Yesterday was an incredible day for the Jeub family. Wendy managed two shifts of children at a local NSF-approved kitchen to grind and prep about 1000 pounds of pork that was donated to us and our ministry. Wow, what a blessing. So glad we’re not Jewish. Wendy started at 7:30 a.m. and finished up at 10:00 p.m.

I wasn’t sitting around, either. I was in the office all day with our web developer to add features for customers of Blue Book Report, an online academic debate site. I also wrapped up Monument Publishing’s most ambitious publishing project: the Ironman Curriculum: a 330 curriculum that teaches every aspect of debate. We are three weeks ahead of schedule getting it out: it’ll ship Monday and Tuesday to eager coaches.

We work our tails off. It is a marvel to most, and we think it is “marvelous.” Though the economy is tanking, we continue to have more work to do that most can even fathom. We pondered a few things last night:

1. “Work” for the family is “our” work. Though Wendy and I were in totally different places doing totally different things, they were both just as important for the family. Putting up a couple hundred bags of ground pork is just as important as building the publishing business that brings home income. Wendy never asked me to take the day off to help her, and I never ask her to hang up being a mom so she can come into the office to do the “important” work. We’re both working for the family.
2. We know when to rest. Though yesterday wasn’t one of those days, we are caught resting quite a bit. There is a difference between “rest” and “slothfulness.” I seldom sleep in past 6 am, and Wendy hardly ever goes to bed before 11. We hardly ever waste a minute, and taking a long nap on a Sunday afternoon is a fantastic use of time. We’re kinda looking forward to that this afternoon.
3. We love to work. I think everyone should work hard, even the unemployed. In my opinion, if lowering the minimum wage will decrease the amount of unemployment (which it would), I say go for it. Why? Because people need to work, even if it is a temporary fix. And work is good.

It was after 10 when we arrived home last night. The kids went straight to bed after prayers, and we were quick to follow. We laid in bed and talked about the good, hard work that we finished. It is exciting to see so much pork put up, and such a ground-breaking product hit the shelves–and so far ahead of schedule at that.

Ironman Curriculum: Teach speech & debate in 12 weeks.

I saw a bear this morning. Every morning I walk the dog to the creek. Fresh cup of coffee in hand, sun not yet up over the ridge, cool mountain air. A perfect morning to stroll down the hill. Low and behold, a big brown bear was walking up the hill to greet Brownie and me. It was 50 yards away.

Fear leaped into my throat, but I didn’t run. Instead, I pulled out my phone and recorded the bear. I could tell it was spooked, more afraid of me than me of it, a non-aggressive bear more interested in trash than male flesh. Instead of running, I recorded it on my camera.

Should I have run? Judge me if you want, but I was thoroughly enjoying this morning’s walk.

I returned to my porch (everyone’s still asleep at 6:00 am). I recorded some more, my heart pounding, watching this big brown bear run around in the brush oak behind our shed. The dog by then caught scent and barked off the bear. The excitement was over.

Now here’s the cool part of my morning. I cracked open my Bible for a morning devotional. Psalm 2 was queued up on my Bible Gateway software:

“Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.”

Okay, God. You’ve got my attention. What are you showing me?

Granted, I’m not in rural Alaska and that bear was not a Kodiak or grizzly. But I had a fear and trembling in me when I saw that bear. Not the kind that causes you to turn and flee, but more of a hunter fear, the trembling “buck fever” that shoots through you when you meet the wild face-to-face. And within the trembling, I admit: I find joy. It is thrilling, unsafe, dangerous.

There are plenty of verses that speak of refuge and harbor, “deliver me from evil,” including danger. God didn’t have me turn to those verses this morning. Come to think of it, I seldom have conviction to pray for danger to go away. It has been to engage it and overcome it, a challenge to be met. Life happens, and when risk happens to greet me in my path, I actually enjoy the encounter.

My business right now requires some big decisions to be made. Wendy and I have huge plans in the next month. Our children–all 15 of them–have individual needs to be met. So little time, so little direction, and I feel like I’m making up things as I go. Risk and uncertainty is everywhere, and if I’m not careful, fear could cripple me. It could rob me of joy.

How should I continue through the challenges of life God has in front of me?

