Nope. Homeschooling is still happening, but I admit that each day requires more fortitude than the day before. The temptation to close up shop is strong, and the reality is that my boys wouldn’t be any worse off, academically, for my having done so. It’s just a couple of weeks.
I might be a little strange, however, because the stronger the temptation to quit, the more I dig in my heels, determined to finish this school year well.
Finish well doesn’t mean that I continue to school as if it were February — freezing cold, nothing else to really do anyway, and hardly any daylight!
No! We definitely need to acknowledge, embrace, and welcome the beautiful spring season that we are in, so we’re altering our days, trying to incorporate a bit of whimsy now and again, but we are still going to finish well.
We may eliminate non-essential, “usual school day routines” in order to allow for more freedom.
We may get to the park a bit more or do reading outside or complete some of our lessons orally.
We may do only half of the problems, go for a bike ride after lunch, do more review during piano and violin.
We may do more applied math lessons outside, like measuring our shadows or using math during gardening.
We are definitely relishing every moment outside for our Friday afternoon nature study!
And they’ll read plenty, whether I tell them to or not, so that’s not a problem.
Yes. We are going to finish well.
Oh sure, I’ve had to whip out a few tricks to keep up morale when the sun shines and wants to hypnotize them. For example, I tried to get them psyched up by telling them “Today is par-tay Mon-day!” They thought that was great until I overused it, and they figured out that I could rhyme “par-tay” with every day of the week!
I have been adding chocolate chips to a few more breakfast foods…not just for their sake!
Sure, we all need a little something to coax us along, but I have to be the one to lead the charge! They are watching me!
So why do I keep at it when I could simply tell the boys to close their books — schools out for summer or simply let our studies fall by the wayside?
When I’ve run in races, it doesn’t matter how tired I am at the end, once the finish line is in sight, I can always find a little more juice to cross that line looking strong or at least stronger than I looked 10 minutes ago when I thought I might die from exhaustion.
I want them to experience that feeling of having finished well, persevering through something that is difficult just because that is the goal that was set. They have to experience it themselves in order to reap the reward.
I want them to develop mental discipline that will cause them to stay any course they set themselves to in life.
There will be many more challenges in their lives that are much tougher than this one, but I want to help them start to build that habit now.
I want them to be strange like me, unable to do less than the goal they set for themselves.
Today, I went out to clean my flowerbed. It has been neglected this spring, even with all the beautiful weather that we’ve had.
There were tiny saplings and weeds growing everywhere! Creeping Charlie, nameless broad-leaf weeds, thistles, and dandelions to name just a few!
They distorted my view and made the whole yard seem horrid to me.
Today I got the chance to grab the hoe and get to work on those weeds!
I hardly looked at the flowerbed; I simply started furiously hoeing out the weeds, trying to erase them from my sight. It took a long while, but I started to feel like I was making progress. Suddenly, when I was about half done, I noticed this plant staring at me –
It’s my chive plant, and it’s just about to bloom! This caused me to stop and look around more carefully. These beauties were right in front of my eyes:
I had barely noticed my grape hyacinths before, but now I thought they were just stunningly perfect!
And my all time favorite plant — my bleeding heart. How did the beauty of those delicate little hearts escape my view?
I know the answer and so do you: I was dwelling only on the ugly in my yard and flowerbed. The opportunistic and invasive weeds were so consuming my thinking that they stole my enjoyment of all the good in my flowerbed.
I was talking with someone today, and he became very upset thinking about all the sad circumstances in the lives of people around us. I could hear that his heart was breaking over the pain and injustice that others, whom he loves, were suffering. I had to agree with him, but, somehow, although I’ve been a notorious glass-half-empty girl my whole life, I didn’t feel hopeless about these situations. I could still see the potential that existed in the lives of those people.
Though I haven’t attained the perfect outlook on life, I believe the hope I felt today is because of my hope in Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8
Because of Jesus, there is always hope. As grim as it may seem, there is no use in becoming despondent about the circumstances of life because God is not finished, and He can redeem any circumstance and any person at any time!
