Our Children's Purity

We were pregnant with our fourth child (and second daughter), CJ, our oldest was 8 years old and Heidi-Mari (now 14 years and 7 months) was only 5 years old when we were first introduced to the concept of giving our children a “visual binder” to purity before marriage.  

Both Christo and I grew up being allowed to date and have relationships from a young age, but by God’s grace we were preserved for each other, and only shared everything on our wedding night. As we grew in our marriage relationship over the following years, we could only thank the Lord for his grace on both our lives for being pure on the day of our wedding, not having the baggage from other serious/s3xual relationships.

Needless to say, when we heard a Godly, homeschooling family from America and visiting South Africa, sharing their tradition of giving a silver ring as visual binder to their four children at a young age to remind them of purity before marriage, we were captivated by the idea. 

A few months later the couple sent us a VHS series on the book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, by Joshua Harris. We were sold on the idea, got the book, and as a result the Silver Ring Thing program started in South Africa under the protection of Walk Thru The Bible.  The Silver Ring Thing program, through live events, promotes abstinence until marriage centered in a relationship with Jesus. One specific scene that I will never forget, debunk the myth that having s3x has no consequences, by highlighting the emotional risk of giving your heart to too many people. 

The scene starts when the team leader selects three young women from the audience to join him onstage.  One young man comes out on stage and he is given two pieces of plywood that, when held together, form a red heart. 

The team leader tells him that he is going to go on a date with each young woman. With each one they take things a little too far, and eventually break up. Then the team leader returns to the stage wearing an industrial apron, a mask and carrying a chain saw.  Placing half of the plywood heart in a vise grip, he saw out a part of the heart every time the young man breaks up with a girl. 

He proceeds to saws it into three pieces, which he then burns in a flaming barrel.  He gives the destroyed piece of the young man’s heart to each of the ex-girlfriends, and the young man is left with his destroyed heart. This young man will bring that destroyed half a heart to his bride one day.  

In the same way, the ex-girlfriends’ will also bring their destroyed half a heart to their bridegroom and the destroyed pieces of their ex-boyfriends’ hearts.  Talking about baggage!

With this knowledge imprinted into our hearts and minds we (Christo and I) raise our children, with a passion to serve the Lord and wait on the Lord; for the partner He has in mind for each one of them. We never gave them a special ring, but a few days ago a dear friend of mine, Marie Lawson, posted a very special story on her facebook, which I want to share with you. 

This story was originally written by Sarah Kistler. For me this story summarized the overall vision we want to share with our children. 

"Sweet 16 had finally come! I never thought I‘d make it. But I did. And it was amazing. My parents threw the birthday party of the century, and I had more people than I could count. The whole day had been awesome. But as I watched the sun begin to set, I knew the best part was soon to come.

It was late in the evening. Confetti had been swept up, helium balloons had started to sag and gift wrap had been folded neatly and tucked away for my mom's later use. As I sat at my window studying the dusky sky, Dad peeked into my room with a smile. 

"Ready to go, Sweetie?" he asked. 

Was that a trick question? I wondered as I scrambled to my feet. I'd been waiting for this night for five long years, and it was finally here! I was now officially allowed to date! 

The plan was for my parents and me to go to my favorite restaurant on the night of my 16th birthday and officiate the agreement, go over standards and discuss rules and such. And now we were finally on our way. 

I sat across from my parents in a quiet corner booth. Having just placed our orders, I figured it was time to get on with it. "So. I can go out with any guy I want to, right?" I squealed, hardly able to contain my excitement.
Mom and Dad chuckled. Dad answered, "Well, we agreed to that, didn't we?" 

"Sweet!" I exclaimed, doing a little victory dance in my seat. My parents had held me off for years, but now that the time had come, they would let me date any guy I wanted! Of course they knew I had a good relationship with God and wasn't too short on common sense, either. 

"Now wait just a second," Mom interrupted with a smile. "You have to agree to a little something yourself." 

I was expecting a lecture of some sort, so I was already prepared. "So what do I have to do now?" I asked, leaning forward on my elbows. 

"Just open this," Dad answered, producing a small white box. He gave a mysterious smile.  

