Well, it's almost time for me to begin making arrangements for our family's vacation.  I'd like to think that I have a better grasp on things than to let them wait until the very last moment, but this year would not be a good year for me to use as an example of my "awesome preplanning capabilities".

My daughter is graduating this Saturday, our four oldest kids and I are leaving for camp a week later and I still have no idea how we will celebrate my son's birthday - July 4th!  Last year we had a "staycation", you know - we didn't leave the city, but took in all that the Windy City has to offer.  The above picture is from the day we decided to visit the Adler Planetarium.  I think it's kinda neat that my children's clothing color matches their advertisement!

I don't really know what we are going to do this year.  We have put quite a bit of money into our house, updating and winterizing it.  We are nowhere near done with that, so spending alot of money on a vacation just doesn't seem like a good idea.  We've already seen Chicago - I mean WE LIVE HERE!  I am fresh out of ideas.  We don't have a backyard (well its about 13'x7'), so camping out at home is out of the question.  We do have vacation ownership and could use bonus time to stay during our vacation.  The only thing about that is, there is nothing around this place but fields.

I am so open to suggestions!  What does everybody else do when money is low, gas prices are high and you really don't want to waste the nine days that your family gets to spend together without interruption?  I know the Lord will help me figure out something.  Now, back to graduation preparation....

It is here - the first real milestone of home educating at KAAH - Ms. Brit's 8th Grade graduation!  I have mixed feelings about the momentous occasion.  On the one hand, I can hardly believe that it has been 8 years since we began this journey.  I still remember sitting on my couch when our first books arrived via UPS.

Well, it's hard to forget because I had only arrived home hours before from giving birth to our 4th child.  I was so excited to get those boxes, that I immediately opened them and began pouring through everything!  It was like being a kid in a candy store, except someone had discovered how to send the candy home to the kid!  I should have been in the bed, resting.  I couldn't - I was an "official" homeschooler!!  We didn't have much room in our tiny apartment, but we sectioned off a teeny bit of space in our small living room where I put a small plastic table and two chairs.  Our desk was beside it and I plopped a little dry erase board on top of the desk, got a couple of bookends to hold up the textbooks on my desk and after a quick run to the nearest Teacher's Supply Store, I put a school boarder up on the wall and I was ready.

Our first day of school, I walked into the living room and my two students (and their 2 yo brother) sat at the little desk with beaming faces and big "kool-aid" grins on their faces and said with a very loud, preschool voice - "Good morning Teacher"!  I was so proud and excited.  I looked at my desk and wouldn't you know they had even convinced their dad to buy me an apple!!

So much has changed since then and even more has remained the same.  Although their adulthood is staring me in the face, in my heart all of my children are still the wrinkly faced little babies that I first looked at in the hospital.  Even when I see Ms. Brit in her cap and gown, I still see my little Nupe Nu Nu (pronounced Nupee New New).  She will die a million deaths if all of her friends read this - LOL!  Seriously though, this time really did come around a lot faster than I expected, even though the older mothers said that it would.  So let me sound really original here, new mothers: hold on to your babies and cherish every moment you have with them.  Because week after next, you will be blogging that your child's 8th grade graduation arrived years before you thought it would - or so it will seem :)!

 Let me begin by saying that until now, I didn't really think I wanted a "school room".  I really wanted our learning to be so integrated into our family fiber, that learning would happen anywhere & everywhere.  My problem, however, was that my school materials were stored "anywhere & everywhere"!  This was really challenging when it came time to get busy on our next project.  Part of the supplies would be in the front room, some in the kitchen and others on the back porch.  If we started school in the living room, we may need to move to the kitchen for the project - after searching for all of the components, which really means that many projects were postponed or cancelled because of the hassle.  I simply chose a path of lesser resistance to make the same point and we moved on.   When the opportunity arose for me to centralize - I jumped at it!

 Combination Library and Schoolroom  

This is a photo of the main bookcase which houses most of the materials the children need.  These are Billy Bookcases from Ikea.  The larger corner unit is comprised of the tall bookcases with the additional height extension shelves at the top and just to the left are two of the shorter bookcases.  The Lord truly blessed me when I purchased these (there are more in other parts of the room).  I was able to buy these from other owners on Craigslist for less than half the original price. 

Each shelf is organized by subject matter or type of book.  I even tried to be sure that the younger children have a place specifically for their materials towards the bottom where they could reach them.

My main goal in planning this space was to keep the room from looking too "schooly".  I wanted our family to enjoy being in the room while we were working on school work and especially when we are not.  I made sure to put pictures of the children on the shelves and walls so that they knew this room was for them. 

This photo shows our work table (chairs have been moved for photos) and the other bookcases that complete the library.  The doorway between opens to the living/family room where we gather for group reading and tv.  The family computer is still housed in that room.  Disregard the basket at the top, it serves no purpose there.  That just happened to be an out-of-my-way place for it to land! LOL! I also bought this previously owned conference room table from Craigslist.

My husband and I both enjoy reading, so I put our books on these shelves.  Since we are still training the preschoolers not to destroy things, I also put our Nest Family videos and Moody Science DVDs up high on these shelves.  

This is the most recent professional photo of our family.  I know, I know, its a shame that there are two faces missing!  We're working on that.  Originally, another bookcase was supposed to be put here, but that little light switch is in too far by about 2.5" so the bookcase had to be relocated.

This file cabinet is actually sitting inside of the doorway that leads from the schoolroom to the dining room.  The previous occupants in the home broke all of the glass out of the french doors that belong here, so we took them down for safety reasons.  The file cabinet actually belongs to my husband and he keeps his tools in it now, but he just hasn't quite gotten around to taking it to the basement yet.  I just purchased the corkboard a few days ago and planned to mount it on the wall beside the MOTH schedule, but I forgot that I needed a masonry bit in order to put any hardware on that wall (it used to be a fireplace), so it's just sitting atop the unwanted file cabinet until I can solve this problem.  I need a place to showcase the children's work and accomplishments and this will do just fine.

  Student Central 

The tall bookcase to the left belongs exclusively to our children.  Each one of them has been assigned their own bookshelf to keep their school supplies.  They are responsible for having the necessary writing utensils, paper and Bibles when we begin our school day.  We used to waste so much time in the morning waiting for kids to "find" something.  This is really helpful because everyone keeps their things in the same area, while giving each one of them space of their own.  This bookcase should have been on the other wall (the one with the badly located light switch), but it is actually better over here because it is out of the way.  The yellow & white door leads to the bathroom, which we are ripping out and redoing - eventually.  This is not my paint job, I inherited it.  We'll paint the place later.

and last, but not least...

