Cheers

All Parents Shelter Their Children

My wife seemed to touch a little bit of a nerve with some folks when she posted the following on her Facebook page...

"it's amazing to me the efforts some will go to in order to "shelter" their children from the world (ie- investing loads of money into private education vs. government schools), but will not think twice about enrolling their young daughters in say, a dance class of sorts, which plays Hannah Montana music for warm up."

This is something her and I have talked about in the past, so I thought I would take a little time and break down some of what she means.

The first topic is 'shelter.' With most Christian folks, this is a hotly debated idea. To 'shelter' your child can draw horrified looks or approving nods. Most of the negative reaction comes from those who know of friends in high school or college that were painfully sheltered... embarrassingly sheltered. They are completely naive and vulnerable when they are outside the shelter.

The key point is all parents shelter their children. The question revolves around to what point. All parents make decisions on what and when to allow their children to be exposed to certain things. Some parents let their kids watch rated-R movies at age 8 and some do not even own a TV. But the point is, even the parent who allows the R movies, is going to draw the line somewhere. It might be far beyond where I draw the line even for myself, but the line is still there. The same goes for music, clothes, language, etc... Thus, when Melissa uses the word shelter, she means it in a very positive way.

Melissa and I definitely shelter our girls. We closely monitor what they watch, what they hear and what they are in general exposed to. We both firmly believe that the world is seductive and we do not want our children worshiping things which God hates. And here lies another key point. Our sheltering now consists of us making decisions as to what the girls have access to. However, as they age a key learning point is teaching them to "love what God loves, and hate what God hates." This type of Christian parenting does not take a monk approach. It does not consist of hiding things from children thinking that if they never see it, they will not be tempted by it. Rather, this type of parenting deals with things head on...when the child is at age when she can begin make judgments and see things for what they are.

Melissa makes a good point in her Facebook post that some parents are dedicated to raising their Christian children the right way. They are aware of the messages that their children are getting hit with and they are doing something about it. But then, like a sneak attack, in through the back door comes "Hannah Montana" eroding away a foundation that the parents have worked hard to lay. Her general point and encouragement to all parents is, "Never let your guard down."

The additional thing that I have pondered is that I wonder how many parents are upset that they let their young daughters become Hannah Montana fans only to look on in horror at how Miley Cyrus is currently portraying and selling herself?

All it Takes is Toothpaste

As every parent knows, there are high times and low times in dealing with children. Our hope and prayer is that the high times far out weigh the low times, but the unfortunate thing is that those incidents that we would love to soon forget seem to stay with us for years. This post is here to record and capture one of those small moments of joy.

The loveliness of having an almost three year old in our home is that it does not take much to bring out the utter joy that lies within her. My wife calls it "Chocolate Milk Joy." As we age it gets harder and harder to impress us, but when we are young all it takes is toothpaste.

For the past year or two Addison has been using children's toothpaste that is safe to swallow. It recently ran out. Melissa and Addison headed off to Target today to pick up diapers for Emerson and some toothpaste for Addy. A little while later she came bounding in the door full of excitement ready to show me her new toothpaste and toothbrush. It was 'big girl' toothpaste that she picked out and an assortment of four toothbrushes. She had to immediately brush her teeth as Melissa prepared lunch.

A little while later, she asked to brush again. I was amused and thus obliged. She climbed up her steps to the sink and grabbed her toothbrush. I retrieved her 'big girl' toothpaste from the cabinet and set it on the sink but I needed to quickly attend to Emerson who was getting herself into a bit of 14 month old trouble. By the time I returned to the bathroom (15 seconds tops) Addison was already busy brushing her teeth with more toothpaste than I use in a week. I tried my best to displace some of excess toothpaste that was on her toothbrush and face, ignoring for the time the huge blob that was half way down the sink. Thinking that things were under control, I attended to Emerson for another moment. But in doing so it immediately ran through my mind what a normal almost three year old would do if a big blob of yummy toothpaste was staring up out of the sink. Sure enough, Addison was still busy brushing, but the blob was noticeably smaller.

Experiences such as these are common for parents of young children. They bring Melissa and I much joy and my only fear is forgetting them as the girls age.

Six Years

In the last six years, Melissa and I have...

• got married
• moved to North Carolina
• honeymooned in St Thomas
• taught at a year round elementary school
• moved to New Jersey
• lived at the Jersey Shore for two months
• helped start Bethel Prep, a classical and Christian school
• bought a house
• had our first daughter
• had our second daughter
• got pregnant with our third daughter
• become Reformed Christians

It has been an amazing ride and these are only the highlights. God has abundantly blessed us and we are thankful. Above all, I am thankful for a beautiful bride who becomes more beautiful with each passing year and who has been willing to become a main character in the story of my life.

S.T.U.P.I.D. L.I.E.S.

Many a folk with a theological bend to them will be familiar with TULIP, the five points of Calvinism. Well come to find out, according to one of my students, I too have an acronym that nicely sums up 'my' theology. I guess it can be affectionately called the ten points of Canneyism. Again those familiar with the reformer John Calvin will know that the five points were not derived by Calvin himself, but rather those opposed to him. I will let the reader decide if my student was opposed to what he thought summed up my Biblical teachings.

S - service appropriateness

T - total depravity

U - unconditional election

P - perseverance of the saints

I - irresistible grace

D - downstream decision making

L - limited atonement

I - irrefutable logic

E - everyone unloved

S - submission servitude

Family Update

Things here in Canneyville are going quite fine, thank you very much...

Addison is quickly approaching her third birthday on August 1st. She loves to play, talk, sing and dance. One of her favorite things to do is play teacher to her babies. She sets them up in our bay window and gets to work. She teaches them songs and a lot on the Christian catechism. 'Students' in her class must remain silent and sit still. Miss Canney is not afraid to deliver corporal punishment when needed. Addison is a big help to Melissa and myself. She helps clean things up, throw or put things away and is a great big sister to Emerson.

Emerson is about 14 months old. She has been walking for about two months. I affectionately nicknamed her 'monster' because she is always on the go trying to do everything her big sister does. She has recently begun to talk and sign to help her communicate. She says/signs 'yeah', 'more', 'please', 'thank you' and she can emphatically shake her head no. She loves to snuggle and play with anything that Addison is currently occupied with.

Melissa is pregnant. 'Nuff said. Well, maybe I can say a bit more. Melissa is busy running our home. She works hard to train the girls on how to behave. She makes delicious meals and keeps the house clean. No small task with all the little people running around this place. Her morning sickness that lasts all day went away earlier this pregnancy than in her first two, but she has struggled with migraines. We have been praying for her and she seems to be doing better.

As for me, glance to your right and you will see what I have been up to. Bethel Prep keeps me rather busy even in the summer, but if you call reading Lord of the Rings work, I will take it. Away from school, I have been spending a lot of time with the girls. Emerson and I got to be together a lot while Melissa and Addison were at Vacation Bible School for a week and I recently took Addison to the Please Touch Museum. Additionally, Melissa and I are quickly approaching our sixth year anniversary.

All in all, we are blessed. Amen.

And baby number three is a...

Many thanks to Mister Chris Gassler for putting this little video together for the Canney family...