Homeschooling Days

I read homeschool blogs/sites (rather obsessively) so that makes me want to blog about it.  Plus I'm a little nostalgic (that's not the right word but my vocabulary has gone to pot since I started learning another language) because we're praying about starting the kids in school in March (which is when the Peruvian school year begins).  I love love love homeschooling so it's a struggle for me to let that go for a season but we really want the kids to feel at home here and school is our best option to help them learn the culture and gain fluency with Spanish.  Sometimes I read other blogs and envision a superwoman on the other side.  Have none of those illusions here - I truly do love it but there are those moments when I kick everyone out the door with a granola bar and a soccer ball.  There are days when Daddy comes home and everyone's filling out minibooks for our lapbook, drinking tea and listening to classical music (that actually happened once) and then there are days that are just so stinking loud!  Last Friday Mark came in to books scattered everywhere, crying baby, whiny attitudes (mine included) - I told him that Reide and I had had enough - dinner was on the stove and if he had any other questions he would have to figure it out for himself because I was going to be in our room with the door closed and the fan on for the next 45 minutes.  But such is the life of homeschooling and really the life of most any mom unless you really are superwoman.  I wouldn't trade these days and don't want to forget them so here I journal:

This is our "first day of school" picture which my sister will be proud of me for actually taking.  Abe's not really starting PreK but everybody needed a sign:)  This year was a little crazy since we had just moved here and each day held lots of "adventures."  I didn't know what day we would start until the night before we actually started.  Of course Hannah had her outfit picked out at least a week in advance:)  I wanted to have a fun breakfast but that didn't happen.  Mark and I are tutoring 3 mornings a week so mornings are pretty busy - family worship at 6:15, then (Reide and) I tutor at 6:50 while he feeds/dresses/brushes teeth.  He starts class at 7:40 and I start school with whoever is the most ready while prodding along those who are still making beds/putting laundry away/getting sunscreen.  Hopefully I'm on my 2nd cup of coffee by now:)

Language arts takes up the vast majority of our day since it encompasses several subjects and everyone is pretty much on different levels.  We use First Language Lessons, Writing With Ease, and The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading all from The Well Trained Mind.  These all follow a Charlotte Mason approach - short lessons with lots of narration, dictation and copywork plus some poetry memorization.

Here's Hannah taking a break from spelling (in the background) to play with Reide and Frasier.  Did we mention we got a dog?  Here he is and he's pretty much awesome.  A 10 year old lab who's totally chill with the kids, never comes inside, barks at strangers but never inappropriately - really the perfect dog.  We inherited him from a family who was leaving and couldn't take him.

We use this for manuscript and these (free!) for cursive.  For fun we add in wikki stix and some catchy youtube tunes that my sister-in-law found to reinforce letter sounds.  The picture to the right is of the kids singing along to those.  I couldn't get them to link but you can search for Letter A Song on youtube and it should be the first one although I hesitate to recommend anything on youtube because you never quite know what will pop up on your screen - so annoying!

Twice a week we throw in science.  Right now we're lapbooking our way through Apologia Astronomy.  I haven't taken pictures of the actual lapbook yet but here's Eli's mnemonic for the planets (almost makes sense!)  And a picture of the kids using balloons and paperclips to map out the relative distances between the planets.  Below is Eli setting fires with a magnifying glass after we learned about the sun - turned out to be hours of entertainment!

The other three days of the week we spend that time on history, mostly following Sonlight.  This is probably my favorite subject, I think a gene inherited from my dad:)  We're into medieval history now.

Praise the Lord for providing an awesome Spanish tutor so that the kids don't have to rely on me for that:)  Elvira (below) comes 3 times a week and we can really tell a difference in their confidence levels now.  We've also been learning worship songs in Spanish during family worship - sweet to hear the kids singing those throughout the day.  