 The Mommy Corner!

Okay, truth be told, this little corner makes me so happy!  For the first time ever, I have a workspace at home that belongs exclusively to me!  My corner is comprised of the Elfa drawer system to the left, the Elfa desk in the center, and the short bookcases to the right.

This little guy is Brian, my soon to be 4yo!  I don't know exactly what it is he's decided to fight, but he's ready isn't he?  Behind him is my expanded teacher resource center.  The shelves hold my Weaver Volume 1 materials, teacher's manuals and binders and yes, art & printer paper.  On the top shelf are pictures of my students, pointed toward my desk so that I can remember why I am doing this.  Above the bookcases is our master MOTH schedule.  I cut down two large posterboards and wrote in the time slots and squares on them.  Then, I took it to Staples and had them laminated.  The individual squares are cut from cardstock paper and are taped onto the boards.  This is much longer lasting than the paper version that comes with the book and this is much easier to read by my children. 

I like to call this "Control Center" because this is where I spend most of my time.  The desk chair we got free, along with five others that the children use, when my mom's previous employer moved offices.  The laptop was a gift from my parents when they upgraded theirs.  I've wanted a laptop for years now, but it just couldn't find its way into the budget.  This one allows me to lesson plan, search the internet for additional resource material and keep records - all away from the rest of the family.  I can even blog without keeping the children from some important school work.

The organizer unit will one day help me organize their school papers, but I haven't felt overly motived lately to set this up any differently.  Between it and my handbag are some homeschool catalogs.  The wooden blinds were another IKEA purchase - $9.99 in the AS-IS section.  I needed to buy a mount from Home Depot for another couple of bucks and I have a very nice window covering!  The window looks out to the backyard and keeps me from feeling like I really am in a corner!

I've tried to keep my desktop relatively clear so that I can study, write, and use my mammoth sized binders to prepare our next Weaver lessons.  The calendar on the wall is supposed to help me stay abreast of our various church, family & support group activities but I don't know how I will ever write on it.  For now, it is screwed into the wall making it impossible to just snatch it down to write on it and hang it back up.

For Mother's Day, my children bought me the label maker on the higher shelf.  Of course, I'm still trying to figure out how to work the little thing! LOL!

These shelves hold my most used and important binders.  The lower shelf keeps the Math U See blocks (would hate for those to become the family's new legos), the 1828 Webster's Dictionary, my Teacher's Friend binder for Weaver and my Home Management Binder that I put together myself.  The upper shelf keeps the full Volume binders as well as the supplemental Weaver material.

 On the left side of the shelf, I keep my study materials - you know, the things that will keep me from losing my mind!  Since I choose to review the MUS materials, I keep those DVDs close by too!

Well, there are only a few little additions yet to be made before the school room is complete.  The children have decided that we should have school colors and paint the school room accordingly.  I have an area rug for the floor that hasn't been put down yet, the french doors still need to be reinstalled and my pre-readers have their own MOTH schedule that needs to be mounted.  I used pictures and digital and analog clocks for theirs.  I figure we may as well teach time while helping them move through the day. <>!

Thanks for checking out my school room.  I really like it alot and I thank the Lord for teaching me the importance of planning with this room.  I would never have been able to take advantage of the extraordinary sales/discounts on the furnishings for this room if I didn't have a written plan for the space and a budget.  I priced everything brand new, so I knew what was a good deal when I saw it.  You know, only the Lord can teach the "teacher" while helping her put together a space to teach!!

Wow!  Has it been that long since I entered my last blog entry?  It's funny how the days and the weeks seem to melt into one another.  I am finally coming up for a breath of fresh air after dealing with all types of fevers and colds in my household.  I've decided that since Jesus was never sick, I don't have to be.  (More on that in another blog entry), but my children and my dh seem to be touched with this bug at some point this past week.

The most miserable of them all was our littlest member of the family, CTK, who is only 1 yo and is the most pitiful little thing when he is sick. (sob)  It just breaks a mommy's heart...  Aside from that, I have been in the trenches with the family and schooling and, well, you know.

So today finds me wrestling with a little project that has been rolling around in my head for a while.  For those of you familiar with the Weaver curriculum, the entire unit study is organized inside of 3-ring binders.  Those of us who have been using it for a while get pretty good at flipping pages and really like having all of our necessary schooling information in one place.  I have now become the lover of  "binders" and I am trying to incorporate this same idea into a "Mommy Binder", if you will.  What I am really trying to do is localize everything that does not relate directly to schooling in a single binder, with school stuff in its own binder.  I have searched all over the web and think that I have a pretty good sense of how to put it together.  As it comes along, I will keep you posted.

My husband announced to me this past Sunday that it was time for us to take another family portrait.  He wants me to set up a time in March for this monumental family event which, I must agree, is long past due.  The last time we took a family picture only five of our seven children were visible in the photo (I was still pregnant with number 6)!  Suffice it to say, we have let life push and push and push until, four years later, we can put off this photo no longer!

It feels pretty good to look over at the happy, smiling family in the last picture.  There is something in the eyes of the children and the parents that seem to say that this is the best time of their lives.  I find myself trying to remember what was going on in our lives at that time to explain why we looked so happy.  Then I recall that we were probably at one of the lowest points of our lives then.  Both our home and income property were in foreclosure (and were both subsequently lost) and bankruptcy loomed over our head.  I spent many nights in tears before God during that time, but when you look at the picture - none of that is evident!

I have believed for quite some time that God uses families to witness to the world.  Just as noone would be able to know of the internal turmoil being experienced by the smiling faces on our family picture, the world looks at our families and can only see the beauty of Jesus.  We know that we are depressed at times, afraid at times, worried at times, perplexed, sick, distressed, etc., but when we hide ourselves in Jesus, all the world can see is JESUS!

While I am looking forward to taking another family picture, I am more excited about the portrait of our family that God Himself has painted for all the world to see.  Unlike the the snapshot taken with the camera, God paints a living portrait.  I am thrilled that the Lord has put our family on display that the world may know that Jesus still lives and loves mankind.  I know that we are not perfect.  I know that we have our family "issues".  But in all these things, we are more than conquerors! (Rom. 8)

A friend of mine was so excited when she called me some weeks ago.  A neighbor of hers had stopped by to speak with her and through the conversation she learned that this neighbor had been watching her family from a distance.  Katie (name changed) began telling my friend what an inspiration she was, how Godly a family they had and how she was inspired by them.  My friend was literally blown away!  She wondered how Katie had come to such a conclusion when they had never really held a long conversation and certainly had not spoken of spiritual things.  I believe that Katie was shown the living portrait of this family that had been painted by God.  I believe that God began speaking to her heart through this portrait, without the knowledge of the original family.  I believe that God is willing, even desirous, to do the same through each of us.

