Blessed Labor Day Weekend

 It's so hard to keep up with everything, but I just uploaded pictures off my camera from our incredibly fun weekend with friends and I'm enjoying looking at them. 

Briana with a couple of her dear friends and their little sister

We had one set of friends come up from Missouri Thursday night before Labor Day and we spent Friday at the zoo and then the science center with all our kiddos.

 

We all enjoyed the beautiful fun day with friends of all ages.

Getting to pet a baby camel might have been one of the highlights of the day for all of us.

 I also thought the girls were cute "hatching from eggs" with good friends.

 Both the little girls and the big girls!

I'll spare you the many, many pictures I took both at the zoo and the science center by wrapping up with a silly group shot from the science center.  After that full day, we came back home for fun in the pool.

Then Saturday and Sunday we and our friends enjoyed Bible study with a nearby congregation and Sunday evening we had MORE friends come to spend the night!  What a great time was had by all. 

We had 27 people in the house.  It was quite noisy.  And we all had a hard time parting from one another to actually go to bed and get some sleep.

I only snapped one picture of the adults--we were too busy chatting and laughing to get many shots.  I sure am thankful for good friends!

Equipped to Love

We recently finished a book discussion with a group of six other couples (I should have taken a group picture!) of Equipped to Love:  Building Idolatry-Free Relationships by Norm Wakefield.

We had a really great time meeting each week as time allowed at the end of a busy summer.  My favorite part of the study was about the time we spent together, building relationships, sharing our hearts, and being transparent with one another.  As we've lived here less than two years, our relationships are quite new, but this time let us get to know one another in a more meaningful way than just over a game of Dutch Blitz (not to minimize those fun moments that reveal latent competitiveness, grin).  I now feel like we can truly call these couples friends as we've shared struggles with daily life ranging from work struggles to parenting struggles to marriage struggles and other temptations and we've prayed together over them.

I like a lot of what Norm Wakefield says, especially in the areas of men being godly men and improving relationships.  I will insert a disclaimer here that I don't agree with every single thing he says, but much of what he says has been a blessing both in our marriage and our parenting.  I've also heard him speak on two different occasions and he presents himself in a humble and endearing way.  He's the kind of man you wish your children had as a grandfather.

But about this book in specific, he makes the claim that we don't tend to even know what love is.  While true love comes from God, brings glory to Him, and purposes to give to and serve others, we most often "love" those we can use or when others make us happy.  He calls this type of love idolatry as we too often put something else (usually self) on the throne where God alone should be. 

I think he has some good thoughts, although at times I get the feeling he stretched his message a little too much to get the book over 100 pages (it hit 108) and thus at the minimum belabored the point.  Much of the book was spent looking at the characteristics of idolatry from Deuteronomy 5:6-9 and applying those characteristics to how we tend to control and carve on people in our lives to get them to meet our needs and be what we want them to be if we aren't looking to God alone.  The only way we can truly love others is if we are seeking God and letting His love flow through us onto them.  He says when people treat us in ways we don't like, it's an opportunity for us to love as God loves--to be conformed into the image of Christ as we learn to be more forgiving, more patient, etc.

Alan and I both thought it was good to identify times we carve on our children, friends, or one another to get our own way--when we are looking to others to meet our needs instead of looking to God.  In the ironic way life tends to work, we missed one of the meetings recently when Alan had a prolonged bout with bronchitis.  He was sick for a full eight days and felt so horrible he frequently took three naps a day and slept from about 8:30 pm to 7 am each night.  Since he didn't feel well, he wasn't the most cheerful person to be around and he also wasn't his normal team-player self in our home.  It was a good opportunity for me to check my own irritability as I realized I got short-tempered with him because he wasn't doing what I wanted (and was used to) in training our children, reading them books or taking them outside when I wanted to get something done.  The Lord provided me with an opportunity to practice what we had been studying!

Ready

Well, for those of you who have been following along, we have our homestudy all ready to go.  You may recall that we started the process again after receiving two emails about two young boys who were needing a home.  After receiving the first email, we inquired about them but they were looking for a homestudy ready family and ours needed updated, so we just prayed for them.  After receiving the second email six weeks later, we decided to go ahead and update our home study and kept praying that the Lord would provide the boys with a family.

We contacted the agency yesterday to let them know we are now homestudy ready and to inquire about the boys and they reported that another family has come forward to adopt them and their birthmother has approved the match.

So now we have a homestudy sitting here.  We aren't actively pursuing adoption (as in sending the homestudy out to various agencies or putting our name on a consultant's list) but we're just waiting to see what the Lord does.  If He brings a need to our attention, we are ready.  If not, we are quite richly blessed as we are.

Tucking Away the Joy and Rewards

There are certain moments along this parenting and homeschooling journey that I, like Mary, treasure away in my heart.  Earlier this week, in our discussion of A Tale of Two Cities, I had such a moment with my teens that just made my heart glad and gave me the encouragement and strength to persevere through another year.  I share this on my blog to help me remember it.

The literature guide we are using asked the question:

Sometimes it is very difficult to see beyond a person's outward appearance.  At the end of Chapter 20, Darnay offers his view of Sydney Carton, but Lucie seems to see more clearly into Carton's secret heart.

Read Matthew 7:1-5 and James 4:11,12.  What do these verses teach us about judging others?  Philippians 2:1-4.  According to these verses, how should we regard others?

We had so much fun when we realized we didn't need to open our Bibles to read these passages because by working together we could quote them.  This led us to a discussion of the Jews in concentration camps who reportedly compiled Scriptures they had hidden in their minds and hearts when they had no access to written Scriptures, and then we segued to a discussion of the importance of continuing to memorize Scripture ourselves as we don't know what the future holds in this increasingly anti-Christian world we live in.

