As a mother, there are some things that you know FOR SURE your children will NEVER do. You just know it. You know that they would never have a complete meltdown at church (of all places). They would never use a marker on the television screen to draw a pretty smiley face, and they would never take their diaper off when it's full of poop.

Just never.

And among the things I knew my children would never do, the following was most certainly on the top of my list.

Sometime last summer I took my oldest son Caleb to get his hair cut like I usually do. This time, however, I went to a "new" girl at a place I had only been to one time before. It was literally her first day, and while she was very nice, it took her a very long time, and Caleb began to get a little antsy. Overall she did a good job (well...an ok job), but evidently he did not sit still enough for his bangs to be cut correctly.

So that evening I got out my husband's hair clippers and scissors and worked on Caleb's hair while we were in kids' bathroom. After we were done, I gave Caleb a bath. He looked so handsome.

The next morning I was in the kitchen, probably eating cereal or making coffee, and I heard Sarah go into the bathroom. I didn't really think anything of it; she had officially been potty trained by then and was working on doing everything on her own anyway. I noticed she was taking a while - a long while - so I thought I'd better go check on her. At that point my only fear was that she was messing with the toilet paper.

Until I walked into the bathroom and realized...



...I had left the hair clippers in there.














That's right. My sweet daughter took a huge chunk out of her own hair with daddy's hair clippers. My heart sank. I couldn't believe I forgot about them and left them in there instead of putting them away the night before.

Since the chunk was to one side of her head, I quickly realized that I would need to start parting her bangs to one side in hopes that I could cover the travesty. And it seemed to work. This picture was taken the same day after she had already used the clippers on her bangs:












The ones who knew us personally never realized Sarah had a huge chunk cut out of her hair. I was able to cover it up pretty well!

But I certainly learned my lesson.

And I'm also learning to take everything off of my "they will NEVER do that" list. It's a hard realization!

Jamie has become a great blogging friend. I love reading her blog and looking at her beautiful photos. I am honored to guest post on her blog while she is either waiting for the arrival of her sweet little one, or enjoying the first days with her sweet little one. I wanted to share some encouragement from God’s Word as she now becomes a mother of three.

“Behold children are a heritage from The Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Psalm 127:3

Hebrews 3:13 reminds us to “exhort one another daily”.

Peter says in 2 Peter 1:12 “I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.”

We know that “His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” 2 Peter 1:3

What then does the Bible say about the raising of children?
* We are to train our children.

Deuteronomy 6: 6-7 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

Ephesians 6:4 “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” The New Geneva Study Bible commentary gives these definitions:

Training-the shaping of the will through discipline
Admonition-the shaping of the mind through teaching

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

If we obey God’s command to train our children, according to God’s word, God promises a blessing to parents.

Proverbs 10:1a “A wise son makes a glad father.”

Proverbs 23: 24-25 “The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him. Let your father and mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.”

Proverbs 29:17 “Correct your son, and he will give you rest; Yes he will give delight to your soul.”

Proverbs 31:28 “Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her.”

These verses promise great joy and happiness to parents who raise a wise child. In contrast, the natural consequences of cursing for ignorance or disobedience to truth are found in the following scriptures:

Proverbs 10: 1b “But a foolish son is the grief of his mother.”
Proverbs 17:21 “He who begets a scoffer does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.”

Proverbs 29:15b “But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.”

How then can we seek to train our children with confidence?
1- By making our relationship with the Lord our highest priority. As we seek to do this we are modeling true Christianity to our children. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

2- By trusting in God’s word rather than worldly influences. We are accountable to God because He has entrusted us with His creation of children. In Ted Tripp’s book “Shepherding a Child’s Heart”, he reminds us that “As a parent you must exercise authority. You must require obedience of your children because they are called by God to obey and honor you.” Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”


J. Robert Fugate writes in “What the Bible says about Child Training”, “A child learns obedience to parents as a preparation for his obeying God. Parents are the symbol and representative of God’s authority to their children. A child who is required to obey his parents will come to respect their authority and will thus be prepared to submit to other authorities including God’s word.”

Jamie, may God bless you as this third child is added to your family. Let us all remember the great privilege it is to be a mother and to raise up the next generation for Christ. And let us be encouraged by the words of Paul in 2Thessalonians 3:13 “But as for you brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.”

~Theresa
Being Refined as Silver

Our kid’s health is one of all moms’ top priorities. But without knowing the best ways to protect them we find them getting sick more often. During this fast approaching flu season, there are some simple things we can do to keep the germs away.

