Well, it has been over a year since I have written anything here. How time flies!
First, let's start with the changes that have taken place during the last year. We became a homeschool family and joined our local Classical Conversations co-op. We love homeschooling! Abby had a very successful Kindergarten year and is now in the first grade. We also bought a house last year! We finally closed on the house on the Wednesday in the week before Thanksgiving and moved in--with the help of family and friends--that Saturday. Since I was expecting at that time, Ben would not allow me to paint; he, his sister and her husband, and their mom painted the interior of the house in two days and did a great job. It was a whirlwind weekend with the closing, the packing of the truck, the painting, the unpacking of the truck, and the placement of furniture, but we all survived it and settled in to our new house quite nicely.
The biggest--and best--change of the last year is the birth of our third child. Ruth Elizabeth was born on March 10, 2010, at 11:28 a.m. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 3 oz, and was 21 inches long. (Before you ask, she was born via c-section! Perhaps that will be another post.) And she had the most hair of the three children! Ruth has been such a blessing to our family; she's always happy, always has a smile, and has such a beautiful laugh. She's on the way to becoming a mobile baby. Currently, at 7 months old, she scoots on her bottom and goes backward when she's on her tummy. When she gets those knees up under her and figures out how to go forward, I have a feeling that she'll be a tough one to stop!
Now that we are well into our second year of homeschooling, I have been trying to find a new balance in everyday life. Summer was a little easier because there wasn't any formal schooling to be done during the day. We still did school, but it was at a very relaxed pace. There was plenty of time for play, for naps, for errands, for housework, for devotions... but lately I have found myself struggling because I haven't been accomplishing what I've felt needed to be accomplished, especially in my personal devotional time. I have put my devotional time right up there with my gym time (not necessarily in that order); it seems that no matter how early I get up to try to fit it into my day, one or more of the kids intrinsically knows that I am either about to get up or am up and also gets up, thus leaving me with no quiet time in the morning for Bible study. Nap time, you say? Ruth takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap, and Hayden takes an afternoon nap. During the time that both Hayden and Ruth are sleeping, Abby and I work on phonics so that she can better hear and understand and can succeed with that subject. How about after the kids are put to bed? By the time we get all three kiddos in the bed, the dishes washed and put away, and any laundry folded, I am so tired that I could easily fall into bed.
This has actually been a point of great stress for me, so much so that I recently posed a question to my Facebook friends on this very subject. A couple of friends from college who have children who are the same ages or older than my own gave very wise advice, which I have tried to heed. One said that when her children were babies and young children, she "settled in [her] spirit that the season wasn't going to be a time of much study, so [she] tried to keep her heart sensitive to [God's] leading." Another friend said, "I adhere more to the 'pray without ceasing' philosophy... I don't formally start or end a prayer, but pray whenever I get two seconds to rub together throughout the day (or night)." Wow! Do you know how freeing their advice has been? I wasn't looking for an excuse or a "hall pass" to slack off on my Bible study, but I think that I had set the bar impossibly high for me during this season of life. Infancy doesn't last forever, and I want to enjoy every minute of it. Believe it or not, because I have relaxed about this, I have actually been able to fit in some time for Bible study--even if it's just 5 minutes. I've begun to see this season as one of grace.
Which leads me to the title of this post: "Buckets of Grace." At our co-op today, I had the pleasure of being the room mother in a class of girls who are older than Abby. The tutor, by way of a rabbit trail, was talking to the girls about being nice to their siblings and extending them grace--"buckets of grace"--because that is what God does for us daily. Each day He has "buckets of grace" for us--grace for all of our sins, all of our mess-ups, all of our bad attitudes. As parents, we need to have "buckets of grace" for our children because He shows us grace; in doing so, we will teach our children about God's love. Does that mean that we don't correct them when they do something wrong or that we just sit idly by and let them do whatever they want? No, but it does mean that we offer them loving correction, just as our Heavenly Father does to us, and show them how to live in grace: "unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification." (Merriam-Webster)
So, in this particular season of life, I want to live so that I offer "buckets of grace" to my family and those around me, and I want to live in the realization that God also has "buckets of grace" for me.
