Wild Ridge Chronicles - Homeschool Blogger

Impromptu post

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:02:00 -0500

I ordinarily take time to draft a post before actually putting it on here so that what I say actually seems to make some bit of sense. However, months of good intentions have passed along with the entire summer & I haven't posted forever. Summer went by in a whirlwind as my oldest son participated in the Junior Master Gardener program at our local extension office, and our 3 oldest children had countless 4-H projects to finish (mostly at the last minute even though we resolved that that wouldn't happen again this year). By the time all this was finished, and we went to the State Fair to see the projects that advanced past our county fair, it was already time to start up school again!

This is our second week of our school year, and we are trying to fine tune our schedule and tweak the curriculum that wasn't working as well as we'd hoped. At the same time, we've been blessed with people giving us fresh produce that needs to be preserved. I've already made strawberry freezer jam, canned 14 quarts of tomatoes and 20 pints of salsa as well as freezing countless bags of shredded zucchini. Tomorrow's project will be freezing the bushel of Redhaven peaches that my mother-in-law gave us. They are always such a yummy treat in the winter time!

We are also preparing for the arrival of our 7th blessing, whom ultrasound revealed is a sweet daughter. We currently have a tie ... 3 girls and 3 boys .... so this little one will give a win to the "girl team"! Since our last two were boys, we're packing up the little blue things & getting out the pink for our Annelise (which means blessed with God's bounty). It's hard to believe that she will be here in less than 2 months! There's so much to get in order before then since we will be having another scheduled C-section due to a change in our hospital's policy that no longer allows VBAC's.

Nothing terribly spiritual to say tonight, though I have a lot of thoughts wandering around in my head that hopefully I'll have a chance to put in writing some time soon. How thankful I am that God is faithful even when I am not, and that He continues to patiently pursue me and teach me even when I foolishly get side-tracked by all of the busyness and distractions of this world.

Blessings :D

Thanks for the award :D

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:58:00 -0600

Trouble is Coming -- It's Time to Stock Up!

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 15:48:00 -0600

I must admit that my initial reaction to predictions of impending doom and gloom is one of hoarding/stocking up on necessities of life like beans, rice, sugar and toilet paper. Perhaps it's the "control freak" in me that desires to assert even a tiny portion of control over cirucumstances that are completely out of my hands.

While I believe that God would want us to be responsible and forward-thinking in the care of our families, we need to balance that with a strong faith in Jehovah-Jireh, our God who promises to provide all that we truly need.

And even more importantly, in times like this, the most valuable commodity that we need to stock up on is God's Word. "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God". His Word provides stability when everything in the world is coming apart at the seams. It is an oasis of peace in the midst of stormy, turbulent circumstances. The Bible provides us with knowledge of the sovereign God, who truly has "the whole world in his hands". It is a source of wisdom for the choices of our daily life in a world where ethics have became situational; God's standards are unchanging. His Word gives us the courage to live a counter-cultural life.

So, in all of our Emergency Preparedness, let's make sure we don't forget that which is even more necessary to us than food and water -- God's Word.

Here is a site that includes a great plan for commiting Scripture passages to memory. It's designed for children, but I have been using it successfully:

http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/

And here is a site that offers some great free Bible studies that are doctrinally sound. They also offer a lot of free literature for the asking, so make sure you look around their site while you are there:

http://www.mountzion.org/

Please comment & tell me what passage of Scripture you're going to start working towards memorizing. I am currently working on 1 John .... I've got quite a ways to go.

And, comment & tell me what Bible study you are going to start doing, or are already in the process of completing. I've jumped in with both feet, realizing that I've been neglecting serious study of His Word, and have decided to set aside my Seeking Him study for the time being to join a Precepts study that has just started at our church ... it's on the life of Abraham. I also bought the book for the other study that the ladies of our church are working on -- a study of the book of Proverbs by Sue Edwards.

20th Century Idolatry

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:29:00 -0600

May I just preface this post by saying that this must be a message that God is really wanting me to understand and to post for others to read because this is actually the third time that I've tried to type it. The first two times, I got a significant amount of the post typed up, and then somehow managed to delete the entire thing. This time I'm going to save as draft periodically so this is the last time I have to type it!!

