My Heart's Desire - Homeschool Blogger

Weekly Wrapup: Is Alaska our next step of the near future?

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 23:22:00 -0600

From the Heart:

You might want to hold onto your seat before you read what you are about to read. It may come as a surprise. I haven't shared the specifics of our changing plans on here before now because we hadn't spoken to anyone here locally. Now that the news is out, I will share with you what has been happening here.

This afternoon I had an interview with an organization in Soldotna, Alaska to fill a position as a physician assistant in their community health clinic. It went well. Next week, if they choose me, they will call and let me know, and then they will fly Tim and I out there for a formal interview. We are so excited.

That said, I must also admit that I've been doing a lot of grieving this week also. You all know that my heart's desire is to be home with my children. That dream and heart's desire was granted to me for the past almost six years. I praise God for this gift that was given me. It looks that my time as full-time mom is coming to a close soon. At least for awhile. The Lord is opening some doors, it seems, to another dream Tim and I have had for a long time. The location is perfect. Tim can pursue further education to find the skills he needs to find gainful employment that will support us in the future. For the rest of the year, once I start working, he will take over the homeschooling. We will see what will happen next year based on how this year finishes up.

Soldotna is an amazing location. Google it and see! The clinic is an amazing workplace with great people to work with and great pay. You can see three active volcanos nearby, or watch beluga whales in the Cook Inlet. There are state parks and the Kenai River nearby with King Salmon runs.

On the Home Front:

I guess I need to start thinking about packing and moving. We've got a lot of stuff. Too much stuff. Being in one location with four kids, stuff accumulates. I imagine we'll be even getting rid of a lot of our furniture which is hardly worth moving so far. It will be like going on the mission field...which it really is for me.

In the School Room:

The bigger girls and I are almost finished with World War I. We finished our unit on light and color - very fun, by the way! They made great progress with their research papers, which will probably need another few days to finish. Mountain Princess still struggles along with her math, but continues to work hard. Snow Crystal is getting more independent in that area. We finished our 23rd week this week, so we have only 13 to go.

Little Critter learned "K" with his older sister, and both made a letter page for their ABC notebook. Bubbies continues to learn about the human body. I didn't get to all of our school work with her today because the group in Soldotna called me an hour early!!! Yikes! Talk about mad scramble for getting the kids a babysitter in a five minute time-frame. Thank God for good friends who will help in less than a moment's notice!

In the Way of Parenting:

This week we had some great times talking with the kids, praying with them regarding potential upcoming changes. This is drawing us all closer together in an amazing way.

On the Mission Field:

Our team in India is on their last two weeks of service before coming home. Pray for them.

If you've been watching the news, you've seen something about bombings in Pakistan involving American soldiers. This is the first time any Americans have been harmed in their civil fighting going on. We were amazed to realize that all of our friends who were over there are out of the country or on their way out at the time. This is God's providence in action.

In the Literary Scene:

I started Second Touch of the AD Chronicles by the Thoenes. I also started a new Bible study on Wednesday nights with the women here on the mountain. It is the Esther study by Beth Moore. I loved the first night! Can't wait to do it. Hopefully I can get it done before we move.

Feeding on His Faithfulness,

Carol

If you would like to join me in this theme, just write up your own weekly summary, using mine or your own categories. Then sign the Mr. Linky below. I'd love to read your weekly summaries too! I hope to post mine on each Friday or Saturday. At the latest it will be on Sunday. If you get yours done before I do, just leave your link in my cbox or comments from the week before. Be sure and check last week's Mr. Linky for any new ones who posted before I did! It is a great way to meet new people.

Weekly Wrapup

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:06:00 -0600

From the Heart:

It is hard to really say what is on my heart since my mind is being transformed from day to day. At least that is what I hope it is all about. I hope that the Lord is just working on helping me to see His bigger picture. I constantly have to give my plans to the Lord, so that He can guide my steps. Somethings He takes, some things He gives, but I choose to continue to seek His path even if it seems foggy lately.

I do have a miracle to report. I was supposed to renew my PA license by this Sunday in the state of Colorado. I went on line yesterday to see what it would cost ($202 that I didn't have). I was amazed to see that someone else had already done it for me last November! The official page said that it was renewed until 2012! After that little miracle, I decided to relook at whether or not God wanted me to give up being a PA. Now I have a few more weeks to figure it out before my license goes "inactive" sometime in March (if I don't find another physician to supervise me).

On the Home Front:

I was on crew this week, which means that I did a lot of snow shoveling, dishes and deep cleaning. Only two more days of being on crew to go!

In the School Room:

We are making our way through World War I with the older girls, and reading a lot of missionary type stories with Bubbies in history. The older girls are starting to learn about magnets, light and color, while Bubbies, 5, finished up studying plants and moved on to the human body. (We do still have some beans growing in our living room, regarding which Little Critter, 3, likes to tell everyone "Look we're growing food!") Bubbies added the letter N to her list of letters this year (review for her), and they all learned the Hebrew letter Lamed. The older girls are working on their state research report, which is going much easier for Mountain Princess (12) than Snow Crystal (10), but I am proud of both of them for sticking with it and pushing through. The older girls are taking their piano a little more seriously now that I have them play 2-4 songs for me to hear each Friday.