One Little Rule
I hesitated a moment before untying the curly pink ribbon. I slowly opened the lid and saw a beautiful silver bracelet. But not just any bracelet. It was a charm bracelet. And they weren't just any charms. 

Image

They were gemstones, small but gorgeous. A dozen dainty charms dangled gently. 

"Wow." I didn't know what else to say. I wasn't expecting this at all. 

"Now you have to understand this isn't just any bracelet," Mom informed me. 

"I know," I said. "It's so beautiful!" I studied it closer. There were six small charms alternating with six tinier ones. The smaller ones were a deep blue. Sapphires, I guessed. And the other six were each different. One appeared to be just a rock, one was pink, a white one, a red one, green . . . and was that a diamond? 

"This charm bracelet is symbolic," Dad explained, leaning in closer to study it with me. "It represents you and your purity. This is what will guide you through your dating relationships. Your mother and I can only tell you what's right. We can't make you believe it yourself. Hopefully, this will." 

I looked up solemnly. "I'm listening." 

"This represents the first time you hold a guy's hand," Mom said, pointing to the gray one. "It's just a piece of polished granite. Seemingly cheap, yes, but it's still a part of your bracelet. This is pink quartz." She gently rubbed the next one between her fingers. "It represents your first kiss." 

"This green one is an emerald," Dad continued. "This is your first boyfriend. The pearl is the first time you say ‘I love you' to a man other than me." 

I giggled. This was so amazing. 

"The ruby stands for your first engagement. And the diamond represents the first time you say ‘I do,' " Mom finished. 

After letting it all sink in, I cleared my emotion-clogged throat. "What do the six tiny sapphires stand for?" I asked. 

"Those are to remind you how beautiful and valuable you are to us and to God," Dad replied. "Now here's the hitch in all this, the one and only rule you'll ever have to follow when it comes to dating." 

Only one rule. Sounded good. But little did I know . . . 

"Whenever you give one these actions of love-a kiss, an ‘I love you,' a hand to hold-you also have to give the recipient the gem to match." 

I must've misunderstood. "I have to give him the gem?" 

"You have to give it to him," Mom restated. 

I was silent for a moment. I thought they must be joking. But they weren't even thinking of cracking a smile. 

"But Daddy!" I suddenly shrieked. "These are insanely expensive! I can't just give them away!" 

He gave a soft, loving chuckle. "Did you hear what you just said?" 

I thought about it. 

"Baby, your purity, your heart, they're far more valuable than a few little rocks. If you can't find it in your heart to give away your little charms, I don't think you should be giving away the things they represent." 

I could feel my insides melting, ready to gush out my tear ducts. On the one hand, it made me feel valuable and precious. But on the other, it made me furious. It made no sense. But it would. 

Priceless Gems
A few weeks after that night, I was hanging out with my friends at the beach. Chad wouldn't swim because I wouldn't swim. I was more interested in reading than getting caked with sand, and he was more interested in sitting with me than swimming with his buddies. He was sweet. He was cute. And he tried to hold my hand. 

I was thrilled for a nanosecond when a certain piece of ugly granite flashed through my mind and made me move out of his reach. I was severely annoyed-annoyed at my parents, annoyed at my bracelet-turned-handcuffs, but most of all, annoyed at myself. I was letting a little rock dominate my romantic life. 

I furiously glared at it during the whole embarrassing walk to the bathhouse. But then God hit me upside the head with a shocking epiphany. I couldn't give up my little chunk of granite. It was a part of my bracelet, which in a sense made it a part of me. I wouldn't be whole without it. It wasn't a priceless gem, yet it was still valuable. It made sense after that. 

Kevin came along eventually. We had fun. We hung out a lot. I thought I might love him. I thought I might tell him so. I thought of my pearl. It turned out that I didn't love him as much as I thought I did. 

So my parents had been right. They couldn't make me believe the things they wanted me to believe. So they let God and my bracelet do the work instead. Among the four of them, I figured out how valuable I was. How valuable my purity was. How not valuable guys were who just wasted my time and emotions. If they weren't in it for the whole bracelet, why should they get one part of it? 

Nate. He thought my bracelet was awesome. So he never tried to hold my hand. He never tried to kiss me. But he asked me to marry him. 

