Multitude Monday

 

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

940.  A fun, field trip with our girl's class
941.  An evening family night at school
942.  Watching our big guy reading to and hanging out with his Kindergarten reading buddy


943.  High Tea with the Home School Support Group Moms
944.  How they shared their honest experiences- both sweet and hard


945.  Peapod grocery delivery 


946.  Knowing right away what was wrong with our girl when she woke coughing and crying at 11:30 p.m.
947.  How a steamy bathroom relieves croup
948.  Access to medical care and medication early the next morning
949.  Motrin and humidifiers
950.  And finally a fever free day complete with the return of her perky, chatty self
951.  A brother who could step up to lead worship for my husband when he succumbed to the nasty bug in our house

952.  Another weekday visit with my parents

953.  The end of another fun basketball season
953.  A little break from sports before baseball starts :)


954.  Still on track with Bible in 90 Days- now we're halfway through Psalms!

You can read why I got started counting the gifts here.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 57

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.


Psalm 57

"My heart is steadfast, O God, 
   my heart is steadfast; 
   I will sing and make music. 
Awake, my soul! 
   Awake, harp and lyre! 
   I will awaken the dawn."  Psalm 57: 7-8

I've not been around this place much this week.  I've been struggling with circumstances and challenges in our family that seem to wax and wane.  When I seem them waning, my spirit soars and I am hopeful and I can taste freedom.  When I see them waxing, my spirit dips low and I lose hope and accept defeat.  My heart is not steadfast.  I forget to sing and make music.  My soul is downcast.  With shame, I admit that I justify my sin.


Father, give me a heart that is steadfast- one that sings in praise to You regardless of circumstances.  One that hopes and perseveres in the face of challenges.  Forgive me for my complacency and justification of my unrighteous displays of anger.  Through your Word, transform me and renew my mind.  Lift up my downcast spirit and keep my feet on the path you have marked out for me.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Multitude Monday

 

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

919.  Safety in icy road conditions

920.  The beauty of ice covered trees

921.  Early dismissal for the kids

922.  Snow- or I should say- ice day

923.  Evidence of the kids' creativity strewn throughout the house

924.  Catching the kids doing "laundry" in the bathroom sink and hearing how they just knew I'd be so happy at how they were helping

925.  Seeing their hearts and not the mess

926.  A really hard day...

927.  and how it teaches humility...

928.  and reminds me of my very real dependence on Him

929.  Preparing for an upcoming women's event at church...

930.  with a woman who is willing to share in the leadership

931.  Telling more people about our decision...

932.  and receiving encouragement and support 

933.  Rising early on Sunday morning...

934.  and reaping the benefit of a smooth morning before church

935.  Serving in Children's Worship

936.  A timely word during the sermon

937.  Hosting a houseful of friends and their children for the Super Bowl

938.  Fun for the kids

939.  Sweet fellowship for the adults

You can read why I got started here.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 56

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.


Psalm 56

"Record my lament; 
   list my tears on your scroll— 
   are they not in your record?"  Psalm 56: 8

The tenderness of God.  All grace.  Will He allow suffering, pain, sorrow tears?  Yes.  But He will not be callous or forgetful.  He sees each tear that falls.  He records them, lists them, bottles them and soon, will wipe them away.  He is tender with us.  We can trust Him with our tears.


Father, thank You for Your compassion, which never fails.  Thank You for your tenderness with me.  Help me to never forget to trust You with my pain and my brokenness.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Saturday Afternoon Linky Love

Small Steps to Simplicity  Love this thoughtful post!  I love to plan and come up with schedules and systems to make our life easier.  But too many times, I make things more complicated with my elaborate schemes or worse yet get harsh with those who "bother" me while I am busy planning.  And then there's the times when I simply get lazy and the plans remain just that- plans.  I never get to the doing. 

Of Moleskins, Mailboxes and Memories  I love this tradition of Trisha's and just had to share it with my readers.  I found some metal mailboxes on The Popcorn Factory website in the Valentine's section.  I am looking forward to starting this tradition with my kids!

Decided

This post is a little long.  I considered making it a two-part series but then it would end with a cliffhanger and since I've been alluding to our big decision long enough already, I just decided to post the whole long story at once :)

In December, my husband and I went to see the documentary film Race to Nowhere.  It started us on a journey we hadn't planned.  The film critiques the American Educational system highlighting the effects of the tremendous pressure children are under, the limitations put on teachers to educate their students because of the test driven culture of schools and the inadequacies of the system to produce students who love learning and are creative thinkers and problem solvers.  Race to Nowhere focuses primarily on the issues as they impact middle school and high school students.