No matter what your circumstances are today, no matter what you are going through, remember that God has painted a portrait of your family too.  When you hide yourself in Jesus, you will find the grace and strength you will need to make it through anything that life throws your way, and you will also help others to see the true source of your strength - Jesus!  Our family, neighbors, co-workers/clients, and even our enemies are pointed towards us everyday.  I can imagine God saying, "Do you see this family?  I want to do the same thing for your family, if you will let me."

The question is whether or not we will allow God to paint His portrait.  This means that we will have to allow him to choose the canvas, the brushes, the paint and the colors.  If God chooses to paint your portrait using grays and browns and blacks, will you be as willing a subject as when He chooses cheery yellows and calming blues?  Should God select to use a rough canvas on which to paint your portrait(like foreclosure and bankruptcy) will you allow Him to complete His masterpiece?

Here's the thing, I didn't know what God was doing then.  All I knew is that I was hurting and I wanted Jesus to fix it.  Now, in hindsight, I can see so much clearer.  I feel a little like Joseph in beholding the Hand of God in operation in my life.  I believe that our new family picture will show a much happier, more secure family.  Today's portrait would show a family that has literally grown (seven kids, not five!) and its members have matured!  (And yes, mommy is much closer to 40 than she was in the last photo).  

I pray that these same things are evident spiritually, in the living portrait that God is daily painting of my family.

I have always been intrigued by the directions of Moses to the Children of Israel, just prior to releasing them into the Promised Land.  It seems that much time and thought was given to what "final instructions" needed to be communicated to this great nation that he had led for well over 40 years.  Much like a parent, Moses had waddled through this nation's development as a "newborn" upon leaving Egypt; its infancy and teen years at Canaan the first time and then through the wilderness.  Now, he was about to essentially release them out into the world on their own, and he wanted to make sure that he impressed upon them the most important of all of his lessons - walk with God!

I am sure that you have all heard the text in Deut. 6 referenced so many times, that you have probably memorized it by now.  Well, me too.  But that isn't the particular part of the story that I want to concentrate on.  (Am I allowed to do that?  Will the Christian homeschool police come after me for skipping that oh so important text?)  Instead, I'd like to look at something else that the people were instructed to do by their new leader, Joshua.

"And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.  And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.  And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?  Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.  For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:  That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever."  Joshua 4:21-24

Wow!  Did you see that?  Joshua had just brought this younger generation through the Jordan river and since many of them were either too young to remember or simply not born when they crossed the Red Sea, this must have been a tremendous and remarkable occurence!  I know I would have loved to see that!  Truthfully, I'd love to see the waters of Lake Michigan miraculously cleaned, but that is a different blog entry...

 The crossing of the Red Sea was a miraculous event.  Nothing like that had ever happened before and it was supposed to prove the awesome power of our God.  Unfortunately, after a little bit of time in the desert, the people forgot what God had done.  I mean, they didn't have it wiped from their memory, but apparently the testimony of it was no longer powerful.  The days in Egypt during which God performed His miracles, the "cloud and pillar" that God used to both guide and protect them once they left, and the parting of the Red Sea were all distant memories.  Now they were faced with new challenges and their hearts wavered at them.  And not long after, they simply "forgot" how miraculous these events had been.  Well, you know what that cost the people - denied entry into the Promised Land!

Joshua remembered all of that.  He knew the importance of not only noting God's Hand in our lives, but also the importance of recalling it in the future.  He set up a memorial for the people for the purpose of causing them to constantly remember what God had done, so that they would fear the Lord forever.  He also knew that as children were born to them, their naturally curious nature would cause them to ask questions about it.  These children could also benefit by this memorial because the parents would recount the story of the Jordan, as well as tell how their ancestors had been brought through the Red Sea on dry land by God Himself.

 I believe that this same principle should be operating in our lives today.  I will be the first to admit that I am neither a scrapbooker, nor keeper of prayer journals.  Something has to change though.  I don't want to risk "forgetting" what God has done for me and for my family in past years.  We have been brought through some really tough times.  Everytime, every single time, God has placed a praise in my heart and a song on my lips!  Only Jesus can provide a deep set joy in your heart while tears flow from your eyes!  He is an AWESOME, AWESOME GOD!

I don't want the miracles that I have seen in my life to "wax old", you know like that protective covering that covers ice cream left in the freezer too long.  The ice cream no longer tastes good because of it, it is undesirable now.  What if the works of God have lost their savour because "time" has made them either unexciting or just plain common knowledge now?  It is said that time heals all wounds, I wonder if that is always a good thing. In the midst of the pain, deliverance means so much more to me!  I need to remember the hurt, the pain, and then the miracle will keep its true essence.

I want my children to experience God in miraculous ways too!  I want them to desire God, to have a very personal relationship with the Saviour of their soul - Jesus Christ.  Between now and then, I can excite that desire in them through our family's memorials.  Just as reading of the parting of the Red Sea makes me desire to have a similar experience in my life, recounting past miracles that we have experienced as a family can do the same for them.

Now, I need to develop some way of "memorializing" these experiences and miracles.  I don't know if I can do a scrapbook - I'm still trying to make lapbooking a real part of our homeschooling experience.  For all of my regular blog readers, you know how often I get an entry in here, so journaling is probably out!!!!  But maybe we can do a Testimony Tuesday or a Thankfulness Thursday and let each member of the family write in an entry into a big bound book of some sort....

Whatever the method, we all need memorials.

Has the thought ever crossed your mind that maybe the decision to have children wasn't such a good one, considering how wicked the world is today?  Sometimes I get a little nostalgic for the "good ole days", days that apparently happened before I was even born.  I hear my parents talk about the times when nobody locked their doors because the neighborhood was safe.  I listened to them go on and on about how everyone looked out for you and your children.  I secretly wish for the days when sex wasn't a marketing tactic for incresing shampoo sales!  Yeah, the good ole days...