We've slacked a little on formal geography lately but the kids tend to do it spontaneously when we read about a new country thanks to our awesome wall map.  And I do love Geography Songs because now the 2 oldest really can tell you how many countries are in the Middle East and sing all the countries and capitals of Scandinavia (although we did have to convince Eli that it is Helsinki, Finland and not Stinky, Finland).  

Then of course there are the lessons of life: how to get along, how to fix lunch, how to refocus on Jesus when we're struggling, how to wash the dishes, how to make up games (Hide the Apples is the latest - kind of like Capture the Flag but more fun because Hannah gets to practice chopping fruit and Abe gets to eat), how to be patient, how to convince Mom that the game you want to play on the iPod is educational.

And of course Reide just hangs out and soaks it all in:)

A few other resources that we like (I've run out of time to link them all so happy googling/amazoning):

Dance Mat Typing (website)
SpellingCity (website)
Starfall (website)
Fit Deck Superman cards
Pairs in Pears (game)
The Scrambled States of America (game)
Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series
Artistic Pursuits
The Story of the Orchestra
Then Sings My Soul
WDAV 89.9 (online classical station)
Tangrams
Math U See manipulative blocks
Rocket Math (iPod app)
Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia
Homeschool In The Woods timeline figures
True Tales and Story of the World audio cds
The Llama Who Had No Pajama
A Child's Introduction to Poetry

And oh so many more!!!  I did update pictures so click on the slideshow on the right if you want to see (you have to scroll throught the old pictures first)!

By now many of you have received our latest newsletter about all the drama going on here (if not and you would like to be on our newsletter list, let me know!).  The biggest thing that has happened was a major gas explosion in our house.  Mark did a good job summarizing it in the newsletter but I'll give you my take.  Pretty much everything we have here is gas - water tanks, heater (not central because they don't have that here, just one to heat a room), dryer, and of course the stove/oven.   So about a week and a half ago I put some potatoes in the oven to roast and then headed into the den to read to the kiddos.  We're not exactly sure what happened but we think that the oven was lit (most stoves here you have to do that manually) but that when I closed the oven door, the light went out.  Now in the States (I've learned) there's a safety mechanism for that - no heat = no gas.  But here (I've learned), not so much.  So Reide and I retuned about 15 minutes later to check the potatoes.  I was kneeling down in front of the stove and flipped the light on.  Next thing I knew I was 8ft back and facing the other way (still with Reide in my arms thankfully).  The explosion was strong - strong enough to knock locks off the upstairs windows - and glass was everywhere.  Writing this now it almost seems like a surreal experience.  We praise the Lord for His incredible protection.  All the other children were outside with Mark stacking firewood.  It scared them to see Mama and Reide but we had a sweet time rejoicing in God's goodness and treasuring each other as we sat outside waiting for the gas to clear.  Every now and then Abe still looks at my chin (as it got pretty busted up by something) and says, "Mama, I'm sorry you got hurted."  We praise the Lord again that Reide came away virtually unscathed minus a little singed hair.  My chin and mouth got pretty banged up so our prayer request now is that it will heal well and specifically that I won't have to have a root canal - doesn't sound fun for any reason but would be especially bad news because I would likely have to fly somewhere else to have it done.  Again, the Lord has been more than gracious to us so we trust Him with whatever comes to be.

And now for the emotional side of things:  I kept waiting that first night to have feelings of wanting to go home or questioning our decision to be here but they never came.  If anything this whole experience has increased our faith and has confirmed our call to be in Cusco.  This is not to say that this time has been carefree and easy.  Particularly at night for some reason I have struggled intensely with feelings of guilt (Did I do something wrong?  Why did I have Reide with me???) and the oh-so-famous what-ifs - What if I had waited longer to check on the food?  What if I had sent Hannah in the kitchen to check?  What if a burner on the stove had been on - the list could go on and on:(  But God is giving me victory and peace over this and I'm sleeping much better now.  Why does God allow such trials?  I don't pretend to understand all of His ways but I do know that we are never safer than when we are with our Father even if "bad" (in our limited perspective) things do happen.  I don't know who all reads this blog (other than grandparents who I have probably freaked out now) but I pray that you will know God in deeper and sweeter ways in the midst of whatever your trials are, whether it is real physical or emotional struggles or even just the desperate attempts to be content in the midst of changing diapers and getting dinner on the table.  










Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
                                                                                                              Revelation 5:13

Overwhelmed

My sister traveled here with us to help us settle in and she just left so my emotions are running rampant.  Mark took her to the airport and is now running errands with the 2 oldest.  The 3 youngest are napping.  This is the first time I've sat alone in our new house (minus the buzzing fly that just.won't.go.away).  My first thought when I got everyone to sleep was to run downstairs and see what I could get done.  In reality that's a fairly futile exercise at this point.   We'll be without any closets/dressers/pantry for at least another week so anything I do now really just amounts to shuffling from 1 stack to another.  That will have to be done some to prevent total chaos but I thought these few moments might be better spent reflecting.  I sat down on our (new!) sofa next to this little pumpkin:

and the first word that came to mind was "overwhelmed."  I'm overwhelmed by the enormity of living here.  I'm overwhelmed by the bags that are still unpacked because there's nowhere to unpack them to.  I'm overwhelmed at the thought of raising 5 children in this foreign culture, in this dusty and sometimes unsafe place, in this language that I still can't totally understand.  I'm overwhelmed because in my mind these precious little ones

In the park with Aunt Laura

are our perfect little disciples but if you had been with us this morning you would have heard arguing and complaining and grumpiness and selfishness and I can't even say all of that was from the kids.  I'm overwhelmed after this wonderfully exhausting transition time because now it's time to break old habits and form new ones and that's hard.  I'm overwhelmed with the idea of homeschooling 3 on different levels while 2 others do....what?  I'm overwhelming myself with pressure to start when our homeschool room looks like this:

The only furniture in our homeschool room

and half of our supplies are still in here:

1st meal in our house - in the middle of all the bags:)

And I am overwhelmed by showers that only give you 30 seconds of hot water at a time, trying to find the pharmacy that sells iodine so we can clean our fruits and veggies, buying water because the right water filter is still out of stock, digging through a duffle bag to find the taco seasoning or that beloved toy or a (relatively) clean pillowcase...

So that was my very long first thought which was then followed by a long second thought.  Again, "overwhelmed."  By the enormity of Christ and His grace in our lives.  That after 5 years of praying and planning and longing we are finally here.  That there's a whole mountain of people that are loving us and supporting us in a million ways not because we ever do anything right but because God redeems and moves.  That God can and has used our very imperfect family to proclaim His glory and to advance His kingdom.  What???  How does that work?  I'm overwhelmed because I remember that the Gospel applies to all the little places (a sweet reminder after reading this article that someone linked to on facebook).

My time ran out to post this earlier so now the day has progressed and I'm on the brink of sleep.  I'm still overwhelmed - now by thankfulness.  So thankful for where God has led us and what God has provided.  So thankful for the husband who bought me a yummy piece of chocolate and put a flashlight by my side of the bed "just in case."  So thankful for 5 healthy heads as I read facebook posts from an old friend who just found out 1 of her babies has a brain tumor.  So thankful for a God who holds each of us - never leaving us, never forgetting us, always involved and aware of the smallest and most intimate details.  And I am overwhelmed by a desire to serve Him right where He has me.

Welcome to Cusco - the view from the top of our hill

Where to start???

Maybe I'll start with saying a big thank you to the many MANY people who loved and encouraged us so well in the States.  What a blessing to know you all.  We see Christ in you in so many ways.  Forgive me for being short winded tonight but it's past midnight and it has been a LONG day.  Highlights of the States?  I couldn't even begin.  Crazy how we felt so refreshed in such a whirlwind.

