by Deena C. Bouknight

My 14-year-old son came to me recently and asked me to share my thoughts about the newest “F” word – Facebook. I cringed. I felt my recent birthday shoulder massage losing is effect. My body stiffened.

I’m just not what you might call a “high-tech” sort of person. I know how to use my computer to write and research. I can attach a document to an email. I can print out a photo. That’s about it. I don’t need to do anymore and I don’t want to do anymore. I’m not that old, but I still remember beginning my writing career in college still writing copy out by hand, then typing on an electric typewriter and then transferring the edited copy to a teletype machine that printed out articles on glossy paper that could be glued down onto layout sheets by hand.

I like to hold books and newspapers in my hand, and I like to either look a person in the eyes or hear their voice on a telephone. Call me old fashioned. All this Twitter, Facebook, My Space is happening too fast for me!

My 9-year-old daughter and I recently read “Anne of Green Gables” together. (I highly recommend this as a precious, memorable mother-daughter activity.) When we finished, she said to me one day, while dressed in her Little House on the Prairie dress that my friend made her last year for her birthday, “Momma, I think I was born at the wrong time.” Without her saying another word, I completely understood. “I wish I was alive back then when things were the way they were then,” she added. Read more »

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In our American culture, it’s pretty much expected that teenagers will rebel.

Since the days of James Dean’s most famous role in the 1955 film Rebel without a Cause, popular media has celebrated the teenage rebel. Over fifty years later, our movies, TV shows, magazines and websites are still glorifying the idea of teen rebellion, while at the same time telling teens exactly how to act, think, and talk. –Not only that, but they also tell them what to wear, what to buy, and where to buy it. They even tell them what to dream, what to believe, and what to hate.

In an encouraging turn of events, however, it seems that a growing number of teens are turning the idea of rebellion on its head. Two teens in particular–twin brothers Alex and Brett Harris of Portland, Oregon–have taken a commanding role in what they call the “rebelution,” or a teenage rebellion against the low expectations of an ungodly culture.

These inspiring young men have written a book called Do Hard Things, in which they lead the charge of a growing movement of Christian young people who are rebelling against the low expectations of their culture by choosing to “do hard things” for the glory of God. (They also have a wildly popular blog called TheRebelution.com with over 16 million hits.)

In their blog, they write: “The word ‘rebelution’ is a combination of the words “rebellion” and “revolution.” So it carries a sense of an uprising against social norms. But in this case, it’s not a rebellion against God-established authority, but against the low expectations of our society. It’s a refusal to be defined by our ungodly, rebellious, and apathetic culture. Actually, we like to think of it as rebelling against rebellion.” Read more »

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To hear first-hand why young people like Danny Morales have made the decision to stand up for abstinence in South Carolina, please watch this short video.

To learn more about BTrue, visit WhyBeTrue.com.

Stand with Danny today,
and show your support for Palmetto Family’s BTrue Project.
Thank you.

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by Deena C. Bouknight

Well into the throes of teaching writing and literature at Excelsior one day, a parent walked in between classes and asked me if I would be a guest speaker at the upcoming FACE (Forest Acres Christian Educators) meeting. “Uh … yeah … sure, I guess.” (Something like that came out of my mouth.) The topic of the evening was to be, “What About Me?” She said I was selected because I not only homeschool, but I teach and I write as well.     

After the day and the week settled down (which it never really did, or does – but it’s a nice thought) I began to question why I agreed to be a speaker. Certainly, I do juggle a lot of balls; but don’t we all, as mothers, perform daily feats that, if we really stopped to consider all that we accomplished we would marvel at ourselves? I think we’re kept sprinting from the minute our feet touch the ground in the morning to the moment we drop onto our mattresses in the evening so that we won’t consider all that we complete in a single day and thus, lead us into self adulation and, ultimately, pride.

I only do what God has put on my plate to do and what I feel led to do. I always say that if the Lord isn’t giving me the time and the skill to do it, I won’t take it on. However, for some reason He feels that I can. (“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.”) Because He has given me much more than I deserve, all I can say is, “Thank you Lord. Yes, I can!” –What else am I to say to Him? Read more »

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by Janet Scouten

It’s that time of year again, ladies and gentlemen…Turn-Off the TV Week is upon us.