I hate to admit that I have allowed myself to think that, although my children are the greatest of blessings to my husband and me, maybe this is a terrible time for them to have been born.  Just look around, the world is so very wicked.  It is such hard work to keep them innocent and pure.  Cartoons aren't safe, commercials aren't safe, actually... TV isn't safe!  I can't think about not locking my doors (and even deadbolting them), my neighbors looked terrified when I walked up to them to introduce myself, and let's not even start in on the current fascination with witchcraft... Harry Potter, Twitches and the sort.  Homosexuality has become the new and popular "minority agenda" to fight for (Romans 1:26-27) and Christians, well, we are the people that the world loves to hate! (St. Mark 13:9-13)

It can be a bit saddening and even depressing if I don't stop to think - Who Is My GOD? 

One of my children's favorite videos is by NEST Family Video - Esther.  One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Mordecai tells Esther that she could have been born for "such a time as this".  Mordecai must have been terrified of the thought that the young woman that he raised as his own child may have to lose her life to save her people.  He was sending her to a king that was hateful, destructive, unreasonable.  Still, Mordecai instructed her to go and plead for the lives of her people, perhaps this is the reason why she was here - this could have been her purpose... (Esther 4:13-17)

That started me to thinking.  I have taught my children that their God is omniscient (all-knowing) and I have taught them that their God is omnipotent (all-powerful), I have even taught them that their God is omnipresent (everywhere all the time and all the time, everywhere).  Could it be that my children, your children, were born by Divine Providence to be here for such a wicked time as this?  I think so!

It is true that the world is growing to be more wicked than it has ever been since Creation.  Mankind's heart is growing increasingly hardened against the knowledge of God and His Christ.  We've read through to the end of the story (the Book of Revelations) and despite the many ministers that would have us believe that better days are coming, the Bible bears witness to a different tale.  It is not going to get better, it's going to get worse.  Think about that.  Of the millions of people that have been born since Adam and Eve, God has chosen to allow us to live NOW!?!?  Not everyone is alive now.  Peter and Paul and the early Church, they are no longer on the scene.  Moses and Abraham died centuries ago.  Who will God look to to continue His work here through to the end?  He will look to us and our children!

Parents, our children were born for a specific purpose - to contend with the enemy in the gates!  We have been entrusted with the awesome responsibility of preparing an army for the Lord that will march fearlessly into this spiritual battle during the most wicked times in history!  God is preparing His army, an army of young soldiers who have learned the scriptures from infancy and believe that God is Who His Word says that He is!  More so, they will believe that THEY ARE who God's Word SAYS that they are!! (St. Mark 10:14-15)

The more I think about this, the more sobering a thought it is.  I don't have time to be selfish.  I don't have time to be wrapped up in my own little world of sorrow.  I don't have time to worry about obtaining the trappings of the world!  (St. Luke 21:34-36)  I have a very important job to do.  My children will either walk with God or they will fall victim to the world system that is trying so desperately to destroy them.(St. Mark 8:34-38)  I believe that if I prepare them, if I fall humbly at my Saviour's feet and request His direction, if I sacrifice my little life for theirs, then they will not only survive these end times, but they will thrive under the mighty Hand of God and bring many souls to Calvary!

Moms, Dads, we have been called to prepare this mighty army of God!  What a tremendous honor the Lord has placed on us!  Not every parent has been called to this specific duty.  Many parents have lived and died before now.  Here WE are!  This is an awesome (and weighty) responsiblity!  Let us not be like the parents of that generation which rose up and did not know their God!  We must do more than march our children into church!  We must do more than pray over our food.  We must do more than wear the uniform of Christians.  It will not be enough to "have a form a godliness, but deny the power thereof"!  We must model a holy life before them, we must show them how to live a dedicated life, a sanctified life, a spiritually warfaring life.  We must demonstrate to them what a life full of the Holy Spirit can do!

Our children are not here due to bad timing.  No, they are here by Divine Order.  I would like to think that the only one wishing that they had been born at an earlier time in history is the enemy whose kingdom they will help to destroy!  Our children were born for this specific purpose and we were born to prepare them for such a time as this!

Before you even start, I know that there are many homeschooling mothers that are single.  I take my hats off to you, because the journey is difficult with the support of a husband, so I know that your challenges must be great.  I suppose that you can say God has proven to be faithful in your home too!

For the rest of us, the married crew, I wonder if sometimes we forget that homeschooling is not our primary home ministry.  It is so easy to become overwhelmed with our daily list of things to do.  What with lesson planning, special projects, paper grading,,,whew.... it's no wonder that we err in believing that this is what we are placed on this planet to do.  Yet before there was a child, there was a marriage.  Before being a mom, I was made a wife.

My husband, God bless him, is such a sweetheart and a tremendous blessing to me.  I can't begin to list all of the ways that he uplifts me and encourages me.  Not to mention all of the days that he walked through the door and I was on my very last leg and he took over so I could get a break.

It would take all day for me to list the ways that my husband blesses me, the ways that he looks after my well-being and that of our children and home.  What is on my mind, however, is whether or not I am returning the same to him.  In the midst of "homeschooling" have I remembered that my primary ministry in the home is to my husband?  Sometimes, I think that I forget that.

In Genesis 2:18 we read "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet [comparable] for him" (emphasis added).

What is interesting about the above scripture is that God designed woman for being a wife, that was His first purpose.  We don't read that Adam was created a child and God said that it was not good for the child to be alone.  God mades us, women, to be wives. 

Every day, my husband is met with numerous challenges.  Some challenges he meets in route to work: the unfriendly person on the bus, the many perverse advertisements on the billboards, etc.  Other challenges he meets when he reports to his desk: the disgruntled employee who didn't get their way, the full Inbox and calendar of meetings, etc.  Let's not even start in on the challenges that meet him at home: bills, bills, hungry kids, tired wife and the list goes on. 

As his wife, I should be aware that he meets such challenges on a daily basis.  Moreover, I should be moved to action because of that knowledge.  Just as I welcome his arms to comfort me when I am feeling saddened or overwhelmed, my husband needs to be comforted by me.  I can be the listening ear that lets him unload at the end of the day.  I can be the confidante that keeps his secrets.  Most importantly, I can be the intercessor that take his challenges to the Lord in prayer.

As a wife, I can be much more than a chief cook and bottle washer.  In order to be a blessing to my husband, I must pay attention to him.  I must make time for him and make time to meet his specific needs.  Furthermore, I must understand that I cannot do this on my own, but only through the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit will I be able to identify his needs and join him in his spiritual battles.