Since we've been here we've been staying with a missionary family of 5 while some construction is being done on our house.  I really can't post pictures tonight because it takes too long and my eyes are already half closed but I really LOVE it.  We have spent our days figuring out life here and everyday I realize just how different it really is.  Couldn't possibly detail out the whole day but here are the highs and lows:

Low: Mark and I have to go back to Lima next week to start our visa process.  We bought tickets yesterday (because you do that last minute like that around here).  Today the airline closed.  Our friend Nathan spent the rest of the day downtown standing in lines trying to get tickets on the other airline (successful - we got the last 3 seats for the whole rest of next week!) and trying to get refunded for the other tickets (no success yet - keep praying)

High: Mark and Eli are spending the night at our new house for the first time tonight!  We've been staying with a sweet missionary family here (the Dillons) while they're finishing up construction at our house but we were able to move our luggage in today and will pick up some of our furniture tomorrow so it's coming along.  Should all be sleeping there tomorrow night but I'm quickly learning that things probably aren't going to go as planned around here so we'll see:)

And a bonus interesting tidbit:  Bought milk in a bag tonight at the grocery store.  They have yogurt in milk jugs but not milk.  This was actually an exciting find because normally you just buy hot milk in a box (refrigerate after opening).  I'm sure I'll get used to that...

I promise pictures will come.  It will be about another week or so before we have internet access from our house.  The altitude has been an adjustment but everyone is acclamating.  We asked many of you to pray especially for Reide - she is doing great!  The other kids say they like Cusco and are doing awesome.  Well, except Abe - bless him - it's hard to be 3:)  It'll be nice to get our family back together and be in our own space.  Quote of the day (after we unpacked the bags and were walking back to the Dillons for lunch):  Hannah said, "I still don't have a shirt." (to go under the fleece she was wearing). And then Eli chimes in, "And I still don't have any underwear on!"  And that's what you get after a month of living out of suitcases but the end is in sight!

This week:


Gammie came to town!  Clearly Reide is smitten:)

What we are learning:

Gammie brought Hannah this really cute Learn-to-Sew kit where you make the clothes for a little rag bunny and she is loving it.  She's also learned how to knit on a little loom she has this year and has made quite a few scarves and pot holders for various people.  This is particularly exciting since I can't do much beyond a button and have neither the desire nor the margin to figure it out at this stage of life.  Someone in our family needs to develop this skill - yay Hannah!

What we're reading:


An old treasury of Raggedy Ann and Andy stories that was mine when I was a little girl.  The kids are loving the world of fantasy as we traverse through forests of candy-coated cookie bushes, strawberry-flavored soda water, and tales about the Snoopwiggy and the Wiggysnoop.  Did anyone else read these???  Such a trip down memory lane for me!


What we're thankful for:


1. God's protection - Our whole family was down and out over the last few weeks with a nasty little croup/sore throat/fever virus - all except Reide!  This morning Eli was cutting a piece of plastic and a smally sharp piece flew up into his eye.  Thankfully Mark was able to remove it quickly and once again God protected us from serious injury.


2. God's provision - thanks to the generosity and hospitality of the global Church we have housing and transportation for 7 the whole time we're in the States.  Also, the Hensons have already secured housing for David and Brooke and the Holtons.


What we're praying for:

1. Finishing here well - we're trying to soak up a little more Spanish but also say goodbye to people we love once again.  Hannah in particular is already starting to grieve the loss of some sweet friendships.  Please pray that God would provide someone for her in Peru.

2. Transition chaos as we leave here, hang out in the States for 3 weeks and then head on to Cusco.  Pray for unity and peace in our family and a sense of stability for our children.

3. Housing in Cusco - the Hensons are looking at several options for us and the Wilsons this weekend!


What we're saying:

Eli is really into science experiments right now - freezing stuff in a block of ice, dissecting and such - except he calls it a science "experience" - so cute:)  We all got a good laugh the other day when I told someone (in Spanish) that I was going to cook pacifiers (chupetas) for dinner instead of pork chops (chuletas).

