A friend babysat for us the other day. He bought pizza for the kids. He posted this picture on FB saying, “This is what it’s like being Chris Jeub at dinner!”

Wendy and I were commenting not too long ago if our 2007 book Love in the House was still making an impact. We were doubting so because…

• Our website hits had gone down.
• Sales of the book have gone down.
• Feedback on the site has gone down.

I wanted to be optimistic. Really, we haven’t been blogging lately, so many that is a reason why. My blog at ChrisJeub.com takes up much of my writing time, and Wendy just finished her largest homeschool year in her history (11 children in school). We were glad we got to blog when we could.

I did hypothesize this: perhaps our book is being passed around. The book targets parents of many children, single income families, homeschool moms, frugal-thinking people—it is no wonder such folks would opt out of buying a book if they could help it.

Low and behold, we got this message out of the blue. Check it out:

Hello Chris and Wendy!!
My name is **** ****. I am a 36 year old African American woman from ****. I am recently divorced and parenting my 8 year old son alone. I put these facts in on the front end because they have so much significance as to why your book, LOVE IN THE HOUSE, has blessed me tremendously. I acquired your book (free of charge) at a home school curriculum exchange, that I had not planned to attend ( I am not a home school mom). Out of several other free books I received that day, LOVE IN THE HOUSE, was the first one I decided to read. The fact that it focuses on love is another miracle because our theme at our church this year is LOVE!! Our mantra is based upon John 13:35 and our pastor has been teaching on love since January 1, 2013!! Anyhow, your book has shed so much light on my son’s behavior and why the methods I had been utilizing have not been effective!! I also will never view my financial situation or ability to raise more children in the same light. Your courage and obedience blesses me. Thank you!!

Forever changed, Forever grateful
****

Isn’t that about the coolest message ever? It shows us two things…

1. We shouldn’t assume our book isn’t making an impact on people. It is!
2. We shouldn’t assume LOVE targets just homeschool, intact families of more-than-one child!

Awesome.

It was just a year ago when the Waldo Canyon Fire ravaged our community. The same thing is back, and we’re watching the flames right off our back deck.

The picture above was taken on Tuesday when the Black Forest Fire kicked up. The weather conditions were awful: hot and windy. The flames swept through some of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the area. We know several families who are evacuated and some who have lost their homes entirely.

This is serious business. Please pray for Black Forest and the surrounding communities. Check out my ChrisJeub.com post here asking for prayer yesterday. I also took a YouTube Video when the wind picked up yesterday. This is terrible.

I pulled the evacuation map and compared it to the Waldo Canyon Fire map from last year, and placed a red star where we live. We’re sandwiched right in between:

I hope this helps put in perspective the devastation of this fire.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were scheduled to speak first thing in the morning, but we stayed up till midnight talking in their hotel room. It felt like only a short time, so much to talk about. We felt kind of guilty for it, but boy was it fun.

They had just rolled into Richmond on their bus. Wendy and I were attending the IEW booth to promote my new speech and debate book, and the Duggars were slotted as keynote speakers.

We have never done this before, just the four of us. Way back in 2006, Jim Bob and I talked on the phone to compare television show notes. Wendy met all the Duggars at a book signing one weekend when I was gone with the Jeub teens for a tournament. We’ve known of each other, but we have never had the opportunity to sit down and get to know one another.

Our messages are similar in this respect: children are a heritage of God’s, so welcome them as God gives them. To us, we’re on one side of the blessing—the blessed side—and we’re trying to explain to those who are struggling with the prospect of having children to go ahead and have children. Like the subtitle of our book, Love Another Child, explains simply:

Children. They’re blessings. Always. (Tweet this)

Here’s another similarity in our messages: love is the Greatest Commandment. It seems we’re both exploring the depths of love. As we’re blessed with child after child, we discover the trials and tribulations of life and love. The title of their book explains simply:

A Love That Multiplies (Tweet this)

Though the night was late, Wendy and I both wished our time together was longer. We made the commitment to connect again in the future, and I’m sure we will.

Welcome to our store! Order straight from our site and get free shipping.

Enter Store

Or click on the following direct links:

All Resources
Love in the House
Love Another Child
Love in a Diet
Love in the Kitchen Vol. 1
Love in the Kitchen Vol. 2

Capped at 100, click to register.

We are scheduled for an online teaching session with Andrew Pudewa’s group (Institute for Excellence in Writing). We’re teaching on “The Speech & Debate Family,” an hour of us sharing what it’s like raising a family in speech and debate competition. If you are thinking about getting involved in what I call “the homeschool sport,” you’ll glean a lot from our hour together.

Here is the basic information:

• Title: “Speech & Debate Family Life with Chris & Wendy Jeub”
• Link: http://trainingminds.org/family-life-webinar
• Sponsor: Free Online Webinars with Andrew Pudewa
• Summary: Speech and debate activities are awesome opportunities for homeschool children to learn and grow in a wholesome educational environment. It can be tremendous fun, but also exhausting. Come hear how the Jeubs manage their time, schooling, and money when it comes to getting involved with this demanding-yet-rewarding homeschool activity. Chris and Wendy Jeub have been leaders in the speech and debate movement since its inception in 1996. They have written several books on both this activity as well as their extra-large family: Chris and Wendy have 16 children (3 graduated, 5 competing now, and 8 up-and-coming). You can imagine, they have a lot to say about the Speech & Debate Family Life.