- Wash hands- wash your little ones hands often, before and after eating, after the bathroom visits, before and after playing, after sneezing, or wiping noses.

- Clean toys with antibacterial cleaner often. I clean mine after other kids come over, whenever my kids are sick or when my husband or I are sick. Toys go into their mouths constantly and are often overlooked as a source of illness. So anytime there is a possibility they are dirty, wipe them clean.

- Clean bedding and lovies often. Pillows, sheets, blankets and lovies are often held close by our little ones. Keeping them clean will keep the flu away and also some common allergens.

- Give daily vitamins. These vitamins not only supplement things that may be missing from their daily diet but will also keep them healthier regularly.

- Keep yourselves and your kids away from others who are sick. We, like most families, have a group of friends who also have kids the same age. During the flu season, there is almost always a kid who is sick. We always tell each other right away when there are symptoms so we can choose not to be around each other when there are sick kids. When I go to work though, I have no choice but to be around others who are sick. When I get home from work I take my shoes off outside, and go straight to the shower, avoiding contact with my kids until I am clean. This can also be applied to anyone. If there is an infant in the house as well as a school aged child, have the older kid shower or change clothes and wash their face and hands when they get home from school before touching any of the other kids.

- Keep your own hands clean. Use plenty of hand sanitizer or wash hands often before touching your kid’s hands, faces, food, toys, bottles or pacifiers. Items that go into your kid’s mouth should be kept as clean as possible. Washing your hands will help.

- Get the flu shot. This year get yourself, your husband and your kids the flu shot. This will help keep the virus at bay throughout the season.

As the cold and flu season approaches think about all these tips and help keep your kids healthy this year.

First off…Jamie thanks for having me at your blog today.

If you don’t know me, my name is Ashley Sisk and I’m the blogger and photographer behind Ramblings and Photos. When Jamie asked me if I’d write a guest post several weeks ago, I couldn’t say no...I just didn’t know what I’d write about. Then it occurred to me that I could share some newborn editing tricks to celebrate the birth of Jamie’s new baby.

Here to help me is Sarah at Loving my Life’s baby Carsyn. She sent me the picture below.

Carsyn is a beautiful baby boy, but babies are not typically born with perfect skin. Much like a teenager, newborns are born with redness and baby acne. Now, I don’t have any problem with a parent that prefers to leave their baby’s skin untouched…but some parents prefer some slight retouching for their baby portraits. For those of you that are in the later camp, I want to introduce you to Coffeeshop Photography’s Baby Powder Room action for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

The Coffeeshop Blog offers a great and easy-to-follow tutorial along with her download, but the key to using this action starts with using a low opacity brush and then lowering your layer opacity. I personally use a 30% opacity brush to paint on the effect and will then typically lower my layer opacities below 50%. I’ve labeled the Tools in the image below that I typically use.

Once you play the action, you’ll want to use a soft white brush to paint ON effects over the black layer mask or use a soft black brush to paint OFF the effect over a white layer mask. With that said, this is the order in which I complete each step.

1. Create duplicate layer on top of background by clicking Ctrl J. On this layer, I use the healing tool to heal the acne around his nose and forehead.
2. On the Red Skin layer, I use the eye dropper to select an area of his skin that I want to replicate (cheeks, forehead, etc). I then use a soft white brush at 30% opacity to paint over his skin. I then lower the opacity to 30% for a natural look.
3. On the Smooth Skin layer, I use a soft white brush at 30% opacity paint over his entire face and then lower the layer opacity to 30%.
4. On the Lighten Skin layer, I use a soft white brush at 30% opacity and paint over the dark areas of his skin. I then lower that layer’s opacity to 50%.
5. On the Skin Glow layer, I use a soft white brush at 30% opacity and paint over his entire face and then lower the layer opacity to 50%.
6. On the Eye Define layer, I use a soft white brush at 30% opacity and paint over his eye lids (this is normally the layer that you’d enhance a baby’s eyes – although I typically use a different tool). Leave this layer’s opacity at 100%.
7. Ignore the bright eyes layer.
8. Create a new LEVELS adjustment layer (click on the little black/white circle in your layers section). Pull the left side to the right until it reaches 12. This will make the background completely black.
9. Merge these layers by clicking Ctrl, Shift, E.
You will get the below effect. You may choose to stop at this point.

I chose to use Amy McMaster’s Apricot Cream action plus a multiply layer at 20% as a finishing touch to this photo before resizing and sharpening.

So, did any of that make sense? I hope so…if not, feel free to ask me any questions. You can find me at:

Have a great day!