I never knew that so many years of torture could amount to so much happiness. I'd thought it was silly. I'd thought it was overrated. But now, I‘ve never been more glad of anything in my life. As I gave my husband the charm bracelet in its entirety, I wondered why I had found it so hard to hang on to those little rocks when it was so amazing to give them all to the man I truly loved. 

But it didn't end there. Now our daughter wears it.”

Guess who I’m going to visit this coming week?  A Jeweler... 

With much love

Linnie

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: 

that you should abstain from sexual immorality;

that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel 

in sanctification and honor,"

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 

Moving Forward!

An imperfect human being, rotten to the core!

That is me!  I have still so many personal issues to sort out. I’m impatient, get angry easily and from time to time have a bad attitude.  I’m very easily distracted and my house is more often than not in a mess.  I can write in the dust on my furniture, things easily loose their places, lay around and clutter is an unwanted guest in almost every room!  To top it all, I take on projects I don’t have time for, and therefore buckle under my own dead lines.  In this season of my life I don’t practice hospitality as much as I would like to! My children throw tantrums, complain over chores and bicker between each other, due to my high pace lifestyle and impatient personality…!

Most of the time I’m sober minded about my circumstances and personality, knowing this is a season, but then once in a while the ‘comparing monster’ jumps on me and blows my circumstances and personality to pieces in my mind and I hit the bottom of a well! During the past week, I read about extremely well organized and self controlled mothers with their well groomed families and experienced guilt, hopelessness, worthlessness, the list went on and on!  If only I could parent like that, organize my house like that, be more patient, homeschool more effectively, have more time for hospitality

My dear husband who always gives me perspective on days like these, was out of town, and I longed to have a long heart to heart talk with one of my mentors in Mothering and ask her advice. What is my #1 mistake, how can I change this, where must I start? But I soon realized, I didn’t need to ask, I already knew the answer.  

She (as well as my husband!) would answer, “It is not important - get over it! Stop comparing yourself!”  What is important is where am I in my journey to maturity, am I growing in Godly character and am I becoming more holy!  Yes, that is what it is all about.  Where I’m coming from is history! I can do nothing about yesterday.  But God do expect from me to trust Him for tomorrow and put on the New woMan!

How am I doing in becoming a new woMan? Am I allowing God to work perfection and completion in me through my trials, sinful nature and weaknesses? Am I moving forward in maturity, growing in character and becoming more holy every day?

Yesterday is over and done!  But I can trust God for a new today!  Trust God to work in me and transform me, that one day I would patiently work without anger, impatience and bad attitudes.  One day I might even be able to de-clutter and organize my home. Faithfully dust my furniture.  I do trust one day I will be able to manage my time wisely and finish my projects, without unrealistic dead lines.  One day, hopefully soon, my children will be without discontentment and bickering, through my Godly example and faithful training.

And if the Lord in His wisdom didn’t give me the gift of organizing I will be content.  You might walk into my home and I’ll need to quickly pick up toys.  

Please be patient with me - I’m still working on my issues, you might pass me in the supermarket, and witness me lacking the fruit of the spirit.  Because my children and I are sinful human beings, you might find us in a selfish act. 

In all of this I will rejoice in the Lord, He promised He will never leave me, nor forsake me and surely will in me to move forward!  I will choose to have grace on myself. He that started the good work in me will finish it.

And so that night I went to bed, humbled before my God, repenting from my sin of discontentment and self-pity and with an expectation to let myself be more Spirit filled and led by the Spirit! But life is hard! That night Michael woke up almost every hour and I didn’t get much sleep and overslept the next morning!  What a way to start my new day!

But oh, God is faithful! As I opened my eyes, the sun shined through the curtains with a brightness unknown for a winter morning in the Cape! Let me interrupt myself for a second.  We live in the most beautiful part of South Africa, but currently it is winter here and in the Cape of Good Hope winters means rain and mist!  If it isn’t raining, the mist will hover until noon!

This day was totally different, and may I add, it was forecast to be a rainy day! The day looked fresh and new, no sign of clouds or mist. It was calling me to take everything out of it, as much as I possibly could!

Immediately I knew this was a special gift from the Lord to me, almost like a token to show me, his grace is new and fresh every morning! Even though Satan may want me to believe it is hopeless to be become a new woMan!  God has grace on me, but I must make His grace mine and pass it on to my children.  