A few more pictures to share:

Reide hanging out with a taxi driver on a very rainy day.

Family of 7!!! (only took 5 weeks to get a half way decent photo.  check out
the twins on the left - could Hannah and Mark look anymore alike???)

Capturing Life

There was a part of me that wanted to have a blog long before I did.  The thing that kept me from doing it was the thought of keeping it up.  You see, I'm really much more of a doesn't-this-sound-fun kind of girl than an actually-follow-through-with-the-plan kind of girl.  But then we embarked on this little adventure that makes blogging at least helpful if not almost necessary for keeping in touch with people so here I sit with my blog that (not surprisingly to me but much to my mother's dismay) rarely gets updated.  Nothing like a little structure when you're stuck in a rut!  I love to fill out a form so I've created one that I can easily update.  Here's my first attempt to keep a little more current:

This week...
     The kids finished school!  Hannah had a gymnastics program and a sweet little play based on Charlotte's Web and Eli graduated from Kindergarten!!!  I think I'm more excited about the year ending than they are.  They will still go to school this summer but it's really more like summer camp.  Everyone will finish at noon everyday with no homework and no after-school activities - yay!!!  Other big news: Mark turned 39!!!

Fern and Charlotte

The graduate!

What we're seeing...

Mark's parents and older brother + family came in town so we are at Punta Leona, about an hour and a half outside of San José, for the weekend.

What we're learning...

     I love to do read-alouds with the kids.  About 2 months ago we read this book:

Written from the perspective of a hermit crab (Pagoo), it DETAILS (and I mean with LOTS of little details) his life cycle by narrating all of his thoughts and experiences.   I really thought it was over my kids' heads when we first started (advanced vocabulary, some pretty abstract ideas and did I mention LOTS of DETAILS) but they were super interested so I kept reading.  Fast forward to today - Eli finds a hermit crab on the beach and as he's watching it drops its shell (which happens several times in the book as Pagoo grows larger and needs more space).  I thought that was super cool but Eli took it one step further (I love the way his mind works!).  A few minutes later he came to me with another hermit crab still in the shell.  "Mama, watch this!" he says.  He gently pulled the hermit crab out of its shell and then set both down on the ground together.  He patiently persisted in blocking the crab in and then putting the shell close by again.  Eventually his attempts paid off and we watched with fascination as the crab backed back into the shell and claimed it as his home once again.  "Did you see that Mama?!?!  Just like Pagoo!"                              

The first crab that dropped its own shell

What we're reading now...

     A few back issues of World Magazine that my in-laws brought.

What we're thankful for...
     The process of getting Reide's paperwork to leave the country has been smoother than we thought -just one more step!

What we're praying for...
     1. A house in Cusco
     2. That God would quicken our minds as we soak in as much Spanish as we can during these last few weeks.
     3. Hank has croup and a fever now - pray that he will get better and that Reide won't get it.

What we're saying...
     The other night as we're walking back to our room from the pool and Hank and I were lagging behind the group he said, "I just can't walk as fast as them - my nose is tired."

One more picture/video/website to share...

She's Here!!!

So glad to announce the arrival of Rachel Reide Daniel!  We're going to call her Reide (pronounced "Reed") which goes back several generations in my family and Rachel is in both of our families.  Here are the stats:

Date: May 19th
Time: 3:32pm
Weight: 7lbs 15oz
Length: 19.3cm

God was very gracious through all of it.  I started labor around 11:30 Wed night so we got up to finish getting everything packed.  The contractions weren't picking up tons so we laid back down to wait it out and really prayed that we'd make it to the morning.  Just wasn't really looking forward to farming out kids and jumping in a taxi in the middle of the night.  We were able to get kids out the door to school Thurs morning and just after that the contractions started picking back up.  I'll spare you the gory details but say that it was probably my best delivery.  Lots of people have asked about the hospital here - you really wouldn't know you weren't in the States - super nice, super clean, private rooms, very attentive and kind nurses/auxiliary staff, better food than MCG;).  A few interesting things about being here:

1. We arrived at the hospital in a taxi.
2. They don't bathe the baby the first day.
3. I received pain medicine that is only used for veterinary purposes in the States.
4. They're big on paternal bonding.  So right after delivery they told Mark to take his shirt off and he spent the next 30 minutes holding her against his chest - in the middle of the nursery with other people walking around him:)
5. All mamas get their hair and makeup done the next day - for free!