The question is, do we believe it?
If we do, then we will do our part and not let the enemy defeat us with sadness and despair. We can, instead, choose to change our thinking.
Rather than continually rehearsing the worrisome situation — becoming vexed, anxious, or depressed about it — each time the thought comes to your mind, choose to turn it into prayer for that person! Doing so will renew our own hope and usher in the presence of God over those circumstances.
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me!
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
Okay, I didn’t think much of it at first (it was going to upset my apple cart), but I warmed up to it as we talked.
They wanted us to ride our bikes down to the river, about half a mile away, so that they could show me the boat launch area and the new dock. Their dad had ridden there with them last weekend, but they wanted to be the ones to show me.
I started to think about my afternoon school plans, trying to figure out how to adjust them and still accomplish the necessities… maybe the necessities are an illusion.
So I agreed, and as we cleared the lunch plates and locked up the house, I could feel their excitement: they were talking faster, moving faster, and making plans!
Once we arrived, they were delighted to see that the new, wooden dock, previously sitting on shore, was now stationed in the river. They walked all around, like little ants covering the inches and making note of the details.
You might have seen sparks fly from Oliver’s eyes when I suggested they take off their socks and shoes to test the water. Gawking at his brother in disbelief, Oliver whipped off his shoes, anxious to feel the squishy, slate-colored mud between his toes.
Once Elliot was comfortable with the water lapping about his ankles, he prodded me to join them, and I instinctively shook my head no. He continued with a persuasive tone, and finally the thought occurred to me, “Why am I saying no?” So off came my socks, and the bewildered boys rejoiced over my shrieks about the cold water!
They tried to skip rocks that were destined to go ker-plunk, so I helped them to recognize the flat skippers and gave them a little demonstration of my skills. Their zest for skipping rocks must be unparalleled anywhere in the universe!
After a good while, I did manage to do a bit of science reading with them, but the warm sun, the cottonwood seeds floating with the current, the rocks just waiting to be “skipped” — these were powerfully enticing.
And really, why should it be any different for them than it was for me? If you asked me what I read about in my science book when I was eight, you’d be waiting a long time for an answer. If you asked me what I loved to do during my childhood summers, this would be my reply:
My Own Summertime Memories
Waking up in a camper to the smell of sunscreen, mosquito spray, and campfire.
Eggs and bacon splattering angrily on the camp stove as Mom made us breakfast.
Trying to catch fireflies in a jar. Chasing grasshoppers across our yard, aiming to capture them between my tented hands and the hard ground. Trapping yellow-jackets, monarchs, and dragon flies in a coffee can and then pinning them to a piece of cardboard for display.
Endless hours of swimming at the lake. Plugging my nose, taking a deep breath and diving in over and over. Digging in the sand with my toes for freshwater clams. Jumping off the dock, plunging to the bottom of the lake, scraping my backside on the sandy bottom.
Sitting around a campfire with my family, poking one end of a stick into the fire and watching it begin to pulse with the flame.
Fishing off the dock. Cutting the thick, writhing night crawlers in half with my bitten fingernails (Yuk! I know.).
The feeling of holding onto the perfect sunfish — not too small but not too big for me to get my hand around, sliding my hand from it’s head and down over the pokey fins of its back, carefully, so that I don’t get pricked. Then working the hook ever so gently out of its gasping mouth.
Searching the sandy beach, hunting for delicate , white shells and agates with which to fill my pockets.
Riding in the fishing boat with my dad. The motor wide open and the wind pressing hard on my face, as I watch the shoreline properties shrink in the distance.
Walking barefoot everywhere, until my feet are black at the end of each day.
I was having a conversation with someone the other day. She is not a close friend, but when our paths cross I always enjoy visiting with her, and I often leave the conversation wishing that we had more opportunities to get together. Although she and I do have a few common interests, there are also many differences between us. That doesn’t bother me at all because I like her immensely.
