July 6, 2009

I have returned from spending the weekend with my daughter, my mother, my grandmother and her sister.

It was a great time. It was a weekend full of home-cooking, hugs, stories, laughter and a bit of shopping.

We left for our journey back home mid-morning Sunday. Which means I didn't go to church. That hardly ever happens. It is rare that I'm not at a church on Sunday morning. We even go to church when we are on vacation.

I miss it. I miss hearing Gods word preached and hymns sung.

Anna and I made it home just in time for our Sunday evening service. We sat on the back pew because we arrived just after church had begun. The boys looked back and saw me. I wish I had a picture of their faces. It was beautiful. I fell in love with them all over again.

It was a great refreshing weekend away from home. And the homecoming was just as wonderful!

2 comments:

  1. Several months ago I blogged about wanting to do an online Bible study with a group of MOMS via the internet. Three sweet MOMS responded and you were one of them. I thought I could have a summer program of MOMS and share the truths we were learning online on my blog. I did not factor in the fact that I was about to start writing another Bible Study or that I was heading to Asia to teach for a week! And soon my days of even reading the blog, much less writing on it, fell by the wayside.

    Now I am home from the trip and the book is with the publisher, and I have a tiny bit of breathing room before I start up traveling to speak and teaching my own MOMS group in Memphis. SO . . . I would like to see if you of you are still interested in a modified online Bible study. Here are my guidelines. This offer is open to any who might be interested. Contact me at jean@standingnearthecross.com or my blog at http://jeanstockdale.typepad.com. We would love to connect with lots of online MOMS who are eager to study GOd's Word and learn Biblical standards for parenting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cont.
    1. Commit to gathering 5 (or more-this is up to you) MOMS (we would be glad for you to invite single women or grandmoms to join in since the principles are geared toward developing godliness-we have 1 group made up of singles and grandmothers and it worked perfectly-in fact many of our dads do the studies with their wives!) to participate in a 10-week Bible study for MOMS. Your book will be sent to you at no charge. The workbooks for your MOMS can be purchased for $15.00 plus shipping/handling at www.jeanstockdale.com.

    2. Commit to open your home or find an alternate location for the group to meet for 10 consecutive weeks. We would like you to start you group between now and the end of September if possible. If not, we have some flexibility. You set the time and location for your meeting.

    3. Agree to do your homework (5 days a week) and be prepared to lead a discussion on the material.

    4. Watch the 45-minute lecture on-line each week and encourage your group to do the same. I would assume the MOMS would do this in their home and be ready to do the discussion portion at your house at the weekly meeting. If you purchase the DVD set (altought this is not required) you would watch the DVD lecture and discuss the homework when you gathered. (We have the 10-disc DVDs available for purchase for $125.00 if you prefer.)

    5. Make a weekly post on-line on Saturday morning between 10-12 about what you (or some insight a member shared) have learned from your study that week. Your group is welcome (in fact encouraged) to do the same, but you will be required to do this.

    6. At the end of the 10 weeks, evaluate your small group experience and give us your feedback.

    Our MOMS Bible studies are non-denominational and applicable for preschool moms, moms with school-aged children, teens, and young adults about to step into the adult world. Still interested?

    The study we are offering is “Joy in the Journey” on the Book of Philippians. The DVDs are loaded on www.bellevue.org in the archived section. You might want to go ahead and preview the first one and see if this is something you would be interested in doing. If so, we would love to have you be a part of our FIRST ONLINE MOMS GROUP.

    We are hoping the Lord will use you to spark interest of other MOMS. Hopefully they will want to gather a group in their home and begin doing Bible study small groups in their neighborhood! We could begin to teach many MOMS for the kingdom of God. We also hope this will create more blogging opportunities about what MOMS are learning from the Word of God to advance the kingdom.

    If you are interested, please contact me at jean@standingnearthecross.com and we will get started. If you are not available at this time, I totally understand. If you think you might like to do this next spring or summer we will be glad to help you get started then. Please stay in touch and let me know what God is doing in your life. In these difficult days we must all be about the Father’s business and work in the fields-they are white unto harvest!!

    ReplyDelete