Pastor Bonnie's Notes

If you have a school-age child, no doubt he has been on the computer today, maybe in the last few hours. He may even be on it now. Do you know what websites your child is visiting?

There are a lot of parental control programs available to parents. But I would highly recommend “Noah’s Internet” from the National Center for Biblical Parenting. Noah’s Internet is an Internet Safety Browser for children up to twelve years of age.

Why do I like this program? While many "control programs" try to filter out bad sites, there is such a rapid increase of unacceptable sites that it is hard for filtering software to keep up.

Noah's Internet is different. It includes about 10,000 pre-approved sites. Parents may easily add others of their choice. The program has a child-friendly interface for safe exploration of the web. It also has parental control panels that you can access from any computer.

One of the most fun parts of Noah's Internet is Noah himself. He can read your children’s email to them, speak encouraging words, and remind them about chores, Bible trivia, or notes from parents.

Language filters protect your children from giving out their personal information, name, phone number, or home address. This program can work on all of your computers for $39 a year.

Protect your kids and at the same time use a program that will allow you to interact with your kids while they are on the internet. For more details on Noah's Internet, visit their website.

Posted by Webminister at 07:25 AM | Permalink

I loved our last snowstorm! I was knee-deep in the backyard making a snowman with my grandson, Luke. I’m not sure if it was more fun building the snowman or throwing snow at each other and tripping each other to fall over. When the snowman was completed, we decided to color it. So we took green food coloring- mixed it with water in a spray bottles and colored the snowman green.

Actually we got a little carried away and the back yard began to look like summer. We laughed hard. We played hard. We were having our own party--our own celebration. And I think snow is all about celebrating!

We were celebrating fun. We were celebrating God’s gift of creation in the snow. We were celebrating the gift of family.

And to think I almost said to my grandson, “Honey I’m going to sit here by the warm fire place, and I’ll watch you play through the window.” I am so glad I didn’t miss out on the celebration.

How easy it is to let our comfort or our long “to do” list rule our days. When we put everything aside to love our kids, they sense their value to us and ultimately to their heavenly Father. I encourage you to find some time to celebrate with your kids. You don’t need a holiday--celebrate the snow--or even a cup of hot chocolate together by the fireplace. Don’t miss today’s chance for a celebration.

Praying for the celebration of your children,

Bonnie

Posted by Webminister at 08:02 AM | Permalink