2 year old sit through the sermon

The snacks and toys are tricky. I try to give snacks and toys and make them take forever to eat and play with. 

For example, corn flakes or some other form of cereal. I won't give the whole thing. I will give one. Then when she is done, then another one. Sometimes I hide the next one in one of my hands and she has to guess which hand. I do this to prevent spilling and to keep her occupied.

As for toys, same thing. Never all out at once. Always one character and when she is bored, then the next character comes out some 10 minutes later.. and only when she is done playing does the next one come up, so not every 10 mins. It depends on her ability to entertain herself. And I have like 10 characters or objects waiting. And that's after 20 mins of eating cereals so I rarely finish them.

Overstepping MIL?

 It's the fight-for-your-rights vs the fight-for-your-marriage issue again. Some things are not worth fighting for. She's going to be around here longer than you would like. And she is part of the family. If it is affecting your marriage, and you have clearly spoken to her about this, it is time you let it go.

Nobody can affect you without you allowing them to. The issue here is not her -- it's you. No, not judging. What I mean to say is, difficult as it may seem, just close a blind eye to it. That's the best you can do for now. Just let it go. Don't take it to heart. Like I used to say about nagging spouses, it's the same with nagging in-laws.. in one ear, out the other ear, and out the window. Don't take anything personally and don't let it affect you. Let it go. Don't hold any resentment or allow the issue to boil in your heart. It's not worth meditating on. Meditate on what is good, true and lovely. Release her to the Lord to deal with. Imagine if she was your mom. Have some respect and honor for bringing your husband into this world -- it's what we hope our future daughters-in-law would appreciate us for at least. And just push it aside.

Don't make a big issue out of it. Or it will be a seriously big issue. Let it go, even if it happens a million times, let it go a million times. Patience, patience, patience. Chill.

Don't mention it. Don't say a word. It never happened. 

You can choose to fight back or let it go. If you fight back, you will cause more damage in your relationship with your husband. Is that a sacrifice you are willing to make? Fight for your marriage. This is nothing. Let it go.

Kidpreneurs?

 Check out Kickstarter. Some kids sell all sorts there 

Also what's very important to note is demand and supply. If you go to one of those pop up market events, you'd realize that people love making crafts nobody wants to buy. It's a huge waste of effort and a great disappointment to the kids who did it.

I am about to start teaching business to kids in the library. The first thing they need to know is what God wants them to do. How can the business they come up with make this world a better place? Don't come up with another McDonalds or Coke that destroys our health. But the marketplace is a ministry. And how is that going to be beneficial to society? We do need to make profit like how Isaac makes a hundredfold and like how the stewards made five talents and ten talents. But our intention is not a money making scheme as such but more of a role of fulfilling our calling and ministering to the lost, even feeding the hungry, eradicating poverty, drawing people to God in introducing them to God like how Narnia was written, or just improving the health of the people and standards of living.

Not enough homeschool work getting done?

 As long as they can read, there is a ton they can do without you. Your job then is mostly to supervise. Anyone can supervise -- even your husband or an older sibling.

Try rewards or a point system to get them to monitor themselves. What's great is a checklist my sister uses: so there is a list of work to get done and they can choose which to do first.

Another thing to do is to ask them to come up with their own timetable or even their own checklist

I have a new book for each workbook they finish. I do this with my bookworm who loves reading. The gifts are Usborne lift the flap or Usborne educational books of a similar type 

There are also past year papers that I have my eldest daughter do just at the end of the year to ensure that she is on track and realized she is a few grades up. I work with her on certain topics until she can score it. But only spend a month at the end of the year for that. The rest of the year is pretty relaxed and she gets to focus on what she really is passionate about like coding or chemistry.

Anoint the house or the kids?

Cleansing the house is just a one time thing for us when we dedicate the house, we either pray and sprinkle the blood of Jesus using communion but as a prophetic thing and not as a ritual if that makes sense. Only do it if you feel led, not as a religious thing. Some people use olive oil and do it regularly with prayer. Worth considering.

But as far as anointing goes, I think it's mainly anointing the kids especially while praying for them. Sometimes in church, during altar call, we anoint people who come up for prayer, or like the Bible says, anoint the sick (James 5:14-15). We do this with a touch of olive oil that we have prayed over. But anointing can also be used for commissioning like before your kids leave the house for good as a graduation thing and prayer over them, and commissioning them to go into the world, like how David was anointed as king at a young age way before he really did become king.

Some people anoint their fences and property lines with olive oil and forces of evil just couldn't enter it -- some people just dislike their 'vibes' and for good reason. I love this. It is really a spiritual thing. The devil doesn't like it when we do that. I believe what they say is true. There are things in the spiritual realm that we can't see. 

During Passover, God told Moses to mark the doorposts with the blood of the Lamb. So God is really the one that came up with symbolic representations. And He uses that in many areas in the Bible. Just because something is new doesn't mean it is New Age. God is as alive today as He was in Moses time and can speak to us to do anything He wants, even if it is New.

Last minute homemade celebrations

Get the kids to rehearse for a song plus dance. Add in one or two solo items on the piano or some other instrument, or just a solo song or duet here and there or maybe just play some music and perform the dance.

1 hour before, get everyone dressed in either real fancy outfits or costumes for a family photo and do up a really good backdrop for that amazing photoshoot. Worse come to worse, make it a green screen and good lighting

About the cake, I advise buying 8 good chocolate mudcakes and spending 2 hours to decorate them. Because it will take about 4 hours for the icing to firm up on the cake before you place fondant on it or buttercream icing. Or any other icing. So no time to bake because it will be hot and you need to wait an hour for it to cool down before you can place the base layer of icing.

Here is a home-bake hack: use a small cake mold or circular tool to cut out a small cake in the middle of the large cake so you get two cakes, if that makes sense. Put something inside the cavity of the cake like M&M's or his favourite snack like three Forero Rochers or a small present like a ring or a $100 note or giftcard or something. 

Another bake hack: when you buy cakes to stack up, if you want a tall looking cake like you see on Instagram, one of those will be a combination of 2 normal cakes to get the height of one tier in a tiered combination of 3 cakes if it's a tower cake like you see on Insta.

And the last bake at home hack: if you're baking at home, always add a teaspoon of gelatin so it comes out moist and not dry. If you're choosing to do a chocolate cake mix, add in a packet of chocolate chips.