Showing posts with label Classical Conversations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Classical Conversations. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Changes!
Wow! When I saw that the last time I wrote anything down here was in May, I could hardly believe it. The summer flew by faster than I thought it would. It's amazing how much faster things go the older your children become...
As the title of this posting says, we've had some changes in our family recently. All of them are good changes, though. Just a couple of days after running the Waynesboro Extravaganza 5K race in July, we learned that we are expecting our third child! That really explained a lot of things... why I was tiring more quickly than usual, why my morning coffee suddenly became very unappealing, and why my appetite had dwindled. We are very excited to welcome the newest addition to our family--baby's arrival is estimated to be March 16, 2010.
Before Ben and I had children, we said that we would homeschool. Then, once we had kids, we toyed with the idea of sending our kids to a private, Christian school. After checking out all of our options and giving it a lot of prayer, we have chosen to homeschool our children after all! We are members of our local Classical Conversations co-op, and Abby really looks forward to each Monday, which is our co-op day. Interestingly enough, it is held in the same church where she attended preschool. God really orchestrated that for us! When Abby was three, we weren't sure which preschool to send her to and learned that this particular preschool was one of the best--and one of the least expensive--in our area. It was through conversations with the preschool director that I met the local Classical Conversations director and found out more about this method of homeschooling. After attending an informational meeting in February, Ben and I prayed and agreed that this was the way we should homeschool our kids. So here it is, the end of August, and we have two weeks of homeschool under our belts and we really love it!
For several months, Ben and I have been looking at different houses that would meet the needs of our family. (This was before we realized that we would soon be adding another member!) There was one house, in particular, that we really fell in love with. It even had a fenced-in back yard, perfect for the kids to romp and play! But, after seeing it 4 or 5 times, we just didn't have any peace about that house. We really thought it was the one, too. Thankfully, God opened our eyes to the shortcomings in that house, the things that would not meet our needs and would end up being frustrations in the long run. So, we said goodbye to that house and continued the hunt.
Then, just about two weeks ago, we found another house that we both just loved. Ben saw it first, without the kids and me, because Abby was sick. He came home with nothing but good things to say about this house. So we scheduled a time for all of us to see the house together, and it was an almost instant knowing that this was our house. This house really would meet our needs--in the short term and in the long run. This is a house that we can stay in for a few years before having to buy something bigger.
After telling my mom about this house over this past weekend, we came home and decided that we would like to see it one more time before submitting an offer. We saw the house again on Tuesday and knew for certain that this was our house. So we called our agent again Tuesday evening to tell him how much we wanted to offer, then we went in Wednesday morning to sign the contract. Our agent submitted the contract to the other agent before noon, and by dinner time Wednesday, we learned that our offer had been accepted! Praise the Lord! We both had a genuine peace about the amount we should offer for the house, and we both knew that we would hear something by the end of the day.
Just when we were starting to become a little discouraged in our house hunt, God gave us peace about the one He had for us all along.
God is always faithful, and He always has a plan for us. It's just a matter of us actually stopping to listen to what He has to say and then taking the appropriate action.
I think back to our Bible reading this morning. We read Genesis 12-13, about the call of Abram. Abram stopped to listen to what God had to say. God said, "Go to the land I will show you," and he packed up and went. Talk about a change! He didn't even know where he was going! How willing would you or I be to go someplace if we didn't have a map to follow, if we had no GPS directions, or if we had absolutely no idea where we were going? Honestly, I'm not sure how willing I would be at first. It might take some poking and prodding. :) But Abram did it. He made a change--a dramatic change that affected the life of his family. This was bigger than moving to a new home or even taking a new job, and he did it. He was obedient to the call of God on his life.
