The whole of creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth as it awaits its final redemption from the effects of the fall. ~Romans 8:22

As my grandma lay dying a year and a half ago, I was struck by how her suffering reflected the pains of childbirth. I felt as I watched that she was somehow being "born" ino heaven, passing out of the pain of this world to be caught up in the loving arms of her Savior on the other side, as all the angels stood by watching in joyful anticipation. I even had this Norman Rockwellish image in my head of the whole event. While it was very sad for all of us, there was a certain beauty in the process.

Yesterday, this thought came back into my head as I was reading from a book called Blessing Your Husband by Debra Evans. After quoting Romans 8:22, Mrs. Evans goes on to say, "Though it is easy on difficult days to forget our ulimate goal, our labor and groans are deeply productive where God's eternal purpose for us is concerned.  'For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18' "

Not much is said about the symbolism of childbirth in the Bible, but there it is, an answer to the question of suffering and a picture of our salvation, put into words that only a mother could fully understand. That's just an awsome thought, isn't it, that God is speaking specifically to us who have gone through the pains of childbirth? Just picture the whole of creation groaning in the midst of labor, and then that final moment when the child arrives and there is instant and complete relief, and overwhelming joy. Our labors are over, our sinful natures are gone, along with all the pain that accompanies them. Amazing! And not just us, but someday "the whole of creation" will feel that relief. Don't you long for that day?

We are in the middle of a remodeling project. Or perhaps I should say "projects."  The kitchen floor has been mostly ripped up, we have trim stacked in the foyer for the cabinets, new wood flooring stacked in the dining room for the kitchen, tile for the bathrooms and laundry stacked in the garage. The garage and shed need siding up before the really bad weather sets in. And, yes, we are hoping to re-do the "dining room of many colors"  so it is all one harmonious hue instead of the patchwork of paint samples that we about which we were undecided.

In the middle of this mess, it is just too distracting to do school. Since we are doing very well with our days and our assignments, we are taking off a few days. The kids could use a break, and I need time to clear out some clutter and take stock of where we are academically. I also need to make a LOT of copies of certain things and my printer has died an unnatural death. Chalk up a day out to town for a Xerox run.

Tonight we're having microwaved burritos and putting down the new kitchen floor. I can't cook homemade meals right now because the stove has been moved.

It's been an eventful day already. The children and I have  rearranged furniture, done some yard work, and  tossed some unnecessary books.  Boy, that hurt to type. It goes against my grain to call any children's books unnecessary. My friends that know what a book-nerd I am will be shocked to read that. I may bring them to Jen's get-together this Friday so I can make sure they find good homes.

I'm almost ready to let go of children's clothes, too. Notice I said almost.  Every article of clothing my children have worn has been carefully stored for future use. We weren't sure how many blessings the Lord would give us, so I kept all the clothes to save money.  Now that we know there probably won't be any more little ones around here, it's time to start letting some things go. Ouch. That hurt to type, too.

All in all, we need some time to regroup, catch up on home stuff, get ready for winter, and make more detailed lesson plans. We have a small time window before Dad starts his next several surgeries. I plan to make a little time to find out what it is like to sit down for a while and relax, too. With a cup of tea that Pat sent me this week. Ahh! Things are shaping up nicely already.

I just got this in my email today and HAD to share--I've already downloaded my copy. Thank you, TOS!

It's your FREE gift . . .

Get ready to . . .
Wrap your family in a ribbon of thankfulness and joy and
season your holiday with laughter, love, and togetherness.
Start planning now for a wondrous holiday season with . . .
 

The TOS 2009 Digital Holiday Supplement

WOW . . . a gorgeous Holiday/Christmas Digital Magazine filled with a fabulous lineup of planning, recipe, gift, and craft ideas you'll love. 

“This is TOS’s gift to the homeschooling community, and anyone is welcome to it. The 2009 Digital Holiday Supplement will fulfill your yearnings for fresh and original additions to your long-treasured, family customs, and maintain Christ’s honored position first, and foremost, in your celebrations.”

—Gena Suarez, publisher of The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine

I am so pleased to announce and invite Doehill readers to our church  Sunday,  November 22, to hear a Voice of the Martyrs speaker who has ministered in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East.  

He will be speaking to the entire church during the Sunday School hour. This special event begins at 9:15 a.m.. If you are going to be in the area [possibly vacationing at the Smokies?] , please feel free to come be with us.  If you've never gotten to hear about their amazing work, I hope you'll come be with us, or at the very least, go visit their website at www.persecution.com .

Once again, we are blessed to have the opportunity to hear about, pray for, and actively help the persecuted Church through this organization. VOM has been to our church before for  two different ladies' mission conferences [here, here, and here] , but this is the first church-wide meeting. ALL AGES ARE WELCOME! Two staffed nurseries are provided.

Please visit out church's website [ www.fbcmaryville.net ] for directions! And come back here for more info as we get closer to the event! in Christ, Gin

This week I began reading several different types of books--Christian living, children's fiction, and adult Christian fiction. In an evening I finished C. S. Lewis' last book of the Narnia series, [appropriately titled] The Last Battle .  I also began  D. Martin Lloyd-Jones' Spiritual Depression Its Causes and Cure. The title sounds dreadfully boring, but it's actually one of the best things I've picked up in a long time. Here's a challenging excerpt  from chapter three, "Men As Trees, Walking"  :

We are considering this subject not only because it is sad and tragic that any Christian should ever be miserable, but because of the whole state of the Church today. I have no hesitation in asserting again that one of the reasons why the Christian Church counts for so little in the modern world is that so many are in this condition. If all Christians simply began to function as the New Testament would have us to do, there would be no problem of evangelism...It is because we are failing as Christian people in our daily lives and deportment and witness that the Church counts for so little and that so few attracted to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So for that most urgent reason alone it behoves us to deal with this question...