Shhhh…If you listen very carefully, you can hear the agonized groans of children from all across the land. And if you listen even more carefully, I believe you might just hear the barely suppressed sighs of their parents.

Let’s face it…all of us know that watching TV is not the noblest of human pursuits, yet the overwhelming majority of us indulge in it now and again. And we all know that TV rots children’s brains, but maybe just a little won’t hurt, right? (We hope!)

Well, I’m certainly no expert. –I began this adventure in motherhood saying that my children would never, ever, ever watch TV. And then somehow, I changed my mind a little. I think it was the gentle tones of dear Mister Rogers that first lured me in. I remember snuggling on the couch with my firstborn when he was about three, clicking the remote, and then catching a glimpse of that familiar red trolley on the screen. I kid you not—actual tears came to my eyes when my old friend Fred started singing: It’s such a good feeling to know you’re alive. It’s such a happy feeling—You’re growing inside. And when you wake up ready to say, “I think I’ll make a snappy new day.”

That’s all it took. Suddenly, I realized that there were things about TV from my childhood that I wanted to share with my son. For instance, I really liked talking with him about how old King Friday was not so good at sharing, and how Lady Aberlin sure was nice, and how X the Owl was awfully cranky today.

That’s when I realized that limited TV wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but it probably wasn’t the best thing either. Yes, I could finally grab a shower, knowing that my transfixed boy wouldn’t move an inch while the beloved Mister Rogers was on. But it also meant that maybe I’d let him watch a little longer than I should so I could check my email in peace. –Oh…it was a slippery slope, and I won’t claim not to have slid down it headfirst on a number of occasions. Parenting is hard work! And when something like TV allows you a much-needed break, the temptation can be strong to lean upon it.

That’s where something like Turn-Off the TV Week comes in handy. Turning off that screen—even for a week—really does shake things up in a household. Suddenly, you realize how much you’ve been relying on screen time to make your day a little smoother. But after a few days of twitching and crying (mostly from the children, but a little from the grownups, too), you realize that your family is actually pretty creative. You realize that you like the members of your family. Whether it is playing board games together or just horsing around in the backyard, turning off the TV demands that you come up with something else to do. And, usually, it’s pretty fun.

Read more »

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by Janet Scouten

I have a confession to make: For about five years when my boys were very little, I didn’t watch the news once, nor did I read beyond the headlines of a single newspaper. I was simply caught up in the day-to-day, slogging-it-out reality that is motherhood. And I just had to trust that the world at-large would keep spinning without my help.

Now, I do remember being vaguely aware of elections and wars and natural disasters, but if they weren’t running through my living room wearing a dirty diaper, I’m afraid I didn’t pay much attention to the details. But then–one day–I woke up to a reality in which both of my boys were weaned, potty-trained, and capable of getting dressed on their own (so long as I didn’t mind them putting their shirts on backwards or wearing a superhero cape every day).

It was a whole new world. And it’s not that I wasn’t needed in this new world, but it did mean that—for the first time in years—I actually had a moment to myself.

That’s when I started noticing the world outside my door. That’s when I realized it was time to start expanding the boundaries of my life. At first, those boundaries only shifted slightly. At first, it just meant tending more to the needs of our family friends and participating more in the work of my church. But, finally, it meant getting into the political realm, and realizing that the decisions made in the halls of power actually do impact families. Families like mine. Families like yours. And families like Melanie Moulder’s.

Who is Melanie Moulder?, you ask. Well, up until last week she was a woman I’d never heard of. And probably no one outside of her family and friends had ever heard of her either. She was just a wife and mother, living her life as best she could, just like you and me.

But this week, Melanie Moulder expanded the boundaries of her life in a way that will have a real impact on this state. And, unlike many of us who will slowly ease our way back from the (relatively) quiet life of motherhood into the world at-large, step-by-step, Melanie Moulder took one giant leap. Read more »

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