During that whole conversation, I was strongly aware of my relationship with God. Although I was fully engrossed in the conversation with my friend, and there was nothing spiritual being discussed, I noticed that He was with us, and I wondered what He had in mind.
It’s not always like this for me; I wish I could say that it was. I wish I could say that I walked through life with an one eye on the Lord at all times.
Sadly, as I buy my postage stamps, return books at the library, or checkout at the grocery store, I notice that, all too often, I am set on auto-pilot. I may be thinking deeply about my list of tasks to be completed, worrying about the time, or I may not be thinking about much of anything at all.
Unfortunately, the people that I see in these routine endeavors, often suffer the same treatment as the errands themselves, being relegated to the status of “task to be accomplished” or simply becoming invisible to me.
Many years ago, I was able to spend some time in Ireland. Ireland, beautiful and inspiring as it is, is not the important part. I discovered something, however, while I was traveling around the country. In my lack of day-to-day routine, I was visiting with God and mindful of Him much more often than I ever was when I was at home with all the familiar people and places.
I liked that period of my life. I found that every time I met a person, or even whether or not I met a person, I was looking to God to provide reason and explanation about the events that took place. I was in communion with Him.
Maybe, when we are clearly mindful about the temporary nature of our existence on this earth, it becomes more obvious to us that we need to be connected to the eternal.
That experience, freely traveling without any daily obligations or duties, has been helpful to me. It made me aware of a different standard in my day-to-day life.
I know that it is possible (not necessarily easy) to act, accomplishing all that we need to do, and, at the same time, be mindful of God’s Presence as we interact with others. Doing so honors God by giving our attention and primary consideration, not to the completion of temporal tasks, but to Him and to His eternal creations — the people He loves and puts in our paths.
Do you have any tips or ideas about how we can live our daily lives while keeping one eye on God?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me!
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
It [Love] is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. 1 Corinthians 13:4-6
I’m coming to a sad realization. I’m a little surprised that it’s taken me this long, but I think I have kept myself sufficiently busy to ward off any chance of the Still Small Voice being noticed by me. Yes, sufficiently busy.
There is always so much to be done after all. I’m a busy mom.
They have been with me for awhile, the “touchy, fretful, and resentful” feelings, but whenever they rose to the surface, I would try to justify myself and then feel slightly guilty, which would prompt me to try to repent, “I’m sorry… [that I feel that way, but I just do!]…as if that counted for anything.
I had convinced myself that these imagined wrongs really mattered, though they may not even be true.
It’s so insidious. So sneaky. How is it that I can be offended by absolutely…nothing. That’s right. No one said anything or did anything to me, and yet I feel that I have been wronged. I sense that I have been slighted and probably maligned too…I don’t know it for a fact, but I can just feel it.
I’m very intuitive — except when I’m being paranoid, of course.
I have actually developed a whole scenario around the wrongdoings that, for all I know, is probably complete fiction. I have chosen to entertain these tiny thoughtletts, nurturing them along for such a length of time, breathing little puffs of life into them, and now, finally budding into self-pity and anger, they are stealing my joy.
How many times have I tried to counsel my own children about letting the enemy steal their joy over some small or even imagined slight? Hypocrite.
I could probably go on thinking badly about a person for quite a while without you knowing it (am I uniquely skilled at this?), but not only is this situation stealing my joy, it is keeping me from Him. He’s been watching it all, and I have to come clean with Him.
You can’t hide from God–nothing. Still, I have been trying.
I have avoided praying because I knew that His conviction would come. Oh sure, I could still have devotions with my children, and I could tell them all about the Lord and how good He is. I could pray for meals or pray for others, but I could not sit alone with Him because if I did, He would confront me about my sin, and I wasn’t ready to give it up.
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:12-13
The truth is, I will either be forgiving true offences, or I will be forgiving imagined offences (seems silly when I say it that way).
Either way, I’m ready now because I do not want to exist being separated from Him.
Ever try to hide your sin from God? How’d that work for you?
I don’t know about you, but even with a mother who is a great cook and baker, I grew up with box-mix pudding as the standard.