Little Critter learned "N" with his older sister, and both made a letter page for their ABC notebook.

In the Way of Parenting:

My three year old needed lots of training this week, but it is fun how he returns lots of hugs and kisses for it!

I'm continuing to review Raising Godly Tomatoes book so I can remember all the good tips in it.

On the Mission Field:

Today we spent the morning as a staff with some good friends who were sharing about their work in Pakistan. It is very inspiring to listen to others' stories. After listening I, of course, wanted to sign up and head right over there, but, as usual, my dh wasn't interested. (Wasn't he listening to the same stories?) I know he is burnt out. For that reason, I figure our next step will be out of full-time missions, but we'll see. I have been thinking more about my PA work, and when I think of in combined with missions, I get excited. When I think of it as a job, not so much.

Today I thought about putting together a training program much like the Community Health Aide Program in Alaska. They train indigenous people to do primary care in their home areas. I would like to do something like that mixed with a School of Primary Health Care (YWAM), to train people in remote places how to do basic things to take care of themselves. It would be for missionaries, indigenous peoples, etc. It would deal with medical issues, clean water, hygiene, etc. Anyway, those are some of my first thoughts about it. Perhaps going to Alaska and getting my PA skills built back up for a couple of years while developing this program might be a good start...!

In the Literary Scene:

I mostly read First Light of the AD Chronicles by the Thoenes. I like it a lot so far. I'm about halfway done.

Feeding on His Faithfulness,

Carol

Girlhood Home Companion Giveaway!

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:02:00 -0600

January Giveaway!!!

Time is almost up to be included in The Girlhood Home Companion January Giveaway! If you are like us, with one or more girly girls who love all things vintage and appreciate the words and ways of yesteryear with a Christian flavour ~ this magazine is simply a MUST!

Remembrance Press is giving away 3 issues of the 2009 Spring Edition of The Girlhood Home Companion (Make It Lovely Issue) and the Mother/Daughter workshop cd’s that go with them... but you only have until midnight this Sunday to enter.

If you would like to be included, please hop on over to Remembrance Press... I have never read The Girlhood Home Companion but it looks great for any young lady... or young in heart.

Weekly Wrapup in the Snow...

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:14:00 -0600

From the Heart:

I am continuing on my journey to make my walk with the Father deeper and closer. I continue to have quiet times, but don't feel I've made any great strides to hearing Him any better... I feel we are on the right path, because I am not avoiding the issue any longer! I have a great list of books that I found on another blogger's website (can't remember which right now), and I may try to purchase or find at our library one at a time. I think the most important thing is not reading books, but practicing being in His presence and obeying what I know to do. I think I understand that as I do those things, He will also draw near to me.

I thought things were going smoothly this week, but then there was a roadblock that came up. My dh is dealing with some hurts and sometimes his wounds get bumped. Just when I thought that the Lord was telling us that we would be here long-term, I am wondering if I even heard Him about that at all. Since I am doubting that, it makes me doubt whether I am doing the right thing about giving up my PA license, but I don't know what my alternative is right now... Frankly, I don't want to go back to it. I don't love it anymore, and I think that my heart isn't in it any longer. What is God's heart in this? This is what I need to know...

What is my heart's desire? That we would move ahead in missions. I feel we are in a stuck place. Dh isn't happy, I want to do more to help people and to see the world. The children aren't especially happy. They are so isolated here. When I felt that the Lord was telling us we would be here long-term, I started to dream about what we could do to make this work. Then the pot got stirred again, and I feel I am back in the fire again. The decisions I want to make do not make sense to the world, but neither does following Jesus in any whole-hearted sense. Pray that I will hear clearly from God in my times of waiting before Him.

Last weekend I put 25 braids into Mountain Princess's hair for fun. I think it turned out really cute.

On the Home Front:

We've had some issues with our house heaters this week. They still aren't working right, but, fortunately, our wood stove heats most of the house pretty well as long as we keep it going with wood. The mornings can be chilly, but usually nothing that we can't bear.

We got a bunch of new snow this week. There is one young lady on our staff has a history of drawing in the snow. Throughout her DTS whenever she was on crew, it snowed a lot. Other students never had to shovel snow. This year nothing has changed. If she is on crew, it snows a lot! I told her she needs to get paid by the City of Montrose and the western part of our country to be on crew...then they would get all the snow and water they want after the winter is over, and she could get the benefit of the money!

In the School Room:

We got through our week, and had a little fun. I think the girls are starting to struggle with the routine of it, but they are being troopers. Snow Crystal, 10, has begun the habit of working hard to get her workbooks done for the week early in the week so she has more free time as the week goes on. I think this is a good skill to possess, and I see that she is noticing its benefits.

