His works in progress

Still Liking Your Kids by the time you get to church

So we are getting ready to go to church on a Sunday, right, and it's chaos and everyone is running around yelling and throwing clothes everywhere and begging for a shower but there's no time for a shower and you look fine anyway - just brush your teeth and hair and wash your face and hands and oh, your fingernails are really long and where did all that dirt come from under them anyway?  And WILL ONE OF YOU BIG KIDS HELP THIS LITTLE GIRL GET SOME SHOES ON AND WHY IS SHE NOT WEARING UNDERWEAR???  No, you can't take that sing and learn math desk with you into church.  Because it makes noise.  No, not a joyful noise.  And, no you can't wear that t-shirt.  It's bad enough that I'm wearing a denim skirt and not pantyhose and a suit for heaven's sake.  You can go find a shirt without a design on it.  And will I still be able to worship in the right spirit when I get there because I am so frustrated with these kids???!!!!!

And then we get there, we slip in LATE, of course, and as we are the last people there the only seats left are right in the front row but all of the sweet elderly people who get there right on time just smile at us, remembering, I am sure, their own such zany days, and we take our place among this arm of the body of Christ and in the quiet moments before the formal part of the service begins I remember all of the times I sat with my family in all of the church pews we sat in over the years, front row (infant through late elementary) to back row (teen years, of course) and it all comes back to me why we do this.  Why we drag our sorry selves to this assembly week after week.  Because here, we are reminded that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves.  That raising these wonderfully messy, noisy, cranky kids is holy business and we'd better get some back up.  That we ought not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as logistically challenging as it may be to do so.  That God Himself inhabits our praises and where two or three of us are gathered in His name, there He is also.  That we are called to observe His table and His sacraments (grape juice or wine, dunking or sprinkling - either way!) with our fellow believers and that I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God.  And this sweet spirit carries over into the weekdays and hides in our hearts what we need to stay away from sin.  And that when we do stumble, we can still be welcomed back into the fellowship of other redeemed sinners who will pray for us and share with us and exhort us to stick with the straight and narrow.  And that when I hear the precious old hymns and modern praise choruses and can finish Bible verses verbatim it is because my parents got up every Sunday and walked my brother and me through the same sacred rites of passage, and I remember why we've come this Lord's day.  So that our children and their children and their children's children will also tell the next generation of the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord and what glorious things He has done!  And when we file out and the sweet old birds tell us to cherish these days because they go so fast, I know deep down in my heart they are exactly right.  And all God's people said:  AMEN!

Counting my blessings...

On this gorgeous August morning - the AC still hasn't come on and the windows are letting in fresh air.  Aaaaaaahhhh.  My two boys got on a plane early this morning to do a Dad/Son business and family trip to Seattle this week and the two oldest girls insisted they be awakened at 3:30 to see them off.  They were and they did.  We breathed God's name over their trip from the living room couch that lets us see everyone come in and out of our driveway.  And then all us gals went back to sleep in mom and dad's big, crumb filled, king-size bed for hours!  Sleeping in is truly one of those special things in life, no?  We await word that our men have landed safely and enjoy a leisurely brunch type of morning (toast, smoothies, maple sausage that Daddy bought for us before he left town - all hours apart!).  And then all 4 girls head out to the backyard to set up an Animal Rescue Center in the club house that's attached to the swing set my Dad and DH's brother built when SMH turned 1 lo these 9 1/2 years ago (and that we moved from our old house to this yard lo these 5 years ago!).  They are all dressed in different outfits and have carried out pillows, blankets, backpacks, stuffed animals and who knows what else, to build their little nest.  These girls are such nest builders.  I think this is what it will be like when they build their own little households one day - bits of string here, Juicy Fruit wrappers there, creating a safe little haven for those God has blessed them with.  I ponder all these things on my heart as Mary did when she saw in Jesus the signs of what He would become one day.  And I count all my many blessings, naming them one by one.  See what God has done!!

Are we in that big a hurry?

So the family went out to Skyline Drive today for a day trip (picnic, juice boxes, the works!) and we were stopping at a gas station on the way back home and they had one of those really LOUD and really obnoxious turbo hand dryers.  And of course my kids feel compelled to scream over it just to be heard and/or to illustrate how loud it actually is.  And I think to myself - does it take that much longer for the quieter ones to dry your hands?  I won't debate the carbon footprint of paper towels over the vast amounts of electricity that it must take to power this atomic hand dryer, but really, are we in that much of a hurry that we can't dry our hands under something a bit more quiet?  Of course, DH/SM, helpfully offered that he doesn't bother washing his hands anyway so there you go.

P.S.  It's really beautiful out there in God's country - seriously, you can connect with the Creator in a whole new way when you see the sun's rays bursting forth through a hazy sky over rolling mountain hills from 3680 feet elevation.  Try it - no traffic from leaf-lookers this time of year!