Now, I am not my husband's pastor!  I am not put here to "teach him a thing or two",and talk him to death!  I am to be his most loyal supporter and helper, his "good thing".  The beauty in this is that God has built in a blessing to me also when I give myself to the ministry of being a wife.  God will teach my husband how to operate in his ministry of being a husband and he will provide the leadership and protection that I need.

Let us not forget that our marriages must be maintained in order for our children to be discipled .  Let us ask God how to address the problems every marriage faces, so that His righteousness can be seen in it.  Wives, let us continually pray for the spiritual growth and development of our husbands.  Let us never fail to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the  Word of God in the administration of this office.  Let us constantly remind ourselves that more than being a homeschooling mom, I am a wife!

My blog now has a new theme!  A special thanks to the designer/writer of the Daniel Academy (here on homeschoolblooger) for helping me out with the HTML coding for this.  HTML may as well be Ancient Greek as far as I'm concerned, because I have the most difficult time learning it!

The picture - the "old path" - is dear to my heart.  Some years ago, I was praying and asking the Lord to help me be a good mother and a good wife.  I knew that God required more from me than simply bathing, clothing, and feeding my children.  I just didn't know what that was.  A day or so later, my father gave me a book called Ancient Paths, which led me to this scripture in Jeremiah.  Reading that book was such a blessing to me and made me hungry for the "good way".  I was no longer satisfied with modern Christianity, modern motherhood, or being the 90s woman!  I wanted the old path, where the good way is.  I wanted rest for my soul.

Since then, the Lord has been ever faithful in uncovering His Word and His Will for motherhood to me.  I am so glad that God knows that plans that He has for me and our children.  God has a vision that reaches far beyond my lifetime and into future generations of Kings.  He already sees every one of our children in their adult lives, fighting the war against Satan, training their children after them.  He sees their victories and their struggles.  He hears their prayers and reads their thoughts - God is doing that now.

My prayer is that, as their mother, I will succeed at providing them with the foundation that they need to help them along the way.  Since God is not limited to the boundaries of space and time, I ask Him to move on my heart today, so that I will feed into my children what they need as an answer to their prayers of tomorrow, the ones that God is listening to today.  Then, He only needs to remind them of what their mother and father has taught them, from infancy, concerning His Word and His promises.

I truly believe that as mothers, through prayer and seeking the face of God, we are able to touch the lives of our great, great, great, great-grandchildren.  We are in the position, now, to place God into their hearts.  We only need to be dilligent, steadfast and purposeful in the work that we do today.  I fight daily against complacency, slothfulness, and the idea that my work is mundane and of very little value.  All of this is a trick of the enemy to keep me from accomplishing my true goal, to raise up generations of Apostolic, Bible-believing people that will share God's love with a dying world. 

This is the "old path".  This is the "good way", and modern society needs us to point them toward it more than ever before.

It has been a while since I've been able to post anything to my blog!  Between my former blog and now, I've packed up my family and moved to a single family house - Hallelujah!  I would love to say that there were no interruptions to schooling during the process, but that just wouldn't be the truth.

Like most homeschooling moms, I really hate interruptions to my school day.  I don't like it when the telephone rings and the caller doesn't have something earth-stopping important to say.  I can't stand it when the utility guy shows up to read the meter, without calling to set up a time to do it.  And topping the list, the "pack up everything you own and relocate it for the 5th time" move!  It is during the interruptions that the thought comes to me that if I worked in a brick and mortar school, I wouldn't have to entertain these nuisances.  Nobody would contact me at work to ask me a "quick question".  The utility guy wouldn't be able to find me and the school probably wouldn't be moving into a new building.

I think that perhaps these types of things, interruptions that are common to homeschoolers, will cause my children to be a step or two behind their public school counterparts.  Then, God shows how faithful He is, even when school has to suffer another interruption.

I was going through our Skills Evaluation this week (Weaver resource) and noticed that my children are still improving and learning - even without what I call "school".  I was shocked to see that my 3 yo son has actually learned most of the skills at the Kindergarten level.  When did he learn this stuff?  When did my 5 yo son learn so much math?  Where was I?

I was doing what a wife/mother does.  I was doing what needed to be done for our family so that we could continue to move forward (literally).  During that time, God was teaching my children Himself.  Through His Word, He helped my children improve their reading, reasoning and critical thinking skills.  He taught my little guys to identify their numbers (chapter and verse) and they even memorized scripture through the Nest family videos that they watched over and over again.

I would that I could tell how God did what He did.  Mostly so that I could repeat it myself since His methods are so much more successful than my own, but this happens to be as big a mystery to me as the rest of His ways and thoughts.  All I could truly say is that all Glory belongs to God and I am both thankful and in awe of what His mighty hands have wrought.

Now, we are settled in to our new house and SCHOOL ROOM!!!!  I am glad that 2008 is finally here because I am ready to get back to the daily grind.  I've missed schooling and teaching.  It felt really good to sit across from my children and pour myself into them.  This is going to be a fantastic year!  Lord, I thank You for allowing me to be here!

Happy New Year everyone!

It's turkey time again and I find myself wondering - what do we really have to be thankful for?  For all of you homeschooling moms out there, what are the five things that you are most thankful for?  What have you learned since last Thanksgiving?  Do you think you've grown in the last year?  How?

This past year has been amazing for me.  What five things am I most thankful for this year?  Okay - here we go:

1.  Since last Thanksgiving, I have given birth to our 7th child, our 5th son.  He is so cute, with a head full of curly hair.  I think he has a smile that is to die for!  I am certainly thankful for him and his six siblings. 

2.  I can't be thankful for children without being equally as thankful for the wonderful man who helped to bring them into existence, my husband.  He is such a wonderful person and I am incredibly blessed to be married to him.  Next month will mark our 15th Anniversary (I still feel waaayy too young to have been married that long) and he still makes my heart skip a beat when he walks into a room!  I praise God everyday for allowing me to be his wife!

3.  As tough as homeschooling is, I am thankful not only to have my children home with me, but also for small victories!  One child I thought would never have a love for reading.  I honestly believed that I started her on formal schooling so young that I killed a love for learning in her.  Just this month, I was shocked to discover that this same child is outreading all of my other children.  She has become a voracious reader and I give all glory to God for it!

4.  I am thankful that God upholds me day in and out.  I am thankful that the Lord brings my attention to those small victories that I need so badly to keep going.  I am thankful that His Word is absolutely TRUE and that my children are in fact "taught of the Lord" and live in great peace!  He is such a Good God!

5.  I believe that I am most thankful for "do-overs"!  Remember them?  Remember playing a game when you were little and things didn't work out quite the way you bragged that they would so you called a "do-over"?  Well, this has been my year of "do-over". 