In the Way of Parenting:

I've added a new title here, because this is an area on my heart that I am trying to grow in. It is also an area that I'm struggling with. Someone made a comment this week that he couldn't relate well with our kids because of their lack of parenting. Ouch! We work hard at parenting our kids the best way we know how, and then we still get hit with comments like this. It is hard for us to understand. I see the comment as condemnation, and not from the Lord. I learned once that condemnation is grey...there is no clear picture of what it is that we need to change to make it right. It just tears us down. On the other hand, conviction is clear. God convicts, the enemy condemns. When God convicts us, we clearly see what we need to change. It can build us up. It still hurts to hear things like this, and we need to take them to the Lord and forgive the person and see what truth is in it that we need to work on.

I've gotten back out my Raising Godly Tomatoes book so I can see if the Lord wants to give me any clear words of guidance through it.

On the Mission Field:

I think I shared above what is happening here. We could use a lot of prayer for guidance.

In the Literary Scene:

Besides my Bible and school reading, I finished reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I also started reading the AD Chronicles #1 First Light. I think I am going to like it a lot.

Snow Crystal doesn't have long enough hair for braids, so we put hers up in tiny twists.

Feeding on His Faithfulness,

Carol

Weekly Wrapup

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 11:51:00 -0600

From the Heart:

This week my challenge has been getting out of bed early in the morning and giving my Lord the best of my day, instead of the leftovers. I have been guilty in the past of not making my time with Him my priority, but trying to squeeze time in with Him after I spend all my free time on computer, playing games with my friends, or reading a book. Sometimes I forgot to spend time with Him throughout my entire day. Now I am working on literally making my time with Him the first and most important time in my day whenever I can. One challenge with this is getting to bed at a decent hour the night before so that I am not too tired the next morning. On the three days that I woke up early for this, the Lord actually woke me up earlier than the time I had set my alarm for. This was nice in that I could lay in bed longer just vegging. One time I actually got up and turned off the alarm so my dh wouldn't be woken up by it.

The down side of my quiet times with the Lord is that there is no place that I can go off by myself that I won't be disturbed by my children when they get up except for in my unheated, unfinished basement. I've been going down to our TV room and wrapping up in an old comforter. I try to stay warm while I journal, pray, and read my Bible or other devotional type of book. The upside of this location is that my children never look for me there and so after I am finished I can allow myself to doze off to sleep until I hear them all thumping around upstairs in full force.

I am still looking for the right things to do during this time to draw me closer to the Lord. I read my Torah portions, parts of Psalms or Proverbs, journal my prayers, or read a book like "Amazing Love" by Francis Chan. There is no magic key to make my times with Him fulfilling to either of us. I am hoping that by my faithfulness, and His faithfulness, the love between us will grow and my love for these times will blossom. My blog friend, Ruth, mentioned recently to me in a letter that we need to keep seeking Him each day with the determination that we won't leave until He has blessed us. She said that the Lord always blessed her when she approached it that way, but sometimes it was a couple hours later and sometimes fifteen minutes. I'm not sure what makes up being blessed, but I think that is what I am looking for. I'm not sure that isn't selfish, so I continue to ask the Lord to make these things clear to me.

Tubing in our back yard!

On the Home Front:

We've begun having a staff potluck in our home one evening a week. Our goal in it is to make a time and place for fellowship and community building outside of working, and to draw us closer together.

In the School Room:

We had a great, productive week this week. The older two girls are learning about World War I and we finally finished our unit on electricity in science. Snow Crystal and I are reading The Wright Brothers together. We started reading Cheaper By the Dozen but it was a yawner and gave it up. This week, one day I took a chapter out of Proverbs and read through it verse by verse discussing what each verse meant. After that we sang some worship songs together and prayed together to start our day. This was a good start to our day, and I hope that we can do this more often as well.

Bubbies, 5, is working on the letter "O" still, and in math she is doing numbers up to 100, counting by twos, fives and tens. She can read her little readers a little easier now too. We continued to read missionary stories, Egermeier's Bible Story Book, and we are reading Doctor Dolittle as an evening read-aloud.

On the Mission Field:

The Lord blessed us this week through an unexpected giver. I am continually amazed at how He provides for us through these kinds of gifts. I had hoped to have done more in the area of fundraising by now, but feel that it is important to wait for my husband to do this wholeheartedly as well. Please pray that we will be able to get over the obstacles that asking for money seems to put up for us, and that we will be able to see our ministry as not only a calling but a way to allow others to be blessed by giving to our ministry.

In the Literary Scene:

Besides my Bible and school reading, I'm still been reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I have also read 2 chapters from Christianity Reconsidered, a book given to me by my above-mentioned friend, Ruth. It has been interesting reading in that it talks about things that another man, a pastor, has discovered about our faith in a journey very similar to my own regarding Christianity and its Hebrew roots.

Feeding on His Faithfulness,

Carol