God's Design:

So, two things on my mind and heart in the past weeks. I'm pregnant. And I've also inherited a pseudo-mama-bear role for 35 teenagers. So on two fronts I'm thinking and meditating on God's design for sex and sexuality, purity and integrity, the pregnancy and birth process and the dating and marriage process.

My babes are fascinated by my belly and are asking "when I was a baby?" type questions. It's been so fun to tell them stories about when they were "babies". Like how Kennady would NOT sit down in her high chair, so Bryson would holler "'Poon! 'Poon!" (for spoon -- aka: rod of correction) and for her to hear our theory of why we think Jesus gave Kennabear her Brown Eyes (because Mommy ate so much "chyockyate" when she was in my tummy. And how Kev cried like a pterydactyl (sp?) when he was a newborn. So we've been to the library and checked out books about a new baby sibling that's living inside my belly, but will be coming to live with us in June.

We ordered a book from Amazon called "The Story of Me " and it's BOOK 1 from a 4-Part GOD'S DESIGN FOR SEX series. This book is for ages 3-5 and introduces the basics. It lays the spiritual foundation for the child's understanding of sexuality and how God loves the human body and called it "very good" and that our bodies and our sex organs are gifts from God.

What I liked about the book was that it is a dialogue between a boy and his parents, sittin' down for a chat on their couch and he's asking questions... "Tell me the story of me!" he says. And the parents tell him how God took "a piece of Mommy and a piece of Daddy" and made him. That his Mom pushed him through the birth canal (with proper anatomical verbage) and how his sister was born when the doctor opened Mommy's belly to take her out.

It covers breast milk and the umbilical cord and then, which is really cool, it also introduces the fact that "Not all hugs and kisses are good... If you don't want to share a kiss or a hug or a touch with someone, you don't have to. God does not want anyone to take love from you that you don't want to share."

We've been talking to the kids about good touch/bad touch a lot lately. At bathtimes especially. I really liked how the authors worded it. This book backs up what we've been teaching our kids already. And so I'm sure we'll take our kids through the whole series and take a pro-active approach in showing them God's best in a culture that has tainted and perverted and counterfeited sex and sexuality. We want them to hear the truth from us before they hear the lies of the world.

Anyway, if you have kids ages 3 - 14, there's a book in this series to assist you in having this essential (but maybe awkward) "talk." Check it out!