I am ashamed to admit that my past has not been "squeaky clean"!  There was actually a time when being a submissive wife was not a term that would have accurately described me.  The details are too numerous to bore you with now, but God is giving me an opportunity to get it right.  It is amazing how many circumstances have repeated themselves from years ago.  The major difference is that I am wiser this time around.  I know what happens when you make the wrong decision because that is what I did the first time.  I didn't like the result.

Now, I get to allow the Lord to work in my life through my husband and trust their judgments.  It should go without saying that the Lord is worthy to be trusted, but when he asks me to place that trust in the hands of my husband, things sort of changed in my head.  Don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful husband and I love him dearly.  He just doesn't always decide to do what I want done when I want it done and I kinda find that, well, irritating.  Sometimes, I just want to be able to call all of the shots, then I know that I will get what it is that I want!  The problem is, this is no at all what God has required of me as a wife.  Boy, has it taken a long time for that to seep into my head!

I know that many of the things that we have suffered through as a family is my fault.  I know that if I would have only obeyed the Word of God and been the wife that I was supposed to be, I would not have found myself in many of the difficult situations that I was in.  Worse than that, my family had to suffer through all of that with me.

So, I am thankful that God has given me the opportunity to revisit those challenges and make the right decisions this time.  I am thankful for the "lean years", the time God used to stand me in front of the mirror and really look at myself.  That was really hard.  I am not the picture of holiness that I thought I was.  But you know what, I am so glad for every test, trial, tribulation, heartache, pain, and tear that came between my first time around and now!  Only Jesus could do that!  Only Jesus could force me through the fire and have me come out thankful for the experience.  I appreciate the woman of God that I am now.  I appreciate the maturity that the Lord has brought me to.  And I am thankful that He is standing me in front of the mirror again, only this time the reflection resembles Him so much more.

I pray that each of you will take the time to really consider what you have to be thankful for this year.  Moreover, I hope that you are thankful for the process that God is putting you through to perfect you.  Maybe you are enduring pain or discomfort in your current circumstances and it seems like even God doesn't care very much for you.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  He loves you and wants to "buff" His reflection into you.  It could be, like me, that you will get a "do-over" and He wants you to be pleased with yourself the 2nd time around!

Have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving.  And number six on my list, I am thankful that you stopped by to read my blog today!

Until the next time....

How many of you have found yourselves in a predicament like mine - you are in the midst of the school year and needing to pack your family and move?!  Not moving would be turning away from one of the greatest physical blessings your family has known, but moving means turning your schedule upside-down for a couple of weeks!

This isn't the first time that I have had to pack up my family for a move.  We are not a military family, but a growing family.  This time, we are moving into a 4-bdrm house that has 2 bathrooms!  Woohoo!  This is the most space I have ever had and I am really looking forward to turning it into our home.  I am so blessed of God to have this house!

I just have one itsy, bitsy problem - I DON'T WANNA PACK A THING!!  The big day is Dec. 1 so I have less than two weeks to get 2 years worth of stuff packed and ready to go.  Considering that nothing can be done during Thanksgiving weekend because of the major amount of food to be prepared - by me - I don't really have time to waste.  I am excited about having so much room to spread out, but getting from here (literally) to there just seems like so much work!!!

Is there anybody that understands how I feel?  Am I just being a little whiny?

The good news is that I have started purging already.  I mean, if I already don't want to pack, then why would I pack the junk?  This is making the entire process even longer to me.  I can't just throw all of the files into a makeshift, paper file box and call it a day.  No, I have to go be all "systematic" and responsible here!  Good-grief!  Enough already!  Let's just put it in a couple of Aldi's bags and sift it all later.  (And that will be the week that the "school officials" will come knocking on my door demanding to see proof that we are adequately educating our children by checking records.....)

Okay, I admit, I am whining.  I just want to get to the fun part, you know?  I want to get to the part where all of the walls are painted the colors that make us feel warm and fuzzy, all of the necessary repairs are done, and we are back on homeschooling schedule in a house so immaculate that even Martha Stewart would stand in awe!  Well, that has never actually been our reality, but wouldn't it be nice to live there?

For those of you who have made it this far into my sickening descent into self-pity, I would appreciate your prayers.  I have such grand visions for my old house and I know that there are many talented "do-it-yourselfers" out there who could give me a little help!  Well, I guess I should get off of this computer and go put something in a box!  Until next time....

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting my parents for dinner.  This didn't start out as a formal get together, we have dinner together quite often because we currently live in the same building.  Many times I have gone to their unit for dinner (or just to have a snack or whatever), but on last night they actually climbed the stairs and joined my family for dinner.

My mother is one of those women that every kid dreams of having for a Grandma.  Actually, both she and my mother-in-law are like that.  My husband and I often laugh because they don't seem to be the same women that raised us, you know the "no-nonsense", "do-it-now" because "I said so" mothers!  These women seem to believe that their grandchildren are the greatest creations since sliced bread!

Our kitchen table is pretty small, so it takes a little work to get eight people around it.  I opted to sit on a stool, off to the side, and allowed my parents and my children to sit together at the table.  While I was holding the newest addition of our family in my arms, I watched the interaction between my children and my parents.  It was really neat.  I was reminded of a few months ago when my parents last "climbed the stairs" and spent the evening in our unit.  The occasion at that time was to give my children an opportunity to hear "history" from people who lived it.  My parents told us what it was like to grow up during the 1960s when this country was involved in the Civil Rights Movement.  Of course, my children wanted to know more important things like: did my parents get whippings when they were little?  Were there cars when you were a little boy?  How did you have fun without tv?  You know, the really important information that you just can't get from a book!   What a wonderful experience it was for our family

After my parents left last night and returned to their home, I continued to think about my mother.  There were so many emotions bubbling up in my heart.  First, I thought about what it was like growing up with her.  I remember thinking that no matter what was wrong, how I was hurting (whether a scratch or a broken heart), my mother could fix it.  My mom was the "safe place" to run to for comfort.  My mom was also the person that wouldn't let me do everything and go everywhere, which I really didn't like at the time, but I am so thankful for now.  She was then, and sill is, my MOM.

Well, that is me now, to my children.  It is a frightful thought because maybe I won't do as good a job as my mother did.  I embrace my children because my mother embraced me.  I talk to my daughters because my mother would curl up on my bed and listen to me talk about some boy that didn't like me anymore (grin).  I challenge my children because my mother seemed to always find a way to volunteer me for something when I was young.  It used to drive me crazy because I didn't think I could do the thing she was "making" me do, but I soon found out that I had the ability to do many things.  Talk about building up your confidence!