So to say YES to His grace, and determined to extend His grace to my children, I decided to take my children out into nature and enjoy the beauty of the day! 

Since we are studying farm animals I searched for a place where the little ones could have a farm experience, but I couldn’t find any and we settled for the Tygerberg Zoo, only 20 minutes from us.  CJ, Heidi-Mari and I visited the zoo, 12 years ago. With great anticipation we packed lunch and was on our way!

What a blessed day!  Normally planning for a picnic lunch for 9-10 people puts huge stress on me and makes me freak out, even before we leave home!  But there was a quietness in my soul.  I put the expectation I had of a perfect picnic lunch with all the right food out of my mind, and just made do with what we had. 

What a great picnic we had!  Dressing all the little children and be on our way by a certain time, is another mission!  Even that ran smoothly.  The reason, I let God! I put my agenda aside and asked God what he wanted to be done.  God is concerned about the little people in my home!  

What a privilege to have my day filled with the people nearest to God’s heart - children!  

In my drivenness I often miss my children and God’s heart. 

That morning I was so aware of my children's souls and God’s heart!  Through the day, I enjoyed each of my children’s emotions and actions!  Being a homeschooling Mom of many children I’ve always been sensitive to my children, it is my job! But God renewed me during that night!  

There was something new to my awareness!  

There was also something new to the way I talked to my children, the way I disciplined my children, the way I take them in account when asking them to do something, the way I could laugh with them and enjoy the day to the full!

Yes, I’m an imperfect human being, rotten to the core, so aware of all my sinfulness and selfishness, but oh, so open to God’s grace and interference, His teachings, His truths and His overflowing love for me and my children!

Thank you Lord! 

With love

Linnie   

"I will be confident of this, that He who began a good work in me, 

will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." 

Phil 1:6 

This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more.  You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page.   In the meantime, please feel free to browse through the links on this page to some awesome South African home school blogs!

The Year of Rebuilding Relationships!

“Every wise woman buildeth her house: 

but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”

Prov. 14:1

I’m at a dead end in the relationship with one of my children.  We are sooooo the same, but also sooooo different.  

And as I’m mourning the loss of a close relationship, I’m crying out to my God!  My God who knows me better than I know myself.  My God who made me, and also made my child.  My God who loves me just as I am - unconditionally, and who also loves my child unconditionally.  My God who gave me weak points with a reason, who also gave my child weak points with a reason.  

My God who gave me a hope, a future, a purpose in life, also to my child a hope, future and purpose!

And as I pondered this, I realized I’m a foolish woman.  I’m breaking down my home with my own hands!  

Oh, Lord please forgive me, I want to be a wise woman, a woman who builds her home!  I’m daily sacrificing time to be a wise woman, I cannot allow the enemy of mine and my children's’ souls to tempt me into breaking down the relationships in my home!

And while we are at the dawn of 2011, I will give a name to this year.  

I will name this year Rebuilding!  

Rebuilding Relationships!

I’m so much a goal oriented person and often put goals before relationships.  This year I will make relationships my goal.

When I picture relationships, I’m seeing a blanket.  For me a strong relationship is like an oversized big, warm blanket.  With an oversized big, warm blanket around my shoulders, I’m able to survive the storms of life, but when there are holes in my blanket due to damaged relationships, I will not survive.  The wind will blow through the holes and I will not be able to keep the blanket in one piece. 

What kind of blanket am I for my children, for my husband?

Am I an oversized big, warm blanket who protect my love ones against the storms of life.  Do I repair the holes in my blanket formed by our sinful nature, unrealistic expectations and selfishness, immediately?  Or do I allow the storms of life to enlarge the holes until eventually it is beyond repair?

Over the past year I’ve allowed my blanket to be ripped to pieces...  but I will not be in despair.  

This year I will, by the grace of God repair my blanket and at the end God will make it new!

I will print out the name of 2011 and put it everywhere in my home, for me to see, to ponder on, to overcome!

I’m going to be a wise woman - who builds her home through rebuilding the relationships in her home!

Some days I will fail, but I will not be a failure, because I’m able to do anything, through God who give me strength!  Every new day I will start again, and by God’s grace I will rebuild my relationship with my child!