Of course the best part is that I get to look down at the end of the bed and see this:

Thanks so much to the many of you that have already loved and prayed for our family and Reide.  About to head home now - more pictures to follow!

Long Time No Write!

So clearly I'm a terrible blogger.  Hopefully I'll improve as time passes but at this stage in life - well, let's just say I'm not making any promises.  To catch you up on life here in sunny Costa Rica:

Third trimester has begun!  As we've said before, we have come to realize what a LONG process language learning is but we are encouraged with where we are.  We can pretty much communicate whatever we need to but sometimes (ok, oftentimes) have to talk in circles to make sure we're getting our point across.  This tri will be about fluidity and a lovely little tense called subjunctive that puts much more feeling and emotion behind the words.  Our teachers gave us the mechanics of subjunctive last tri but comprehending it on paper and making it flow out of your mouth are two different beasts!  Yes, we could be understood without it, but I think it will lend so much more depth to our relationships in Peru.  And really, how do you communicate the grace and love of Christ without emotion?  Time to practice, practice, practice after a very refreshing break filled with visitors!

The Masseys have arrived!  Three days at the beach with
all 12 kids!

Hannah, Eli, Hank and Molly

And my sweet friend Katy came with
her precious little one!

                                                                                

                                                                  

This tri also signifies some other major changes for us.  Eli returns to school after 4+ months of homeschooling.  I'm so thankful I had that time with him - what a joy to teach your child to read!  God has been really faithful in confirming in my heart that we made the right decision to pull him out of the classroom.  Transitioning here hit him maybe the hardest of anyone in our family so beyond the surface need of being ready for more of an academic challenge was the deeper need of some attention and one-on-one time.  He has really adjusted well now and it's sweet for me to see the Father's provision for him.  In the midst of that assurance, I still must confess a little fear in sending him back.  Why mess with something that's working so well???  But then there's that other little change for our family in the form of a new baby... So we've talked and prayed through it a lot and now he says he's "taking one for the team."  Haha - good life lessons!


Speaking of baby, I had an appointment today and she has turned (last time she was breach)!!!  I feel like she's still moving around a lot so continue praying that she will stay in a favorable position.  She has actually dropped (which is unusual for my babies before I'm halfway through labor) and I've started to dilate so we'll see what this week brings!  The next time I blog I should have a sweet little bundle snuggled up next to me:)  right now my (very large) belly clicks the mouse every time I lean over the computer - ridiculous!

This blog is getting too long so here's the rest in quick time and you can ask me questions if you have them:  I'll be tutoring full time now instead of attending classes.  Pray for Abe as he's had several ear infections lately and is having trouble clearing all of the fluid.  The first branch of our team (the Hensons) have left Costa Rica and will arrive in Peru in just a few weeks!  We will be the next ones to get there and will let you know our plans for our time in the States soon.  We love and miss you DEEPLY!!!  Thank you for continuing to partner with us in the movement of the Gospel for the glory of CHRIST!!!  Here are a few more pictures:

Hank encouraging Abe after the latest goose
egg on his head

The rat that Mark killed.  In our kitchen.
Seriously.

The oldest 6 kids on our team dying Easter eggs - didn't turn
out that pretty since all the eggs here are brown but they had
fun anyway!