My mother used to tell me I was so beautiful (she still does as a matter of fact), but I never believed her because I didn't have the trappings that society said made one beautiful.  Actually, it wasn't society that I was concerned about, it was my peers.  I hear the same words coming out of my mouth to my own girls ("You are so beautiful and you have a cute face too!) and I see the look in their eyes that seems to say they want to believe me, but find it a little difficult.  I wonder if that was what my mom saw in me.

Being a mother is a tough job.  My heart aches so much for my children.  I can't begin to tell the number of times I have worried, cried, prayed (when I finally remembered that it works better) and toiled for my children.  I never knew that you could love something so much that it hurt.  Just being a mom now makes me love my mother so much more.  I can't say that I took her for granted because I was completely ignorant of what she was experiencing being a mother.  This I know for sure, of all the women on this planet that I could have been entrusted to, I am so glad that the Wisdom of God placed me in the heart and arms of Regina B. for my nurturing and upbringing.  Much of what I am today is because God worked in me, through my mother.  So, although it isn't anywhere near "Mother's Day", I want to take this time and say to my mom - Thanks for being my blessing!

I find that I am far enough into the school year to begin asking myself a very familiar question - who is really being educated in our homeschool?  To the untrained and inexperienced, it is the children who are embarking upon this educational pursuit.  I disagree.  It is not the children at all, but us parents.

My husband jokingly says that homeschool mothers are by far the smartest people on the planet.  This is especially true for those of us with large families.  Why?  Well, you figure that we will have gone from Kindergarten through High School atleast 3 times, we should be smart!  This is funny, but also very true. The homeschool mother is truly being educated.

I have discovered over this past week that there is so much of my history that I really don't know.  In preparing for the lessons I am to teach my children, I have discovered things about my country that I never read once during school, not even in college.  Of course, the world-wide-web didn't exist in the form that we currently enjoy and it does make a huge difference when it comes to what information is available to us during our research phase.  Nonetheless, I find myself wondering how it is that so much pertinent information could be left out of my education.  Am I alone?  Do any of you wonder about the "quality education" you received as a youngster?  When you compare it to the education that your children are receiving from you, do you still think that it was pretty good?  I don't.  Sometimes I would that I could just homeschool myself.

Wait a minute, I am!

My education is going far beyond the discovery of information, but it is also teaching me things that I would never have been capable of learning during my younger years.  There really wasn't much opportunity to teach my peers, to condescend with those of low estate, or to multi-task in the way that I must now.  Being responsible for the spiritual, character, and educational development of my children makes it necessary for me to learn all types of new skills.  I find myself reading everything from my Bible to How To Win Friends and Influence People  to Different Children, Different Needs.  I am learning to be a mom, home organizer, project manager, social worker, bible instructor and teacher.  In order to be confident that I am doing a good job, I have decided to pursue my "master's" degree in each area.  It means many hours of prayer and study, but it is the most valuable education that I can imagine right now.

For the next few years (actually about 17+), my children will be enrolled in our homeschool, but I will be the one who is being educated the most.

This is my little star pupil, the only one I had back in 1994!  Of course, back then we were working on simple things like - "I am mommy.  This is daddy."  Now, she is in 8th grade!  Oh, High School is coming, High School is coming!

Well, I told you that I would figure out how to get some pictures on this blog!I did! (Well, right after barrynmissy1972 told me how to do it!). Click on their link on the right and visit their blog - it is really beautiful and very encouraging! Our students have grown up over the years and we have added a new student almost every other year! I am so proud to be the mommy of such a wonderful bunch of kids! Just think, I get the privilege of educating them for the next 20+ years!!

I made it!  We have finally completed our first month!!!  I know that there are still another 7+ months of schooling left in the year, but we are one month closer to the end of the year than we were when the school year began!!!  HOOORRAAAYYY!!!!

I happen to be one of those mothers who needs to celebrate every small accomplishment, you know what I mean?  A one month celebration breaks up the monotony of the school year and allows me to concentrate on small chunks of learning/teaching.  It takes 30 days to develop a habit, right?  Well, by the time that 30 days is over, I can look over my shoulder at the time that has elapsed and smile.  I have created a habit of schooling my children daily.  I have created a habit of focusing on what is important so that I don't have to worry with too many things becoming urgent!  For 30 days, I buckled down and I now have 30 days worth of academic accomplishments to show for it!  YIPPPEEEE!!!

As if that wasn't enough - We Finished Our First Lapbooks EVER!!!!

I am so very proud of my children!  I read through the Ultimate Lapbook Handbook and The Big Book of Books and Activities in order to prepare for this.  I did absolutely nothing right!!  I couldn't figure out which fold to assign to which information set.  I couldn't even decide which information should be included in the lapbook.  I didn't have the children do mini-books while we were studying the subject.  I did everything wrong.  Even still, I have a set of very lovely lapbooks to show for my ignorance!

My children, bless their hearts, chose their own ways of displaying the information.  I told them what I wanted in the lapbook and their creative juices flowed on its own.  I did give a little more assistance to the younger ones, but not as much as I thought I needed to.

Well, what did you do the lapbooks on - you ask?  Insects!  We have been studying them in our Weaver studies and it seemed like this would be a cool subject to lapbook.  I was right! (Aren't I creative, smile?)  I tried to take pictures of them today, but of course my camera didn't want to cooperate!  I am so totally bummed out about that!  I am having Daddy help out with that, I think he may be a little more tech savvy (especially since it is his camera) than I am.

There is only one more week of school left before our family's annual family vacation.  It was moved from this upcoming Monday to the following week.  I don't know how I want to approach next week's studies.  I would hate to begin a chapter and then have to stop in the middle of it.  On the other hand, it looks like this could turn into a "family vacation school" opportunity because Daddy will be doing some lessons on simple machines with projects during that week.  Hmmmm, maybe I could sneak in some other things as well.....

Thanks for celebrating this small, but significant accomplishment with me!  Come back and see our lapbooks!  I am pretty sure I can get them up by the end of next week!  Until next time - Much Love In Jesus!

I was given a copy of this wonderful poem and wanted to share it with all the other homeschool moms and dads.  Many times we find ourselves at war with the character development or academic development of our children.  On one hand we want to complete the line of study that we are in, but there arises a need to address a character deficiency in our children.  What do we do?  I think that the following will help us all to remember why we have embarked on this journey in the first place.

