We arrived home from our trip late Thursday night.  The following day was spent unpacking, doing laundry, sweeping and mopping the floors, and preparing for the Sabbath. 

We do not start school until after Labor Day, as our custom has always been since beginning to homeschool in the year of 1992.  I spend these last two weeks of summer in preparation of the coming school year. 

My preparation first starts with a “school” that is ready-to-go. To this, I mean the school building, our home.  I had told myself that before school officially starts, I would get our weak areas in the home strengthened.  For us, our bedrooms are our weakest point.  They are small, the closets are small, and there never seems to be enough space to put everything.  

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 We made a small dent in this goal on this day.  Friday is our routine cleaning day, and since we had not been home for two weeks, and we had cleaned before we left, we were able to spend this day tidying up the weaker areas in our home.  The goal for next week is to come up with a better plan for the bedrooms.

 During our two weeks on the road, I was unable to have my personal one-on-one time with Him in prayer, and this is what I have been enjoying the most since I’ve been home – my early morning time with Him spent in prayer and Bible reading. 

I am reading in the book of Isaiah – it’s taking me a while to finish this book.  There is so much richness to it that I cannot just fly through it.  I like to look up verses in my Matthew Henry commentary, or look up Hebrew root meanings to various words.  Another thing that I especially like to do when reading the Bible is to keep a notebook journal by my side to record verses that are significant and seem to personally speak to me.  By writing them out it gives another layer of understanding and depth to my reading of the Scripture.  These are verses that I wrote out this morning from the book of Isaiah, chapter 46 –49:

“  .

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

All of you who remain of the house of Israel,

You whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth,

Event o your old age and gray hairs.

I am He,

I am He who will sustain you.

I have made you

And I will carry you.

I will sustain you

And I will rescue you.

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To whom will you compare me or count me equal?

To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?

Some pour out gold from their bags

And weigh out silver on the scales…

Though one cries out to it

It does not answer

It cannot save him from his troubles. 

Remember this

Fix it in mind

Take it to heart…

Remember the former thing

Those of long ago.

I am God and there is no other.

I am God and there is none like me.

I make known the end from the beginning

From ancient times, what is still to come.

I say: My purpose will stand

And I will do all that I please.

From the east I summon a bird of prey;

From a far off land,

A man to fulfill my purpose.

What I have said,

That will
I bring about:

What I have planned

That Will I do.

This is what the Lord says,

Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

I am the Lord your God

Who teaches you what is best for you.

Who directs you in the way you should go.

If only you would have paid attention

To my commands

Your peace would have been like a river.

Before I was born the Lord called me

From my birth.

He has made mention of my name,

He made my mouth like a sharpened sword

In the shadow of His hand He hid me.

He made me into a polished arrow

And conceived me in His quiver.