Amid all of the changes that happen in your life, remain obedient to the call of God on your life. No matter how crazy it might look on the outside, if you choose to follow God, you will be blessed. He will not fail you. God is always faithful, and He never changes!
As the title of this posting says, we've had some changes in our family recently. All of them are good changes, though. Just a couple of days after running the Waynesboro Extravaganza 5K race in July, we learned that we are expecting our third child! That really explained a lot of things... why I was tiring more quickly than usual, why my morning coffee suddenly became very unappealing, and why my appetite had dwindled. We are very excited to welcome the newest addition to our family--baby's arrival is estimated to be March 16, 2010.
Before Ben and I had children, we said that we would homeschool. Then, once we had kids, we toyed with the idea of sending our kids to a private, Christian school. After checking out all of our options and giving it a lot of prayer, we have chosen to homeschool our children after all! We are members of our local Classical Conversations co-op, and Abby really looks forward to each Monday, which is our co-op day. Interestingly enough, it is held in the same church where she attended preschool. God really orchestrated that for us! When Abby was three, we weren't sure which preschool to send her to and learned that this particular preschool was one of the best--and one of the least expensive--in our area. It was through conversations with the preschool director that I met the local Classical Conversations director and found out more about this method of homeschooling. After attending an informational meeting in February, Ben and I prayed and agreed that this was the way we should homeschool our kids. So here it is, the end of August, and we have two weeks of homeschool under our belts and we really love it!
For several months, Ben and I have been looking at different houses that would meet the needs of our family. (This was before we realized that we would soon be adding another member!) There was one house, in particular, that we really fell in love with. It even had a fenced-in back yard, perfect for the kids to romp and play! But, after seeing it 4 or 5 times, we just didn't have any peace about that house. We really thought it was the one, too. Thankfully, God opened our eyes to the shortcomings in that house, the things that would not meet our needs and would end up being frustrations in the long run. So, we said goodbye to that house and continued the hunt.
Then, just about two weeks ago, we found another house that we both just loved. Ben saw it first, without the kids and me, because Abby was sick. He came home with nothing but good things to say about this house. So we scheduled a time for all of us to see the house together, and it was an almost instant knowing that this was our house. This house really would meet our needs--in the short term and in the long run. This is a house that we can stay in for a few years before having to buy something bigger.
After telling my mom about this house over this past weekend, we came home and decided that we would like to see it one more time before submitting an offer. We saw the house again on Tuesday and knew for certain that this was our house. So we called our agent again Tuesday evening to tell him how much we wanted to offer, then we went in Wednesday morning to sign the contract. Our agent submitted the contract to the other agent before noon, and by dinner time Wednesday, we learned that our offer had been accepted! Praise the Lord! We both had a genuine peace about the amount we should offer for the house, and we both knew that we would hear something by the end of the day.
Just when we were starting to become a little discouraged in our house hunt, God gave us peace about the one He had for us all along.
God is always faithful, and He always has a plan for us. It's just a matter of us actually stopping to listen to what He has to say and then taking the appropriate action.
I think back to our Bible reading this morning. We read Genesis 12-13, about the call of Abram. Abram stopped to listen to what God had to say. God said, "Go to the land I will show you," and he packed up and went. Talk about a change! He didn't even know where he was going! How willing would you or I be to go someplace if we didn't have a map to follow, if we had no GPS directions, or if we had absolutely no idea where we were going? Honestly, I'm not sure how willing I would be at first. It might take some poking and prodding. :) But Abram did it. He made a change--a dramatic change that affected the life of his family. This was bigger than moving to a new home or even taking a new job, and he did it. He was obedient to the call of God on his life.
Amid all of the changes that happen in your life, remain obedient to the call of God on your life. No matter how crazy it might look on the outside, if you choose to follow God, you will be blessed. He will not fail you. God is always faithful, and He never changes!
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