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I'm sure that most of us are familiar with the Proverb, " Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall (Prov. 16:18), but have you ever given much thought to why God so detests pride, and how this sin might be manifesting itself in your life?

I have been working through a Bible study by Nancy Leigh DeMoss called Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival (which I highly recommend), and have been thinking a lot about these questions the last few days. I've come to realize that much of what I viewed as character strengths in my life -- my independence, my organization and desire to have everything under control, etc. -- were actually manifestations of the sin God repeatedly states that He hates throughout His Word. What a humbling, but necessary, experience this has been.

I am truly a daughter of Eve, and not much has changed since the Garden of Eden. Back then, Satan's temptation was the same as we face today. Eve could usurp God's authority in her life, 'becoming like God' and essentially calling her own shots. She, like us, was tempted to set up a rival god -- the god of self. Pride = Idolatry and this is why it is so abhorrent to God.

What does this look like in my life? It is pride:

*that insists on my own rights & what I think I deserve

*that refuses to submit to my husband, ultimately refusing to place my trust in the god who placed him in a position of leadership over me

*that proceeds with my day without seeking God's direction or merely asking Him to bless the plans I've already made for myself without His input

*that gets defensive when my faults, weaknesses & sins are exposed

*that gets angry with my childrens' misbehavior because it shatters my image of 'being in control' or because it makes me look bad in front of others

*that expects God to answer my prayers in the way I expect and in my time frame

"The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkeness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." C.S. Lewis

"If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud... If you think you're not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed." C.S. Lewis

What, then, is required to draw near to God? I must have a humble and contrite spirit, which acknowledges my sinfulness and my utter dependence upon Him for every breath that I take. I must have a teachable heart which is submitted wholly to Him. Without such humility, I cannot draw near to Him, or experience His peace or revival in my life.

"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

'I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly,

and to revive the hearts of the contrite.'" (Isaiah 57:15)

Lord, I never really realized before how filled with pride I am -- and how abhorrent that is to you. What to me had always seemed like a strenth is instead what you hate the most. In my own foolishness I have set myself up as my own god, following my own will, desires and so-called 'wisdom'. I have been guilty, therefore, not only of pride but idolatry as well.

Lord, I want an intimate relationship with you more than I want to continue calling my own shots. From this day forward, please help me to continually seek you, depend wholly upon you, and walk in your will and your ways instead of my own. Amen.

"A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God: of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom." Jonathan Edwards

Note: If you would like some more questions for self-examination regarding pride in your life, see Nancy Leigh Demoss' 41 Questions that reveal pride issues in your life here:

http://www.reviveourhearts.com/topics/downloads/index.php?id=9496

New Year's Resolutions

Sun, 4 Jan 2009 00:32:00 -0600

I was going to post about New Year's Resolutions, but as I thought through what I wanted to say I realized that a fellow blogger whom I "know" and love has said it so much better than I every could. Her post about New Year's Resolutions was a blessing for me to read last year, and to look at again this year. I must confess that I fell woefully short of the standard and goal she laid out, but I hope to keep it before me throughout this year instead of forgetting about it after we're 2 weeks into the New Year. Here is the link to her entry: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MrsE/461631/

Make sure you read some of her other soul-searching entries while you're there. I'm sure you will be blessed by them as I always am.

Happy New Year!

Confession time

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:18:00 -0500

As I'm working on getting my home organized for what seems like the millionth time (though I never seem to be able to actually finish the job), God has been teaching me a lot about what has gotten me here in the first place. It's clear as I stack and shift and box things that the main problem is that we just have way too much stuff! And as I clean it all up these are the lessons that God is pressing on my heart:

1) All of these "good" things that I thought that I just had to have and can't seem to bear to get rid of are actually stealing from me what is most important in my life. I have held on to the "good" while missing out on the best. How much better it would be to have less things, and spend all the time that I'm using to organize actually doing things with my children who are growing up so quickly before my very eyes?