Home educating our children is frequently a scary journey, fraught with uncertainty and insecurity about adequately preparing our children.  But in moments like these, I feel the Lord is giving me hope and encouragement not to grow weary as He gives me a peek at the fruit He is growing.

Regardless of whatever else did or did not get accomplished this week (or cleaning up peed pants, monitoring disagreements, compelling children to clean up messes, getting frustrated with a child who simply cannot pronounce the 'r' sound, etc), this moment made the week a success to me.

Tyrell, Back to School

I realize that at age 3 Tyrell isn't really "back to school", but I've done posts on each of the other kids, so I thought he needed one as well. 

For this little boy, learning is constantly in session.  All of my kids have pestered me with the ubiquitous "why", but I'm pretty sure he has questioned me more than all the other kids did combined!  He is curious about every single thing, from the names of every person we meet to the details of pictures in a book to what we're going to have for supper to what we're doing tomorrow to who made each dish on the table to the correct terminology for farming implements to. . .well, you get the idea.  We get such a kick out of him and he is always good for a smile, especially when he turns those sparkling, mischievous eyes on you.

He has had a busy summer running around with friends, playing outside, helping mommy and daddy work in the garden, and swimming.  He has no fear in the pool (which is a little bit scary to mama!) and loves to jump off the ladder into the water then emerge with his face soaking wet, droplets of water hanging from his eyelashes, and grinning from ear to ear. 

The one thing he does NOT like about swimming is when the water is a little too cool, or if there is a breeze that makes him cold in his wet clothes.  It's at these times that he gets out of the pool to lie on the hot sidewalk to warm up.  What a funny boy!

As a preschooler, he is fascinated with cutting and gluing, reading books, and getting into whatever anyone else is doing.   He is markedly better at getting things out than he is at putting things away, and he prefers to play with others rather than by himself.  At the same time, when he plays with others, I constantly have to monitor the situation to teach him not to take things away and for everyone to use their kind words rather than screaming at one another or hitting.  His primary "curriculum" for this year will be reading character books with mommy and learning Bible verses and Bible stories with daddy.

Other than that, his work is his play--the world is his classroom.  I'm sure it will be a fun but busy year because he is a fun but busy boy!

Sparkly Green Earrings

I had heard about the book Sparkly Green Earrings:  Catching the Light at Every Turn by Melanie Shankle but it wasn't high on my list of books I wanted to read.  When I saw it available for free on the Kindle, however, I snatched it right up.  I've been reading a couple chapters here and there over the last month while kids play at the park or Briana or Destry drive me somewhere or while waiting on a child's music lesson, etc. 

This  book is just a fun,  light read.  She is sharing humorous little anecdotes about her life as a mother. She is pretty funny and doesn't take herself too seriously.  Our lives aren't exactly alike, yet she's relatable.  I laughed so hard a couple of times that I nearly cried.  I can say with 99.9% certainty that I would never don a bikini while nine months pregnant and accidentally lock myself outside, but I sure giggled at her account of just such an experience!

While most of the book consists of the author poking a little fun at herself and inviting the reader to laugh along with her, she still sprinkles a few serious gems as she attempts to bring her innate selfishness and shallowness under subjection to the Word of God or she reflects on not having enjoyed the baby season enough as "the sweetest things are often the hardest things" (63).  In another season she realized "there are times in life when (God) takes away all those earthly things we look to for comfort and security so we can feel him better and love him more" (42).  And through it all, she began to understand that rather than the wisdom and discernment she thought would just automatically come to her as an adult and a mother, she just had to do the best she could with prayer and friendships.  I thought that was an interesting lesson as I think we all are just doing the best we can and no one really has all the answers in this life.

Her summary of motherhood?
"Because raising a child is a fleeting moment in time that sometimes gets swallowed up in the daily routine of car pools and soccer practice and Can I get away with serving tacos for dinner again tonight?  And yet it's quite possibly the most important thing we'll ever do.  It's the daily balance of treasuring the moments even as we wish some of them away.  It's treading water in a sea of imperfections.  It's a delicate dance of guilt and joy" (212).

Briana, Back to School

It's time for Installment Number Four of my back-to-school student posts and today we will be featuring my firstborn, Briana, who is a 17-year-old senior.  I just realized that one of my daughters is beginning her LAST year of home education while my other daughter is beginning her FIRST year. (insert wide-eyed face)

I'm not sure how I feel about Briana being a senior.  I think I might be in denial.  I asked her if I could flunk her last year and she just grinned at me.  Briana is an outstanding big sister with a servant's heart and an even-tempered personality.  

 She has enjoyed her free time this summer to work on handicrafts like finishing her full-size quilt, figuring out a different technique to knit scarves, making baby-carrying slings to sell, and sewing pillowcase dresses to send with a friend who is headed to Africa.

She is getting excited about her senior year as she hopes to work as a page in the legislature of the state capitol next Spring.  She has a rigorous course of studies planned for the Fall so she can have her bookwork completed and focus on learning more about government during the second semester.  She has been working on her application and asking for reference letters from her 4H leader and ladies she cleans for or babysits for while I have been very grateful that I kept her transcript updated and don't have to scramble to pull that together right now.

In addition to the work she accomplished this summer, Briana also had a lot of fun going to the TeenPact alumni event, spending time with friends, enjoying the fair, and swimming in our pool.  This is such an interesting season encouraging her to move toward independence while still getting to daily enjoy the delightful young lady the Lord is developing her to be.  I'm hoping and praying she will have a great year stretching her wings while gaining security from her roots in the Lord and her family who love her so very much.

Back-to-school student installment 5 hopefully yet to come. . .see installment number three here,  two here and number one here