 

On a recent trip to the library I picked up some Christian fiction. The only current Christian fiction author I care for is Jan Karon. Another author came highly recommended and I sighed while pulling it off the shelf, hoping to be pleasantly surprised.  Let's just say that Christian Gothic/prairie/Amish/western/modern romances  and Christian serial killer series aren't  appealing to me. But I do like classics, some mysteries, and--of course--Hank the Cowdog books.   Our local library is small and has a limited space [about three small shelves] devoted to classics.

To change the subject slightly, our librarian commented that our local library would be moving into a part of the new public school about to built in the community. It will be a little strange taking my homeschooled kids to school just to go to the library, though  we certainly could use a bigger library facility.  Here's hoping there'll be more room for classics.

Have I mentioned that I really like Jonathan Park cds?  Yesterday's field trip to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies was a welcome break.  The crowds were thin, and we were able to enjoy it at a leisurely pace. Ripley's is a beautiful place and doesn't drip with evolutionary nonsense, but it is there. There is a lot of very interesting science as well--such as how they get the water salty enough for twelve sharks to survive and keep all that water clean with sand and bacteria. And of course, there are the fish! What an amazing variety of life the Creator has designed!

I waited for the children's response to certain lectures and exhibits.  It was time to see what they had picked up without me prompting them with questions. They were able to detect certain statements presented as fact and immediately wanted to talk about it.  Thanks to the excellent teaching from the Jonathan Park series and materials we've used from Answers in Genesis, the children are seeing science from a creationist perspective.  I love homeschooling!

During school, we typically don't answer the phone. We stay offline as well, but today something wonderful happened. It was an interuption worth having.

In the middle of a school lesson, my middle child looked out the window and saw a truck in the driveway. It wasn't just any truck--my DAD was driving!!!  Out like shots we flew from the house to meet and hug in the yard. We just saw him a couple of days ago, but he was DRIVING!! It had been months since my Dad had driven on his own.  His brothers, my brother, or myself have been doing the driving for him. It was as though this year hadn't happened and there he stood in the yard like always when he'd drive down for a visit. Honestly, it seemed like time had rolled back to pre-cancer days!

Workbooks were put away, we went outside to walk in the yard, take the dogs for a walk, and watch the children jump on the trampoline. We fiddled with the tractor and talked about firewood for the winter. We planned a trip to Cades Cove. He stayed with us for a month in the summer after his surgery, but hadn't seen the changes we'd made in our ongoing remodel. Pleased, he said he might not mind a stay with us again---which made us all laugh. His last stay was punctuated with hourly statements of, "Well, I'm ready to go home now. How 'bout it sis?"

After Mother died I used to dream of what it would be like to have her back again. When things were bad with Daddy, it seemed like I tried to squeeze every bit of life and memory from each moment , anticipating  his loss, knowing I'd need  those memories to help me. We thought we'd lose him. And here he was, driving, cancer free, in my house again.  We sipped our coffee together, looked at old photos, and enjoyed our time together. It was a real visit--not a doctor's appointment, not a hospital stay, not a recuperation. But a lovely, lingering visit. And Daddy was able to drive.

It may seem like a bunch of drivel, this post of mine. Maybe it was just something you had to be here for. I'm glad we both were.

A few years ago I was blogging at another host about homeschooling, the persecuted church, and trying [emphasis on try ]  to be a Titus 2 woman. It wasn't going well.  Someone --in pity, I'm sure-- left me a comment about TOS starting a new homeschool blogger platform and left a link to come join. It was a very good move for me--making friends, learning, being inspired in this off-the-beaten path choice of home education  were [and are] some of the benefits of being part of this community. What a blessing HSB has been.  Now, I'd also like to thank HSB for featuring Doe Hill Homeschool as Blogger of the Week.  It's an honor.

I've been blogging about my Dad and the trials and joys and ups and downs of dealing with cancer. My husband and I both lost our mothers and grandmothers to cancer. When we heard the c-word in February this year, we braced ourselves for the worst. 

God in his mercy opened doors, answered prayers, and helped us so much this year.  My Dad was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma that his local doctors described as rare, agreesive, and probably fatal before Christmas this year.  But God allowed us to go to a different facility--the Vanderbilt Medical Center--to meet with an incredible surgeon and his team.

In May, Dad was told he needed to go on hospice. Two weeks later, I was at Vandy with him for a fourteen hour marathon surgery that removed his right ear, part of his jawbone and skull, many lymph nodes, his facial nerves on the right side, and a massive graft from his right leg [knee to thigh.]  At nine o'clock on June 10, his surgical team met us in the lounge and gave the good news: they got all the tumor.

He began more chemo and 37 radiation treatments. After finishing those six weeks ago, it was time for tests to see if, indeed, they got it all. And his scans came back clean--we just got the news yesterday!

Now we have some reconstructive surgeries to get done. It's the fairy tale ending to a cancer story that you dream of, but are almost afraid to hope for it.  We aren't sure how long this will last, but then again, none of us are promised tomorrow.  We give praise and honor to God, thanks to some local doctors that were glad to acknowledge they needed help, and  are grateful to have such a world-class, top notch facility in Tennessee like Vanderbilt Medical Center and Dr. Netterville.

God is SOOOO good!

Get your IDOP kit at www.persecution.com/idop .