I did a webinar with Andrew Pudewa a couple weeks ago, and I had a blast. The online chat included a hundred moms and dads chatting away while Andrew and I presented the material. Afterward we were able to answer a field of questions from folks in the online room. Wendy and I are really looking forward to getting to know you a bit in this free online session.

One bad-news point: this is capped at 100 registrants. I suspect this is going to fill up fast. So, clear your Thursday evening and get registered:

http://trainingminds.org/family-life-webinar

This was released yesterday, the third video released in the last week by Lila’s organization, LiveAction. It is an undercover journalist organization that seeks to expose on camera the corruption prevalent in the abortion industry. Over the years she has exposed several clinics of covering for statuary rape, prostitution chains, and political lies like offering mammograms for federal aid.

Needless to say, Lila is no friend to the pro-choice movement.

This latest campaign may be the most damaging, but it isn’t for the reasons I originally thought. When I heard about them, I thought, “Yeah, okay, another abortionist breaking the law; what else is new?” But this may be different. The three videos she released so far (she claims to have more) exposes three things:

1. Doctors and practitioners admitting — even insisting — that they would do nothing to help a live baby.
2. Doctors and practitioners offering the hypothetical situation that they would actively take steps to kill the born child.
3. Doctors and practitioners graphically explaining exactly what happens everyday in the abortion clinic.

The first two are the law breakers. In 2002 federal law explicitly required abortionists to seek medical attention to any so-called “botched” abortion. If the baby survives, federal law requires the doctor to call 911 and rush the baby to emergency care. Lila’s videos show that abortionists seem to disregard that law and take part in finishing the intended abortive procedure. In essence, they kill the live baby even thought she is struggling to survive. This is a clear violation of federal law, a law that the majority of Americans agree should be the law.

I’ve been interested in the media’s reaction to this. Compared to their nearly silent reporting on the Dr. Kermit Gosnell case (an abortionist who is being tried for the murder of three babies and one woman, see the New York Times), Lila is getting much better coverage. The media hasn’t been friendly, but I shouldn’t complain.

Perhaps evil’s greatest weapon, in the midst of injustice, is silence.

But the third exposure carries the more significant impact of Lila’s videos. Watch the video. It kind of creeps up on you. The doctors explain the suctioning of live babies, the dismembering, the piece-by-piece gore of it. Even if you believe abortion should be legal, this video reminds you of the horrific procedure.

When I first viewed this video and the two that preceded it, I watched carefully for the point to where the abortionists break the law. I had to wade through the graphic explanation of the procedure of abortion. Piece by piece, the details are explained.

While searching for what exactly was illegal, I was reminded of what is legal.

I hope these abortionists are prosecuted. They probably won’t, because technically they didn’t break a law. They just admitted they would break the law if given the chance. They should at least be stripped of their licenses.

My bigger hope is in the third point. Half the country believes abortion is okay, no big deal, a woman’s private issue. I hope they ask themselves from what hell the defense of this procedure came. Perhaps pro-choice people watch the video and confess, “I’ve been on the wrong side on this issue.”

Perhaps you’re sympathetic to abortion laws. Okay, I get that. And perhaps you’re willing to write off Lila’s videos as just another smear campaign. The videos merely show some abortionists breaking the law. What else is new? When you watch the videos, you realize they do much more than show us who’s outside the law. They remind us who is inside.

We are. America supports this. I’d like to live in a world where we are defenders of life. Especially little 24-week-old babies struggling to survive.

Wendy and I are pro-life because we love life. All life is awesome, even unwanted life. A society should encourage and support the validity and vibrancy of life. A baby should have the full force of the law and the medical field fighting for it. Instead it has the law and medical fields advocating for the destruction of it. Lila has shown that we Americans have some soul-searching to do.

Lila is a former debater in the NCFCA, someone who couldn’t wait to graduate from high school to venture into undercover journalism. I’ve known her for years and am friends with her family. They’re great people, and I’m very proud of the work of LiveAction.

Today is our anniversary. Twenty-two years ago, our friend Larry (a mentor of us both when we started off our life together) sang this song at the front of the church. We stood before man and God and committed our life together.

My, how much we have learned since then. How much about love! It is very much as the song is titled: boundless. We’ve put 22 years into our love for one another, and it seems that 22 more won’t hardly be enough.

A quick thought: We’re not sure why so many marriages fall apart. Sure, we get that people fight and compatibility isn’t the best. But if love is boundless, why do people fall out of it so often?

Perhaps it has to do with Jesus. He is our Lord, that’s for sure. We follow him in all we do as a couple and as a family. We have found that when we keep our eyes focused ahead to the lead of Jesus, we pull through the tough times and continue on in love.

Here are the lyrics to Boundless Love. It is a most beautiful song.