But I know for this to happen I need to firstly rebuild my relationship with God.  Oh, how I long to rebuild my relationship with God.  Just be with my God, like Mary. Stop trying to impress God, stop being Martha.  So I will start with rebuilding my relationship with God, and then the other relationships will follow.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Matt 6:33

Dear God please guide me this year in rebuilding my relationships.  

Please, make me strong to stay away from the temptation to rush for the goal and missed out on the relationship, even damaging the relationship.

Please make me an overcomer in rebuilding relationships!

In Jesus Name

Amen.

I wrote this posting after I’ve been challenged at A Holy Experience to name the year, the same day I thought I’ve lost all hope in repairing the relationship with my child.

You can read more about name the year here.

With love

Linnie 

Two Clear Round Rosettes for Josua!

On Sunday Josua participated in his second horse jumping show. Oh, he was looking forward to this for weeks and then he became nervous and stressed out!

We are used to CJ's calm-nothing-worries-me attitude during competitions - very much like Christo. But Josua has a completely different personality, very much like me.

I remember the days when I participated in piano exams. Eish! It was a nightmare every time; I worried, feared the worst, stressed and very often had a negative experience. I can see some (OK, a lot) of these emotions in Josua, but praise the Lord, he has Christo as dad, for some balance. Calm and composed he guided Josua through the competition and with brother CJ by his side, it was such a positive event and an opportunity for Josua to mature in his personality.

Josua participated in the 40cm jump and the 50cm fancy-dress jump.

CJ was beside Josua all the way. He helped him to mount his horse - Helmut and he walked Helmut before the show, so he wouldn’t be too ‘fresh’ on the course and start to run.

and he led Josua and Helmut, twice through the course!

Poor CJ was exhausted, running next to Helmut and went over all eight jumps (twice) with Josua and Helmut! That’s besides the other two times he led inexperienced or first jumpers! Thank you CJ!







Great was the joy, when they had clear rounds in both jumps and he got his first two rosettes for clear rounds!

He also received a 4th place-rosette in the Fancy-dress competition for being dressed like Zorro. Helmut didn’t mind Josua wearing the black cloak (something Josua feared may upset Helmut). By the way, it was Helmut’s first show ever…

What a joyful day for my son! He has so much confidence now; he is already planning his next jumping show!

Who is Influencing Our Children?

Heidi-Mari and Danika both started ballet at the Colleen William’s Ballet School at a very early age.











Heidi-Mari started when she was 5years old, once a week and the last two years, twice a week. We saw her love for ballet increase over the past few years, as well as an improvement in her self discipline and posture. Ballet is her whole life. She will dance through her chores, practice some bar exercises while she’s making salad and try a new dance routine whenever she has a free moment.

Needless to say, little Danika is literally dancing in her sister’s footsteps. Colleen only takes little girls after they turn 4years, but Danika started her ballet classes 3 months before her 4th birthday. You see, Danika grew up in front of Colleen. At the end of every quarter, Colleen invites the parents to watch the progress of the ballerinas and every time our whole family goes to watch Heidi-Mari. Danika was six weeks old when she attended the first parent’s open day. Thus Colleen knew little Danika, and I think Colleen too, couldn’t wait to see Danika start ballet. Three months before her 4th birthday, we dressed her in a ballet dress and after one of Heidi-Mari’s classes she walked up to Colleen and asked her if she could please start ballet classes. You could literally see how Colleen’s face softened and her heart crumbled with the sincere request from the little girl. Without hesitation she said yes and Danika started her ballet classes the next week.

During last week’s parents' open day, I was amazed to see the level at which these little girls perform their ballet.

Three weeks ago, the Durbanville Primary School asked Colleen if one or two of her ballet classes would perform an item in their annual concert. Heidi-Mari’s class was one of the classes that Colleen chose. I love to make ballet costumes and this costume was very easy.

The week of the concert was typical Cape Winter weather, with rain and a stormy, ice cold wind. We wouldn’t be able to attend the concert (under normal circumstances, it is already a challenge to attend a concert with little ones) even if we wanted to.

But we did manage to see the concert dance, when Colleen let the girls perform the item at the parents' open day.

Colleen Williams is one of the rare women I want to have an influence on my daughters. She is steady, strong in character and has a unique, positive influence on the girls.
She has a way of introducing ballet to little girls that makes them just fall in love with ballet.

