And They Just Keep Growing...



Our baby is 10 months old already. What has happened to the time? We are so blessed! I love every season of our children's life. It is so exciting to see them each grow and learn and I get to be a part of it all!  I feel so fortunate that I can rejoice with my oldest son as he learns what an adult life is like. I then get the honor of sharing with my teen daughter in all of her adventures. That is followed by the excitement of watching my two pre-teen daughters blossom into beautiful young ladies and my younger sons and daughter embrace the joy of learning about their world. What would life be like if we didn't have these blessings?  Boring to say the least!

I am asked weekly if "I'm done yet?". Why would I want to stop being blessed? Each of these children come with their own challenges and each one grows my character in a different way. God knows what He is doing as He graces us with these children. He knows what they need to grow them closer to Himself and what we parents need to rely on Him and become more like Him.

Each day is very busy and there are days that I am sure God can't know how ill equipped I am to do this job. But, without fail, I am reassured over and over again that God's ways are not my ways and my ways are not His. It is humbling to see Him work in our children in spite of our shortcomings. I praise Him for His grace and mercy!

Ready for the BIG question? Are we done yet? I pray not! Maybe you can join us in prayer for more blessings? Next time twins would be awesome! I have never had twins! Oh and please pray that we will bless God with each one of them too!

Life is Swirly!

Life is amazing! One minute things are "normal" and the next moment your world can be turned all swirly.  Children can do that to you no matter how old they get. Good thing God is in control!

This last week I found out that I am going to be a grandma. First, I DO NOT look like a grandma! Second, I do not feel qualified for this position.  My oldest son and his finace are expecting. I have to admit that I was not thrilled with the order of things. Marriage before baby is always more desirable. But I can't help but be excited for a new baby. Babies are a blessing regardless of the circumstances and this one is my son's first born. My oldest son is an adult now; making his own desicions. Whether I like the desicions or not, they are his to make, and as an adult, I have to change my game plan in how I interact with him. I want to continue to have an influence in his life. I want the ability to speak Truth to him and be there for him and his family. I want him to hear me and come to me when he is in need.  I want to share in his joys and sorrows.

So as a believer, and his mother, I have a choice to make. I can freak out and lecture him about the poor choices he has made, I can tell him how God is not pleased with these choices, I can worry and fret over the pratical things that he is going to need to do to care for this tiny person and his fiance and I can make sure he never forgets that he is outside of God's will for his life. Or, I can share Truth with him while at the same time keeping the door open in order to show both sides of the God I serve. A God of judgement and rules as well as a God of unconditional love and forgiveness.

When I first answered the phone and he shared with me the news, I was disciplined enough to not speak right away (which proves that the Holy Spirit is real). I politely asked if I could have a minute and I put the phone down to pray and breathe. I asked God to stop my mind from being all swirly. I needed Him to help me to focus on what He wanted me to say to my precious son. My flesh wanted to lecture but my tongue was amazingly bridled at that point.  I was given the opportunity to share with him what he already knew. He has heard it many times growing up and even more since he has moved out; God will not bless him as long as he lives outside of His will. However, if he and his bride-to-be desire to redeem their relationship with God by starting to live in His will now, God will hear him and the slate will be wiped clean. What an awesome God we serve!

In a nut shell, our family's job is to be Jesus to our new daughter-in-law (to be), our new grandbaby as well as our son. Our prayers must cover them and our actions should reflect our prayers. We must trust that God is the One in control and that He will do what He must to bring our children into His will. I believe that our part in his plan is to speak Truth in love and pray without ceasing. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21).

Is this the way I wanted to become a grandma? No. Am I angry that this is the way I have become a grandma? No. I trust my God to redeem this situation and grow my son's character as well as our family's character. My prayer is that this tiny little blessing will bring all of us to our knees and to the end of ourselves. I pray that this child's parents will learn, way faster than we did, that they can do nothing without Jesus Christ and that His ways are the best ways. Children have a way of doing that to us- they make our lives all swirly!

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-7

First Week- Homeschooling Down!

What a week! Brian has been working out of town for most of the week and we started our first week of school. It has been a tiring and busy process but, I feel good about our accomplishments.  And although our schedule looks better on paper than in real life, we have faithfully started each day with prayer, Bible Reading and our character traits study. So,we have focused on the important stuff all week. Another miracle? Everyone has been out of bed before 8:30am!

With 1- PreK, 1- 1st grader, 2- 4th graders and 1- 9th grader, I am a little frazzled at times but, that means it is NEVER boring!  We are starting with the basics this week and adding new subjects in the following weeks. So this week's schedule looked like this:
      8:00am wake-up with all gathered on couch for family prayer and Proverbs reading
      9:00am Breakfast
      10:00am Study of this week's trait- Gentleness, older ones do their Kay Arthur Bible Studies, all work on their AWANA
      11:00am Language Arts (Total Language Plus for the olders and Click n' Read/Spell for the 1st grader), Reason for Handwriting for everyone except the 9th grader
      12:00pm Lunch Break
      1:30pm Math (Teaching Textbooks for olders and Math-U-See for the 1st grader)
      1:30pm PreK Workbook from Costco
Next week we add History (Beautiful Feet- US History) and US Geography (Trail Guide to US Geography) and the week after that we add Science and Spanish and finally we start Piano lessons again for the older girls. That's the plan anyway.  Our days will get longer but I hope we will be in a rhythm by then and it won't get too crazy as the other subjects are added. We will see.
It is fun to watch the youngers learn just by hanging out while the olders work through their lessons. It makes my job way easier in the long run. The whole one room schoolhouse thing is alive and well here. My olders are great helpers and the little ones love being taught by their big sisters. I feel very blessed to be able to homeschool these awesome kids! I do have a few kids that are more challenging then others. However, this only adds to the reward when I see them finally "get it" or when they actually complete the lesson without me sitting right next to them the whole time.

In the evening, when they are in bed and I am grading papers, I get to reflect on the day and what we covered. I get to thank God that I am able to be here, right now, right at this moment, doing exactly what I am doing. I am so grateful. There are many times where I feel like I am not able to do this stuff; where I feel so "unqualified". I thank God for those moments however and I pray they continue because they keep me focused on Christ's ability and my inability without Him. I am reminded constantly that I can't but God can. God is so good. He will always be there guiding, teaching and encouraging me. Praise the Lord!

So, what will happen next week? I am not sure but, I do know that we will keep Christ as our focus and start our day off with Him every day. With His covering we can't go wrong!

PS- Next post I hope to have some pics of our homeschooling life (can you say LAUNDRY piles?) :)