Then I discovered custard, and I realized the sad truth–homemade is better.
But custard is kind of touchy, right? The whole temper-the-eggs thing makes me sweat! I’ve lived through it, but I never feel confident about the results.
Well, I have some soured raw milk in my fridge, and I hate to throw it out, plus I love pudding — I just hate using boxed mixes anymore for cooking or baking. Sure, in an emergency I may still do that, but not as a regular practice.
I have time to cook from scratch now — I’m at home all day!
With all of the changes in our diet that we’ve made over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing how to make the changes stick. Here’s how I do it:
I’m delighted to know exactly what is in the pudding (unlike store bought mix or snack packs!), but I’m not thrilled about the sugar. I try to limit sugar in our diet, so I cut back the amount of sugar, and I’m happy to report that it still tastes delicious!
Homemade Vanilla Pudding (with my sugar reduction)
Ingredients:
1/2 c sugar (next time I will use 1/4 c sugar and 1/4 c xylitol)
4 T cornstarch
1/8 t salt
1 c cream
2-1/2 c milk
3 egg yolks
1 T butter
1 T vanilla
Directions:
1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
2. Stir in the cream, milk, and egg yolks (by the way, I used 1 c of sour, raw milk, and 2-1/2 c of whole milk.
I think you can easily vary the combination as long as it equals 3-1/2 c total).
3. Cook over med-high heat stirring with a whisk the entire time. Cook until it thickens (mine took at least 5-6 minutes).
4. Remove from the heat, and whisk in the butter and vanilla.
5. Pour pudding mixture through a fine metal strainer to remove any lumps (mine had very few).
6. To avoid a “skin” on the top of the pudding, lay plastic wrap right onto the surface of the pudding.
Although I could just eat this pudding plain, I let the boys make a strawberry parfait in a fancy glass…what is it about a fancy glass?
This recipe is very easy to make, is not very time consuming, and it really does beat a box mix from the store (for health and taste)! I’ve pinned this recipe for myself, and it will become my new “standard” in pudding. I can’t wait to try the other flavors!
As I’ve written before, being Mom was not one of my earlier aspirations in life. It’s something I’ve come to in my middle years.
Motherhood is not what I thought it would be. Truthfully, it’s not even what it started out to be — at least not in my life.
Before I was married, I was working full-time as an autism teacher. The days were long as well as physically and emotionally challenging. The issues of my students were so many and often so complex that there were always problems to be solved, materials to be prepared, and people and schedules to be organized.
Now, I suppose that was fine before my babies came along, but once my boys were with us, I found parenting and teaching incompatible and highly stressful.
Yes, I realize that most people think of teaching as a terrific mom job — school holidays off and summers off, so you can be home with your children. Sure the summers off were nice, but what about the long hours, work, and worry during the other 10 months of the year? The summers off just served to remind me, painfully, of what I was missing the rest of the year!
In order to survive with my sanity, I had to cut myself some slack at home. Sure, I was still mom, and I was working very hard. No one would ever suggest that I could have done more. Still, I was only giving my family second best — less time, less quality, less attention, less effort.
I was tired! The best of me was what I had expended all day long at school.
Why did I give my best to others? It wasn’t intentional; it was just a consequence of my choices. When you are employed, you owe obligations to others.
I was at school during the most productive hours of the day.
I was being paid to do a job.
Other parents trusted me to educate their children and lessen their challenges in life.
There were legal deadlines and requirements.
I could not give less than my best to my employer or to those kids who had so many needs.
At home, my husband was ever gracious because he knew I felt stressed and overwhelmed about my job much of the time, and he picked up a lot of the slack. Blessedly, my boys were too young to make demands or hold me accountable to being an attentive parent.
These days things are different. Parenting, teaching, providing for, and nurturing my children are my primary responsibilities.
The most important factor in that equation is that most of my waking hours are designated to them. For me, more times does equal more and better attention.
I would not have imagined it back then, but I have found unfathomable job satisfaction in meeting the needs of my family by giving them my BEST!
How do you go out of your way to give your family your best?