In every ballet class the girls enter a fantasy world, being a little princess or a tin soldier, a jack in the box or a straight colorful pencil, an animal or a flower. And through their imaginations, Colleen introduces the fine art of ballet, good posture and self discipline.

She has the gentlest way of talking to and teaching these little girls. Even when correcting them, they don’t even realize they are being corrected.

But I’m especially thankful for the beautiful, feminine example Colleen is to Heidi-Mari, who is entering the season of beautiful girlhood transforming into beautiful womanhood. Colleen is an example of a true lady, someone with strong character. She is always the same, a lady with integrity. She always reminds the girls, when something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. She expects punctuality for classes and values regular attendance of classes. It may sound strange to highlight these traits and you might think (as I do) it is kind of expected and obvious. But believe me, being around the girls and mothers in the ballet school, it is scary to notice, how the girls and their mothers, don’t value these character traits anymore. Mothers don’t model it to their daughters. The mothers don’t pay attention; they don’t want to sacrifice time and effort and always choose the easiest way out.

With our boys it is even more difficult to find people with upright character and integrity to influence them as real men of God. The world of children is dominated by feminism. The other day we heard how impressed a mother was that her boy of eight is now receiving rugby coaching from a lady. Where are the men?? We need real men to speak manhood into the lives of our boys! When our sons are exposed to the influence of women, 24 hours a day, we promote ungodly feminism in our sons! And we have to be aware of this from a very early age.

Between the age of 18 months and 3 years little boys need the company of male figures – their dads and brothers, if they have brothers - so they can start to associate themselves with men and know they are different from women. It is during this age that dad has to take on more responsibilities and spend more time with his sons. In our home it is normally at that age that a new baby arrives and dad just has to take over more care of the second youngest.

At the age of about 13 years, there is another distinct shift of authority over the young man. During that age, our sons need to see their mother as a woman who needs love and respect – the wife of his father. He needs to have respect for a woman so he can love, respect and take care of his own wife one day. It is easier for the young man to make this mind shift, when his dad takes over the authority over his son and his mother takes the position of Dad’s wife. We have experienced it numerous times with CJ (who is now 15years old). When I try to exercise authority or control over CJ (unfortunately it is more difficult for me to make the mind shift than for CJ) I can immediately see a change in his respect for me as a woman. When I stand back and let Christo handle times of discipline or dispute, my son keeps his soft attitude towards me and I assist in the culturing of the right attitude towards his future wife. Thus I allow him to associate with the real man in his life.

Then we have to seek strong men, other than dad, who will have positions of authority, teaching and influence on our sons’ lives. In today’s (feminist dominated) world, especially in teaching positions, we need to make sure, our sons (of all ages) are exposed to real men. Men with integrity and strong character. No wimps! Men who have a solid conviction of what is right, men who are not afraid to make a decision and take responsibility for their decisions, men who don’t mind working hard and getting their hands get dirty, men who stand strong against temptations like lust, pornography and the love of money, men of courage, who will sacrifice for their loved ones.

Praise the Lord for such strong men in CJ and Josua’s lives, through the horse riding school. These men have a much bigger influence on my boys than they ever know and we are so thankful for their presence in their lives. The horse riding school is owned by a hard working vet with integrity and strong character. Then there is one special family who helps sponsor Silverball’s lease, who are always ready to take CJ along to events and who model generosity – a family who cares and whose decisions aren’t defined by what they can get out of something, before doing good.

Character and integrity aren't very high on the priority list in today’s culture and I think parents often don’t evaluate the character and integrity of the people that have an influence on their children’s lives. Maybe people lack these traits because they weren't modeled to them when they were younger and they have become a forgotten virtues. They belongs to the ancient past, when things were a lot slower. In today’s culture it is the survival of the fittest that counts. The one with the most toys wins!

Christo and I would rather let our children go without certain extramural activities and the skills they would learn, than expose them to people with weak character and low integrity. The same applies for the kind of friends our children are choosing. It may sound harsh and short sighted, but Christo and I always have to remind ourselves: God keeps us, parents, responsible for the bringing up of our children. We have to make sure we expose them to the right people.

“Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’”
1 Co 15:33