While our children are younger, we could not help but fast forward a few years and imagine how our own would ultimately fare in this system.  Especially our oldest who struggles with anxiety in general and needs down time to unwind after school.  He has already come to the point where he says he hates school and he hates learning.  He also claims to hate history and writing.  This breaks my heart.

A week or so later, a friend posted this video on her Facebook wall.  I was fascinated.  Sir Ken's words so resonated with me and the thoughts still tumbling around in my mind from Race to Nowhere.  I watched every YouTube video of him I could find and started reading his book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.  In a nutshell, Sir Ken's passion is helping others find and develop their own passion and he critiques our educational system for being antiquated and squelching creativity.

With all this swirling around in my mind, I contacted the fifth grade teachers at our school, the grade our oldest would be in next year, and asked about the workload we should expect for next year.  Our oldest is very bright and does very well in school but after talking with the teachers, I knew the homework and testing load for next year would overwhelm him and eat up the free time he needs.

My husband and I resuscitated an option we had considered and decided against twice before- homeschooling.  We laid out our goals for our children's education and childhood and determined that we wanted their education to be engaging and interesting, inspiring inquisitiveness and a love of learning.  We want them to have time to explore their interests, develop their creativity and discover their unique giftings and callings from God.  The only school option that we thought might meet those criteria was a Montessori program.  Two things would prevent us from going that route: the expense (yikes! and we're used to a private school tuition) and the fact the ones that are close enough go only to sixth or eighth grade.  The only other option I know of that would allow for our educational goals to be met is homeschooling.

As I mentioned, we've been down this road before so I knew just who to go to for advice and encouragement.  (Thank you Jen, Andrea, Layla, Deirdre and Dorothy!)  God has been so faithful to guide us in this process.  He has opened so many doors- a few that completely shocked me- and we are finally ready to take the final step through in faith.  We have decided that we will homeschool our two boys next year and our daughter will go to Kindergarten at the school they all attend right now.  Our boys will be in fifth and second grade next year.  If all goes well and homeschooling is, in fact, a good fit for our family, we will bring our girl home for first grade the following year.

For a few reasons, we have not yet told the school or most of our friends there (though a few close ones are in the know).  That will come in the next month or so, I think.

There's so much more I want to share but I know this is a ridiculously long post already :)  I look forward to sharing the glimpses of His hand in this, how I plan to take care of myself as I take on a new role and responsibilities, the curricula I'm choosing, etc.  Thank you, bloggy friends, for praying for us as we walked through this decision!  And for sticking around for this long-winded story ;)

A Solitary Trek?

Photo Credit

This is the fifth post in a series I'm writing about what I gleaned from Beth Moore's Breaking Free Bible study.  If you'd like to read this series from the beginning, click here.  Or here is a list of the first four posts in order:  

• Freedom Road
• Taking the First Step
• The Path to Grace
• Walking Through Brokenness

The first two posts give some more background information on my story and the tools I am using to have victory, so be sure to check them out if you are new to this series.  The rest of this post might not make much sense without the context from the others.  

The next category of lies that God revealed to me through this study have to do with my relationship with Him.  Here's how these lies sound in my head when anger builds.  

• I'm all alone in this
• No one understands me or this situation
• God is not willing to help me

An honest look at these lies revealed the following:

• I am not believing that God is always with me
• I am not believing that He would never abandon me
• I am not believing that He would never forsake me

Here's what the Word has to say about my lies (for the sake of brevity, I'll list only the references here):

• Psalm 46: 1
• Isaiah 43: 2
• Isaiah 41: 10
• Deuteronomy 31: 8
• Hosea 6: 3
• Psalm 27: 10
• Psalm 32: 8
• Deuteronomy 33: 27
• Isaiah 54: 10
• Joshua 1: 9
• Zephaniah 3: 17

These are the verses I have been praying  and meditating on to fill my mind with truth about God's presence and faithfulness.  And He has been faithful to bring them to mind in moments of stress to tear down the lies I mentioned above, which would lead to defeat.  Of course, the verses I am using to combat these lies are just a small taste of all of God's promises to be with us through this life.  If you have a favorite I did not mention, please share!

This is the fifth post in a series of posts.  You can find the first four posts by following the following links:

• Freedom Road (the first post in the series)
• Taking the First Step (the second post in the series)
• The Path to Grace (the third post in the series)
• Walking Through Brokenness (the fourth post in the series)

And a related post:

• What's in a Name?