That's all, folks... At midnight!

 

     Well, it's here.  The last day of my giveaway.  I must say AGAIN, truly, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the time you took to share and read others' stories. I really think we should gather them up in a book. But thank you all! If you are interested in entering, I need to have all stories posted by tonight.  You can find the original giveaway page HERE. There may be a few gold star questions to finish it off, you never know!

     Midnight is the cutoff.  I will then write your name on as many slips as you have "gold stars".  Then, I will put them all in a basket and have one of my dear students draw a name.  I will post the winner tomorrow night or Friday morning.

In other news...
     Today was an interesting day.  I have been burdened by my students coming in each day and their conversations just continually revolving around celebrities and video games (ones with lots of shooting).  It has affected their concentration, even how they treat teachers and other students.  It exemplifies the verse, "Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks."  What are we filling our minds with?  This includes me. So we talked.  It was a open and honest talk. They talked to me about the shows they watched to just get my opinion on what I thought of them.  My one dear boy confessed that playing video games was affecting his prayer life because he couldn't concentrate on praying.  He just wanted to think about his video games. We decided to challenge ourselves, as a family, to work on these obsessions.  Play games less, avoid television shows or music that are dishonoring to God, and to reduce how much we focus and talk about these things.  So, we came up with the challenge: At lunch, at down time, whenever-what good things can we replace these other conversations with?

My dear boys in their "Book Club".  They are reading The Twenty-one Balloons by William Pène du Bois.  I love that book!

     After lunch, my students came back all excited.  They told me they decided to start book clubs.  They asked me for recommendations of books that had multiple copies.  What I loved was how the boys worked together and how they were the most excited! They even shared how they were encouraging each other.  This is all exciting, but I know it is not an easy fix.  I am asking for prayer that my students (and me!) rely on the Holy Spirit to help them in this area.  Our goal right now is to avoid these topics through Friday.  I know it is a hard task for them.  It is hard for me as well.  But I am scared by how tv, clothing, movies, and video games are desensitizing our children so that as they grow older, the things that are so contrary to God's Will become easier and easier to accept. I just worry. I would love any advice, prayer, scriptures for this adventure.

Thank you, dear friends.  For listening and caring... I love you all!  Have a good evening!

Heather