Answer: continue to serve. Serve my wife, my children, the families in ministry and business. And serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Cynthia and Lydia as a Debate Team

I just published an article on our corporate blog at Monument Publishing, “‘Dominant Design’ for Home Education” (read it here). It’s an attempt to explain just how important we believe speech and debate is for home educators.

There is a reason we knock ourselves out every year going to tournaments and competing every chance we get. It isn’t to wear ourselves out. It is because we believe the activity teaches our children more than any textbook or lesson plan can come close.

I write and publish curriculum for the homeschool speech and debate community, but I’ve not coached a club for three years. We’re going back to coaching with a new club here in Monument: Monumentum. Cool name, eh?

See the Monumentum Club Webpage Here

Monumentum has three teachers on staff (I’m one of them) and will be following the Ironman Curriculum in the fall. We’ll be hosting our own tournament in November and prepping for competition throughout the year.

Read the article I posted minutes ago. If you are able to make it to our Colorado Conference in August, there are still available slots (see here). If you and your family make the commitment to do speech and debate, you will not regret it. I have yet to hear of anyone who does.

Get the Study Guide free when ordering the book.

A couple years ago we published a very nice 48-page study guide to accompany our Love in the House book. It is now available in Published Digital Format (PDF) for free when you order the book (and the book is already 20% off retail). It’s a great study for groups or with your spouse. Here’s a reprint of the introduction:

Reading Together

Not many people can imagine a life raising as many kids as we have. At the time of writing Love in the House, we were the parents of 13 kids, and finalizing this study guide a year later we have 14. The Learning Channel’s “Kids by the Dozen” series is very popular, and we have enjoyed our attempts at explaining how our life operates.

As hectic as our lives are, we couldn’t be more fulfilled. God has called us to this life. Our days are filled with dirty diapers, sibling rivalry, and piles of unfolded laundry. Our income scratches the upper end of the poverty level. Our clothes are mostly second-hand, we’re preoccupied with finding deals at the supermarket, and our travels avoid virtually every attraction. Why would we claim to be fulfilled?

The answer is in the title: Love in the House. We have learned lessons in love that are most profound, and our book unfolds many loving truths. Love is nothing new, really. It has been preached since Jesus Christ showed the ultimate testimony of love by dying on the cross for us. Since then the greatest stories, songs and poetry have attempted to grasp the profundity of love.

Because love is so much more than an academic study, we worked hard to develop this study guide to encourage couples to learn these depths together. While we’re sure our book is a good read for individuals, it is best experienced when read together as couples or in a small group of couples. We agree with Alexander Strauch what he says in his book Leading With Love,

Christlike love for others cannot be learned merely by reading a book in isolation from people. Math and history can be learned by reading a book, but not love. Love requires a minimum of two persons, the lover and the beloved.

You can experience Love in the House in three ways, the first being as a married couple. Because the chapters are short and concise (we did this intentionally), spouses will find it easy enough to read the book together. We envision moms and dads cuddled up together in bed reading our book before retiring for the night. Discussions should flow from their reading that will strengthen their marriages, their parenting, and their understanding of love applied. At the end of each section, we included a “Couple’s Reflection” to incite deep discussions about family and marriage. This study guide should intensify your experience.

The second way to experience this book (and which this study guide is primarily written toward) is in small groups. This study guide is written for seven individual meetings, perfect for book groups, Bible studies and couples groups. These groups enjoy the camaraderie of others as they wrestle with the challenges laid out in these pages. Truth be known, all parents struggle with raising children. You should not need to go it alone; connect with others and “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).

A final way to use this guide is as a group leader. A special appendix is included that lists possible answers to the questions in the guide, giving the group leader ideas for lively group discussion. Special digital downloads are available on our publisher’s website (www.monumentpublishing.com) that give group leaders handouts that can be easily printed for the group. Use the code on the inside cover to access these free resources. Ladies’ and men’s groups, Bible studies, and couples groups are most rewarding experiences, and we encourage you to invite your friends and study through the guide together.

Our hope and prayer is that love will fill your home to allow God’s will to blossom among you and your kids. Coming to terms with the profound power of love will transform your days and bring slices of heaven to your earthly life (Matthew 6:10). While our book tiptoes around very practical household solutions like managing money, rearing children, and so on, the greatest and most practical of them all is the mastery of love. The most perfect home absent of love is a misery, a dark tragedy of good intentions, a situation we wish upon no couple, and a home that God desperately wants to heal.

