AWANA

      My biggest weakness as a parent, wife, friend, and member of the human race is inconsistency.  Many times I have great plans but completely fail in following through with them.  (insert rant on living with ADHD)  For the most part I have come to accept that this is just something I have to deal with and try not to be too hard on myself.  However, when it comes to parenting the price of inconsistency can be very high and the guilt of knowing what you should do and just not being able to do it can be overwhelming.  That is why programs like scouts and AWANA are so important to me.  They provide the structure and accountability, I need to help me be the parent I want to be.
      AWANA stands for Approved Warriors Are Not Afraid.  It is a children's bible memory program that is put on by many churches.  My oldest 2 kids started participating in it when we were still in Texas.  When we moved to Oregon, finding a church with an AWANA program was very important to me.  I believe that programs like this are instrumental in creating a strong foundation for a child to grow in their faith.
     Of course you don't have to have a program like this to give your kids a good foundation.  You could discuss scripture at the dinner table and have weekly family memory verses.  I know families who do this very consistently and successfully.  Unfortunately, I can't seem to be consistent without a program for accountability so this works very well for my family.  Baylor University did a study of AWANA alumni and found that "Church attendance – 92.7 percent of Awana alumni continue to regularly attend church as adults,".  Considering how many kids drop out of church after high school, I think these numbers are significant.

John & Keturah getting awards for completing their books this year.