Boundless love
Unending joy
This is my life
It’s what I know
I can’t believe that he selected me
Jesus, my lord
It’s you I owe

He keeps me when I’m weary
He can hear me when I pray
He’s even there beside me when I fall
His love surrounds me even when I go astray
I guess I’d have to say that he’s my all

Boundless love
Unending joy
This is my life
It’s what I know
I can’t believe that he selected me
Jesus, my lord
It’s you I owe

When my world falls all around me
I call upon his name
And just in time he takes me by the hand
His ways are perfect
Just like his son who bore my shame
I don’t even have to understand

Boundless love
Unending joy
This is my life
It’s what I know
I can’t believe that he selected me
Jesus, my lord
It’s you I owe
It’s you I know

Dan and his wife, Vanessa, have been producing a weekly podcast called Simple Life Together. I’ve enjoyed listening to them every week, and several car trips with the kids have been spent listening to their fun and practical ideas on simple living.

At the end of every show, the Hayeses read posts from iTunes comments. I was in my office working through a stack of paper (I’m still working on this), listening to Simple Life Together. It’s hard to believe I have been chipping away at paperless ambitions for 1.5 years, but with Dan and Vanessa’s encouragement, I’m pounding through.

So there I was, listening to SLT while stacking up some old lesson plans from the 1990′s to digitize. And Dan and Vanessa reads a comment from some guy that is listening to the show with his kids. And I think to myself, “Hey, that sounds like me and my family.” And then Dan says, “Thats the Jeubs! Family of 18!” And I think to myself, “Hey, that’s me!”

Listen to this broadcast. You’ll enjoy it. And the Hayes end the program mentioning the Jeubs. We will meet again someday, Hayes family!

Here’s Wendy enjoying the foster babies of her friend, Richelle.

You’d think our platform is “have as many children as possible.” I mean, really, we have 16 children. You’d think that we’d like to talk everyone into having 16.

But our platform, believe it or not, is bigger than a big family. We’re not advocates to “have as many children as possible.” We believe every home should be filled with love—a home of 2 or 20 children, doesn’t matter—love is the determining factor of a Godly home.

As you probably know, we were launched into a limelight a bit in 2007 when cameras came into our home to film our unusually big family. We had 13 children at the time. When the cameras are rolling, there is little to hide. You begin to wonder why you are living the life you are living.

That’s a phenomenon today: If you have something profound to say, cameras may show up at your house and start filming you. In other words, profundity gets noticed!

We responded by writing books. It made sense. I owned a publishing company, so Wendy and I spent time writing down answers to what people asked the most. We were “noticed.” Though we live in Colorado, we have connected with people around the world through our books.

What We’re Really About

We believe we are onto something profound, and it isn’t the 16 children. The platform is NOT novel (it’s been around for a couple thousand years), but profound, rare, and in need for articulation and discovery.

Those who read our books tend to capture the profundity of our most common message, and we believe they desire to capture that thing that we believe is so rare.

• Our homes need more of this.
• Our churches are lacking this.
• Our neighborhoods don’t have a lot of this.
• Our culture is twisted in this.

Our message is, quite simply, LOVE.

“Love” is in every title of our book package. God is love. Love makes the world turn ’round. Love is all you need. You’ve got to let love rule.

I quoted a couple of rock stars in there. I believe it is a sign of the times when immoral rock stars sing of the joys of love while God’s people prefer judgment.

This is profound stuff we’re talking about. Actually, we believe love is more profound than the size of our family. What do you think?

NOTE: This is an excerpt of a speech we prepared for a private event last week. Would you like to book us to speak at your event? See our speaking page.

Learn to Write and THINK with IEW from IEW on Vimeo.

Andrew Pudewa is the founder of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, a writing organization dedicated to excellence in “listening, speaking, reading, writing and thinking.”

I’m the founder of Training Minds Ministry, a speech and debate organization dedicated to excellence in “thinking, speaking and persuading.”

Sounds like pure synergy, don’t it? We’re hosting a free webinar in a couple weeks and we want you to join us.

Free Webinar

Andrew and I have been supporters of each other for years, and this year The Institute for Excellence in Writing is featuring my latest book as their conference special. Thousands of Jeub’s Guide to Speech & Debate books will be sold to families interested in developing communication skills in their children. I’m pumped that such a great friend like Andrew is backing me up on the exciting world of forensics.

We’re going to be online together for a free webinar on April 2, and you’re invited to join us! There is one limitation: only 100 people can register.

I don’t want to waste your time, and you wouldn’t want to take a seat where another would benefit. So ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you want to inspire your children to leadership?
2. Do you want your children to be effective communicators?
3. Do you want a program that makes learning & teaching communication easy?

If you answer yes to any of these, this webinar will definitely be worth your time.

My Training Minds (www.trainingminds.org) program has been around since 2001. We’ve trained hundreds and hundreds of young people to be incredible speakers and communicators. I know that Andrew and I will inspire you to expect the same kind of greatness in your children that we have inspired in others.

I hope to see you April 2!

www.IEW.com/webinar04022013

Tabitha and Noah advanced to quarter finals for the first time this weekend.