To Be Educated by Carolyn Caines

If I learn my ABC's, can read 600 words per minute, and can write with perfect penmanship, but have not been shown how to communicate with the Designer of all language,

I have not been educated.

If I can deliver an eloquent speech and persuade you with my stunning logic, but have not been instructed in God's wisdom,

I have not been educated.

IIf I have red Shakespeare and John Locke and can discuss their writings with keen insight, but have not read the greatest of all books - the Bible - and have no knowledge ofits personal importances,

I have not been educated.

If I have memorized addition facts, multiplication tables, and chemical formulas, but have never been disciplined to hide God's Word in my heart,

I have not been educated.

If I can explain the law of gravity and Einstein's theory of relativity, but have never been instructed in the unchangeable laws ofthe One Who orders our universe,

I have not been educated.

If I can classify animals by their family, genus, and species, and can write a lengthy scientific paper that wins an award, but have not been introduced to the Maker's purpose for all creation,

I have not been educated.

If I can recite the Gettysburg Address and the Preamble to the Constitution, but have not been informed of the hand of God in the history of our country

I have not been educated.

If I can play the piano, the violin, six other instruments, and can write music that moves men to tears, but have not been taught to listen to the Director of the universe and worship Him,

I have not bee educated.

If I can run cross-country races, star in basketball and do 100 push-ups without stopping, but have never been shown how to bend my spirit to God's will,

I have not been educated.

If I can identify a Picasso, describe the style of da Vinci, and even oaint a portrait that earns an A+, but have not learned that all harmony and beauty comes from a relationship with God,

I have not been educated.

If I graduate with a perfect 4.0 and am accepted at the best university with a full scholarship, but have not been guided into a career of God's choosing for me,

I have not been educated.

If I become a good citizen, voting at each election and fighting for what is moral and right, but have not been told of the sinfulness of man and his hopelessness without Christ,

I have not been educated.

However, if one day I see the world as God sees it, and come to know Him, Whom to know is life eternal, and glorify God by fulfilling His purpose forme,

I HAVE BEEN EDUCATED.

Ever hear the saying - "Thank God It's Friday"?  That is about how I feel!  No, this was not a terrible week or anything.  After having been away from "formal schooling" for a couple of months, it was a little work getting back into the swing of things.  I am so thankful for Teri Maxwell's Managers Of Their Homes Book!  The schedule that I set up before giving birth to child 7 earlier this year has been a life saver this week!  We knew exactly what to do, when (even though we are still working on the finer points of keeping to the schedule) and that kept us from wasting valuable time.

I already know that there are some adjustments that I will be making both to the schedule and how I operate the school.  I actually got my educational goals down on paper for this year.  They are simple, but that makes them more attainable.  I sure wish I could figure out how to get my pictures on this site!  I want to show off my little students and the neat things we've been up to!

My preschoolers are learning all about Creation and since we have been discussing the truth that God created the light, we have been exploring shadows.  A fun activity for today was having the children make silhouettes.  Although this isn't what my older children are studying, it was a nice art project for everyone to do together.  The kids were surprised that the silhouettes actually looked like them!  They want to laminate them and turn them into a two dimensional puppet.  I want to mount them on the wall.  Whatever we decide to do with them - it was alot of fun just doing them.

Next week we will begin our Ancient Egypt studies.  I am still looking for some really fun projects to do with them.  Perhaps by then I will have figured out how to get my pictures uploaded successfully!  Have a great weekend!

Every day I am more excited and impressed about the Lord!  It seems that just when I think that I know Him, something hits me or is revealed to me that signals I don't know Him like I thought I did.  He is even more magnificent than I previously believed.  He is even more intellegent than I previously acknowledged!  He is altogether, without limitations, God Almighty!

I know that the testimony may seem a bit old to some, but it still brings tears to my eyes - "Oh How He Loves Me!"  This was such a good day for our school!  It is hard to describe what is going on in my life right now.  It seems that everything is different, but absolutely nothing has changed.  I honestly believe that my circumstances are no longer what dictates my future, my happiness, or my peace.  Wow!  That sounded like it came from a really mature child of God!  Could that have been me?  I can remember a time when my academic outlook was centered around catching up with that family, passing up another family, not wanting to be compared to the third family, etc., etc., etc.  Somewhere along the line, it would eventually occur to me that this entire journey is really about my walk with God.

That is not my testimony this year.  I don't care what other families are doing.  I don't care what curriculum anyone else has chosen.  I don't care if everybody else's kids are reading before they cut their first tooth, if they graduating out of diapers while graduating from high school too, or any other super-genious type of thing that my children are not capable of doing.  I really don't care.  I have learned to be proud of the geniouses without needing to make my children compete.  I have learned how to listen to other moms speak proudly of their children without needing to join in the "top your story" game.  I have learned to just let God do what He promised that He would do.  "Your children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children."  What more could I be in search of?  Is there a curriculum out there that will top that?  Of course not!

I realize that the most valuable thing that I can offer to my children is not a book, a snazzy computer-aided learning experience, or enough activities to cause people to stop asking me if they socialize!  No.  The most valuable thing in our school, offered by me, is my personal walk with Jesus.  You see, there is absolutely no way that I can succeed at this without Him.  I can't think straight, I can't plan, I most certainly can't teach - not on my own power.  What I need more than anything else, is to sacrifice all to draw closer to Him, to learn Him, to replace my mind and thinking with His mind and thinking.  I want to succeed at this!  I want my children to have great peace.  In order for that to happen, I have to bow my will, my knees and even my desires and pride to His.

There is just no other way to do this.  This is the reason why this school year is so much different from all of the previous seven years.  I am not doing this for a pat on the back by people.  I don't need their praise right now.  Somewhere along the way this year I will probably need some encouraging words to ward off burnout, but I am looking to God for the praise of my work.  His praise is truly the only one that counts anyway.

I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes because I know that I received new mercy on this morning.  I received new mercy to get it right today.  I received new mercy to try again.  I love the Lord for just that reason.  Every day He lets me try again to get even closer, to be even more pleasing to Him.  The only thing that has changed is -ME.  But then, that means that everything has changed doesn't it?  Now my "dire" circumstances don't seem to be all that important anymore.  What I mean is, it doesn't seem to me that my happiness and comfort is resting on them now.  Now, I find my confidence in Jesus.  My happiness is in Jesus.

I could say so much more, my heart is so full - but I will wait until another time.  Oh bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me!  Bless His Holy Name!