We have lots of paperwork to do to get the baby out of the 

country.  One requirement is pictures of me "obviously" pregnant

with all the other children to prove that I am pregnant with this
child.  Do you think it's obvious enough???

Parenting: It's Never An Interruption

Here's our new favorite article that has been convicting and challenging us for the last few weeks.  Mark and I have decided we should read it every week, sometimes every day:)  The parts in red are things that particularly stuck out to me.  The parts in blue are my own thoughts.  It's by Paul Tripp and I got it off The Gospel Coalition blog site (thanks to a friend who pointed me there!).  There's a funny video of Abe at the bottom for your viewing pleasure:)

Parenting:  It's Never An Interruption

Parenting is all about living by the principle of prepared spontaneity. You don’t really know what’s going to happen next. You don’t really know when you’ll have to enforce a command, intervene in an argument, confront a wrong, hold out for a better way, remind someone of a truth, call for forgiveness, lead someone to confession, point to Jesus, restore peace, hold someone accountable, explain a wisdom principle, give a hug of love, laugh in the face of adversity, help someone complete a task, mediate an argument, stop with someone and pray, assist someone to see his heart, or talk once again about what it means to live together in a community of love.

What you do know is that Scripture gives you the wisdom that you need, and your always-present Messiah gives you the grace that you need to be ready to respond to the moments of opportunity he will give you. Along with this, you and I must remember that our Lord loves our children more than we ever could, and his commitment to their growth and change is more faithful and persevering than ours could ever be. Because of this, in his grace and love, he will manufacture moments that expose the needy hearts of our children to us. He will faithfully employ the little moments of everyday life to expose to us and our children their need of rescuing and forgiving grace. And he will not do this only at the moments that you feel are appropriate and when you feel most prepared.

Let me give you an example. We had planned a day at a local theme park with our children. I was anticipating a day of familial amusement park bliss. I was hoping that on this day my children would be self-parenting, and if God could throw in a fully sanctified wife, that would be cool! Well, we’re getting out of the van at the park and one of my children said, “Dad, may we have something to drink before we go into the park?” It didn’t seem like a dangerous request. I opened the cooler, which was full of soft drinks, and all of my children sighted in on the one can of soda that they all knew was the best. Immediately global nuclear war broke out. They were pushing and shoving, grabbing and pulling, throwing ice at one another, saying unkind things and hitting one another’s hands out of the way. I couldn’t believe it. We weren’t even in the park yet, and my day was already ruined!

So I jumped in and said, “Do you want to fight? We don’t have to pay all this money for you to fight. I’ll take you home, put a cooler in the backyard with one can of soda in it, and you can fight forever!” (easily a comment I would make - and be proud of myself for coming up with something so clever on the spot - SHAME!)  Soon my children aren’t fighting anymore because they’re watching the crowd gather as I lose it in the parking lot of the theme park.

Let’s analyze what’s going on in this moment and what’s happening inside of me. What’s going on is that a God of grace is taking a mundane moment of daily family life and using it to do something wonderful for my children and for me. He is making the condition of their hearts visible in order to produce concern in me that would hopefully result in awareness and a desire to change in them. But I’m not at all encouraged in this moment with what God is doing. You see, I’m not angry in the parking lot because my children are sinners. No, I’m angry that God has exposed their sin, and because he has, I have to forsake my agenda for the day and parent them! It all seems like a huge imposition, a hassle that I just didn’t want to deal with.

But the reality is different from God’s perspective. The sin, weakness, rebellion, or failure of your children is never an imposition on your parenting. It is never an interruption. It is never a hassle.  It is always grace. ("Really???" I thought to myself.  "Grace?  That's not my idea of grace.  Better  grace would be if God would just cause them to obey!"  Oh how flawed my thinking can be.)  God loves your children. He has put them in a family of faith, and in relentless grace he will reveal their need to you again and again so that you can be his tool of awareness, conviction, repentance, faith, and change. And because in these moments he asks you to forsake your agenda for his, this opportunity of grace is not just for your children, it’s for you as well.