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me! (I wrote 484 words this week!)
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
I’ve had many, many jobs over the years — waitress, mail clerk, sales assistant, retail store worker, front-desk clerk, teaching assistant, para-professional, personal care attendant, and, finally, special education teacher. I’m sure there were more.
All of these jobs served the ultimate purpose of paying the bills at some point in life. The last few positions moved me closer to my calling and afforded more in the way of personal fulfillment because I felt they actually helped other people.
The truth is, every job is important and can “help other people.” There are few jobs that don’t involve working with people, so God is certainly moving in the workplace! I guess it just depends on personal preferences and values.
These days, although I do work a part-time job, my primary career is certainly as a homeschool mom, which includes being a teacher as well as all the other domestic tasks we moms are given to.
I don’t think you would be surprised if I told you that there are some domestic tasks that I absolutely detest! Doesn’t every job have some loathsome responsibilities? Regardless, being a homeschool momma is definitely the best job I’ve ever had!
What I Love About My Job
I love –
…applying my skills as an organizer and teacher for the benefit of my children.
…tackling domestic tasks, like baking bread, washing clothes, or preparing a meal while my kids are doing school work in the kitchen.
…sitting in the rocking chair, in front of the east window, reading books or having devotions with my children every morning.
…creating opportunities for my children outside of the home that reinforce concepts they are learning about inside the home (i.e. their school books).
…teaching and modeling to my children how to persevere and be diligent in our work habits even when we really, really don’t feel like it.
…allowing our schedule to accommodate time out for hugs, tickles, prayer, discipline, or encouragement whenever it is needed.
…selecting our next chapter book and then reading out loud as the boys play Legos, draw, or sit next to me on the couch.
…watching and encouraging my boys as they begin to take on more responsibilities around the house, like doing chores and taking care of pets.
…attempting to foster the individuality of each of my children, especially their strengths and interests.
…listening for the Lord’s direction, when I remember to, about the next step to take on a particular activity for the boys.
…delighting my sons by occasionally granting some whimsical request that throws a monkey wrench into our schedule.
…incorporating short morning workouts with my sons, so that both they and I master the habit of taking good care of our bodies.
…taking advantage of the gift of being at home to provide more wholesome, natural, home cooked foods for my family — I’m taking care of them!
…prioritizing the completion of school work during the day so that there is no homework to disrupt family time or other activities in the evening.
…digging deep inside of myself to trust the Lord that, as I apply myself to educating our sons, He will continually provide whatever they need.
None of these “loves” are perfectly lived-out every day, but all of them are regularly occurring enough to provide a goal to which we may aspire. When we do fail, we know that we will wake up again tomorrow with God’s grace and the day at our disposal.
Whether you’re a homeschool momma or not, what is something that you love about your job?
Homeschooling offers an endless variety of ideas to pursue. I have been guilty of trying to accomplish too many things and neglecting an invaluable activity: time outside!
It’s easy for me to keep my kids busy all day long in the house. There are great books, wonderful projects, and let’s not forget how they adore Legos! I won’t lie, it feels more productive to me than just letting them play freely outside, and maybe, in the short-term, it is.
But I have also felt regret about what they have not yet experienced in nature.
I remember being a kid, playing in the wooded creek area at the back of our big yard in the country. We would spend time out there with neighborhood friends, unsupervised, just messing around in the shallow creek, climbing fallen trees, and generally being kids.
But times have changed, haven’t they? There are lots of supervised park and recreational activities, which have their place, but what about just going outside to play — without anyone organizing or supervising what you do while you’re out there? We have always lived in close proximity to a lot of other people, and we don’t know them all, so our children are usually somewhat supervised even in our own yard!
We’ve been too close to our boys, I think, for them to really explore the outdoors the way we’d like them to.
I decided to force myself to get my kids out there by following these 10 Outdoor Hour Nature Challenges! It’s just like me to have to schedule my children to have free time, but I’ve got to start somewhere!