Meditative Lawn-mowing

P.S.  Now I know why men volunteer to do the outside chores and mow the lawn.  DH/SM was sick for the last two mowings (he really was sick - he didn't even read the newspaper!) and I volunteered to fill in.  I now have a few blisters and a mean right lat muscle from re-starting it 20 times and a whole new appreciation for manual labor.  Especially those that involve loud machinery so you can't hear the kids yelling things at you from the back deck.  I enjoyed it so much the second time I let SMH off the hook for doing the back yard so I could keep on going.  Listened to 6 Daily Audio Bible's which are about 20 minutes each.  And now I look on it with great pride.  I did that!  There - you can SEE it!  And it will stay done for weeks!  DH/SM helpfully offered that perhaps this would be a way to tighten up those stubbornly sagging arm muscles.  I was not amused. 

A Day in the (summer) Life!!

It's a gorgeous July day here at Chaos Central and here's what's involved:  a fun play date for the boys (SMH- our sole male heir and our boy from Belarus who lives with us for 6 weeks each summer - AKA the "red menace" TRM!) with the son of some dear friends who are struggling with the major health problems of their middle son.  Splashing around in the inflatable pool in the backyard, snow cones on the deck (you MUST get an electric snow cone maker - the best $25 I've ever spent at Target!), then everyone needing showers because they're "cold" and covered with grass clippings from yesterday's mowing, boys watching Star Wars (even though SMH didn't quite get his checklist of things done (piano practice, reading 45 pages of DH's assigned book, walking the dog who won't walk on Thursdays because he's deathly afraid of trash and recycling trucks).  Me listening to Daily Audio Bible while starting the dishes then abandoning the dishes because I'd rather post a blog, trying to decide if I should bother trying to get the gang to clean up the house that hasn't been cleaned in a number of days because DH and I are going out on a date tonight and it's bound to get trashed during that time anyway...Oh, and spot cleaning, febreezing and sun drying a couch cushion that someone took a tinkle on but no one will admit to, and hosing off the deck to remove the remains of snow cone syrup stains.  And breaking up yet another spat between the girls and the boys or within the girls and stepping in yet another sticky spot on the floor that I was SURE I had just cleaned up.

And you know what, God IS in us! God is here, among us, amidst all the indignities of child-rearing (thanks to David and Heather Kopp of Praying the Bible for Your Children for this characterization!), our great and glorious God is HERE, making His dwelling in this mess and this noise and this chaos.  And it stops me in my tracks every time I remember this amazing fact.  He looks at piles of laundry to be folded and wet towels on the floor and yesterday's dishes still in the sink and deems it a worthy habitation for His perfect and holy spirit.   Even in the clutter and the yelling and the spills and spats.  He is in each heart (including the tender little heart of TRM who asked Him to come and live there at VBS last week) under this roof right now at work, watering seeds that have been planted for years and planting new ones to be watered in the years to come - I know that my Redeemer lives and that He lives in our humble, messy, noisy home.  And I am utterly grateful - for all of it.

My first blog post ever - an historical day!

Am I the last person in the universe to start a blog?  At long last I have joined the rest of you cyber-savvy folks in creating a place where we can share about our homeschool journeys.  We feel this is truly God's calling, and we are humbled every day by it.  We have great days and some rather challenging days, but we are committed to the task at hand and are excited to hear from others who are doing the same gloriously chaotic, noisily joyful, busily blessed thing!  I will try to write about the curriculum items we love and don't like, things I've learned from others that really make a difference, funny things my kids say when I'm about to lose it, etc.  I sort of look at it like I did nursing my babies - I was really glad I chose to do it but BOY was it HARD!!  I appreciated most the advice and friendship of those who had the same, realistic view I did.  It's pretty much the same thing with our home school adventure - we are ALL His works in progress, from the parents on down to the oft-sassy-because-we're-tired-by-this-point 4 year old!!  It's a sanctified undertaking that is not easy - we rely on God daily, moment by moment, to not only survive but also to thrive in His grace!  That said, take the summer off, will ya?  You need a break and so do they (OK, so I took out the summer bridge books this morning and had everyone do one page but we just got back from 9 days at the beach and our brains were mush.  Back to the break!). 

My first recommendation is Todd Wilson's the familymanweb.com - he has home school comic books that everyone in my family enjoy, but especially my 10 year old son and me.  We laugh so hard there are tears streaming down our faces and it totally changes the way I look at those challenging days.  You gotta learn to laugh at yourself - I mean, you're bound to create some comical situations when you take or keep your kids out of school and spend every moment of every day with them.  Also, the Old Schoolhouse magazine is an excellent resource - get their print mag as well as their e-newsletter for regular, insightful, Biblical inspiration and reliable information.  It's terrific.  More later!!