2) How different am I than my children? We often have the talk about contentment, and I chide them for never being satisfied with what they have. The are always thinking about the next thing that they want (for birthday, Christmas or whatever), and once they acquire that thing it satisfies only for a short time before the "wants" start up again. Often that much-coveted item gets totally set aside & forgotten once it has been attained. I'm ashamed to say that I'm not much different. Instead of being grateful for the abundant blessings and using what He has already graciously provided (curriculum, etc.), I see the next "perfect curriculum" that I just have to have, and am restless & discontent until I acquire it. I guess this explains all of the books, papers and educational materials that I am finding myself sorting and rearranging today! How easy it is to see the speck in someone else's eye while completely missing the plank in one's own.

3) I glorify God most by being content with what He has graciously provided for me. Besides that, it's a lot easier for my children to learn contentment and gratitude by watching it lived out before them instead of having it lectured to them while I am actually doing something else.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for continually teaching, leading, and guiding me. Thank you for your unbelievable patience with me ... it seems like it takes me so long to learn the most basic lessons. Your provision for my family and me has been more than abundant! Please help me to store up treasures in heaven rather than trying to accumulate them here, where moth and rust and 2-year olds with markers destroy. Thank you for loving me and never giving up on me. May I learn to imitate you more fully as I walk before my children & try to model before them a life that brings honor & glory to you.

Another sweet blessing from God

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:37:00 -0600

I haven't had much time to blog because the last couple of months I was 'nesting', and 2 weeks ago we welcomed blessing #6 to our home. I think each childbirth experience is more precious to me, as I always wonder if it will be the last. So right now I am reveling in the smell of newborn babe, the peach fuzzy skin, and the joy of getting to know a new little person.

I know that there are so many people who simply don't 'get' us at all. Having more than 4 children seems to brand us as some kind of fanatics in most circles ... most of all in our own families, which can be a really painful thing. In fact, just less than a week before my scheduled C-section, a family member asked if I was planning on having any other surgery while I was in the hospital. She volunteered her opinion that we had a nice sized family and that I should get my tubes tied. Then she went on to express her opinion (for the nth time) about homeschooling ... and how our kids need to be exposed to the real world sooner or later, need the competition that a classroom offers, our property taxes are already paying for public schools, and a dozen other arguments why we need to be doing something else as far as our children's education, too.

Just the week before I had heard that my own mom had expressed concerns to another of my family members about our homeschooling ... whether it was the right choice for one of our daughters, how I don't get any time to myself etc.

It gets so discouraging when you feel like you're marching to the beat of a different drummer, and even those in your own family (and oftentimes your church) don't understand or completely support what you are doing. But I know that in the midst of it there are so many great faith-building lessons that the Lord is teaching both my husband and me. Lessons about self-sacrifice, dying to self, patience, perseverance and laboring for God's approval instead of man's approval just to name a few. In fact, I think that parenting (including homeschooling) is one of God's best character development curriculum.

Well, the new baby is calling me ... and it's a wonderful sound to hear. Incidentally, we named him Matthew, which means 'gift from God', as a constant reminder that even though he is #6 in our family, he is a treasured gift from the Father's hand.

First steps at making my husband my king (next to God of course)

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:51:00 -0600

Well, I think that I'm making a little progress Last night my husband mentioned in passing that we (I) should probably go through the drawer in the kitchen that holds all of the spatulas and large utensils. It has been pretty irritating trying to find something in there because it was so overloaded with many items that we hardly ever used. I put that project at the top of my list, and while I was at it sorted through several other cabinets that were overflowing with rarely used items that were cluttering things up and making everything a mess. I've almost filled a large box to take to Goodwill!!! God answered the prayer I prayed this morning for Him to give me the strength and the courage to get rid of things. It feels very liberating.

This project may not be bringing his slippers to him (he doesn't wear them anyway), but at least it's a start at really listening to what he's saying and making that a priority in my life.

I've got so many areas that need improvement, but I'm not going to let Satan discourage me by making me see everything all at once. By God's grace I will take it one day at a time, one project at a time, obeying what He shows me to do to make the improvements on His timetable instead of trying to making them all on my own and my own timetable.

Praise God again!