Wanting to make the most of the opportunity, I invited a couple of homeschool friends to join us, and I just know it’s going to be great, for the kids and for the moms! We’ll be meeting once per week for a couple of hours until 10 weeks or whenever we feel like we’re finished.
Benefits of Scheduled Nature Study
The kids get to spend time out in the woods, road ditches, parks or wherever during this coming-alive time of the year!
They get to spend time with each other!
They will be able to spend time investigating aspects of nature that catch their interest and maybe share it with the group.
They will have time to keep a journal and do projects, hopefully.
We (the moms) will have time to help each other and each other’s kids, as well as encourage one another.
My (Personal) Goals for the Nature Study
To not teach my kids anything! (difficult)
To encourage more questions than answers. (difficult-I hate unanswered questions!)
To be quiet and, if possible,” invisible” to my kids while they are out there. (practically impossible, but I’m going to do my best!)
To connect more deeply with my homeschool friends.
To encourage them and to be encouraged by them!
Beginning this new adventure at the end of the school year is like a breath of fresh air for us all!
If you find yourself just treading water as the year winds down, consider throwing in something new to revitalize everyone’s zest for learning! And, in this beautiful time of the year, why not make it a nature study?
Do you have any wonderful nature study resources you’d like to share? I’d love to have more ideas!
Whatever makes your life meaningful–big or small! How do you provide for your family? How do you interact with your spouse? What perspective do you have on your relationships with your children? How do you treat creation and the world around you? What are your goals for your homeschool? What do you do to serve others? How do you receive love from the Father? How do you give it back to the world? This link-up is very broad, but I hope you will try to make each post pointed.
An Optional Twist:
To that end, there is an additional (not required) challenge: try to maximize every word of your post, get in all the depth of your feelings, and still keep the post under 400 words! This is a goal that I’m working on for myself, and you are welcome to join me! (It’s really hard! I wrote 530 this week!)
My two requests of you:
1) Please read at least one other post and take the time to interact with that post’s author (that could be meaningful, right?).
2) Please either link back to my blog through a text link or use the Make Life Meaningful Monday button in your post or on your sidebar. As always, I would sure appreciate a comment as well!
I’ve noticed something that bothers me: they often seem totally absorbed with themselves and their material goods.
I’ve been reassured that, with maturity and guidance, children will learn to put others ahead of themselves, but, to this mama, the progress sometimes seems slow.
Their prayers of thanksgiving often comprise a long list — it starts with their most preferred toys and continues until they can’t think of any other great toys, and they just begin to name objects in the room that they can see, like the lamp, and the bed!
I’m puzzled. Being thankful is as natural as breathing! So I begin to worry, that not only are my boys’ prayers superficial, but that they don’t feel more connected to other people.
Why are there so few people in their prayers?
What if their hearts aren’t wired properly, and they never learn to feel gratitude or compassion for others.What if they grow into adulthood without feeling thankful for their family, friendships, and experiences that have shaped them? What if they only perform kindnesses to others because they know that we expect if of them? What if they never appreciate the gifts that others have sacrificed to give them? What if they never (gulp) fully embrace for themselves the gift of Jesus?
It’s a challenge to feel confident about the results of parenting while you’re still in the middle of it. And really, will it ever end?
Parenting will remind you everyday that you cannot completely control the ultimate character of your children!
Trusting God with the character development of our children is the only way to have peace in all the years of parenting.
As parents, we have done all that we know to do, and we will continue doing it!
I am extremely thankful when we see a little fruit from all of our labor.
Today, Oliver, out of the blue, offered to use his own money to pay for something that Elliot cannot afford.
Later in the day, Elliot, without hesitation, said that he was going to do all of Oliver’s chores on his birthday.
In these two separate moments of the day, I was refreshed and encouraged in my parenting journey.
What fruit have you seen lately? Let’s encourage each other by sharing!
I used to be an autism teacher; now I stay at home and teach my own children. It doesn't pay as well (Ha!), but the "benefits" are beyond wonderful! I blog because I love to write about my passions, and I love to connect with people.
I have secretly worried about my boys.
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