But my problem is that there are moments when I tend to love my little kingdom of one more than I love his. (And again, my sin is exposed.)  So I’m impatient, discouraged, or irritated not because my children have broken the laws of God’s kingdom, but the laws of mine. In my kingdom there shall be no parenting on family vacation days, or when I am reading the paper on my iPad, or after ten o’clock at night, or during a good meal, or . . . I could go on. And when I’m angry about interruptions to my kingdom plan, there are four things I tend to do.

1. I tend to turn a God-given moment of ministry into a moment of anger.  (What a shame!)

2. I do this because I have personalized what is not personal. (Before we left for the amusement park that day, my children didn’t plot to drive me crazy in the parking lot.)

3. Because I have personalized what is not personal, I am adversarial in my response.(It’s not me acting for my children, but acting against them because they are in the way of what I want.)

4. So I end up settling for situational solutions that don’t really get to the heart of the matter. (I bark and order, I instill guilt, I threaten a punishment and walk away, and my children are utterly unchanged by the encounter.)  What a waste:(

There is a better way. It begins with praying that God would give you new eyes; eyes that are more focused on his eternal work of grace than on your momentary plans for you. This better way also includes seeking God for a flexible and willing heart, ready to abandon your agenda for God’s greater plan. And it lives with the confidence that God is in you, with you, and for you and will give you what you need so that you can face, with courage and grace, the parenting moment that you didn’t know was coming.

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School Starts Tomorrow!

The last few weeks off have been super refreshing.  I'm rejoicing even to be able to say that as I think back on how I felt our first few months.  At the beginning we actually came to dread time off school a little, even the weekends.  Everything seemed so hard to do and the only thing that we could count on was the rain.  It was hard to call a taxi, hard to give directions, hard to figure out what to buy at the grocery store, blah blah blah.  But 4+ months later this kind of feels like home - God is very gracious!

Anyway, back to school tomorrow and we are definitely ready.  Our schedule will be pretty different this trimester.  Mark has been tutoring with a man throughout the break and will continue doing that every morning so no formal classes for him (which really suits his learning style much better).  We have decided to homeschool Eli this tri so I'll get Mark and the other 3 out the door in the morning and then have about 3 hours with him.  After that we'll meet Mark at the school and I'll have 2 hours of class with a small group and 1 hour with a tutor.  Hannah started back today and has jumped into multiplication and cursive.  She is definitely her Daddy's child - loves to get up around 4:30 or so and finish her homework and she really does think more clearly at that time.  I think they're crazy!

Eli is super excited about homeschool.  This has been a hard transition for him so I think the extra 1-on-1 time will be really good and Hannah has talked it up big time to him.  For my homeschooling friends, we're using:  A Child's Story Bible, Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading, First Language Lessons, Horizons Math, Rosetta Stone for Spanish, Handwriting Without Tears, and several books on dinosaurs for some lapbooking.  We'll start with that and then I'll probably throw in some geography and history with Story of the World cds and whatever internet resources I dig up.  I'd like to say we'll do some formal art but it probably won't happen although crafty stuff is a part of his daily life.  He can keep playing soccer through the school twice a week and they have a decent library we can use for readers and read alouds.  Am I missing anything?  How fun!  I've got the next few weeks mapped out and am liking being back into the homeschool world - I missed it!

We did get in 1 more beach trip with 2 other families on our team last week.  The beach we went to is amazing - I think one of my top favorite places in the world now.  Here are a few pics and hopefully I'll get around to posting a video at some point.

Mark took the kids out fishing about 5am most mornings

A bunch of boys!

Snack time - fruit loops off a towel:)

The ridiculous view from a little pass between 2 beaches

Hard to see in a picture but there are long expanses
of rock down there that provide endless hours of
exploring. 

Our little swimmer!  We skipped naps this day and he was so
tired - I was a little worried he might just keel over in the pool:)