Open your hearts to the transforming power of love. Enjoy your journey.

~ Chris and Wendy

Already own Love in the House? No worries. You can order the PDF for only $2.95 for an immediate download. Click here for Love in the House Study Guide PDF.

11 of the Jeub kids on a typical afternoon.

“Did you plan to have 15 children?”

More than one person has asked us this question. Answer? No. In fact, I don’t know anyone (and we sort of hang out with parents of large families) who claims to have planned to have a lot of children. Family planning wasn’t and isn’t on our minds. God has that figured out. He’s the plan advocate. We’re just the parents who love each other and trust in God’s plan.

The picture above was not posed. Tabitha was cuing up a YouTube video and the kids naturally huddled around. The iPhone pic made us ponder. Wow, just look at ‘em. Every one of them have unique personalities, each one adding so much value to those around them. They’re like the Little Rascal’s Gang, the Boxcar Children, the kings and queens of Narnia…put together.

Life is good, children are a blessing, and planning otherwise doesn’t make sense.

National Public Radio came out with an article last week about how incredibly expensive it is to raise children these days. Like most government entities (which NPR is), the numbers are displayed as nearly shocking. Gasp! the title reads: “It Costs $222,360 to Raise a Child.“

Read the article. It is short and sweet, the obvious conclusion that it is a heckuvalot of money to raise a child nowadays. The Jeubs blow this study to smithereens. We have rebuttals for such nonsense…

1. Housing accounts for 31% of total child-rearing expenditures. This accounts for 1 child. What’s the housing costs for a second child? Perhaps 1% for getting a bunk bed from a garage sale. Most homes come with more than a couple rooms, so housing plummets after the first child. Claiming 31% total expenditures is like claiming per-person fuel expense in a car; add a passenger and it adds virtually nothing to the fuel expense.
2. Child care & education. Odd how they lump these together. Assumption is child care at a young age then paying for their own school. 17% of the yearly expenditure. They must not have interviewed moms who stay home and homeschool their children. Wait, that doesn’t matter. Those families have to pay for their own school and child care AND that of the public schools. That’s only fair.
3. Food. Wow, 16% goes to the grocery bill. Much of Cheaper by the Dozen CD digs into that. This is perhaps true for our family of 13. If a one-child family is spending this much, I’d like to see how their spending their money. They need a lesson in frugality.

These numbers don’t faze us. We’re having more children and our expenses will be covered. According to this study, we should be making $182,000/year to survive. Heh, heh, heh. That’s funny.

What do you all think?

We returned Sunday from the first Stoa NITOC (National Invitation Tournament of Champions). Hundreds of homeschool families whose kids qualified to the National Tournament gathered at the University of San Diego for speech and debate competition. It was an absolute blast!

And Lydia came through all the way to the final round in Original Oratory! It is a pleasant explanation on siblings getting along with one another. Lydia has made it through a significant journey in understanding and accepting her brothers and sisters, and her oratory attempts to bring it all together. We’re quite proud of her accomplishment.

And here’s her speech, the final round at NITOC, captured last Friday:

The Jeubs made a really tough decision earlier this week. We were all settled on packing up all 15 of us heading to San Diego for the Stoa NITOC tournament, rolling the honor in with a vacation. Typical homeschool thing. We’ve been extremely busy trying to pull all the details together.

Then sickness hit us. Me particularly, then our 3-yr old Priscilla, followed by virtually all the littlest kids…for now. Our plan was to head out at 4:00 am Thursday morning for our pilgrimage. It would have been a lot of fun, but because sickness ruled our day, it just wasn’t gonna happen. The Stoa NITOC trip has become another tournament trip, rather than the end-of-the-schoolyear family vacation that other families are enjoying.

Good news: we pulled together plans for a California Debate Camp in Laguna Hills in August. We’re already planning to follow that camp with a family vacation. So, we’re looking at this as a postponement. We’re disappointed, but this happens sometimes with big families. Eh, it happens in all families.

I imagine the girls will get a lot of “where’s your family?” questions at NITOC, but that’s okay. We wish them well and pray that they don’t get sick.