Luke turned 2 years old on August 12!

Caleb started PreK at PDS where his daddy went to school! He goes from 8-11am everyday and is loving it. This was the biggest change for us because it thrust us into a whole new routine! Here we are on his first day of school!

Here he is reading his new class rules. He is a total Type A!

They have a class puppy named Chocolate, and Caleb got to bring him home a couple of weeks ago. This confirmed he is destined to have a dog... as soon as he is big enough to take care of it!

Here is Caleb with his PreK class and wonderful teachers, Mrs. Kilgore and Mrs. Gruby. He is front row second from the right.

Luke started Parents Day Out once a week and loves wearing his new backpack like a big boy.

We recently went out to a friend's farm to see cows, horses, chickens, and tractors, and do a little fishing! Wide open spaces. Could not have been more fun!

Auburn football has started...

With slightly cooler weather, we've been spending lots of time outside...

Megan or "Mae Mae" (here with Jonathan at our neighborhood cove Labor Day party)has been living with us over a year now. She is a sweet blessing in our lives and undoubtedly simply part of our family.

Mothers and the Gospel

Jesus said,

"Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of ; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their crosss and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:37-39

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." Matthew 19:29-30

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26-27

I read these verses in college and can remembering discussing them with a friend who had just become a believer in Christ and dearly loved her family who were not Christians. She wanted to love them with the sacrificial, servant love of Christ that they might see Him in her. We talked about this passage and being willing to choose Christ over her family if necessary. To follow him whole heartedly no matter what her family may think or do, and even physically move away from her family should Christ call her elsewhere for the sake of the gospel.

I pray for my children, for their salvation,  for their spouses, for their character, for their hearts to love God and grasp the beauty of the gospel. My heart's desire is that they follow the Lord whole heartedly.  I must confess that I read a prayer the other day that shook me up as a mother. It reminded me of the above verses. Here is that prayer taken from Matt Friedeman's book, Discipleship in the Home. (He prays this and similar prayers with his kids)

And Lord, if you've got a tough place in the world and you don't know who you are ever going to get to go there, I've got this feeling that Hannah is going to be ready to go if you want her to be there. You've made her into that kind of girl - brave, bold, willing to go anywhere and do anything for Jesus.

And for that tough place in Eastern Europe that you need someone to sacrifice their life for - Elijah has been given that kind of courage. Just ask him to see what happens.

And Lord, my bet is there is some jungle in South America that needs a young man who will not turn back when the going gets tough. Caleb was a spy in the Old Testament that was worth his mettle - send the boy in this family who is a lot like him.

And for Joshua, my son who was named for one of the greatest leaders of all time... he's got what it takes to be a great leader anywhere you need him in our world. Alaska? China? Kenya? Mexico? Mississippi? Challenge my Joshua to be a leader. I think he's going to be willing to answer your call.

And Lord, for Isaiah and for Zeke, send them, and all my kids, on a great adventure for God. They want a challenge. Lord, an exciting life. Give it to them!

[This prayer] says something about our children, to our children: that they are brave and that their God and their daddy expect them to answer God's call no matter how challenging it may be.

I tried to pray, "God, should you call any of my sons to a difficult, even dangerous place for the sake of the gospel, no matter how far away, prepare my sons' hearts to answer the call and say send me." I literally could barely speak the words as I choked up over the thought of my boys possibly one day moving across the world, rarely seeing them, and perhaps even living in danger. Those thoughts were heavy on my heart and led me to ask, "Do I love Christ more than my children? Do I really trust God with my boys? Do I really believe He loves them more than I do and has a purpose for their lives? Am I raising them to go anywhere Christ should one day call?"

I pray God is gracious with me and helps me daily answer with a wholehearted resounding YES and raise my children in the light of it.

Neighborhood Boys

When we moved into our home about a year and a half ago, we knew the two brothers next door were older than Caleb and Luke by six years. You tend to think it would be ideal if your kids had next door neighbor friends close in age to grow up with, but now I wouldn't trade Will and Sam for any 2 and 4 year olds! To my surprise they have been one of the greatest blessings of moving into this house. They are kind, patient, polite, and genuinely love playing with Caleb and Luke. I don't quite understand but am thankful because it makes my boys feel so special.Just today, Will came knocking on our door asking if Caleb and Luke could come out to play! I'm reading Boys Should Be Boys by Dr. Meg Meeker and something she wrote made me think about our neighbor friends. She writes, "...what young boys need - and what they can get when they play on their own in the neighborhood - is a mixture of older boys and younger boys." I never thought much about it, but my boys are seeing older "peers" model kindness, leadership, initiative, respect, and a bunch of other great character qualities. I hope as they grow, they show the same kindness to small children that has been shown to them!