God's amazing work in my life

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:18:00 -0600

So much has happened since my last blog entry that it would take more time than I have to actually record it. The bottom line is that in God's providence, I am in a very exciting time of both conviction and spiritual growth in my life. God is opening my eyes to areas of sinfulness in my life that I was previously unaware of (mainly because of some other trying circumstances that are currently taking place in our lives regarding the training of our children, financial challenges etc.) It is really true that God does not waste anything, but uses every irration and every circumstance of our lives to conform us more completely to the image of His Son ... if we will only listen and cooperate with His working in our lives.

I am truly thankful to God that He doesn't reveal every single area of sinfulness to us at once, because surely I would be overwhelmed & just feel like giving up. Today He opened my eyes to the fact that a lot of the disorganization and chaos in my home is because of my lack of obedience to my husband. For many years I served as the Nursery Coordinator of our church, a ministry which I greatly enjoyed at the outset. As time passed, and my responsibilities at home grew with each addition to our family and homeschool, my husband repeatedly urged me to give up the ministry and let someone else take it over. I pridefully and obstinately refused to listen to his advice reasoning that 1) I would be putting the Children's Ministry Coordinator in a bad position 2) Nobody else would be willing to assume the position 3) It really didn't take THAT much time (although I foolishly didn't realize how much of my time and energy it was taking) and 4) This one is the worst one to admit ... My husband just wasn't as 'spiritually-minded' as I was and so I just discounted his advice. I'm ashamed to say, that in this instance and in my previous leadership in Bible study, that my husband ended up functioning more as my help-meet than the other way around.

In May when we discovered that we were going to have our sixth baby, I finally decided that this would be a good opportunity to resign my position. Since we would soon have 6 children and homeschooling 3 of them, I figured this was really the straw that broke the camel's back. Amazingly, the Children's Ministry Coordinator survived, someone else DID come along to fill the position, and I've had a lot more time to realize the state that my home had come to be in as a result of my time spent involved in this outside ministry.

God has shown me that not only is my primary ministry to my family (duh!), but He has even graciously started to bring me out of the time of spiritual dryness that I was experiencing (probably mainly because I was not being obedient to my husband). I am ashamed that my home had gotten completely out of control because I didn't realize that God gave my husband to me to protect me in so many more ways than just physically. In the past I spent a lot of time in 'victim' and 'martyr' mode about how much I had to do, etc., yet how much of what I was doing had God specifically called me to do at this time?

His burden is truly light and He does empower us to do that which He has called us to do at this specific time in our life. A time may come down the road where He calls me back to another outside ministry opportunity, but I am much more content now that I have eliminated all of the 'good' things that I was doing in my life to focus on the 'best' things that God has for me to do right now.

I praise God for His patience with me ... I am such a slow learner!

Life continues to get more interesting

Fri, 1 Jun 2007 18:34:00 -0500

Keeping our secret is driving me absolutely crazy, so I decided to blog to save my sanity....

We're expecting blessing #6 in January!!!

The kids don't know yet, because as soon as they know they'll tell Grandma (who will be less than pleased about the whole situation).

I've been on a cleaning and organizing jaunt, which seems to be the story of my life, and hope to get things in a little better running order before we add another little one to the mix. The thought of having 3 children who are 3 years old and younger frightens me a little, I'll have to admit. But I know there are loads of other people who are doing the same. I find lots of encouragement in the MOMYS group from ladies who have 2x as many kiddos and are still managing.

It is definitely an opportunity to rely more upon the Lord in more ways than one. Only He can supply the strength, endurance, and wisdom that I need to parent, disciple, and homeschool all of these children for Him. Only He can give me calm and peace in the midst of living a lifestyle that is completely counter-cultural and just plain weird to most of the people that we know. I just pray that He would make us a bright light shining for Him.

Today's Project: Purging and organizing our office, filing away all of the 'outgrown' school books until the next children need them.

Today's Reading: Fascinating Womanhood by Helen Andelin (although 'I'm finding it a little difficult to be too fascinating when I've got nausea that lasts throughout the day

Today's Dinner: BBQ Chicken, Oven Baked Potatoes, Asparagus & Chocolate Brownies for dessert .. yum!